Stuart_Van_Dorn

Hi Josh, Nice fly, there is a technique that you can use to make a nice diving collar. From the hardware store buy a section of small clear plastic tubing with a diameter small enough to cover the wing of the fly. Cut a section about 3/4" inch long and cut a slot in the bottom. After tying the wing in, slide the tube over and spin hair on to form the collar and head. Shape the head and then using the tube as a guide, trim around it to form a round even collar. The tubing will act as a guide and protect the wing. This makes it easier to form a symmetrical collar.

Schedule is open. Might just make it, clear me a spot. Stuart

Interesting question Matt, but the answer isn't as clear cut as you might think. It's like asking is a fly with eyes more effective than one without? Some will say yes, some will say it doesn't matter. What makes a clouser effective is its action in the water. What makes marabou jigs work is the flowing action of the marabou coupled with the action. I had good success with a number of bullet head flies this year, floating and weighted, such as the thunder creek series for minnow patterns and a bullet headed tarantula for top water. Yet, I also had a number of fish on clousers, sparkle minnows and craft fur minnows. So my personal list of smallmouth bass flies is divided more by depth in the water column than by neck or no neck. My llist looks like this: top water: Jude bug, tarantula, hard poppers and tarantulas. Subsurface: damsel muddler, craft fur-unweighted, and mini dahlburg divers. Bottom flies: clouser minnows, weighted craft fur minnows, crayfish and leech patterns. There are more, but these are the basics. So what works best? Ask a 100 tiers and you'll have a 100 different answers. The best answer is to do some research and find out what the forage base is for the water you're going to fish and bring or tie flies accordingly. For instance, the Turtle River has creek chubs, so a black and white clouser with pink flashabou works quite well. Or if a river is loaded with crayfish or hellgrammites, use those patterns. So I know this isn't an A is a better choice than B, because both styles, in the right place at the right time, perfect.

Dear Tom, Thanks for your input on the Three Point Grip. Without seeing exactly how you are applying the Three Point, I have no way to give you an evaluation of your findings. But, let me make a few notes for you that could help. Lee Wulff said that the Three Point Grip was the strongest way to hold the fly rod, and he used it specifically with his big glass tarpon rods. I use it with all my rods, 2 wt through 12 without any difficulties. I have noticed, when I’ve taught casting classes, that often times the students have trouble because they hold the rod too much in the palm of the hand. The rod should be held in the cupped fingers of the rod hand so that the thumb makes a 30 to 45 degree angle with the rod handle. The rod should rest up against the bottom edge of the heel of the hand. With the rod in this position, one can use either the Trigger Finger Grip or simply move the index finger up to touch the side of the handle to create the Three Point Grip. Have a close look at the photos that accompany the article, and note the angles that the thumb and index finger makes with the rod handle. If the Three Point Grip still gives you trouble, then stick with the Trigger Finger Grip. It’s a very solid grip—I used it for many years. It positions the middle bone of the index finger on the side of the handle. As I noted above, the only real difference between the Trigger Finger Grip and the Three Point Grip is that the end of the index finger is moved up to the side of the rod handle. Gary Borger

Best way I've found to tie this is to tie in top, bottom, left and then right. The term, do not crowd the eye, has never been more true than with this fly. So allow a lot of room for the head and if you move your tying thread to just behind the hook eye and wrap backwards, you'll find that the rubber legs will not spread forward. I then use a marker to color the GSP and then you can paint eyes on like Tom Nixon did, or use stick on eyes, like I do. I then hit it with a coating of softex or epoxy if you want. Hope this helps..

Hi Rich, The Calcasieu pig boat can be tied in a number of sizes and ways. A couple of tricks...when you put the legs on, use the ones that come in bunches and strip a section that is 5-8 strands wide but don't separate the strands. Cut your tie in part to a point and then tie them in, top, bottom, left, right etc...to wrap around the hook. Also I use gsp and it holds the rubber to the hook. I tie them in a number of sizes on either 8089's or a similar bass hook. The smallest I tie is a size 10 up to a 2/0 stinger hook. You can do a number of things for a tail and here's a short list of stuff that I have strapped o the back: long hackles, rubber legs, fly twister tails, flashabou, or nothing. So almost any kind of tail material can be added. Best colors have been all over the board. White works, black works, black and white works...yellow is pretty, what I do use is large red chenille for the color behind the legs, Kind of a gill thing. I also like to put eyes on mine and coat the head with flexament or something similar. So there's a number of things that can be done with the pigboat. The trick is to remember to make a good collar of chenille so that it flares the legs out and when you strip it in the water it has a lot of movement. If you can get a copy of Tom Nixon's book, Flies for Bass and Panfish, he's got a number of variations on this fly. Hope this helps... Stuart

I doubt that after reading all these posts that fly fishing is far from dying. It, like all outdoor activities is suffering from a decline, not just financial but as has been noted, cultural. You could always buy low cost fly fishing gear, even now there are fine rods and reels available for less than "premium" gear. However as someone who fishes almost exclusively with a fly rod I find it fascinating that I meet bass guys who complain about the cost of fly rods while they seem to have no trouble paying a small chunk of change for a Lucky Craft lure, or a titanium double spinner bait. Oh and when was the last time you saw a Shimano Calcutta for $35? And I have fished with guys who own, oh I don't four or five. And of course the Diawa SS tournament reel...and has anyone bought a St. Croix or Loomis rod recently? You can't buy premium rods for $50, $100 and I will debate anyone on this forum about the difference between by Winston Tom Morgan Favorite 4wt and any $200 4wt fly rod you find. I have been fly fishing since I was 7, I am 61. i have worked in fly shops, bait and tackle stores and there is always a difference between the high price gear and the entry level stuff. Any musky fisherman out there? You get that new Diawa reel, that new one pice 9" rod, and some of those crank baits and buck tails? Show me your receipts! Fly fishing was here a long time ago. It's a little like bluegrass music, for a long time everyone predicted that it had died, but it wasn't. It was kept alive by a group of dedicated guys who loved the music. And every once in awhile it gets a shot in the arm and cruises out front, then it fades to jams in church halls and local taverns. It too has premium instruments, a pro end banjo costs about $3500 and up. Guitars and mandolins are the same. So it will be with fly fishing. We waste our time asking will it go the way of the dinosaurs. Instead we should be visiting the local fly shop, organizing tying groups, encouraging the young kids to sit and tie a fly, to cast fly rod, to be on the water having fun. Make a few more diehard fans of this most difficult way but fun to fish. I'm not saying it's better or worse, I'm simply saying it's a another way to present a lure, one that you can make yourself, and when you make that perfect loop, when the line rolls out through the air in a graceful arc, carrying with it a fly that you tied the night before, and then it lands and you animate it back and then some fish just slams it and you set the hook and that rod thumps and your heart jumps, that's what it's about. I prefer fly rods. I have seen this cycle before and I don't worry. I don't debate the issue of premium versus economical gear, just as I wouldn't debate the merits between a Ferrari and a Toyota MR2. Both sports cars, both do the same thing, but have leather seats but when you sit behind the wheel of a 308 Dino...the world is a whole new place. Now, it isn't that you won't have fun with your Toyota, it's just on a different level. So let's stop the idea that what we want is $100 premium rod at a Walmart price. And yes you can buy good gear in lower range priced group. Cortland gets slammed in the midwest but they make a decent rod and I have cast a number of them. St. Croix builds a nice rod. Reddington, Temple Fork, need I go on? Cabela makes a nice series of fly rods and you can find rods on sale at Bass Pro. Fly shops might not be your cup of tea but they are important to the sport and so I continue to visit them, throw a rod, check out lines and new gear, and yep, buy stuff there, drink coffee and shoot the breeze there, tie flies there and in general, have a good time at the fly shop. If you don't want to buy premium rods, don't, go buy what you can afford or save to buy that high end rod. But don't say that they're charging too much, or saying that they're going extinct, it might make for a good discussion but wouldn't it be better if we spent our time wondering if our waters are going to be polluted and the fish die? If we worked on clearing streams, reporting polluters and caring for our natural resources? These are worthwhile discussion topics, and while it's fun to engage in this fun discussion but the fly fishing industry is fine, I've been to Montana and no one is freaking out, Italy is having a renaissance in fly tying and fishing, Scotland isn't worried, and the French are having a wonderful time re discovering their streams and rivers. So is dying? An emphatic no is the answer. It's very alive and while it' suffering as every one is in these tough times, it's doing okay, and we'd do okay to support our local fly shops. Teach a kid to cast. And an answer to pro bass fishing with fly rods. I've been DQ'd twice for using fly rods in a B.A.S.S. competition, still haven't seen a rule change. As soon as that happens, things might change. But I'm not expecting to see a hot shot bass boat pull up in the waters I fish and see a guy whip out an 8 foot fly rod and start throwing a big bushy fly. Those days are a long ways away.

If you've ever cast an outbound line by RIO, you've cast something like a shooting head line. What shooting heads are are interchangeable front ends (hence head) that you attach to a running line to create a heavier front end to the fly line. I have seen shooting heads made from copper trolling line, lead lines and so on.In the old days, running line was just a heavy monofilament with a loop that you attached to your custom head. Now this is not new technology but actually old. It has been use for many years by the Spey or two handed casting groups out in the Pacific Northwest who are making very long casts in very large rivers. A shooting head will not help you cast further if your casting form is bad. Also there is a bit of science or mythology in shooting heads. Because shooting heads come in different lengths and weights, you get to choose what you want to cast for example, I have the RIO set of shooting heads that vary in weight from an clear intermediate head to a very heavy head, all designed to be used with my 9 weight, I also have them for a 7 weight rod but that rod is a 10' rod and handles the heavier shooting heads for distance casting. Shooting heads can be purchased or made. The people using shooting heads most often are steelheaders who need weight+distance because of the size of the fly they're casting. They are interchangeable heads that can be used in a variety of fishing situations but they won't help you cast farther. Also they are generally made for two handed rods or rods designed to handle a lot of line out of the tip. If your goal is to cast bushy deer hair flies I'd suggest a bass taper or an outbound line and lots of practice to get your casting to the point where you're making consistently long casts. A heavier head on a fly line doesn't necessarily make for easy casting. Chuck and duck is common and if there's not enough power in your cast of rod, tailing loops will be common.

If you've ever cast an outbound line by RIO, you've cast something like a shooting head line. What shooting heads are are interchangeable front ends (hence head) that you attach to a running line to create a heavier front end to the fly line. I have seen shooting heads made from copper trolling line, lead lines and so on.In the old days, running line was just a heavy monofilament with a loop that you attached to your custom head. Now this is not new technology but actually old. It has been use for many years by the Spey or two handed casting groups out in the Pacific Northwest who are making very long casts in very large rivers. A shooting head will not help you cast further if your casting form is bad. Also there is a bit of science or mythology in shooting heads. Because shooting heads come in different lengths and weights, you get to choose what you want to cast for example, I have the RIO set of shooting heads that vary in weight from an clear intermediate head to a very heavy head, all designed to be used with my 9 weight, I also have them for a 7 weight rod but that rod is a 10' rod and handles the heavier shooting heads for distance casting. Shooting heads can be purchased or made. The people using shooting heads most often are steelheaders who need weight+distance because of the size of the fly they're casting. They are interchangeable heads that can be used in a variety of fishing situations but they won't help you cast farther. Also they are generally made for two handed rods or rods designed to handle a lot of line out of the tip. If your goal is to cast bushy deer hair flies I'd suggest a bass taper or an outbound line and lots of practice to get your casting to the point where you're making consistently long casts. A heavier head on a fly line doesn't necessarily make for easy casting. Chuck and duck is common and if there's not enough power in your cast of rod, tailing loops will be common.

As Brian J. noted hook placement is important as is type of hook. I use the mustad 90721NPBR hooks and they work as will any bass hook. Just keep the hook near the bottom so that it acts as keel and keeps the fly sitting upright. You can add a rattle to the hook if you want extra noise. I don't tie a lot of them but one summer did about five dozen for myself and friends as I'd just gotten the cutter set and was busy whacking out bodies. I also use polycrlic to cover the bodies instead of epoxy, goop or hard as nails. It's an acrylic polyurethane and you just dip it in the can and let it dry. Add eyes, dip and if you like add glitter. Dry and call it a day. You can decorate as you want. All black ones look nice. And tails can be as diverse as bucktail, synthetics, or wherever your imagination leads you..just keep it sparse. I can't say that I've caught a lot of fish with this fly. A few. When going to a topwater I tend to tie on a gurgler, foam cicada or a ratty popper first. Call it habit. Then I look in the box and think, "Well, I should try this." They do give a slim profile and a different sound when popped. But they're a decent fly, more assembly than tying but if you use the thick cya and a kicker...you can tie a bunch in a hurry.

In his fly fishing for bass video, Lefty Kreh uses the red and white hackle fly to catch bass from a small pond he fished. I commercially tied these flies for the bins at fly and field. They are as noted, a quick and easy tie. They can also be tied in a number of colors to sort-of match the local bait fish. They can also be tied in a number of sizes. Let the feathers be your guide. The hardest part is getting the tails on straight so that they don't turn on you and so they look good in the water. I put down a good thread base, tied one side then the other making sure that the hackles matched then put in my flashabou, and hit it all with a touch of super glue. Keep your hackle stems long and if you flatten then with a needle nose pliers they'll sit better on the hook shank. Use good quality feathers for the front, you want them to push a little water and pulsate. You can also weight this fly if you want by wrapping some lead on the front end, covering it with thread and wrapping over it with the hackles. It's a good fly to have in your box. The origin of hackle flies is quite old and they were indeed one of the earliest patterns tied. So tie a dozen and go have fun.

I've been using wire weed guards that Bill Schearer uses on his musky,pike and bass flies and they work well. I have used a number of methods of weed guards from the double mono, standard single which I tie with 12# mono, as well as the mono loop. Last summer I tied flies that use a strip of foam with a slot cut into it that the hook is slid into. Tullis is the guy that came up this type of weedless fly and for some reason I can remember his first name. He ties a weedless wooly bugger on a standard worm hook, this is a pattern that I've used with some success in lily pads and grass mats. The foam is extended from the bend at the hook eye and a slot is cut where the point of the hook is slipped into and rides flush with the top of the foam. Imagine a lid and you get the basic idea. I've experimented with wider bodies and more frog like patterns. Also, if the fly design allows for it, I use long bucktail to cover the hook which also provide some hook point protection, Jack Garthside has dragon fly nymph that is tied this way and I've caught a good number of fish on this pattern. I think one thing to remember is to move the fly slowly through the weeds, in Dave Whitlock's book, Fly Fishing for Bass he talks about weed guards and how they can collapse if you strip to hard when retrieving the fly and cause the guard to collapse. However the last few years,I've been skipping weed guards and bringing enough flies so I don't worry about losing a few. After all, I need to fill the pockets in my vest with something.

Nice cross between a Bett's dragon fly and an overgrown elk hair caddis or in this case, deer hair caddis. Couple of variations you might want to try is using pearl crystal flash for the wing to imitate the wings of a cicada or take some white fish hair, puglisi ep fibers or something similar and tie it across the back to imitate the wings on a dragon fly. These types of foam flies are good when you the fish seem skittish or you want to use something quieter than a popper. Nice looking fly and should work well this summer.

yes.

Fly tying this Thursday at Anglers International Resources (AIR) has been cancelled for this month and we will not be meeting next month because of trade show schedules. However for those of you who need a tying fix there are several places you go and tie. One More Cast has the regular tying jam, you have DRIFT and NIFTY tying groups and Coren's rod and reel has an informal group that meets on Thusdays. So the next tying session at AIR won't be until January. See you then. Stuart

Steve, The best recommendation I can make is sit and tie with vise for a bit before dropping cash on an item that should outlast you and me. That being said, I have personal favorites that I own and tie with. One of the joys of working in a fly shop for a few years. Renzetti makes nice vises, as does Dyna King, and Regal. I own two Dyna king vices, a traveler and the little kingfisher which at $135 price point makes it attractive and I keep it at work where I tie at lunch time. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles as some of the pricier vises but it'll outlast the two of us. I don't have any qualms with the Regal and T&G is right about it for tying bass flies, it's a good vise for that. It's probably not the best vise for tying size 22 midges, in case that day comes that you slip to the dark side and start thinking about trout. The Regal is also a good production tying vise and while it's not a rotary vise, lots of tiers have rotary vises and never use that function, or seldom use i (that's be me). But it's a good vise for turning and checking your fly out and it's well built for bass flies. All that being said, I'm partial to Dyna-King because they're rugged, well built vises that meet my needs because I tie tiny flies for trout and bluegills and ten inchers for Pike and Musky, And my dyna-king voyager (now discontinued) is a work horse. But no matter what you buy, get a clamp and base with it, if you can afford it. You never know where you'll be with your vise and it's good to be prepared. In the long run, depending upon how much tying you do, find one you like tying on, it make your tying session that much better if you don't have to mess with your vise.

I'd be all for a friday night, drive from Nothern suburbs could be a pain. Name the pattern and place and if the snow ain't falling, I'll be there.

Crease flies, I bought the cutters for making crease flies when they first came out. I like to toss the smaller one tied on a #4 stinger hook. Have had some success with it and I fish it much like you would any popper. Nice thing about it is that it's an easy tie or should I say, glue. Also there are two ways to finish it, some have been using epoxy some have been using polycrylic because it doesn't smell, is cheaper and is easier to work with. I use polycrilic because I don't like epoxy all that much. Clouser floating minnow. Not as noisy. Easy to tie. It's more of darting minnow type of fly. I throw it from time to time when I see fish busting minnows to the top. It's a nice top water searching fly and a good substitute for pencil poppers. It's light so you can cast it easily on a five weight or smaller. Also easy to tie. I have fished both with good success. The crease fly is a noisy popper with a large footprint without being difficult to cast like some large balsa/foam poppers. You can also fish it in saltwater with some success as well. That and you can glitz up all you want with craft pens, tails, glitter, a rattle and on and on. It's a versatile tie and Capt. Blados (sp) did us all a favor when he wrapped a bit of foam around a hook. Now the clouser floating minnow is a quieter presentation. It has a head made from foam and a tail from buck tail. I fish it with an intermediate sink line and a long (10 foot) leader so that it sinks a bit when I strip it back. Also, there is a technique called the Susquehenna strip. As you strip back the lure, put your thumb on the line and give it short flip to animate the fly. With the intermediate line, the fly floats but when you give it the little action at the end, it dives down and pops up leaving a bubble trail. This is usually when the bass attack it. This is also a good quick fly to tie that you can tie in different sizes to match the forage base. You should have both patterns in your fly box. When the top water bit is on, both will be successful. Also suggest that should add a fly called the Fence Rider, which is deerhair and is small Dahlberg diver fly. Not as easy to tie as either one of these but a deadly fly none the less. And that crease fly, indestructible.

hi ron, Stuart here, please add me to the list for the 19th. Thanks for doing this again! stuart

I used to tie a few of them up from time to time. They're the precursor to flies like the clouser minnow and other streamer patterns. They don't sink as well as a clouser minnnow but if minnow are popping on the surface they'll draw strikes from shallow cruising bass. If you tie an olive/orange streamer you have a quasi-bluegill or white and blue for certain river minnows, or black, pink and white for creek chubs. So they're a good pattern to have and quick to tie. Use a good iron though, I prefer the mustad 4X long streamer hooks to get a long thin bait fish. They do fish nice with a sink line or intermediate sink line. Also you can tie them in a bazillion color combinations, olive blondes, silver blondes, and so on. They too, like clousers do best when tied sparse. Even the mickey finn is a sort of a blonde. If you hit the ohio Fly fishing site, Joe Cornwall has an excellent story, tying and fishing tips on the blondes. I might be tempted to up a few. Always a good pattern.

Okay, so here's a thought for the day. What is the first thing you do when you hit a new stream, creek or river? Yep, first you look at the water and then you tie on a size 12 woolly bugger and see what it hits it. I know, sounds like a crazy man, right? How about you take a stream net and kick over rocks? Yep, I know, I know, I sound like a trout bum. But here's the point. I fished a stream that I've never been on before, couldn't find much about, except that the words, silt, silt and more silt were posted about it. But being the intrepid angler that I am, I went there anyway. After all, I had a day off, five rods in the car, a fishing buddy and off we went. An hour later. We were looking at a dark muddy stretch of water. Looked like tea mixed with mud. "This is ugly," were the appropriate words. But I've fished waters that were ugly before so we took out the net, tied on a size 12 woolly bugger and went in the "silt". Did I tell you about the silt? Well I got to the sandy/rocky bottom and cast out and caught of all things, creek chub. A pink creek chub. And when we kicked over rocks we gathered our little catch on the bank, we had a couple of small olive crayfish and some small nymphs. Now back to the pattern. I've been tying clousers slimmer and slimmer these days. I've also been tying them with crystal flash and flashabou mixed. And I've been using two new colors of flashy stuff: blue and pink. I know, why blue, why pink? Minnows. The creek chubs are black, pink and white. The other minnows that I've caught are, you guessed it, black, blue and white. I also tie black, purple and white clousers. Oh and I caught them on little woolly buggers. So I tied on black, pink and white clouser. Didnt' catch squat, for awhile. Then we hit a long deep pool and took a lot of nice fish out of it. I also tried a black size 4 woolybugger with a red cone head. Worked. Smaller fish though. But still caught fish. I did try other flies as well, flashy stuff like sparkle minnows and murdich minnows and nothing. Top water was minimal but the black, pink, white clouser - sparsely tied was a winner. I know, bringing a 4wt rod is not everyone's glass of beer, nor is getting a stream collecting net. But if you're going to fish an unknown body of water, it's not a bad idea to get an idea of the local bait fish and their coloration and size. I mean, isn't that why we tie flies of different sizes...you know to match the hatch as they say. So I tie clousers in different sizes but usually I try to make them these lengths with an appropriate hook; small-1-1.5 inches, medium:1.5-2.5 inches, and large: 2.5-3.5 inches depending upon bucktail or other materials. A good small to medium fly is Craig's M&M clouser tied with marabou. I also use arctic fox. But for anything larger use the best bucktail you can find. And tie them sparse. And use flashabout and crystal flash for the sparkle. And if you want to, use Craig's weight adjusting system to get your fly where you want it. Near the bottom. Oh and have little woolly buggers with bead heads in white, olive, black and brown. Just because they look good in the fly box.

Jim Teeny sinking line - T130. Google Jim Teeny lines. Probably the best sinking line on the market. It's not like casting old style full sink lines. I have several of Jim's lines and I can highly recommend them to any and all. I think all of the tips here are good. You can do several things to get a fly down into the strike zone: floating fly line with a long leader heavy fly (pain to cast at times), sink tips and weighted fly or lightly weighted fly (sometimes it feels as if your line is hinging depending upon line design and tip), sinking line: can be a pain, some can be a pain but you can cast a fly with no weight or very lightly weighted and get it down on the bottom where the fish are. There is a caveat, when do I use my full sink the most? On lakes to take the fly to the bottom. However all of this being said, you might look into an intermediate sink line. I have them in 5, 6, 7 and 8wts for my fly rods. While I also have these weights in Teeny lines as well, I recommend the intermediate for most of the streams and rivers that you will be fishing out here. I have RIO lake lines, Courtland also makes a nice intermediate sink line. The beauty of these is that they cast like floating and take your fly down without you losing contact with what it is doing like some,well actually, most sinking lines do. I have had to go deeper than six feet in most of the rivers and streams around here to find fish. But what's nice about intermediates is let's say you've forgotten your floating line and you want to fish a popper. I tie on a long leader, hit it leader with some floatant and I've got an okay floating line. It's a jury rigged sort of thing but it works when I've had a senior moment. So my suggestion is that you buy an intermediate line and you can buy a spare spool or spare reel. I don't like to change spools so I buy reels. But that's a decision you and your wallet have to make. RIO lines come with loops and so you could put the line in a leader wallet and just swap out if you want to. Not the best way...but a way to consider. If you want to cast an intermediate or a Teeny line, let me know what weight and I'll bring them to a bassbuggers tying session and you can throw them around.

I've been tying a series of clousers using the following combinations: Bucktail: Yellow over white - yellow or gold flashabou and yellow/black lead eyes Gray over white - yellow and black lead eyes - pearl Krystal flash Purple over white - red and black lead eyes - purple flashabou Dark Olive, light olive over white - yellow and white lead eyes - red flashabou Brown, pale olive, over white - black and red lead eyes - peacock crystal flash Dark blue, pale blue over white - white lead eyes and pearl krystal flash All black All white Keep the bucktail sparse, very sparse. Use three or four strands of flashabou or crystal flash and stagger cut it so that it's not all the same length but cut it so that it's a bit longer than your bucktail. Favorite hook is the BLN Mustad hooks. Their series of bass hooks are quite good. I tie them in sizes from size 4 to 0/2. Also tie M&M Clousers in size 6 and 4's. Bead chain eye. Pink wing - marabou White belly Pearl flash. And finally, there's the Arctic Fox ones. I do them in white and purple and white and olive with red lead eyes. These are usually tied on size 10's and 8's and usually, if I've got a pack of them laying around, on curved shank hooks. The action of the fox is terrific, but they're kind of fragile. But as always, these flies look best if tied sparse. Too much stuff stops the action. Less is better. Hope this helps. When fishing clousers do a set of short strip-strip-strip. And then with your stripping hand, put your thumb on the line and when you strip back, give it a little jerk as you pull back. It gives the fly a quick up and then fall. Usually the bass will hit it on the fall. You might also try some thunder creek patterns for minnows as well as a smartt minnow. It's a craft fur minnow that casts easy, has good action and is not too much of a pain to cast. I've found that if you use an intermediate line with a five foot leader, clouser minnows get down there. And I usually fish them along the weed edges or pull then quickly across the tops of submerged weed beds. Hope this helps.

I'll be there, fly rod in hand. Stuart

Okay Corey, Here's the fly to challenge your deer hair expertise.