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Gray Ghost

Round goby fly for smallies

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Question for anyone who fishes for smallmouth bass in waters infested with the invasive round goby. What fly(s) have you had success with? I have does some searches for goby patterns and so far not seeing anything which strikes me as remarkably realistic. Of course any sculpin pattern is likely to be pretty close, but I am looking to get closer than that. Particularly the near black color, shiny almost irridescent skin, relatively big head and eyes, and big pectoral fins that stick out sideways. Not to mention its behavior in the water which is bottom-loving and tends to dart upwards to feed.

thanks in advance

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22 hours ago, Gray Ghost said:

Question for anyone who fishes for smallmouth bass in waters infested with the invasive round goby. What fly(s) have you had success with? I have does some searches for goby patterns and so far not seeing anything which strikes me as remarkably realistic. Of course any sculpin pattern is likely to be pretty close, but I am looking to get closer than that. Particularly the near black color, shiny almost irridescent skin, relatively big head and eyes, and big pectoral fins that stick out sideways. Not to mention its behavior in the water which is bottom-loving and tends to dart upwards to feed.

thanks in advance

You know, you don't need a recipe. Modify one you like to look like the one you want. You can change colors to black iridescent colors, add or subtract for bulkiness and trim the head the way you want.

Go where no man has gone before.  Be brave, experiment.

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On 1/19/2023 at 3:10 PM, richmce said:

wanted to order some willowcat plastic bodies. close to a goby  sculpin popular on the miss river

The popular spin casting imitation of a goby is a tube jig with a skirt in motor oil color, where I live (Door County, WI). This is a pretty close imitation if you are not fly fishing.

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Try something like this I originally tied it up to imitate a Mr. Twister tail grub.  Easy to tie.  A few wraps of lead on the shank.  Marabou for the tail, with a couple of pieces of flash on the side.  Body is wrapped  Estaz.  You can trim it to shape.  

estaz_bug.jpg.e38f7491651e02c31a1fe3db4a351460.jpg

I have an Estaz upstairs that would make a passable Motor Oil color.  I'll check and see what the color it is.  Marabou you might have to work with a dark olive or dark reddish brown.  I'm going to check my spinner bait skirt layers and see if I have any in motor oil color to make the fly look more like a tube.  Another thought you could tie it with dumbbell eyes so it rides point up since you would have to fish it on or close to the bottom.

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Nice thing about being retired, I can stop whatever I was doing and do a bit of tying.  These are a couple of quick ties that might work as a goby pattern based on the idea of tubes being used.  

DSCF1403.JPG.02fb26fce28aec99f90f48a730e53e24.JPG

Materials

Hook- Daiichi 2461 

Tail-  Brownish Olive Marabou w/3 strands of root beer Krystal Flash

Weight- medium dumbbell eyes tied in  Clouser style

Body- Root Beer Estaz(large) wrapped and trimmed.  Head area is trimmed on top and bottom, full on the sides.  Gobies have a wide head.

DSCF1405.JPG.6ae79e19982e9099e39a3012ba44de35.JPG

Hook- Ahrex Predator Long Size 1/0

Tail-  Brown w/Copper Flash Spinner Bait Silicon Skirt Layer(Sili Legs)

Weight- medium lead wire, 10 wraps middle of shank

Body- Root Beer Estaz(large) wrapped and trimmed.  Head area is trimmed on top and bottom, full on the sides.  

Head- Brown Thread coated with UV Resin

Just a couple of styles beside a sculpin pattern that might be worth considering.  Some combination of olive with brown would probably work also.

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I'd maybe try a black baby gonga, dungeon, boogeyman, mini death grip, etc. Peacock herl, black schlappen feathers, UV ice dub all are good options for adding an iridescent touch. Fly tyer's dungeon has numerous options of flashy materials to add a unique flare as well. As others have mentioned, be creative. One of the biggest joys of fly tying is being able to develop something specific for what your target pattern is. 

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I have a favorite lil black sculpin that the trout just love.  Prolly work for smallies.  Add some purple?  I have sculpins too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, denduke said:

I don’t do recipes but I’ll try to explain it.  I got he idea from a magazine years ago. The long deer hair is the antenna thru the body and flared to make the tail.  It’s got mono melted eyes,  chennile, hackle and pheasant breast with the centers cut out for claws.  After that tie in D-rib and wrap over the chennile back to the tail.  I have caught many trout with these “static” Cdads. I.e. they don’t swim, hook rides down, no lead eyes to make the hook ride up.  I swing them in the current and recast rather than do much stripping.  I can drop them in the stream and minnows, chubs, sculpins, everything literally attacks them.   Main problem the exposed deer hair backs get mangled after few fish.  I have glued those but lately I do a similar one with felt backs that work just as well.  I have a few different Dads that are made to retrieve.  Maybe this helps.

 

202E07DD-F220-4F86-9AA4-7ACEE419E9F4.jpeg

    Hey  @denduke what issue of Fly Tyer is that? I might have it hanging around.

    TIA

 

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On 1/19/2023 at 2:16 PM, Gray Ghost said:

Question for anyone who fishes for smallmouth bass in waters infested with the invasive round goby. What fly(s) have you had success with? I have does some searches for goby patterns and so far not seeing anything which strikes me as remarkably realistic.

What about an appropriately colored version of Clouser's Mad Tom?  I feel like that pattern may produce a fairly accurate profile in the water.

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I don’t have the magazine anymore.  30th Anniversary Fly Tying Championship winner is all. First Wraps, Donald Klausemeyer(?)
NearNoughSculpin looks close if you tweeked the colors maybe....

 

5AB80894-4A3C-43E3-8420-B742A0475B88.jpeg

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