looking for some constructive criticism

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

Looks pretty good to me!

[grassonfly 0]

The second one (left) came out even better than the first. Thanks for the help everyone.

[mikechell 0]

Yeah ... that little red gut will work well in the water I think. I'd still recommend a bit of darker color along the back. Sort of an "outline" just across the top.

[elderbarry 0]

grassonfly, those examples will put you on your way! You can tye several hundred of those and with the different shades available and the different marker colors available you might not have any two that are alike! But the fish don't care that much.

[atxdiscgolfer 0]

Think that pattern will work

[August9999 0]

I've just recently started tying EP Baitfish and I have just recently settled on a sparseness I like. It is fairly transparent. This makes it get below the surface really easy plus it looks really nice, I think. I gave it a black spot and added a little red to the "chin" for a little color contrast. If you look closely you can see I added a couple strands of krystal flash.

 

BTW I use congo hair.

 

[mikechell 0]

August, That's a GREAT looking Clouser.

 

Before you tie a bunch of those, you need to pull one through the water.

If it works like a true Clouser, it will swim hook point up. Which then makes the colors upside down.

[August9999 0]

Haha, I'm not 100% sure how to feel about your comment, Mike. The picture I posted is actually of an EP I tied up. Guess it needs more work than I thought. Oh well, back to the bench...

[mikechell 0]

Sorry ... with the eyes tied toward the middle of the hook shank, I thought you were going for something different.

Trust me, I LIKE the fly. You've got the right amount of material, and I think you'll get some good responses from the fish. But I iterate ... swim one to see how it orients itself in the water. If the eyes are heavy enough, it may roll over. If not, the hook bend/point will "keel" it right side up.

Either way, you can decide from there which way you want to apply the colors.

 

I am just going on experience of my own ties. I've tied many patterns trying to get a hook up attitude to make it a bit more weedless, only to have the fly ride hook down when actually in use.

[August9999 0]

No problem. I can see where you may have been mistaken, no big deal. It ran real nice through the water and I managed to get a couple small Snook on it. I have the river about two blocks from me so I always test my flies before I go out on a trip.

[FlaFly 0]

Reminds me of the airmail postage stamps with the upside down airplane.

 

I can't tell by looking whether the eyes were tied on the bottom of the hook or the top. If the eyes are on the hook side, it would work correctly.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Guys, I think they are stick on eyes, not dumbells.

[fshrmanms 0]

I like a little farrar wing and flash tied on first thing. I also started putting on 3 or 4 wraps of .20 lead.

[FlaFly 0]

I think F-boy's right... looks like those little plastic doll eyes. In which case, the fly is tied perfectly, with green side up. (anybody remember that old green side up joke?)

[August9999 0]

Yeah they are stick on eyes. I try to stay away from dumbells if I can help it.