Here is a fly that I am tying for the “Fish the Slop” Swap. It is an idea I had thought about for a while and finally got around to tying it last week. It is a weedless floater/diver with the foam body as the weedguard. I have fished it and found it is pretty weedless, but like a soft plastic topwater lure (which is where I really got the idea) you do have to set it really hard to get a good hookup. It dives a little on a straight retrieve, on a jerk strip it sends up a little rooster tail of water rather than a loud pop. I tied it to resemble a swimming frog. I don’t have a name for it because I am not sure that it is a new pattern, that is, it is hard to come up with a fly that someone hasn’t already come up with. In any case, the bass where I fish seem to like it. Any comments or criticisms would be welcome.
Tigfly,
Did you taper the ends of the foam down to a pretty narrow point to get the tie-in/head as small as it is? Has the foam torn there at all? It is a very interesting looking fly and I love the name jcntheriver gave it, the “Peeled Banana”!
Joe
I should have mentioned the recipe.
Hook- Mustad 37189 Wide Gap size 6
Thread- Kevlar
Tail- saddle hackle
Body/Weedguard- 3mm craft foam
Body- crystal chenille medium
So far I found that it takes a good hookset so I use it on a seven weight or eight weight rod with a 9 foot leader tapering to 1x with a loop knot.
It turns over well with this setup and always flips upright if it lands upside down, so it is VERY weedless. The craft foam has just enough stiffness to act as a good weedguard but doesn’t seem to prevent hookups. I haven’t caught more than a few bass on it so far but it doesn’t seem to be any worse for wear. I do taper the foam at both ends with a long tag at the bend that is tied along the shank for a little better flotation, and much wider and shorter tag at the head for a larger head and so the foam weedguard doesn’t spread apart too much when tied in. EPuffer, I don’t think this would be durable enough for pike, they’d probably cut right through the weedguard loops. One or two pike would probably finish this fly!
I am going to try this with 2 mm craft foam but I think it will sink more and become more of a suspender type to fish on a slow sinking line. I am going to try different hooks, colors, and shapes for different applications so it will be fun to work with this. “peeled banana” would be fine name if I only tie this color, actually I was looking for a chartreuse green but this yellow was the closest they had in stock. I also tied it in orange with a gurgler style head but I think that it will catch more weeds that way.
Thanks for everyone’s input on this fly and I am looking forward to hearing what the swappers have to say after fishing it.
I don’t know that you don’t have a fly design that you CAN call your own here. I think it’s pretty unique and can’t say I’ve seen one quite like it before. And I do a lot of reading…
I’d go ahead and name it whatever you decide on! I like it.
Since you asked for input, may I suggest you tie it on a slightly different hook? I’ve used some Gamagatsu (sp??) hooks that were extremely sharp and a bit finer than Mustads for my bass flies. These require less power to get a good hookset and would be my first choice.
Wish I could remember the number off hand (I’m at work now) but if you care I’d post the info when I get home. They’re super hooks…much like the TMC 8089’s in a small(ish) size.
Thanks for sharing this pattern. I’m going to tie up a few for this falls fishing for toothy critters…pike/muskies… even though I agree that they may not last for too many fish. I like the design in that it’s very light and so weedless!
I think you have a unique design that has a lot of potential and could morph into many other patterns. I think you’ve designed a tying “style” like a clouser minnow or gartside gurgler.
I’m going to have to experiment with you design and see how it works. How does your present fly sit in the water? If it sits too low or sinks, why not tie foam tags for front and back tie in points that extend all along the hook shank to increase floatation? I think that extended tags would allow the use of 2mm craft foam possibly reducuing the stiffness if necessary.
It would be interesting to see what others do with your pattern and compare photos & notes.
Jeremy, I definitely would like to know which Gamakatsu hook you would recommend. I know they are super sharp out of the box. I generally sharpen all my hooks after tying but I didn’t this time for whatever reason. Even so, I generally give a good healthy hookset when fishing for largemouth because if you connect with a 5 lber you want to make sure to sink that barb.
Wayneb, I do cut the foam with a long tag at the tail to cover the hookshank about 2/3 of the way and I lightly compress the foam with thread to aloow extra floatation. When fishing it, it sits very low in the water, just like a frog and sort of tail down a little. If you strip it enough to get it to dive a little it does rise slowly back to the top. Because it does sit a little low I have to make sure to clear it to the top before picking it up to cast
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This is what it looks like before tying. The long narrow end is tied first at the tail, and the wider end is tied last at the head. The slit is closer to the tail than the head because any closer to the head will cause the loops to spread out too wide for good weed protection, at least that is what my gut feeling is when I cut it closer to the head end and tied some that way. I just didn’t like the way they looked. I think that Wayneb has a good idea to cut the tail end longer for more flotation. When I tie it to the hookshank I tie it on the hook side of the shank, I guess we call that the bottom side of the shank.
Well, I am planning on giving it another workout this week, so maybe I’ll have some pictures to show in the reports. Probably just jinxed myself for a major skunk!
Tig
I tied up a couple of your flies yesterday and took them out for a test drive this morning
Normally I like to fish where there’s lots of weed. Today where we went I had to look for lillys to try the flies out in. Oh well. :rolleyes:
…I haven’t yet caught a fish on one so I can’t comment on that, but the ‘weedlessness’ is outstanding
I was casting as far as I could into the lilly pads and stripping it back both fast and slow… Never got caught, never really got stuck, even for a second… this is a great design !
I tied one per your recipe, the second I subbed a palmered hackle for the crystal chenile… hope you don’t mind, but I like that one better.
I really like flies that are easy to tie and more effective than what they’re replacing… this is one of them
Good job… and thanks.
Those Gamakatsu hooks that I prefer for my bass fishing are #B-10-S Stinger hooks. Ultra sharp and light so you don’t need a huge haul to set the hook deeply. I also debarb all my hooks.
I also don’t go in for large hooks even for LM bass to 6lbs and typically toss them on a 6wt IMX rod (fast action) overlined w/a 7wt bass taper line.
Dudley, glad to hear you got to tie some up and tried them. How did it cast for you? When I fished it was so windy I had to hug the bank in my canoe so I didn’t really get to let out a cast beyond 40ft. My first impression is that it is easier to cast than waterlogged deerhair bugs. I tied some up in 2mm foam last night and am going to give them a test drive tomorrow evening. I am also going to tie some smaller versions so my fishing partner can cast it on his six weight. The palmered hackle is a good idea, I initially used the large crystal chenille to give a much larger bottom profile and protect the thread covering the foam and tail tie in, but I was trying to keep it as light as possible for the trial run. Did you palmer it heavily and cover the foam tag or reinforce the hackle in any way?
Jeremy, thanks for the info on the Gamakatsu hooks. I will have to try them out. Also thanks for reminding me to go barbless. I always do on my trout flies but for some reason I didn’t do it on this one. I am sure that should really help with the hookset.
I sure am glad I asked for input on this board, because I have already gotten a few ideas for some different versions changing the body and the tail that I never considered. I would be interested in seeing what others might come up with!
Glenn
The flies I tied cast just fine. Probably as well as a gurgler of the same size.
I used size 2 popper hooks, and bent the shaft to open the gap a bit… just about at the point opposite the hook point
I tried one with a stinger hook, but the foam didn’t cover the hook point and it didn’t look like it would float right side up, I so I went with the popper hooks (which I have a ton of)
I palmered heavily over the foam tie-in spot, but did not reinforced.
It’s probably fairly well protected by the foam ‘wings’ anyway
I also added some flashabou between the flaired hackles
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