Bendbacks (?)

Fishing Warm water Forum
1

Whew…its a HOT one out there today!

A coworker and I flyfished a local pond during lunch today.

I had a new (to me) style (“bendback”) of fly I had tied up and wanted to try out. I’ve seen these for years, I just had not ever tied one up. And I didn’t like the way some were bent, because they looked like they wouldn’t do a good job of hooking the fish. So…maybe what I’ve tied really aren’t “bendbacks”? But they work along the same principles

The first ones I tied on #8 “Special Use” hooks I use for my bass poppers:

I wanted something bigger as well, so I went to Sportsmans Warehouse yesterday during lunch and bought some 2/0 bass worm hooks in two styles…and manufactured by Owner and Gamakatsu. I tied up a couple of these larger ones last night.

The theory behind these is they will ride hook-point-up, and the materials also somewhat (marginally) help protect the hook point from fouling on weeds. Tinsel or other material wrapped around the hookshank gives the illusion of a deeper-bodied baitfish.

Yesterday’s 3" deluge of rain had the water level up and stained. Anyway, I already had a Blockhead Popper tied on my line, so I used it as I covered 1/2 the pond. I caught one fish. With just 5 minutes left, I switched to one of the #8 Bendbacks (the white one with purple flash), and re-worked just one short piece of shoreline on my way out. I caught 3 bass, and missed bluegills and a decent Hybrid Sunfish. That is pretty great for this particular pond! The bass were all small…<12". I took a picture of the first one, even though it wasn’t the biggest.

I’m calling the trial a big success! I’m gonna have to tie up some more…

2

Bendback streamers do not need to be that drastic. Simply bending the very front portion of a hook a few degrees and tying the fly upside down is sufficient. I sometimes hide a strand of heavy mono or light wire under the wing to make them even more snag resistant. Despite being a pain to tie I am fond of a bendback Matuka with the hook point buried in the wing.

3

That’s a good idea about the mono or wire. I’ve also considered tying in a strip of foam under (or over) the wing that reaches nearly to the hook point…for versions I want to keep near the surface over the shallow weedbeds. But so far I am very pleased with the results.
I haven’t bent any of the hooks yet. The bass worm-style hooks already have that bend in them, and for my other hooks, I just put some thread wraps around and behind the bucktail to help it stick out towards the hook point.

4

Dave, the term bendback refers to the bending of the hook but as you have discovered just tying the fly upside down will work with fairly bulky materials like bucktail. It is less successful with marabou or feather streamers. If you don’t want to bend the hook for such materials you can tie a piece of lead wire on top of the hook so center of gravity of the hook is above the shank.

5

i have used bend backs with good success in both saltwater and warm water when an unweighted fly is warranted. By the way nice looking flies

6

A couple Hybrid Sunfish liked the pattern as well:

7

Nice fish!