Been tying these up to use either for pan fish or trout.
The color patterns look great, thanks for sharing.
Have only tied a few of these mostly for experimentation, but I’m curious are you folks tapering the mop strands with scissors? The reason I ask is the only ones I’ve found so far (i.e. car wash mitts) are pretty thick. I realize that there are other sources, but was curious because of some of the photos I’ve seen it looks like some tiers are stylizing their mop flies. TIA.
I like the mop flies with the foam heads. Thanks for that idea. Mop flies are so versatile. Adios Philip
I don’t stylize my mop flies. I think the “natural” taper of the piece is one the reasons they’re so effective. The flies in the pictures are tied with pieces from car wash mitts that I picked up in a local auto store(Pep Boys). That’s the actual size of the mop piece on them. I’ve been able to find them in chartreuse, pale yellow/cream and gray. The rest of the colors are either dyed or colored with a permanent marker. They’re the only thin ones I’ve found. I’ve found them in four sizes. Mini-mops, about a 1/2 inch long with a thin diameter, short mops, about a 1/2 inch long and as thick as a “standard” mop piece, pieces about 1 to 1 1/4 inch and large, pieces 1 1/2 to 2 inches long.
Those I’m going use for bass and I also plan to tie them with a foam head.
This is the prototype of how I plan to tie them.
We may need to start a “Mop Fly” area here! I love them!
Mike
Finished putting together my mini-mop box and my trout/panfish crossover box. Still have a few to tie for my bass box.
What sizes are you tying these in? Snow, ice and crud today, so a good time to tie more!
Mike
The mini-mops are tied on size 10 hooks. The bead heads are on Gamakatsu bonefish hooks and the floating ones are tied on Gamakatsu B10S stinger hooks. The short stubby ones are tied on size 8 hooks, again on the bonefish hooks. the medium size ones are on size 6 bonefish hooks. For some reason I brought 25 packs of each size years ago and it was a chance to use them up. The large ones. The bead heads are tied on a size 4 Allen hook, I want to say a Caddis pupae hook, that I picked up at the last International Fly Fishing show I went to for $2. The floating ones are on size 4 Gamakatsu B10S stinger hooks. The bass ones are or will be tied on Size 2 B10S stinger hook.
Thanks,
Mike