The challenge thread!

[niveker 0]

Yes, I meant to comment earlier.  That is a beautifully tied fly. 

I've never tied a Calcasieu Pig Boat, frankly I can't even say it.  But I've been trying to tie more bass flies this winter, so if no one takes it by tomorrow night, I'll 'tackle' it. 

 

[Poopdeck 0]

I’ll take the pig boat. I like WW ties. 

[niveker 0]

8 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

I’ll take the pig boat.

👍

[Poopdeck 0]

So I took some liberties and went rubber crazy with a rubber paddle tail to go along with the rubber legs. I tied the legs in kind of reverse or like a jig skirt to get a fuller bouncier skirt and since I’m fishing this in a rocky river I tied it belly scratcher style to have it ride hook point up. I tried to show the weight in the one picture, you can see 2 of the 3 beads. Best I could do. 
 

Hook - Mustad size 1 2XH/1XL

Weight - 5/32 copper beads (3) tied on belly scratcher style with 14lb mono

Tail - pearl/white rubber paddle tail

Body - white opalescent estaz

hackle - Grizzly 

legs - green/yellow rubber I had laying around

NEXT UP A BELLY SCRATCHER STYLE BAITFISH

[cphubert 0]

10 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

pig boat

Very nice Greg, I was waiting to see this one you didn't disappoint. I don't tie a lot of warm water offerings as I rarely fish them with the exception of a few poppers and bass bugs. In the river do you use a sinking line and how are these fished (bouncing off the bottom?) 

[Poopdeck 0]

55 minutes ago, cphubert said:

Very nice Greg, I was waiting to see this one you didn't disappoint. I don't tie a lot of warm water offerings as I rarely fish them with the exception of a few poppers and bass bugs. In the river do you use a sinking line and how are these fished (bouncing off the bottom?) 

I haven’t fished one yet. However, If the current is running fast I will fish it on a intermediate sink shooting head but generally I stick to a floating line. I’m usually fishing in the 1’ to 5’ range and I’m either bouncing everything off the bottom or I’m fishing topwater. I try to tie most subsurface stuff for the river to ride hook point up. With the beads and the paddle tail tied under  the shank I’m confident this will get down and ride hook up. I am a little concerned with casting it but looking forward to fishing it. 
 

By the way, the Clouser swimming nymph is one of my favorite river patterns. I tie them to ride hook point up as well. 

[Poopdeck 0]

Just to get this on the current page, next up is the belly scratcher minnow, anybody?

[niveker 0]

On 1/14/2023 at 9:38 AM, Poopdeck said:

Best I could do. 

Looks really good, I think the color combo is a winner.  I like that you added a tail - when I first started to look into that pattern, the lack of a tail was the first thing that jumped out at me.  

 

[niveker 0]

3 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

belly scratcher minnow,

I'll take it.  Another style I knew about, but never really looked at.  

[Poopdeck 0]

8 hours ago, niveker said:

Looks really good, I think the color combo is a winner.  I like that you added a tail - when I first started to look into that pattern, the lack of a tail was the first thing that jumped out at me.  

 

Exactly what jumped out at me. Every self respecting bass jig needs a tail, right? 

[niveker 0]

Might take a bit longer to get the Belly Scratcher posted, I haven't found a head material that will flow as smoothly as I'd like in my inventory yet.  

[Guest]

🤔

[niveker 0]

It's coming already, give me one more sec.  

[niveker 0]

Pardon the delay.  I had hoped to finish up this last week-end, but wasn't happy with anything that came off my vise.  And I had no spare time to sit in front of the vise this week until today.  I'm pretty please with this one, except for screwing up when I glued on the eyes.  Biggest problem I had was getting the right material for the head.  I don't really have any hair fibers/material, and anything I used was either too stiff or too short.  Ended up digging out some roving wool, which seemed to be work, somewhat.  

Blue Gill Belly Scratcher

Hook: #4

Thread: Olive Uni 72D

Tail: olive rabbit zonker

Body: Actually, I'm not really sure what its called, I received it as an extra gift in the Christmas swap.  I think its white eyelash yarn.

Belly: craft wire and 2 @ 5/32 brass beads

Head: Roving wool, light olive on top hit with a brown marker, yellow below, hit with an orange marker

Eyes: stick on craft crystals painted with nail polish.  

Edited January 21, 2023 by niveker
I think its white eyelash yarn: Marshmallow Scrubby Sparkle yarn, LOL

[niveker 0]

Next up, fun to tie and relatively simple, once you get the hang of it:

Darbee Two Feather fly