Soft Bodies

[JohnScott]

Sandy ( Pittendrigh ) has posted a number of "soft body" nymphs and described the advantages of these flies he has noticed over the years compared more traditional nymph patterns. The image that sticks most with me is a trout, given enough slack in the line, swimming some distance ( up to 20' ) chewing on these flies rather than spitting them quickly.

I've recently had a simillar experience with the experimental "straight pin" version of the FEB salmonfly.



Except for the 3/4" straight pin on which the fly is tied and which is pretty much enveloped in foam, the fly consists of a soft antron furled extended body, foam, centipede ( rubber ) legs, and deer hair.

What I have noticed is that trouts quite often react very slowly after eating the fly, taking it several feet deep if given the chance, and often only giving it up when it is pulled hard enough to physically pull it away from them. One trout held tight enough that he broke off a 5X tippet ( although it may be that the pin became lodged in his mouth somehow and actually "hooked" him ) after taking it deep.

Just something to keep in mind when designing flies, nymphs or dries.

John

[Uncle Jesse]

Maybe if we used the loop side of Velcro on the belly of the fly we wouldn't need hooks.

[pittendrigh]

John mentioned me in the original post. So I thought it best to stay out of this thread for a day or so. Just to see what happened.

Big soft flies will surprise you. The first time your leader takes off on a twenty foot zig zag it will hit you like a safe out of second story window: this is something I've never seen before.

One question I still don't know the answer to is how small is so small the soft fly effect disappears. Really big softies are amazing. I've fished with 3" and 4" soft foam streamers. And the soft body effect is even more pronounced for them than for medium sized stonefly nymphs. Here's a link to a lengthy article I wrote back in 1994. I never did get it published. The editors all said it had promise. But they said the story was "too long." So I shortened it up and they still didn't buy it. I think the real answer is flies like this didn't fit their mid-1990s marketing formulas. So here's the original longer version. I think it's a good story.

==>Twinkies <==

The one soft flies article I did somehow get published was a 1991 piece in Fly Fisherman about Marshmallow Nymphs:

Marshmallows

[jszymczyk]

won't the "Holier-Than-Thou" types be coming out of the woodwork saying you should just be fishing with rubber worms and jig bodies then?

[Uncle Jesse]

won't the "Holier-Than-Thou" types be coming out of the woodwork saying you should just be fishing with rubber worms and jig bodies then?

Does anyone really give a darn about what "holier than thou" types think? I have been inspired by Sandy and John, been trying to furl foam into nymph bodies.

[NJTroutbum]

I know this much...a 2" long tail of an unscented motoroil colored plastic worm, behind a black tungsten bead and a Grizzly hackle collar bounced off the bottom....takes Bass in lakes, trout in streams & bluefish off the surf. Just sayin'..........

[pittendrigh]

won't the "Holier-Than-Thou" types be coming out of the woodwork saying you should just be fishing with rubber worms and jig bodies then?

....I'll have to give that a try.
Actually I have. 3" long red plastic worms are hard to find. Most are too big for trout fishing. You can get them from Minnesota places that cater to pan fishermen--croppies and bluegills, etc. They work like magic on early season trout. I call that rig the Don Juan Worm.

[Uncle Jesse]

There's a local guy up here northern burbs of Atlanta, commonly referred to as Jetboat Jerry who only uses about two baits on his spinning rod white twister grubs and 4 in. Creme brand red plastic worms. He orders them in bags of 100 from Creme I think its their Trout Midget Crawler 3 1/2".

Jerry got his nickname by installing jet ski drives in aluminum jon & semi-V boats, .

[JohnScott]

I've looked at a good number of plastic baits but haven't found one suitable for what I have in mind - a soft bodied salmonfly nymph.

If I find the right color and size, and unscented, of course, I do plan to experiment with it.

John

[JohnScott]

Sandy -

The "Twinkies" article is a great read. Reminded me of the style seen in the fly fishing magazines back in the mid 70's. Good story telling and a good story to tell.

John

P.S. I wasn't reading those magazines back then. Several years ago I found a stash at Jimmy's All Seasons Angler in Idaho Falls and read through quite a large stack of them. Good stuff.