I’ve had great success over the years with ‘bushy’, ‘shaggy’, or ‘messy’ flies. Those tied with dubbing loops and shaggy dubbing blends. Hare’s ears and other bushy patterns have been very productive.
Lately one of my ‘go-to’ patterns has been a simple version of a leech pattern tied with the ‘Arizona Semi Seal’ dubbing material. It’s a long fibered mateial with a bit of flash blendd into it. Simple pattern, basically a copper wire dubbing loop with the dubbing in it wound onto the hook, then teased out and stroked back with a wire brush.
I’ve caught lots of fish on this pattern: bass, pike, walleye, several species or trout.
I had an interesting ‘experience’ with this pattern this summer, fishing on a reservoir in SW Colorado that’s home to some very large pike, some huge browns and rainbows, and a decent population of smallmouth bass.
I caught a couple of decent bass on my semi seal leech. Then I hooked a trout. I landed it, and found, after landing the fish, that the hook point had broken off. Actually, most of the bend itself was ‘gone’ from the fly. I either broke it off while unhooking the previous bass or somehow struck it on something that snapped the hook off.
In any event, I was able to land the trout that hit because the tangle of the dubbed Az. Semi Seal had snarled itself in the trouts teeth. Sort of like Velcro.
In the past, I’d noticed that the pattern tangled a bit with the teeth of fish, especially pike, but it was never ‘stuck’ to the point where it wasn’t easy to remove once the hook point was backed out of the fish.
So, what I got to thinking was does this ability to ‘stick’ or ‘velcro’ with the teeth (or other sharp or protruding areas) on a fish add to the patterns effectiveness? Do I miss fewer fish because of this? Does this factor cause the fish to be unable to ‘let go’ as quickly, giving me a better chance to feel the fish and set the hook?
Do other shaggy patterns take advantage of this? Do most dubbing procedures produce at least a bit of this ‘velcro’ factor?
And, is it ‘okay’ or ‘ethical’ to tie a fly that will take advantage of this?
No judgement from me on this. I’m just curious what you all think about the concept.
Good luck!
Buddy