Tom L Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 Tom's Tom as in Tom's madTom, not the GPS TomTom. As I was toying around with the craft furs for the Shiner pattern, I noticed there were a lot of wasted butt-end trimmings. So I tried to come up with a way to make use of those trimmings. I thought of the woolhead sculpins, but the material did not clinged together as wool. I tried to spin them like deerhairs, but they didn't flared. Then I remembered Harry Murray's Madtom which used a rabbit strip as the tail and a dubbing loop of rabbit fur as the head. So that was how I came up with dubbing loop of craft furs as the head of this Madtom pattern. This fly is quite easy to tye. The tail is made of craft furs and a little bit of flash. The eye is a lead dumpbell eye. The only trick is the head. It is made out of a dubbing loop of craft furs and trimed to shape. The fly can be fished as a madtom, a sculpin or even a baitfish. It swims hook point up like a Clouser. When tied in lighter colors, it becomes a Baitfish Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dodge Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 Those things are sick! Don't you have a restaurant or something to run? Very nice flies, Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gillio Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 Tom, That is a fantastic looking fly. Could you explain the head again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim A Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 Nice little fly, Tom. Very versatile and easy to experiment with different tail materials. John, he is using a dubbing loop for the head. You can google/YouTube this, but basically you leave a long loop of thread hanging off the fly, pull it taught, fill it with your material (in this case the clippings/underfur), and spin it to create a sort of "brush" or fuzzy rope that you can palmer forward just like you would chenille or any other rope-like material. Because this creates a messy fuzzball, Tom has trimmed it into a neater, tighter minnow head taper. I also use a dubbing loop in this pattern (with pics): http://illinoissmall...?showtopic=9662 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim A Posted November 25, 2012 Report Share Posted November 25, 2012 Also check this out for better pics of dubbing loop, this time using craft fur & flash together: http://caseysmartt.com/2010/08/01/tying-the-deadhead-minnow/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rich mc Posted November 26, 2012 Report Share Posted November 26, 2012 thats getting the most out your craft hair patch. great fly. do you like a certain craft hair sampleover another? rich mc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klrbaer Posted November 26, 2012 Report Share Posted November 26, 2012 Very Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike G Posted November 26, 2012 Report Share Posted November 26, 2012 It is great to see what Tom is doing with that free fur besides Float and Flies. It all started with a tip from rich. In case you want to review where to get it, see http://illinoissmall...?showtopic=9958 Tom, thanks for the tip on using that left over fluff in a dubbing loop. Next step is mixing colors in a coffee maker I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom L Posted November 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2012 Terry - Thanks. Coming from you, it meant a lot (I think?). Yep! Still putting in 6 days, 60+ hrs a week. But I don't have to be at work until 11:00am and with 2 hrs lunch breaks, I can get plenty of other things done. Tim - Thanks for posting the info on dubbing loop. John - I hope that help. If you need add'l info, let me know. Rich - All my samples were sparkle furs. They seems to be longest and finest. I really like them. Mike - Blending the leftover trimmings in a blender is a great idea. Thanks again, Mike and Rich for the tip. These free stuffs are fun to tye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gillio Posted November 28, 2012 Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 Thanks guys. Nice info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike G Posted November 28, 2012 Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 Tom, thanks for the tip on using that left over fluff in a dubbing loop. Next step is mixing colors in a coffee maker I guess. Oops! Make that a coffee grinder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom L Posted November 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2012 I'm cooking up a hellgrammite pattern, using craft furs. Almost done. Coming soon..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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