The Hex hatch is happening right now up north in Michigan.
Tim Neal shows us how to tie Jerry Regan’s Hex Spinner. This pattern has been popularized by well known Michigan tyer Jerry Regan. It’s a classic that has been responsible for many large browns.
Monthly Archives: June 2017
Regan’s Hex Spinner
NEW Surface Seducer Howitzer baitfish popper heads
Offer predatory fish a vulnerable easy meal.
From Flymen Fishing Company:
The Howitzer is a next-generation soft foam popper head that provides new options for tying articulated baitfish poppers.
The Howitzer imitates the head of a small minnow (or baitfish) that is splashing and sipping at the surface of the water. It’s designed with a deep recess at the back of the head so that an articulated body and tail of a minnow can be embedded seamlessly into the back of the head. As a result, the body of the minnow hangs down in the water (roughly at a 45-degree angle) and moves enticingly in a position that can be seen by predatory fish from a long distance and offers them an irresistible profile and an easy opportunity for a meal!
Combine the Howitzer with Surface Seducer® Dragon Eyes™, Surface Seducer® Popper Hooks, and the Fish-Skull® Articulated Shank family to tie a variety of articulated foam flies.
Want to learn more?
Read Inside Look: Designing the Surface Seducer Howitzer by Martin Bawden for a behind-the-scenes look at developing this new material, as well as videos demonstrating how to tie with it.
Comments Off on NEW Surface Seducer Howitzer baitfish popper heads
Filed under Foam, New Product
Molten Core
Daniel Holm ties his Molten Core tube fly.
Rich Strolis’s Silly Rabbit – Brian Wise
NOTE: The new animation logo that Brian has in the very beginning from Trevor Collias is AWESOME! I watched the beginning like five times. Killer job Trevor!
-Paul
From Brian Wise:
“One of my personal favorite fly tyers right now, Rich Strolis ties some of the most CLEAN flies I have ever seen. The Silly Rabbit is clean, easy, swims like crazy, and can catch any kind of fish in the world—literally. Contact Rich to order this and MANY more flies….and check out his site at: http://www.catchingshadows.com/”
Recipe:
Hook – Gamakatsu SC15 #1
Foul Guard – 30 Pound Mono
Under Body – Ripple Ice Fiber
Tail – Magnum Rabbit Strip
Body/Head – EP Minnow Head Brush
Head – Fish Mask (size dependent)
Comments Off on Rich Strolis’s Silly Rabbit – Brian Wise
Filed under Streamers
Two Simple Tricks to Improve the Consistency of Your Flies – Kelly Galloup
From Galloup’s Slide Inn:
In this tying tips segment, Kelly will show you two simple yet highly effective ways to improve the consistency of your fly patterns.
FrankenFly update 6-23-2017
I haven’t been posting much about what has been going on behind the scenes at FrankenFly, so I thought I would write a post to give you readers an update. Hopefully I won’t bore you to tears.
First and foremost, the fishing season is in full swing. I have to say, this season has been a little rough, but hopefully turning around. By rough I mean, tough conditions mainly, then there are broken oar anchors, and broke rods to add to that. But that’s how it goes sometimes in fishing.
The primary thing I have been doing is going to a local river often and learning this river much more than I have in the past. Let me tell you, it’s a fickle son of a gun! My buddy, Josh King and I have been lugging his old aluminum row boat around, that we call, “Old Iron Sides”, and getting quite the workout rowing her down the river. Not to mention dragging her up and down hills to get into sketchy access points.
Old Iron Sides
Besides fishing, I continue to make FrankenDUB dubbing. I am extremely happy with how well the dubbing is liked out there. I’ve received tons of great comments about the dubbing and that’s awesome! I just sent another shipment to J. Stockard Fly Fishing, so they can restock, yet again. Check out the tab at the top of this website for more about FrankenDUB or you can visit it at this link.
I’ve been tying flies as fast as I possibly can, but wish I could go faster. Thank you for all of the orders! Besides orders from right here on the website, I’ve recently been tying flies for Ken Tanaka at Wish4Fish. I’m sure you have seen his very cool fly fishing videos that I post here at FrankenFly. The two main flies I have been tying for him so far is his Tanaka Your Socks Off (TYSO for short) and his Pink Power Ranger nymph. If you watch Ken’s videos, you will see him catch a lot of great fish on these two flies.
Tanaka Your Socks Off articulated streamer
Pink Power Rangers
Also, Feathered Game Changer orders have been coming in like crazy! With good reason, these babies move like no other in the water. Strip and pause and watch this baby dance!
Ginger Feathered Game Changers
In between orders or just to end a day of tying, I’ve been working on some new fly designs. I’ve sent a new dry fly to a guide friend, Chris Lessway of North Branch Outing Club, in Michigan for testing. I have a streamer called the Thunder Mutt, that isn’t really new, but I’ve got the final tweaks made at last. I’ve worked on the Thunder Mutt for the past two years.
Thunder Mutt
Also, in the same amount of time, because of the inspiration of OPST, Jonathan Farmer and Greg Senyo, I’ve been diving into the world of Micro Intruders. You might say, “Intruders for bass?” Yes, all day long! That’s what I’ve been using them for, but they can also be thrown for trout. I love these things!
Intruders were initially designed for steelhead by a group of guys that included Ed Ward and Jerry French. Who then started the company, OPST. However, Olympic Pennisula Skagit Tactics, with Ben Paull, have been churning out the Micro Intruders. (By the way, the Intruder is a style of fly, not a specific fly pattern.) I’ve always been in love with Intruders and the design, movement, and look of them. But the nearest steelhead river is about 3 hours away. So, I’ve been going the Micro Intruder route and targeting smallmouth bass. I’ve been doing my homework, fishing, and tying them lately and I’m really excited about how they are performing. Needless to say, I’ll be working on new Intruder designs in the future. Check out some of mine that I’ve tied below.
So that about sums up things here at FrankenFly. I will continue to roll on and see what the future holds. Everyone keep fishing out there!
Thanks for reading!
-Paul
Comments Off on FrankenFly update 6-23-2017
Filed under FrankenDUB, FrankenFly, Intruders, Streamers
Soft Hackle Carrot
From Devin Olsen:
“This is one my favorite soft hackle hare’s ear variations. It was featured as one of my confidence flies in our instructional film Modern Nymphing. It’s a variation on the tungsten carotene jig designed by my former Fly Fishing Team USA Teammate Mike Sexton, which is available from Umpqua Feather Merchants. I’ve added CDC soft hackle to the pattern to make it more mobile. It is an excellent searching pattern and fishes well whenever caddis are hatching.”
Materials list:
Hook: Hazard HH3, Hanak 230, or your favorite nymph or jig hook in sizes 10-16
Bead: Tactical Fly Fisher slotted gold, copper, or silver tungsten bead matched to hook size
Weight: 0.015″ or 0.020″ lead wire
Thread: 16/0 Veevus in dark tan or brown
Tail: Dark speckled corzuno coq de leon or a color of your choice
Rib: Fl. orange or fl. fire orange Veevus Power Thread
Abdomen: Hareline Dubbin Hare’s ear
Hackle: Nature’s Spirit CDC gray olive or color of choice
Thorax: Hareline Ice Dub uv brown
Buy the materials for this fly at:
For recipe and pictures visit: http://www.tacticalflyfisher.com/blog/
For more fly tying videos and fly tying instructions subscribe and follow my youtube channel.
If you are on facebook follow me there as well
https://www.facebook.com/tacticalflyfisher/
Don’t forget Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/tactical_flyfisher/
Comments Off on Soft Hackle Carrot
Filed under nymphs, Soft Hackles
Senyo’s Slim Shady – Greg Senyo
Greg Senyo demonstrates how to tie his pattern the Slim Shady. The “intruder” style steelhead pattern employes various flash synthetics to make a flowing pattern.
