Here is an order of flies I just got done with. Thought some of you that fly fish may enjoy seeing these. So what do you think?
Skip
Crappie Candy Flies…
Poppers…
Woolly Buggers…
Skip -
VERY nice.
I especially like the poppers. Don’t fish those kinds of flies ( except buggers, of course ) up here in the Intermountain West, so it is a real treat to get to see what a lot of the other folks are talking about, assuming we all know what they mean !!
Thanks.
John
I think your flies are very cool. How did you get the polka dots to look so uniform in appearance?
Very Nice Skip. 
Hi Skip,
I believe those flies should provide you with a good assortment of fish. I can’t, of course, give you a full critic from just a picture. I will require half a dozen of each pattern and each color in order to conduct a complete evaluation. 8T
Sweet! You do excellent work. How are you at baking bread?:p:p
Joe
Super flies!!!
I really enjoyed the poppers.
Have a great day,
chris
Nice ties! Skip, what do you use for hackle on your buggers? 3 of those look like marabou hackle?
FishnDave, I used several different ones because of what I had to work with by color. I used a hackle off a cape for at lease one and I used saddle hackle for some and one I used a long neck hackle that looked more like a saddle hackle. Actually I think when I bought that bag of hackle they probably put the wrong feathers in it, because I have another bag with neck hackle it that color that is about 1/2 the length of that batch. So no marabou except for the tails.
kelkay, I use drill bits for making round dots and eyes. I keep an assortment of bits that have a flat end (not all drill bits have a flat end) of several sizes just for painting them.
Thanks guys I really appreciate the kind comments!
Skip
Skip,
Seriously nice flies man!! I also especially liked those poppers. Too dang good to toss at my bass…
These are very nice!
Jeremy.
I’d buy 'em. Very well done!
Eric
Hey Skip,
I really like those crappie candy flies. How do you tie those??? Thanks.
-Rob
Hi Rob,
Go to the home page and type in Crappie Candy in the search window and the page that comes up the first line will be Al Campbell’s Crappie Candy. That is where I got it and since I have 4 colors of the FL Wool I can tie it in 4 colors.
Oh heck here is the link, LOL!
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/052801fotw.php
Skip
wow those are great! I make the top clouser style ones myself!
I like those Crappie Candy flies! Personally, I tie them with a shorter tail to catch the nibblers honest. Might want to take that into consideration, but I’m sure they will work brilliantly either way!
Really nice ties and craftsmanship, Skip. Love those 'Buggers.
Thank you guys!
quivira kid, I have to say this about long and short tails. You are not the first person that has talked to me about shorter tails, but I have my own thoughts on that.
First a crappie has a big mouth and don’t have any trouble taking the entire bait. I was fishing spring of 2007 and found some crappie holding in 2’ of water in a small spot. I was using a Road Runner with a pretty long marabou tail (much longer than these flies) and I could watch them come up to take that jig and didn’t have any trouble. It was great and no nibblers in that pack.
Other than that I have a guide friend that likes to tie his jig with extra select craft fur and ties them using the full length of craft fur with no problems with short strikes at all.
I know some fish will short strike, even bass, but for the most part when they want that bait they will take the entire thing in their mouth very easy. All the tails I am talking about are much longer than the crappie candy flies I tied here. I have considered the short tail think may times and if a customer wants a short tail all they need to is tell me and I will tie what they want. If it’s mine the tail will not be short and if they just order with out telling me anything I will tie them as if they were for me.
I do appreciate your input though and please don’t take me wrong It is not a 100% thing with me that everything I tie has a long tail, but these Crappie Candy Flies are a #8 and not all that long even for a short striking crappie with a big old mouth. Now we have some pretty good size crappie here and maybe that would make a difference, but I don’t know that. 12" crappie here is a normal fish and I catch a lot of 15" crappie and at least a few time a year I get some 17". Just my opinion here though.
I have had customers trying to copy some jig they had and maybe can’t get any longer tell me exactly how they want it. Tied some Buck tail jig for a guy that wanted the entire jig no more than 2" long and he was very happy with what he got. He did need to tell me that though as I wouldn’t normally have made them that short.
Thanks,
Skip
Skip,
Really nicely done. I’m particularly impressed with the poppers, excellent! As far as tails being too long, I’ve found it’s pretty easy in the field to shorten the tail of a fly if the fish are just nipping at it. Really pretty hard to make one longer! Keep 'em long and trim them when you’re fishing if it’s needed!
Greetings to all…This is my first post, as I was just admitted to this site last night. Site was recommended by Skip, the tyer of the flies shown in this thread…The flies shown were tied for me, and as I told him, the pics don’t lie. I received them this past Sat. and from what I can tell the workmanship is excellent!!! Of course I have not tried them out, but intend to do so Tues. morning…One note: This is my first dealings with Skip, and I would not hesitate to refer him to anyone interested in his services. Find him to be open, and very responsive to any questions or concerns (None so far) one may have about his work. He appears to take pride in what he creates, and his desires to please his customers really shows.
Sorry for being so long in my initial post, but could not help but brag a little on these flies. ( Hope the fish feel the same way)
MIke
Good to see you made it here Mike and I am sure you will like this web site. Some really good people here and very helpful too.
I most appreciate the kind words from you about my work.
Thank You so much,
Skip