Ari Tonteri demonstrates how to use Slinky Fibre to tie a nice pike fly. This same method can be used to tie a smaller baitfish style pattern for bass and trout as well. Slinky Fibre is made by Just Add H20 Products. Some other products that would be similar to use are Enrico Puglisi Fibers Se and Spirit River Sea Hair.
Monthly Archives: August 2013
Brian Wise video – Nick Granato’s Ghetto Tramp
The second fly in the Nick Granato Series…..The Ghetto Tramp. Built on a 3-5/0 platform, this large streamer is the real deal. Obviously a musky based fly, this thing can also be stepped down in size to chase anything that eats.
Brian Wise’s website:
http://flyfishingtheozarks.com/
Nick Granato’s website:
http://flyobsession.com/
Recipe:
Hook – Gama Rubber Worm Hook
Tail – Farrar’s Flash Blend
Flash – Flashabou
Over Tail – Farrar’s Flash Blend
Flash – Flashabou
Body – Polar Chenille
Wing – Peacock Herl
Rubber Legs – Bass Skirt
Head – Ostrich Herl (palmered)
Eyes – Clear Cure Goo Eyes
Topped off with CCG Thick and CCG Hydro.
Filed under Streamers
Griz’s “Thumper” Minnows
Hooks: Mustad 3366 – Sizes 8, 6, 4, 2, & 1/0
Tail: Blood Marabou – (See Below for Colors)
Flash: Krystal Flash – (See Below for Colors)
Rib: 26 Gauge Red Wire
Body: Rabbit fur cut off of rabbit hides – (See Below for Colors)
Eyes: Red Eyes – Bead Chain or Lead Eyes (on top of the hook shank, Clouser style)
|
Tail |
Krystal Flash |
Body |
|
White |
Yellow or Pearl |
White |
|
Pink |
Pink or Red |
Pink |
|
Purple |
Pearl |
Purple |
|
Peach |
Copper |
Peach |
I designed this fly after the Twister Tail Grubs they use in Spin casting. A tying tip for the eyes on this fly; I use only red eyes. So when I get the bead chain eyes I paint them with Sally Hanson’s Cherry Red Nail Polish. And either I buy the lead eyes painted red, or I will paint those also. If you’re using bead chain eyes, you may want to put a piece of weight (.015) on top of the hook shank, to help aid in keeling the hook over. I have tried this fly with different color eyes and wire, but the best luck I have had is with both of them being red.
Filed under Streamers
New Rite Bobbin website!
Rite Bobbin has a new revamped website and it’s a huge improvement over their old one. It’s professional, pleasing to the eyes, and easy to navigate. Visit and enjoy!
If you haven’t read my review on Rite Bobbins, you can find it here.
Filed under Tools
Purple Haze – Tightline Productions
This is another well developed video by Tightline Productions, this time on the popular Purple Haze fly pattern. Included are some tips from the creator of the Purple Haze, Andy Carlson. Be sure to check out another perspective on the pattern in a previous post on FrankenFly.
Filed under Step by Step, Trout flies
New flies by Rich Strolis
Rich is on his way to ending the year with a bang! Rich explains some of his new offerings.
These flies are just a spin off of Brad Bohen’s Hangtime minnow, articulated of course. They come in at roughly a foot long and utilize reverse tied buck tail, a technique popularized by the Bob Popovics. Very durable, and swim like you’ve never seen. Colors are endless as you can tell. I’ve gotten the pike bug lately, and I have been playing with some 1/2 and 1/2 patterns using icelandic sheep in the rear of the flies as it swims and breaths like crazy (more on those in the weeks to come).
Expect to see some similar patterns that will fit into the trout category utilizing these materials and techniques shortly. I also have a new spin off of the crayfish, called the head case crab mostly due in part to a long conversation with Tim Flagler at Tightline Productions. And lastly, the Juggernaut is officially released as well. All of these are available in the newly updated fly store
http://catching-shadows.goodsie.com/
If anyone has some customizations in regards to colors or what have you, there is a new contact section on the store where they can do so.
http://catching-shadows.goodsie.com/contact
Filed under Rich Strolis, Streamers
Greg Senyo – Dr. Feel Good and steelhead brushes
Greg Senyo of Steelhead Alley Outfitters has made a couple of videos for the steelheaders out there. One is of his Dr. Feel Good fly pattern and the other is how to take existing brushes and customize them yourself.
Check out the guide services at Steelhead Alley Outfitters. They can set you up with a great day on the water!
NOTE: One side note, if you haven’t put two and two together, Greg is the name behind Senyo’s Laser Dub. I love this stuff! One of my favorite fly tying products hands down. I use it on a lot of my streamers.
Filed under Steelhead, Step by Step
Wet n’ windy… fuzzie notion time… by Pete Gray
Slightly handicapped, moderately decorated USAF veteran aviator with issues… Born way back in the 1900s and raised on Long Island, NY, USA… ’spent formative years life guarding town ocean beaches and spin fishing on the newly emerging rock jetties of Atlantic Beach and Point Lookout for Stripers and Yellow Eyed Fly Shredders
Driven into my bunker by a rather surly weather situation…a fine opportunity to spill forth another fuzzie notion…
Bill’s Bodi Braid foundation…
Several coq du leon feathers welded in place with Bug-Bond Original formula light cured acrylic…I’ve tried ’em all and have embraced Bug-Bond… the pro-tips make a big difference for precision targeting…
Whiting fish fur [‘could just as well be marabou], UV flash, some carnivorous arctic goat [fox will do nicely] and a pink buck tail throat…
3-D eyes and a CDL feather welded in the horizontal to start some flat wing shoulders…
Krystal Flash and a medium pardo CDL complete the flat wing insinuendo…and there ya’ have it…
It’s my take on what a hungry Stripped predator dreams about…[and the vise ain’t too shabby either]…That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it…!!!
I am planning on being at the Fly Tying Symposium in November, Somerset NJ in the company of Faruk Ekich [Ultimate Bobbin] and, all the way from Durban, South Africa, Jay Smit [Jvice]…
I hope to be welding up a storm and look forward to meeting new friends and answering any “phly welding” questions…
Filed under Saltwater
Headcase Crayfish – Rich Strolis
This is one of Rich’s latest patterns. He worked hard on this pattern and put it through its paces. I’ve seen many posts on his Facebook page mentioning that he was working with this fly. In this video he shows how to tie his new crayfish style pattern and the information Rich posted with the video follows. I think it’s a very attractive pattern. Enjoy!
Here is my latest articulated streamer that I concocted to represent an adult crayfish. The fly comes in at around 3-3-1/2 inches and is what I would call a moderately weighted pattern that can be fished in a multitude of ways and with a floating or sinking line. So far she has racked up several species including northern pike, brown and rainbow trout, small and large mouth bass and even striped bass in the salt. Seconds for a great juvenile lobster pattern. Currently I tie it in the crayfish orange, olive/blue and tan colors but feel free to experiment.
Filed under Rich Strolis, Step by Step
Hamilton’s Copperhead – Mike Rice
How many fly patterns are out there? There are too many to count. There are attractor patterns, baitfish patterns, crustacean patterns, streamers, poppers, sliders, weighted flies, reverse ties, hi-ties, hollow ties…it’s endless. There is one group of flies that catch everyone’s attention…those used by guides. Guides’ flies are a mix of science, art, common sense, deductive reasoning, necessity and most commonly, desperation. They may be designed and developed over a long period of time and years of experience on the water or in those few moments of panic while trying to “match the hatch” as opportunity swims by. Regardless of their genesis, most guides’ flies have a common thread (pun intended), they are designed to be simple, relatively quick to tie and highly effective.
The Copperhead, designed by Capt. Randy Hamilton of Charleston, SC is a classic guide’s fly. Randy was on one of his first trips for redfish around Georgetown, SC and encountered thunderstorms on a low tide which turned the water to chocolate milk conditions. The flies he had with him were all natural patterns with little or no flash and yielded no fish in the muddy water. A buddy he was fishing with picked up a spinning rod with a Johnson Silver Minnow in gold on the end of the line and managed to pick up a few reds in the brown water. Randy went home and worked on a fly that would flash as much as that Johnson Minnow and came up with the first Copperhead. The next day, in the same location and same water conditions, the Copperhead was picking up reds and another guide’s fly was born.
Another characteristic of a guide’s fly is that with a little MacGyverism and minor alterations it will probably be just as effective on other species of fish as that for which it was originally intended. Randy says that his “go-to” fly for false albacore is the Crystal Copperhead which is tied with pearl materials as opposed to gold. He also sight-fishes for striped bass at night in the shadow lines of the Hampton Roads bridge tunnel on Chesapeake Bay using a root-beer colored version. Randy ties the Copperhead in chartreuse and pink which he also finds very effective for albies. In Florida, the color combination of green and gold has been extremely effective for speckled trout. Here in New England I have had great results with the Copperhead tied in chartreuse or olive while fishing for striped bass in backwater creeks and in boulder fields.
RECIPE:
Hook: saltwater, size #1 to 2/0
Thread: 6/0 Tan or Brown Uni-thread
Eyes: Medium chrome or gold dumbell
Tail: Copper Flashabou
Body: Copper Crystal Chenille (Estaz)
Underwing: Copper Krystal Flash
Wing: Copper Flashabou
TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
- Attach thread to hook and wrap shank fore and aft. Attach dumbbell eyes as you would for Clouser. Cement the wraps.
- Wrap the thread back to behind the eyes and fold in a dozen strands of copper flashabou for the tail and secure to the shank. Trim tail to about an inch past the hook bend. Cement the wraps.
- Tie in a 4” piece of copper crystal chenille at the hook band and palmar wrap forward to just behind the eyes. Secure with a couple of wraps and leave the tag end of the chenille hanging as it will be wrapped forward to finish the fly.
- Invert the hook in the vise (hook point facing up) and fold in a dozen strands of copper krystal flash tied in just behind the eyes.
- Fold in another dozen strands of copper flashabou on top of the krystal flash and advance the thread to the hook eye.
- Put a drop of cement on the flash tie in point and on the threads holding the dumbbell eyes on and then make 2 wraps behind the eyes with the tag end of the crystal chenille covering the flash tie in point and then figure-eight the dumbbell eyes with the chenille.
- Tie off and cement the head.
For other color versions of the Copperhead use the same materials but substitute the desired colors. For the Crystal Copperhead, for false albacore in particular, Randy recommends using Violet Krystal Flash for the underwing and Pearl Mirage for the wing.
This color combination is my favorite for snook under dock lights.
Special thanks to Capt. Randy Hamilton for emailing me the back story to this awesome fly!
Filed under Saltwater
