Who's tying what?

[Rob G]

Just curious if any of you industrious fly tiers out there have been taking advantage of this colder weather in order to tie up some newer or older patterns and would be willing to share what you've been working on?  Photos are always appreciated and they don't have to be flies intended solely for smallmouth.

Thanks

[michels_benny]

New to this site and fly fishing.  I’m starting out with wooly buggers and backstabbers.  Don’t have pics available but it’s been awesome to practice and learn.  I need to get to some of the local tying events.  

[Ben K.]

I've got my bench in the garage,  with the subzero temps it's been tough to get the motivation lately. I did bring in some simple materials to knock out some mop flys, ray charles, and a couple buggers for a recent driftless trip. I want to tie up a bunch of dahlberg diver/deceiver type stuff but that's messy garage work. What I should be doing is taking a razor to the dozens of hideous flies that I tied not knowing any better, then I'll be stocked up on hooks again.

[John Gillio]

Ben, what size and color of mop flus do you use on the driftless  streams, and have they produced for you?

[Rob G]

2 hours ago, Ben K. said:

What I should be doing is taking a razor to the dozens of hideous flies that I tied not knowing any better, then I'll be stocked up on hooks again.

Ben, I finished doing just that several days ago and reclaimed numerous hooks, or at least the most expensive ones anyway.  I also spent a couple days going thru all my fly boxes and deciding, what worked, what didn't and what do I need to restock.  Once I get those ole' reliables done, then I'll be more likely experimenting with newer patterns and materials.

[Ben K.]

Size 10, tan and brown worked. They were weighted with a small tungsten bead and a short dubbing collar. I run a small float above it and adjusted for depth. They worked well on my last trip. The fly has some size to it and might weed out the fingerling trout I don't enjoy catching, my theory anyway. I think the Mop material has crazy potential for a small mouth fly.

 

[rich mc]

mop flies are crazy popular. there even is a website who makes just mop flies    MOPFLIES.COM     blue has been my best color. for smallmouthyou can use some of the one for the tail and another forthe body longer nubs .i found some longer 1 3/4inch mops at farm n fleet in the truckpart area   .  

[Mike G]

Where did you get blue?

[rich mc]

i got blue at a dollar store    

[Rob G]

Leave it to Rich to find some useful fly tying material in the housewares aisle of your local dollar store.  Btw, there was a fellow tying those mop flies at the Indy show today, almost a burnt orange body with dark brown head.  I have no idea where he came up with that material/color.

[Rob G]

OK Rich, I went over to "We Be Mopflies" and wonder what is the material used for the body, it can't always be mops? Correct?  Is it a thick chenille or yarn, similar to what you make your worms out of.

Edit:  OK, watched a couple Youtubes and see car washing mitts, ha

[Rob G]

On 1/20/2018 at 7:38 AM, Mike G said:

Where did you get blue?

Lowes

Do you need a new mop...... minus a few little nibs?  Maybe you could spread the wealth with all your fly tying buddies or..... the great dilemma>>>>  

"Hey Honey, I bought you a new mop"  This would not go over well in my house,.......deduct x-number of days fishing

[rich mc]

one mop refill and you a few years supply. finding better fly colors require going to many stores.    meiers carries black,  wally world had noodle rugs that are great.  main fiber is microfiber and what makes it easy is the end is factory sealed ,so you put the clipped end by the hook eye or bead.  for its size it displaces alot of water and being soft the fish suck it in easy and hold on to it.

[Mike G]

The First Family of Fly Tying, Al and Gretchen Beatty, did a great article on Mops in Fly Tyer 1-2 years ago. Besides the basic Weenie, they used the material in streamers, buggers, and cadis patterns.

Each nib is a piece of tightly furled chenille. So you could make your own nib out of chenille; or, as I have done, unfurl it to wrap a standard bugger body when I didn't have that color in chenille.

For whatever reason blue really works, as rich said. Matches what hatch?

[Mike G]

Back to the topic.

What I will be tying soon?

Some of these:

Clouser Frogs by Michael Gerharz, on Flickr

Some of these:

Untitled by Michael Gerharz, on Flickr

And maybe some of these:

HSLGDiver by Michael Gerharz, on Flickr

I am not sure if I want to risk a good blockhead body on the experiment. 

[Tom L]

I've been filling my steelhead box.  My typical go-tos; all on tubes: eggs, wooly buggers, stone and wet flies.

[John Gillio]

Very nice !

[Rob G]

Tom, those look really neat. 

Thank you Mike and Tom for posting some photos, just what this thread needed was a dash of color.  I'll post what I've been tying in the next day or so and encourage others to do the same.

Rob

[Rob G]

A sampling of the articulated flies I've been tying.  Adding a couple new colors to the arsenal, and hoping that fluoro. shrimp pink might be the new chartreuse. 

Also, from Timothy's inspiration, an articulated McGinty : )  

[tjtroester]

  I think the shrimp color is spot on for the correct time of the year and the Mcginty colors are close to my heart.  Timothy

[John Gillio]

Very nice Rob. I'm especially liking the pink/white.

[Mike G]

It's called Bubblegum, Bubba. No real man would use a sissy color like pink or shrimp. 

Rob, from your scientific background, would you say that Bubblegum would fade to grey 2-3 ft under water? They say Cajun Red line is invisible under water.

[Rob G]

3 minutes ago, John Gillio said:

I'm especially liking the pink/white.

I have a couple streams nearby that contain suckers that are somewhat light rose in coloration so we'll see. 

I also tied some up in just bright yellow that should be killers for pike but they'll probably tear this fly up. And though we don't have many pike this far south in our streams, I'm spending 2 weeks fishing in northernmost Wisconsin/UP this year where they'll get a shot at them towards evening along the edges of the bullrushes. 

[Mike G]

3 minutes ago, Rob G said:

I have a couple streams nearby that contain suckers that are somewhat light rose in coloration so we'll see. 

I also tied some up in just bright yellow that should be killers for pike but they'll probably tear this fly up. And though we don't have many pike this far south in our streams, I'm spending 2 weeks fishing in northernmost Wisconsin/UP this year where they'll get a shot at them towards evening along the edges of the bullrushes. 

For Musky hounds there is nothing more frustrating than having a Hammer Handle chew up an 10" sucker that was supposed to deliver the wall hanger. I'd use Bucktail for pike to avoid having a 1 fish per fly ratio. 

[Rob G]

Mike,

you're correct in that those teeth will often put an end to a fly quickly so I'm not wasting a lot of time tying up a bunch in yellow.  I generally tie my pike flies up in rabbit, which is tough enough to withstand their abuse.  I think the smallies might be willing to chase that extreme yellow at times, especially in stained water.

As to the red line question, there are several variables involved, the water clarity and amount of dissolved solubles, the amount of ambient light available and most importantly the depth.  As you go deeper into the water column, less of the longer red wavelengths of light are able to penetrate down there in order to be reflected from that line so it can't appear red.  In most cases, that would mean it would take on a much darker color but I'm not sure how the translucency of the material itself would affect the outcome?  but I do know that red solid materials do appear black at lower depths.  This is one reason why UV colors at the other end of the visible spectrum are being touted for lures and fly tying materials.  I do know that in 3 feet of clear water and probably deeper, that enough sunlight is able to penetrate down that far so that the red is very visible.  I have seen this first hand up in northern Wisconsin when a buddy of mine fished that Cajun Red line next to me while we were fishing bedded crappie in 3 to 4 feet of clear water.  I have read reports that often the line doesn't lose its color until even 9 feet down in some cases.  We really need an ISA pool and/or beach party to evaluate these lines and fly tying materials underwater though many or most fish might not perceive the visual spectrum quite the way we do.