Tom L

Smile every night dreaming about the warn of the summer sun, the breeze of cool air, the rush of the river between my legs, and the reel is creaming...... screek... screek....screek....

Rich - I got the package yesterday. Thanks for the flies and materials. I see you used the same techn on both the worm and the shannon streamer. Cool flies.

What kind of fur is the small black patch? Using it in dubbing loops would make really buggy legs.....

Rob & Mike - Will this do the trick?

Some of the worms, if I found them to be too limpy, I imbeded mono line inside the tails.

Tom,

 

The black chenille used to come in a 62 yard skein. How long would it take to dub a 62 yard loop?

The longest I had tried was 12" and it took me about 5 minutes. At that rate, it would take 186 hours or 7.75 days. But I don't think it is possible to hand dub a continueous 62 yards loop.

Ed, thanks for allowing me to host the meeting. Looking forward to see you and the group here on Feb 20.

Mark, thanks again for bringing in your coworkers today.

Tim, you're almost right. I fished topwater 0.1% of the time .

That was fly #6 and 6 more to go on my quest for 12 craft fur flies before Christmas. I hoped I had not bored everyone out of their socks yet......

Thank you Ed. Looking forward to see you and the group here @ the Thai Garden.

There will be compli appetizers and drinks at the meeting......

This time I thought I would try some topwater. I this another spin to the popular popper. baby Frog..... maybe?

Thanks guys.

Rich - I start counting from:

1. Wiggler

2. Shiner

3. Tom's Tom

4. Hellgarmmite

5. Worm Flies

So, 7 more to go. Cheating a little .....

and thanks for the heads up on the foul hook of the tail. If they are too limp, I'll imbed a monofilament line inside the tail.

This fly came naturally to me after tying the the hellgrammite fly by using the same technique on the extended tail of the hellgrammite.

Tying Notes:

1. The best parts of the craf furs for this fly are the stumps closest to the patch. They are densest and able to form thicker body.

2. Use strong thread for the extended body. I used GSP 200 thread.

3. Use liquid glue on the dubbing loop thread instead of wax as in traditional trout flies. I used Hard as Hull liquid.

Rich, I had challeged myself to create 12 flies using the free samples of craft furs by Christmas.

Your flies look too nice to fish with!

Steve - Despite its look, it is a very simple fly to tye.

nice...............you will have to try that one in the vermilion next summer.

As Jonn says, hellgrammites work well in the Vermilion. That should be a good one.

Thanks guys. Can't wait! What colors are the Vermillion hellgrammites? I can tye them in black, purple, olive, orange or combo colors. Can't seem to find a dark brown craft fur.

did they bite you at all rich

Rich - The pincher and the craft fur dubbing loops for the tail and the body really made this fly buggy and life like.

Here is the recipe for the fly:

Hook: Eagle Claw 413 (45 degrees jig hook)

Thread: Black Ultra 140

Eye: Black brass dumpbell eye.

Pincher: Black O-Ring from a hardware store.

Abdomen (extended tail): Bubbing loop of craft furs, folded double and let twisted.

Thorax (or body): Bubbing loop of craft fur, palmered.

Legs: Black Perfect Rubber

Wing Case: Thin skin mottled oak black

Rip: Black floss

The real tricky part of this fly is the abdomen or the extended body, but it is quite simple. Once in the water, the extended tail will act like a rabbit strip.

This is where I got the idea for the extended tail. In the video, Bill Skilton used a chenile and I used a dubbing loop of craft furs.

Just finished this fly this morning. Borrowed some ideas from Michael Verduin's Mighty Mite Hellgrammite and Bill Skilton's Hellgrammite. Added some of my own and free craft furs ideas in the pot. This is what I ended up.

I'm cooking up a hellgrammite pattern, using craft furs. Almost done. Coming soon.....

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.

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.

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys.

How are the eyes sealed in place? Are you not only adhering them but also filling the gap between the eyes on top & bottom? I usually use CCG or UV knot sense here, coating lightly over the eyes too.

Yes Tim, exactly as how you discribed. I used Loon's Hard Head Clear. 2 or 3 coatings would fill in the gap nicely, make the head smooth and the eyes more durable.

Thanks for the post. As a novice fly tier and fly fisherman it is nice to see some patterns that ISA members are using. I can use all the help I can get.

Hi Ted. If you are interested in add'l patterns. These are the ones that have been working really well for me:

Marabou Muddler

http://illinoissmallmouthalliance.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9970

Foxy Crawdad

http://illinoissmallmouthalliance.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9891

Since I got my free sample of the craft furs, I've been toying around with them to come up with a new fly. I finally found inspriations from the classic flies such as the Zonker Minnow and the Mickey Fin, and I added some of my own spins to it. I called this one "Shiner".

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Eugene, may the force be with you......

Thanks for the info. Got my free tying materials yesterday. Working on a new minnow pattern. I'll post soon.

These flies were tied on 2/0 and 4/0 hooks. They were meant for largemouth, pike, and muskie. I'll have some smaller versions of these for smallmouth that we can try on the Fox.

Just finished a articulated version of the Wiggler.

Another technique used on this fly (borrowed from steelhead tube fly technique) is adding hackle palmers right behind the marabou and craft fur collar to make the fly appeared more bulky without adding weight.

Thanks guys for the complis..

Tom

Do you give private lessons? I would love to learn the crayfish design you used before as well.

If there are interests, we can tye at one of John L's fly tying night.

Nice ties, Tom. Is that reverse-tied craft fur for the collar?

Tim, the craft fur was tied normal with tip end pointed toward the tail of the fly and the but end toward the head. The tick was to leave about 0.5" or 0.75" of the craft fur but extended beyond the hook eye. Once scured the craft fur tightly, they would flare similar to deer hair; then used your fingers fold the but of the craft fur backward. Wraped the thread in front behind the hook eye to form the head and trimed the craft fur to shaped.

I found this technique by accident.

This fly was conceived in early summer of this year. I was fishing with a friend on a very clear lake casting streamers on a sink tip. I did not get any hit all morning, but once I changed to a gurgler bug. I had a largermouth grabed it right away. I noticed that a gurgler bug on a sink tip would dart sideways (left-right) while retrieving. All my other streamers were swimming in a straight line. The foam lip on the gurgler bug was acting like a lip on a crank bait. So, that was how the idea of foam lip conceived.

This fly if retrieve with long strips, it will dart sideways; and if retrieve with short strips plus a little actions on the rod tip, it will wiggle.

I'm also working on a articulated version of this fly. Coming soon.

That is one good looking fly Ryan. I agreed with Tim and Terry. You don't need to pack the hair any tighter. The original Muddler was tyed that way. When loosely packed, the deer hairs also vibrate. That is another attribute of that fly. A fish killer for sure....

A murdich or popper just zipped right thru the area, because the current was too swift and there were conflicting currents that put draggs on the fly line quickly. There were only small pockets that had calmer water below large boulders. The fish were holding closed to the bottom where the current was slower. They would not come up to hit a surface fly or close-to the surface fly. I had to get the fly down to them. The heavy weighted fly, long leader and small diameter of the leader helped penetrate the water column. Many times, I had to slap the fly hard on the water surface to help the penetration and to create noise to get the fish attention.