Shad-imitators

[FishnDave]

What are your favorite shad-imitator flies for white bass/wipers, etc? Pictures are appreciated!

We have gizzard shad in Iowa, which vary greatly in size throughout the growing season. Right now they are running 3"-4.5". The bigger ones are a serious mouthful for most predator fish here, but they will still do what predators do best....EAT!

When there are shad around while I'm fly-fishing, I've had my best success with Clouser Deep Minnows, with Chartreuse over White being a top color combination. I think there's a pattern (Arkansas Shad?) that is similar to a Clouser, and has clipped deer hair to sort of shape a deeper shad-like profile in the head/belly area of the fly. I've tried that and it looks good and catches fish. Some guys like to use white-n-red bunny strip flies, and I've tied up some Diamond Hair shad and EP Fiber minnows that look like shad, but haven't fished them yet.

I've tried Craft Fur minnows, and they have great action in the water, but the profile really compresses...so I think I need to find a way to get a bigger head/belly section on those patterns...maybe by tying some sort of dubbing or chenille "pillow", and then hopefully the Craft Fur will flare out around that better? Anybody tie up anything like this?

I'm always looking for new shad-imitator fly patterns to try. Thanks!

[kelkay]

EP Minnows

[Cold]

For the "pillow", I'm assuming you mean something to prop up your "wiggly" materials? If so, I usually wrap a thick collar of schlappen or cheap, webby neck hackle. It will move in the current, but still provide enough backbone to hold marabou and the like away from the hook a bit. Also dont rule out spun deer hair, rams wool, bucktail, or other stiff fibrous materials.

[Goduster]

http://www.azflyfishing.net/proshop/...roductid=16217
hope this works, not too good at posting links

[Dave E]

Five fly selection_resize.jpg

Our Striper lakes have an abundance of baitfish ( and small gamefish ) species as forage bases. Amongst those, I often come across Threadfin Shad and American Shad. The latter ( they get sucked up through intake pumps. ) can be from a few ounces to a couple of pounds each. Dat-sa' spicy meatball !

One of my favorite flies to throw when the Stripers get going on the shad are Flash Tail Bay Habits and Bay Habits, which have a wide side profile and a very narrow front porfile.

For comparison sake, let's look at a Sea Habit vs. a Bay Habit.


Bay Habit & Sea Habit Side Profile_resize.jpg

Top Profile Bay Habit, Sea Habit, E.P. Baitfish_resize.jpg


I Find that water color and light often plays more of role in my fly color selection, than does trying to match the bait fishes true color. The hot colors can range wildly from day to day on the same waters and from lake to lake.

While size is important, I don't tie Bay Habits in successive sizes. I usually make size breaks, tying them in sizes 2, 2/0 and 4/0, eliminating size 1, 1/0 and 3/0. Keeping in mind that with Landlocked Stripers, the fly is being stripped and teased at a rate that sort of blurs the boundaries of reality.

Here's a selection of Bay Habits ranging in size from #2 to #4/0, included are a couple of E.P.'s, Clouser's, etc. for size and profile comparison.

Color selection_resize.jpg

Think of the Bay Habit as the Thin Mint of epoxy head baitfish patterns. It's much lighter than it's Sea Habit counterpart and the first stage of head shaping can be fixed with silicone to help shed even more weight.
Anyway, that's my contribution for the thin but large side profile shad fly.

Best, Dave

[Bluegill222]

The good ol' Clouser minnow has always worked for me. In a pinch a white wooly bugger is also very effective. I'll second the EP minnows as well.

[FishnDave]

Thanks fellas!
Dave E....are you aware of any available tying instructions for the Bay Habit?

I've researched and tied quit a few shad patterns, but haven't discovered one that satisfies ME yet. Its kind of like my search for the perfect crayfish pattern. (By perfect, I mean "looks good, appears realistic in the water, can be tied fairly easily and quickly, and catches lots of fish"). (I think I have finally found a couple of crayfish patterns I DO like.)
Clousers certainly catch fish and are fairly easy to tie, but don't have the deep-bodied profile of the shad. EP Minnows have a pretty good shape, but they take me longer to tie, and I still struggle with tying them SPARSE enough that they actually have good action in the water. They WILL catch fish though.

Cold...yes, that's what I mean about the pillow..something to cause the synthetic materials to flare out nicely to give a larger-bodied profile. I have tried white wool, and the action in the water is VERY good. I think I like it better than the EP fibers, even, but I haven't put those flies in front of enough fish yet to be sold on it.

All great suggestions!

[Bluegill222]

Dave, try using a strip of bunny fur instead of the color layer of bucktail in your clouser. It'll give you both bulk and incredible motion. I'll post a pic when I get home to my own machine tonight.

[Bluegill222]

Here's a pic of my version of the bunny clouser as mentioned in the previous post:IMGP3937.jpgIMGP0949.jpg
The second pic is an EP shad pattern that does a good job imitating baby crappie as well as shad.

[FishnDave]

Bluegill222...That is a COOL picture of your flies with the shad and baby crappies!

Here's some patterns I've tried over the past week:

The top one is an EP baitfish pattern, tied the way Enrico does his. (I used Congo Hair that had some flash material already mixed into it.)
The 2nd one from the top is also tied with Congo Hair, and is a Max Birnkammer's Stillwater Shad pattern modified with bead-chain eyes.
The middle one is sort of an Arkansas Shad Clouser pattern, with the belly left a bit longer than normal, to help it mimic a shad profile (see Bluegill222's photo above for a good shad picture).
The 2nd from the bottom is a Craft Fur Clouser, tied a bit fuller than I normally do. (This looks ok, but it rolls a bit, so I probably will do these in the future with heaver lead eyes instead of beadchain.)
The bottom one is a white variation of the Fatal Attraction from Ward Bean's website.