Dahlberg Diver

[Bruce Derington 0]

Yea, now your gettin it, Question, what type of feather are you using fir the kickers(legs)? Need to be longer(unless the photo doesn't show length)

Should be 1 1/2 to 2 times length of body

[smallieFanatic 0]

Hey does any of you guys tie them with bunny strips as the tail intstead of the hackle?

[Hairstacker 0]

Hey does any of you guys tie them with bunny strips as the tail intstead of the hackle?

 

Yeah, I tied this one up a few years ago and fished it once. I seem to recall it didn't sit right in the water and the bunny strip soaked up a lot of water and made it heavy and hard to cast. I'm sure if I shortened up the tail by maybe half it would probably fish a lot better but I never got around to it. At the time, I was trying to come up with something long and meaty:

 

 

I also came up with this upside-down-hook deer hair fly a few years ago that I designed for fishing on top of heavy mats. I've had some good luck with this fly and have caught fish on it. As I had hoped, the deer hair covers the hook point just enough to make it indeed absolutely weedless -- I dragged it across some of the gnarliest mats and never got hung up once and the fly remained clean:

 

 

The only thing I didn't like about it is the fact the bunny strip tended to make the fly rear-heavy, so that when I worked it across open water, it tended to have a nose-up orientation in the water. But it's perfect for twitching across mats, because with fairly gentle strips, you can get that rabbit strip to dance around on top of the mat. By the way, it has a chenille body and the bottom of the fly is perfectly flat, as shown in this picture -- between the deer hair covering the hook point and this bottom, you can see why it's so weedless:

 

 

Guess I just haven't got around to spending a lot of time with rabbit trip tails for topwater deer hair bugs. Aside from the advantage of having that tail twitch around on top of a mat, I think hackle and/or bucktail makes a better tail on a topwater deer hair bug from the standpoint of functionality. I could be wrong but that's my current thinking.

 

-- Mike

[smallieFanatic 0]

Okay thanks for the info.

[jkilday4 0]

Bruce - Whiting American hackles or Capon necks per your previous message are on my list...I don't really have a good selection of tail materials yet. True, these on the latest are way way too short; I've just been preoccupied with the stacking technique & overlooked this element. Thanks for the guide on length there.

 

Hairstacker - awesome mat-dancer you've got there! Does the hook ride point-up simply due to the bottom being flat or is there something else at work as well?

[Hairstacker 0]

Hairstacker . . . Does the hook ride point-up simply due to the bottom being flat or is there something else at work as well?

 

When it’s on a hard surface like a weed mat, the hook rides point-up because the bottom is flat while the rest of the fly has a rounded profile, so if it doesn't land right the fly rolls over to the intended orientation. When it’s in open water, it rides hook up because all of the deer hair, which is buoyant, is on that side of the hook.

 

-- Mike

[FloridaSaltandFresh 0]

I am looking at this year‘s after it was posted, but boy it is really handy. I just started stacking hair and the tips and details here are invaluable. Thank you.

Edited January 28, 2022 by FloridaSaltandFresh
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[mikechell 0]

Welcome to the site, FSandF.

[robow7 0]

Always enjoy tying up a few divers.  Under the right conditions, the smallies will hammer them.

[caloosa bug 0]

On 1/28/2022 at 3:04 PM, FloridaSaltandFresh said:

I am looking at this year‘s after it was posted, but boy it is really handy. I just started stacking hair and the tips and details here are invaluable. Thank you.

Welcome, fellow Floridian. That was a good thread bump and interesting read.

I watched this one over and over…he makes it look easy, but the concept is shown perfectly.

 

[caloosa bug 0]

11 hours ago, robow7 said:

Always enjoy tying up a few divers.  Under the right conditions, the smallies will hammer them.

Those look like they’d be fish catchers for sure.

[feathers5 0]

12 minutes ago, caloosa bug said:

Those look like they’d be fish catchers for sure.

 

12 minutes ago, caloosa bug said:

Those look like they’d be fish catchers for sure.

 

26 minutes ago, caloosa bug said:

Welcome, fellow Floridian. That was a good thread bump and interesting read.

I watched this one over and over…he makes it look easy, but the concept is shown perfectly.

 

Very nice work. I can see this wasn't your first, hahaha. Great job.

[robow7 0]

Over the years, I have tied the collar in several different configurations, some larger and more full than others (like above) and it will affect how much it floats and dives to some degree.  One thing for sure, don't allow your tail material to become too heavy or long as it will reduce the "shake and bake" motion of the head.  ymmv