BIKINI HOPPER POPPER
Bass particularly like a noisy fly. Some simple experimentation produced a modification of a very successful panfish fly that now manages to move an astounding amount of water with the slightest tug retrieve. The advantage to this fly is that it takes just a couple of minutes (literally) to tie once you have the components assembled.
Materials:
To make this fly you want to start with the Bikini Spider pattern found at: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/fotw/2011/fotw20110314.php.
You will also need the following:
l Foam Sheets – 1.5mm 4"x6" found at the Dollar Tree (this is the only store I have found that sells 1.5mm foam and a pack of 32 sheets costs $1.)
l Paper Shapers 3/4" round punch found at Michael's (this punch fits over the 1.5mm foam – but no larger – and produces just the right size hood) for $9.
- Make a Bikini Spider. The foam sheets come in only six colors (blue, orange, pink, yellow, green and red) so you should make that a consideration when choosing colors for your spider.
- Punch out a circle of foam using the punch. You can also cut out circles by hand.
- Fold the circle of foam in half and cut at a diagonal so that it makes a shape like a guitar pick.
- Put CA glue on the top of the head of the spider (optional).
- Lay the cut shape on top of the spider creating a hood over the head.
- Make 3-4 wraps of thread in the same location where you segmented the body of the spider and whip finish.
Practical Aspects:
These flies are very easy to tie.
Consistency of shape and size is up to the tyer. The ten flies shown in this picture are not identical or perfect, but were assembled in 20 minutes (total). All will catch fish.
These flies are cheap to tie. The sheet foam is $1 (which is a lifetime supply for most tyers). The punch is convenient, but not mandatory. Assuming you eventually tie 100 flies, it equals to 9 cents per fly. The hooks used are Mustad 3261 cricket hooks which cost $5/100 from www.jannsnetcraft.com. Rubber legs are also from Janns. I buy the sampler pack that has 10 colors of legs (1" wide strips 1' long – enough for a thousand flies) for $4.25.
For more great info, check out:
Beginning Fly Tying | Intermediate Fly Tying | Advanced Fly Tying.