Minnow questions

The Thunder Creek Minnow thread brings some questions to mind...

The marabou is probably on everyone's tying bench ...obviously a plus...is the movement inherent in marabou a big plus...as in the woolly bugger...or does it matter..or is it a negative since minnow bodies are firm ?????

The eyes do certainly make it 'come alive' as someone said...do the fish care..does your take rate go up when you use eyes as opposed to when you don't.

Is there much difference in durability ?

I really like the simplicity and am going to tie some....

Everyone feel free to answer....

I do better on smallies with flies that have eyes.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

i like to swing streamers alot. i new i was low on TC streamers so i tied up a few the night before i was going out. i got them epoxied and it was getting late, so off to sleep i went. early the next morning i headed out.
i started the day hitting some browns with a squirrel tail streamer and after it got chewed up, i switched to the TC that i tied the night before. seemed like the fishing slowed up a bit untill i lost my fly to a log jamb. went back in the fly box and saw that i never painted the eyes on so i used one of the others that had the eyes and i was right back into the fish...
it turned out to be one of those days that goes into the vault. it was raining off and on all day, hard at times. (keeps them fair weather spinning guys at home) the fish were where they should have been. the casting was right on. and i must have landed 30 fish that day. :D i didn't get back to the truck untill about 3:30 in the afternoon.

so yes, i think the eyes do make a difference (at least i did that day)

Don

I am going to answer the eye portion of my own question now...

Why wouldn't the eye make a difference?...I think it would...


It's a major feature of what we try to imitate...

Why would evolution have some fishes with an eye on their tail....so they don't get eaten..

Experience indicates it makes a difference...

I have read that piscatorious fish key on several things. One being eyes, and another being gills. Therefore all of my baitfish imitations include one or the other or both.

My most successful minnow patterns have eyes ( a descision maker) and a little red throat of marabou( another descision maker).
The fussier trout the better it should look and lead you to success, and dumber fish....you will catch more of them.

I like eyes on all my minnow patterns. I don't use the gills to often, though I have been adding them on my larger flies. This is one of the few minnow patterns I use that has both eyes and gills. A friend of mine came up with it and he ties it without eyes. I think the eyes make a difference.

http://www.flytyingforum.com/uploads...1adcb23851.jpg

What is that you used for the wing material?
It's cool. 8)