Just for fun, I tied up a real easy fly that the bluegills in our local lake attacked with total abandon! Someone might have already tied something similar to this, but I’ve never seen one. I don’t know how to do pictures, but it’s easy to tie from a description.
Hook: # 12 Dry Fly
Tail: Black Maribou
Body: Black Angora Goat dubbing.
Eyes: Black Bead-Chain
Thread: 3/0 Black Uni-Thread.
All I did was tie a pair of black bead-chain ‘eyes’ to the front of the hook, then went to the bend and tied in a short tuft, not too thick, (1/2 hook shank length) of black maribou for a tail. I finished by dubbing with black Orvis Angora Goat dubbing to right behind the ‘eyes’, then moving the thread to the front of the hook and whip-finishing. I coated the head with head cement. It’s really buggy (nympthy)-looking
I caught fish with almost every cast. Bass as well as gills! I fished it like a nympth. I’m gonna try some other colors in a few days.
Semper Fi!
[This message has been edited by Gigmaster (edited 20 July 2006).]
It is a nymph. Where I live that’s the Damsel nymph we have (close enough for government work ). I tie a size 10 Black Marabou Damsel Nymph . Looks so much like the real thing, the bream don’t know the difference (they take the fly deep).
I would’ve been really surprised if someone hadn’t tried this before. It’s so much easier and quicker to tie than either a Hare’s Ear or Pheasant tail (cheaper too). The fish hit it better, also.
I’m gonna try it for trout Monday. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work just as good on them. The bluegill got positively homicidal over it. They were so aggressive that several would go for it at one time, and actually cause all of them to miss it.
I tried several other patterns just to make sure it wasn’t just an abnormally aggressive mood, but it was the fly. They wouldn’t hardly touch anything else, not even a green sponge-spider or Black Widow.
Semper Fi!
[This message has been edited by Gigmaster (edited 20 July 2006).]
Thanks for the link, Dixieangler. That’s a good looking nympth, but mine is way simpler and more basic. I don’t even put a rib on it (although I might add one). It’s obviously not necesary, but it’s a nice touch.
Mine just has 3 materials. Bead-Chain eyes, maribou and dubbing. That’s it. It’s so simple that it’s weird, but it seems to work.
These things work on trout, too. Yesterday, I tried them in 2 of my regular local streams, Holly Creek and the upper Conasauga River. At Holly creek, I caught 9 rainbows in 1 hour, all around 1-1/2 to 2 lbs (that’s big for around here). I tied up some brown ones and in the Conasauga River I caught 7 native Brown trout in a little over 1-1/2 hours. They ranged from 10"- 25" in length.
I also caught several nice smallmouth bass and lots of generic sunfish as well.
It’s probably small, about the size of a small lamp switch chain (which I think this used to be), or a bit smaller. I’m tying them on a size 12 Dry-Fly hook.
You can get this size and color at Wal-Mart in the Arts and Crafts section, where the jewelry making stuff is, or at Hobby Lobby, in the same place.