Mop fly questions

[skeet3t 0]

Have some general questions here. My grandson said a friend did good on a local stream with a mop fly. Here goes:

1. Any particular color? Mix of colors?

2. Scud hook or another type of hook?

3. Ice dubbing or regular dubbing?

Basing this on a Mad River Youtube video I just watched. Thanks for your replies.

[Mark Knapp 0]

You are the tier, the sky is the limit. It starts with the species you are fishing for and the kind of things they like to eat. Google "Mop flies" for inspiration.

[skeet3t 0]

I found a sackful of videos, etc., on the 'Net. Fish are like relatives, they will eat anything. Was looking for some specifics from the experienced tyers here. Back to the vise. It has replaced the old vices.😁

[niveker 0]

Your location will influence you choices somewhat (as I'm sure you know), but Mark's right, the only limit is your imagination.  

I use a scud hook, with or without a bead, tan or chartreuse mop material, ( I have blue also, but that never really got any attention), FTD UV-X dubbing, loosely or tightly dubbed, sometimes in a loop, so I can brush the dubbing out to act as a blending shroud.  I might also use a large, softer hackle as a collar.  Or maybe both.  A permanent marker or two to color the mop material is useful.  I really only fish these in the lake for panfish.  They do get heavy with water so you have to mind yourself when casting. 

I did run into a guy on the river last year who tied them small with a bead and a bit of flashy dubbing.  He fished them as an egg.  He said they do well and gave me one that has sat unused in my box since.  

It would be a great fly for your grandson to start tying with, if he doesn't already.  Simple and quick, cheap material, and practically guaranteed to catch fish on a fly he tied himself.  

[flytire 0]

be creative experiment

[skeet3t 0]

3 hours ago, niveker said:

Your location will influence you choices somewhat (as I'm sure you know), but Mark's right, the only limit is your imagination.  

I use a scud hook, with or without a bead, tan or chartreuse mop material, ( I have blue also, but that never really got any attention), FTD UV-X dubbing, loosely or tightly dubbed, sometimes in a loop, so I can brush the dubbing out to act as a blending shroud.  I might also use a large, softer hackle as a collar.  Or maybe both.  A permanent marker or two to color the mop material is useful.  I really only fish these in the lake for panfish.  They do get heavy with water so you have to mind yourself when casting. 

I did run into a guy on the river last year who tied them small with a bead and a bit of flashy dubbing.  He fished them as an egg.  He said they do well and gave me one that has sat unused in my box since.  

It would be a great fly for your grandson to start tying with, if he doesn't already.  Simple and quick, cheap material, and practically guaranteed to catch fish on a fly he tied himself.  

Thanks. He will be here Friday. I don't have any scud hooks but there is a fly shop just up the road. What sizes do you guys use? Might pick up a couple of packs.

[flymanaj 0]

these are my best combos. Char./barred yellow, yellow/barred yellow. And yes, I tie them on jig hooks, no need to have that conversation again.

[TroutFodder 0]

I have never seen these mop flies until I joined this forum. I'm finding them intriguing - they could be fished as a drifting cased caddis in streams and rivers... I might have to experiment with them a little myself.

[flymanaj 0]

27 minutes ago, TroutFodder said:

I have never seen these mop flies until I joined this forum. I'm finding them intriguing - they could be fished as a drifting cased caddis in streams and rivers... I might have to experiment with them a little myself.

They work well near structure. I catch pretty much every ww species on them. I'm not sure what they imitate but the work.

[SilverCreek 0]

Several of the mop flies above match Crane Fly larva. Crane fly larva do come in various shades so you really have to "match the hatch" in terms of color.

 

I had a banner day fishing crane flies on the Big Lost River near Mackay, idaho. I went with a friend who is the father-in-law to the owner of a ranch near Mackay. the Big Lost flows through his ranch so we had a lot of private water we fished.

[chugbug27 0]

@fshng2 ran one of my alltime favorite threads here a few years back on mop flies.... Tons of examples to get some inspiration. Maybe he'll chime in?

 

[TroutFodder 0]

3 minutes ago, SilverCreek said:

Several of the mop flies above match Crane Fly larva. Crane fly larva do come in various shades so you really have to "match the hatch" in terms of color.

 

Good point and something I didn't think of SilverCreek. Crane Fly larvae are more common that most people think - even along the slower margins and back-eddys of fast moving freestone streams. Run a sweep net through the fine sediment and it comes up squirming with them. The time to fish them is when the water is a little high and murky. The pattern I tie works but it is rigid and lifeless in the water. Liking the mop fly even more.

[Philly 0]

I love mop flies.  I've probably gone a bit overboard with them.  When I first saw one I didn't know what to make of them.  My salt water club was doing a tying demonstration at the L.L. Beans in Marlton, NJ.  The club president was tying orange ones, which he swore chain pickerel loved.  I borrowed a few pieces and it was downhill from there.  I started buying various mops but the pieces were bit large(fat) unless I wanted to tie crane fly larvae.  Found some mop mitts for washing cars.  They were what I was looking for when fishing for trout.

This will give you the idea of their size.

N.

Next I moved on to panfish, some would work for trout.  Everyone seemed to be tying nymph type flies.  Why not floating ones?

And then bass/chain pickerel

This year I changed up the floating mops.  Initially, I just used a piece of a foam cylinder.  I'm replacing them with dumbbell eyes made from foam cylinders.  Also decided to add some marabou tails to the floating and sinking bass ones.

   

See what happens when you have too much time on your hands during a pandemic.

There are two types of mop pieces.  Dust mop pieces which can be dyed.  All I had on hand was a kit for making tie dyed shirts.  Rather than bright colors I ended up with pastels(3rd picture).  For the wet mop pieces, I just used permanent markers.

They do work.  The bass in my Avatar took a mop fly.  I've caught trout, rock bass, perch, panfish, chain pickerel, largemouth and smallmouth bass on them.

Trout colors: Chartreuse, red, pink, olive and black caught the most fish.  Also caught a couple on tan and grey

Warm Water colors: Panfish, bass and chain pickerel keyed on yellow, white and chartreuse.  Panfish also like blue.

Thorax:  various types, colors and sizes of sparkle or ice chenille 

Weight:  Bead Heads

Flotation:  Foam cylinders

Hooks:  Most of them are tied on Gamakatsu B10S stinger hooks, from size 14 to 1/0 depending on the species

 

[fshng2 0]

19 hours ago, chugbug27 said:

@fshng2 ran one of my alltime favorite threads here a few years back on mop flies.... Tons of examples to get some inspiration. Maybe he'll chime in?

Thanks Chugbug and nice stuff as usual Philly.

Generic Mop Fly:

The hook I commonly use is a sticky sharp 400BL barbless competition jig hook however any type #10 nymph hook will work.

For a bead I use a 3 to 3.5 mm slotted brass or tungsten type depending on the preferred sink rate (lead or lead free wire can be substituted).

For dubbing I use FTD Artic Wind which has blue angelina mixed in  (similar to Ice dubbing ) to give it sparkle, but any black dubbing can be substituted.

Mop material can be of any color but cream, olive, and brown in my opinion are more natural colors. Other colors work too so experiment. Incorporating rubber legs can also be used to enhance the inherent wiggling motion of the fly. 

 

Thread on the bead and put down a thread base.

Strip some of the material from the mop to expose the inner cords and tie it in by the cords.

Apply a small dot of superglue over the area you just tied in.

Lastly black dubbing is wrapped in a dubbing loop and placed behind the bead to simulate the head and legs.

Whip finish and call it done for a very quick and effective fly.

 

[niveker 0]

Wow, great mop flies everyone.

 

Man, @Philly, you sure are gonna clean up with those  (sorry, couldn't resist).