I still wonder why so many fly anglers still use foam and yarn ball bobbers when nymph fishing, when you can just as easily use a foam salmon fly or foam hopper indicator…that catches fish. Makes no sense at first glance. And at second and third glance even less sense.
OK. Some traditionalists won’t use an indicator at all. I respect that attitude–although I obviously don’t follow it. What I don’t understand is using a pink foam bobber that does not include a hook, when you could just as easily use a fat unsinkable fly that (for me) almost always ends up catching the fish of the day.
In recent seasons I’ve been experimenting with ever bigger foam salmon flies, so I can fish them as a bobber for ever larger and heavier nymphs and streamers. How big is too big I began to wonder? I haven’t found that answer yet.
I fished an un-named Montana river today, that still hasn’t completely cleared up from spring runoff. At one point this morning I had a 2-1/2" long behemoth salmon fly in front of a long and heavily weighted black leech. And a 22" long hog fat hump shouldered mean-snouted brown took the salmon fly. Now that was a fish. He cleared the water three or four times before bulldogging down into the current, falling flat on his side like a splashing porpoise each time. I caught several other smaller fish on that fly too. The fish were on the bite today. At least until 2:00 this afternoon. And then it shut off like a light switch. But when the bite was on the giant dry fly was what they hit the most often. I caught one 15" brown that regurgitated a 4 inch leech in the net. But it was the almost three inch long salmon fly that got him to the net.
I’m going back out there again soon. And next time I’m going to fish some real bass poppers. Frog spots and all. There really is no difference between a popper and what I fished with so much success today. A made for bass popper will do just as well. I’m sure of it. And that’s something you don’t hear much about in the cold water context. I’m still smiling. What is a brown trout popper anyway? The (Big) Brown Bopper?
Real female salmon flies are about 1-7/8" long. The photo below is a foam salmon fly a tad less than two inches long. The fly I used today (that wacked’em big time) was bigger than natural. A good 2-1/2" long. This in a stretch of river that might have seen a smattering of flies two week ago. But no chance of one today. I’ve netted big browns on October on these flies too. They seldom catch the most fish (today was an odd exception). But they almost always catch the biggest one of the day.
Two reasons I can think of not to use a fly and dropper; 1. it is not a traditional method (I know a “traditional cast” of flies may have up to five flies but, the Victorian era traditional method of a single fisher, single hook, single fish appeals to many of us.) 2. Multiple hook rigs are illegal in some locations.
Having said that, very nice fly! How about a materials list or step by step?
Some years ago I took a friend fly fishing for the first time. At that time his situation wouldn’t permit him to engage properly in the sport. Over the intervening years his situation has changed and he has come into the sport. For the last three years I’ve been fishing with him most weeks during the season. It has been an eye opener for me to see his development. He has none of the hangups I have gained over the years. He would fish your super large indicator fly without a second thought. And look at those who might shy away askance.
Recently he has discovered that a particular wet fly I tied works very well on larger hooks. Normally I would tie it on standard size 10 and 12 wet fly hooks. Now I’m having to tie them on Mustad R90s in size 6 for him, and thats only because the materials used will not tie a larger version.
The only reason I can see for using an indicator, rather than a fly like yours, is if the water had a single fly rule (which is not uncommon here). It is certainly what I do. Though “large” is a relative term. On the rivers I fish it is often a size 10 Humpy. Which is twice the size of most of the flies. That probably equates to your large salmon fly on your waters.
Cheers,
A.
Bill Hauk asked for a materials list.
The body (on the fly above) is made from 2lbs per cubic foot closed cell EVA foam. Cut from a 1/4 inch thick slab of foam.
That foam is difficult to find. Some day I’ll find a retail source. Trouble is I don’t look for it much, because I still have a 5 lifetime supply. I originally boat a bunch of it for making boat seat cusions. It is far lighter than any foam sold in fly tying shops. You have to tie it on loosely with flat nylon (so it doesn’t cut through the foam) and then finish up by gluing it as a last step. CA glue is the most convenient. Evazote (brand) foam is the closest thing. But Evazote is 4lbs per cubic foot–twice as dense. Twice as heavy. Ultra light foam really does make a huge difference.
Elk hair wing. Silcone rubberlegs. Orange thread. I tie the body on a horizontal #12 (ultra thin) beading needle. And then mount it on the hook.
In situations where I know it’s going to be a “nymph day”, and have no expectations of seeing anything on the surface I tend to focus on the task at hand. I will be constantly changing patterns and especially depths. In those cases, a Thing-a-ma-bobber that relocates easilly is the most functional for me. But I agree…why not fish a fly when it fits.
… on whether I can realistically expect to catch a good proportion of fishies on both the dry and the trailing wet / nymph.
If a fair proportion of the fish eat the dry, I’ll stick with the combination. If not, I’ll simplify things and go to a thingamabobber.
For the most part, on the waters I fish in this part of Montana and over in Northern Idaho, things are a bit more defined by time of year. During the winter, there is no probability that a fish will come up for a dry so it is all nymph fishing. From spring through fall, the dry fly fishing is so good it makes no sense to complicate things with a trailing fly.
John
P.S. I am curious whether anyone actually fishes for trout with bass poppers, and if so, under what conditions.
John…I have fished for and caught many trout on both bluegill poppers and mid-size deer hair bugs. On bigger waters, and especially water where there is a mixed bag of trout and smallmouth, a smaller popper can be deadly for both. I have never purposefully fished for trout with a large-sized bass popper…but deer hair bugs in the #6-10 range can be very effective.
Remember…a foam Cicada or Salmonfly pattern ain’t much different than a bass bug.
OK. The “relocatable” part does make sense. Good sense. I admit. I am working on a relocatable bobber hopper. I posted about that a few months ago. I bought a bag of foam bobber pins. But I have not yet succeeded in finding the right sized tubing.
I ran into a buddy last night. We watched the NBA finals game. He owns a 50 acre ranchette on the XXXX river where I was fishing yesterday. He said his (real rancher) neighbor likes to float the river on late summer evenings. He fishes a bait casting rod and big plastic Hula Poppers. And catches unusually large brown trout. I’m not a purist (you can tell). I’ll fish with almost anything, as long as I’m flinging it with a fly rod. Hula Poppers are too heavy for a fly rod. But you could tie up something that size that was also a lot lighter. Foam or Deer hair maybe. Evening mouse pattern fishing has been coming back in style around here, last few years. I might have to tie up a flat-fronted mouse that gurgles some too. Late evening fishing intuitively sounds like the right time for trout poppers. But I DID have very good fishing yesterday morning, in bright sun, until a little after noon. Using gargantuan salmon fly imitations.
The mouse thing is already on my “to do” list for this summer. Need to learn more about “popper” style flies.
I started fishing a little after noon yesterday and fished until late afternoon under clear skies and a bright sun and did quite well with a normal ( for me ) size salmonfly dry. Of course, as usual, I was fishing for nearsighted, colorblind, dumb, and starving fishies, a number of which were also willing to eat the smaller golden stone I used for the first time this year.
That’s the stuff alright. They don’t say anything about color. I have gray, yellow, orange and white. I wish I had grasshopper tan and green drake olive. I’ll have to give them a call. Good work. Although they sure aren’t cheap at six bucks or so for a square foot.
I got 4 foot by 4 pieces 20 years ago, for about ten bucks each, from Industrial Wholesale in Seattle. They were reluctant to fill my order. They’re wholesale only and have no interest in one time sales. They want to set up net 30 credit and expect a monthly order.
The salesman then also mentioned a polyethelene closed cell foam at 2lbs per cubic foot. EVA is elylene vinyl acetate.
Amazon has…Fiskars 9421 Large Ultra Light Kneeling Cushion…that is 3/4" EVA and ultra light may mean 2 #…looks like a light green…and another thread recently mentioned Home Depot.
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Couldn’t you turn the yellow into hopper tan with a couple swipes of a waterproof brown marking pen ?? and the gray into green drake olive with a dark brown or olive marker ?? Most of the green drakes that I see around here have pretty dark bodies - dark enough that I would tie them in black if I didn’t have olive material that gets really dark when wet.
Second question. Have you tried using a fairly wide strip of thin flexible material at the tie in point of the foam to protect it from being cut by the tying thread ?? instead of using the method of building them on a needle and then gluing the body to the hook ?? When I was looking at the material on Jesse’s linked thread ( McMaster ) that possibility, using a strip of thin skin or winging material or larva lace or something like that, immediately came to mind. Curious what your thoughts are ??
EVA is the stuff they make a lot of running shoe midsoles from, my first foam poppers were from 500 mile+ Nike Pegasus running shoes, the stuff is some kind of tough. It is fine textured also, very smooth. Cheaper running shoes like my old Jazz 2000 had midsoles of slab EVA, coarser grain, but very workable.
