Fellow WW Fly Fishers, are we missing something? Deer Hair and Foam Wogs are big in Alaska as a surface fly for salmon and steelhead. This version has foam flippers that may give it a jitter-bug wobble. Has anyone tried these on bass?
Tying instructions:
No, I haven’t tried them, but I think I soon will be 8) . I see no reason why one of those in Chartreuse, or any froggy color shouldn’t waylay the bass, and in smaller sizes, bluegills too.
I think in smaller sizes it would work for gills.
One question: Why not use one length of foam, put a hole in the center of it and then tie the fly? Instead of wrapping two pieces of foam on the hook?
Rick
Very similar to a two lipped version of a Gartside Gurgler that I use for LM Bass. I often use flies originally intended for different applications or species. If they look like they’ll work, they usually do.
Jim Smith
Rick-
no reason I can think of, except using two pieces of foam would let you make two-color versions.
will be tying some in yellow and green, and green and white.
Since I am not the “sharpest tool in the toolshed” why do the tying instructions stress to be careful and not trap any of the marabou in your wrapping as you palmer the marabou up the hook shank when the next step is to tie in some yellow yarn and cover the whole thing?! Then cover that with the foam?! I know I must be missing something here, but, why worry about trapping the marabou if you are just going to cover the whole thing? :?
No reason it won’t catch bass or bluegills.
That being said, so will hundreds of other similar designs. The method used for assembling it seems like a ‘stop gap’ or ‘make do’ for someone who doesn’t want to spend the time to fashion a more finished head from either turned foam or deer hair (neither of which is all that difficult to do).
Personally, I don’t like marabou tails and I’d wonder about tracking both on the water and in the air with those odd little protruberances. Also, that head just looks ‘unfinished’ to me. It was probably designed to look like a floating piece of salmon flesh, and it does seem to look just like that to me.
I don’t see anything that would recommend it over other topwater ‘pusher/popper/gurgler’ type flies, and you can really only tie and fish so many. It’s not like there aren’t already thousands of topwater flies for bass and panfish…
No doubt it will catch fish, but it’s not a revolutionary design, doesn’t look like it will do something ‘different’ on the water, and it’s not even particularly pretty.
Just my opinion, of course, I have been known to be wrong.
Good Luck!
Buddy
Buddy said,
" for someone who doesn’t want to spend the time to fashion a more finished head from either turned foam or deer hair"
Buddy,
Would a more finished head catch more fish? That is to say, is it worth the time to make the more finished head? Foam flies like this one are well established fish getters. There are thounsands of patterns. Bob Clouser uses them precisely because he does not enjoy the process of spinning deer hair and because he finds the flies he fashions by gluing two spider bodies together to form the head equally effective. Now that is only one man, but it is a big man.
Like Clouser I prefer to spent more time fishing and less time spinning deer hair. I welcome these “stop gaps.”
It does look like a good little fly but those little paddles look they could give you a lot of trouble while the fly is in the air if you didn’t get them lined up perfectly. It’s got heliocopter written all over it.
You are a sharper tool than I am. I keyed off of the pictures which show no sign of palmered mirabou. My guess is that that text got in there by mistake when the author based his directions off of another set of directions. He did “cut and paste” but pasted too much into the new directions.
Bear742,
Like you, I would have tied it from the pictures, but, I do like to refer to the instructions to make sure that I am tying it correctly. That part about palmering marabou kind a “threw me a curve”. 
Bear,
I’m with you on the ‘fast and easy’ attributes of foam.
There are hundreds of foam ties that are faster and will do the same job as well or better for bass and panfish.
You can buy ready made foam ‘marshmellos’ at the craft store, tie a tail on the hook, split the ‘mellow’ and glue it on, and catch fish with it. Faster and won’t twist and you can control it better on the water.
The well published and awesome Gartside Gurgler and it’s variations is an easy fly to tie, has a well earned pedigree, and looks nice too.
Joe Blados Crease Flies are as simple, work well, and can be everything from simple to pure artwork on the water.
You can easily and quickly punch out little discs of foam and tie them to a hook for a quick, simple, disc popper or diver. Heck, just wrapping a srtip of foam arund the hook will give you a servicable popper.
I just think that this fly was built to look like a hunk of meat, and that’s what it looks like. While I’m sure that it works great floating down a river waiting for a salmon or steelhead to eat it, the transition to a actively fished warmwater topwater fly requires some attention to the design.
Frankly, I think this fly is ugly. It looks unfinished to me, and I see issues with line twist and how it will work when tension is applied to it when trying to ‘work’ it on the water.
While ‘prettier’ might not catch more fish, there is no evidence that I’m aware of that ‘ugly’ is somehow better either. Put ‘ugly’ together with what seems to be ‘poor design’ and I’ll pass.
Since I can’t fish EVERY fly, I’ll stick with either easy or pretty, or just ‘finished’.
If I ever need a fly that looks like rotting flesh, I will keep this in mind.
Good Luck!
Buddy
Mike,
When I clicked the link to the instructions of the Techno-wog, it explained that it was for Alaska fishing. The fly also has specific instructions for how to fish it.
I think it would be a interesting fly to try.
Do you know anyone in the states that catches fish with it?
Doug 