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I saw a package hanging on the wall at Cabelas so I snagged one, they'd pretty much been cleaned out of them only had a few left. I've never used them, was wondering if anyone has had any experience with them, or tips with using them. I'll have to track down a camera one I tie up a fly with one.
used their sculpin heads and articulated streamer shanks. work great. love the way the heads look.
You can pitch all your regular coneheads. These are much easier to work with. I almost never tie with cones due to the difficulty of packing the head of the fly into rather than behind the cone, and fish skulls solve the problem.
--Don't tie the fly all the way to the eye. Leave about an eye-length that's either just a thin thread head or bare shank.
--Use one of the slow-setting gel superglues (not epoxy or a sun set resin) to lock the head in place: dab of glue at the front of the fly, slide the skull on. Done.
Yes, the learning curve is how much (how thick) to build up on the hook before you put the head on. One trick is to put the head on the empty shank and mark the shank with a Sharpie where the rear of the head reaches. you may find that you use a LOT more material to get a nice smooth transition betwen head and body.
Yes !!!! Great stuff !!!!!!!!! I have designed some killer paterns off the fish skulls, and my friend, ulf hagstrom (in sweden) has some total killer patterns (for pike and all) using the fish skull. Check his post on facebook). I agree with coachbob as to the trick of building up the body before the fish skull head. It is an added strike factor, gets the pattern down into the zone better then a conehead, and allows your pattern better action or to swim better in the water (or current). Your fly tying blog on facebook even has some great pattern post with the fish skull.
Have folks actually experienced more takes with them?
They do indeed make for good looking patterns.
One discussion I read on them...the fellow...who liked them... did say they looked good and had tying advantages but it was too early ...[then]....to know if it was more fisherman appeal or fish appeal.
Just a warning to those getting some for the first time....pay attention to what hooks they fit....I picked some up with an order I placed ...and wanted to use on some steelhead patterns....the size I ordered did not fit the hook I wanted to use...just a heads up....hey is that a pun?...maybe I should have said...just a skulls up>