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Reverse Popper Head to Make a Diver


Mike G

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"Anybody listening who?" 

I see both Holschlag and Clouser reverse their popper heads to create divers.

Holschlag

28002270489_36bb64f961_o.jpgHSLGDiver by Michael Gerharz, on Flickr

http://smallmouthangler.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2543_B_sliding-Diver-2-colors-smallmouth-bass-fishing-fly_800.jpg

Clouser

39077131551_007c4e9c3c_o.jpgClouserEZcrop by Michael Gerharz, on Flickr

39068427314_da274798c1_o.jpgUntitled by Michael Gerharz, on Flickr

Anybody doing this?

 

 

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Mike, 

I know there are those that swear by Sneaky Petes which has long had a reverse popper head design but I didn't see any improvement vs. standard popper designs.  I once purchased some foam Dahlberg Diver design heads (as below) which didn't function as I had hoped.  They simply didn't dive or break the water surface much at all.  The foam is just too buoyant.  I am betting that the designs you posted above will behave similarly.  Spun deer hair seems to have a more neutral buoyancy for what I like to achieve.  On the other hand, your desired action and results might be very different from mine.

Rob   

Rainys-Diver-Heads.jpg  

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Thanks Rob. Consider me doodley warned that that design does not perform as advertised. On the other hand, Holschlag features his design in his book and sells it on his site. Clouser sells both finished divers ($4.00 +) and the bodies on his site. One bad apple...

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I found the same thing, way too buoyant with a floating line. It would be interesting to experiment with a sink tip? I tied up some really big nasty jointed pike flies with foam diving heads that I'm going to try a heavy sink tip out with.

 

 

 

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Beads are plastic...................You use a sink tip as the action of this fly under the water on the strip is very erratic.  This fly is NOT intended to be fished on the surface.  The foam diver head causes the fly to "juke and jive" all over the place.............and the idea that the fly is articulated helps the action as well......................gotta see it in the water.  Rich..........thanks for your reply.

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Thank you asherman for those links to the Stealth Bomber and your positive review.  In fact, I think we are going to spend some time at:

this Sunday's Central IL Fly Tyers Gathering at 1:30pm at the Bloomington Fire Station on Hamilton Road  (shameless plug) 

and work on tying some of those.  I've got plenty of 2mm sheets of various colored foam and will print out those tracing patterns, and I know we have a lot of tailing and finishing materials as well.  I'm intrigued with the fact that it is supposed to dive and want to see for myself if that open space does actually capture an air bubble as well.  

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Al, you really leaked a secret here. Kent Edmonds' Stealth Bomber is a seriously underrated pattern that can be scaled from #10 trout to 3/0 saltwater. 

Rob, you will find it is a true 3-way bug--slider, diver, popper. Fish it slow as a slider. On a firm 10-20" strip it will dive and flutter up on the pause. A hard twitch will make it pop. You can also fish it with a full sink line a la Graham and Galloup.

It is a great way to make a diver without having to mess with deer hair. I prefer to use Edmonds' original Y shaped cutout on my flies leaving the collar long. I have found that a relative sparse dressing works best. Bulky materials like rabbit strips or thick chenille keep the head from doing its thing.

My favorite version is a hackle streamer. Red thread body. The tail is four feathers flared out. It has silicon rubber strands for gills. It is a little over 3" long tied on a #2 Mustad 3366. The pictures that I had were lost in the Photobucket Disaster. I found one with it grouped with my 3 other favorite flies of all times. Ugly flies catch more fish. Rob I hope your session goes well.

 

39893147672_14a301caa5_o.jpg20120311_9 by Michael Gerharz, on Flickr

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Mike, you'll have to give us some guidelines for that stealth Zoo Cougar. 

Btw, like Rich, the first Stealth Bomber I ever saw was Mike's contribution to our Topwater Fly Swap back in 2014.  I never had a chance to fish it since I was forced to give up my collection of flies to a late comer of that swap.  I tied up one today and I like the way it sits down in the surface film.  I could see how you might get this one to dive and juke, but the proof's in the puddin'. 

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In the past couple of years I have been using leaders that sink slowly,  like Airflo intermediate Poly Leaders or Feathercraft furled fluorocarbon leaders.  In addition to working well with weighted flies, they work great with any floating/diving fly like the Stealth Bomber. The leader is not heavy enough to sink a bouyant fly when sitting still but the leader keeps the tippit under water enough to make it easy to get the fly to dive and make the blurping sound.  You can change the behavior of the fly by switching between mono and fluorocarbon tippit.

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