Mark Knapp

Tied up some of these for an 11 day salt water trip for halibut,rock fish and ling cod. Probably some king salmon too.

That's exactly what I've been doing and plan to do. Great minds think alike. The snails are working great, as well as the quagga shells. Now that I found where the big sunfish live in Havasu I'm going to work them hard (next year). Thanks Mark

Very nice, I could try those. Now I have an excuse to tie more flies. (I still have plenty of time too).

All good Ideas. I'm sticking to all sinking stuff on these crawdads so I don't have to wait for them to sink. Tried my system last year and like it. Now all I have to do, (I think) is put in the time. Yes, I'm bringing all manor of flies from terrestrials to minnows to aquatics, midges and worms and grubs. I'm sure my Havasu box has several hundred flies in it and I'm not done yet. Thanks Mark

This is what the lead wraps in these flies look like.

Thanks, I need as much weight as I can get and I need it as compact as I can get it. That's why I am using lead. Because I fish them so deep.

Nice looking 'dads. I could make them a little more orange and weight them a little more and they'd be great for Havasu.

I'm not sure if I could fish these deep enough. I need to get to about 30 feet deep. With deer hair on them (it's buoyant) they won't be as fishable for me. I'm also tying them on jig hooks so I can fish them more horizontally than vertically. Nice flies.

Your look great too, like all of them on this page. I'm sure they would work good for me too. I'd need to fish them down to about 30 feet. That's one of my challenges. I love them.

Thanks Bry.

They are weighted with 1 1/2 layers of .025 lead wire and I have two reels for each of the rods I'm bringing to Havasu, one with floating line and one with sinking line. I even have reels for a couple of the rods with intermediate line. I'm loaded for bear.

The big sunfish at Havasu hold 25 to 30 feet down so they are rather challenging. The crayfish there are orange and green so that's why I have developed a deep swimming, small size, orange and green crawdad. I get a kick out of making up my own patterns and I'd say this one gets me pretty close to what I want. We shall see, problem is, I won't get a chance to try these on the redears in Havasu for about ten months. Bummer.

The shanks are all weighted with lead wire. I tied some with lead dumb bell eyes but I am not fond of the look.

I am working on refining my pattern for the invasive crayfish in Lake Havasu.

Exciting.

Sorry this is so late, I haven't come here much. I have lots. Still need some?

Don't, they put you in jail for that. 😆 I had Musk Ox last night, but just a little. I'm trying to do what you are doing. tonight, halibut, but just a little. Like my buddy Bob says. "When you eat just a little, you still get to eat the same amount , it's just spread out over a longer period of time." That and, you get to fish over a longer period of time. What a deal. My best to you buddy.

That's what I'm doing with my Havasu flies Denduke. I'll show the box when I'm done tying a few more and arranging.

" Not art fish food!" Do you have a fish named "Art"? Just teasing, nice flies. (I personally think they are all art.)

I now have a back-up too. I don't really need the auto stow, it's mostly just a pain in the butt because, after the strokes, my feet just kind of go where they want and I get a lot of inadvertant auto-stows at most in opportune moments. I suppose the auto-stow thing is nice to have if you are unsure on your feet like I am on the front bow. I got it when I was shopping cuz nothing else was available. Times of supply chain shortages of almost everything. Warranty is supposed to be fixing it as we speak. We are suffering with more supply chain shortages though. Nice to hear from you, have a nice summer.

Yep, I too go for the no bells and whistles thing. I get fewer bikini girls in the boat though, like none. The flat bottom was OK, I can't fish in anything over 10 to 12 mile an hour winds anyway so it's kind of a non issue. I just go nocturnal, fish early mornings and quiet evenings or go to protected bays. It's a shame to hear about your river, I guess all things change. I guess we must adapt.

I'm rearranging my Havasu box too, cuz next year I'm getting really serious. I'm thinking of leaving all my spinning gear home and my buddies, taking just my fly gear. It's hard to mix buddies with conventional gear and fly fishing.

No. My vote is;...Post as many as you want/can. I for one never get tired of them.

Very nice, I'm going to look for it.

Thanks bud.