Tom L

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.

Steve - Despite its look, it is a very simple fly to tye. 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. 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. 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. 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.. If there are interests, we can tye at one of John L's fly tying night. 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.

One of my favorite spots on the Fox River has a long beautiful deep run. The main current tongue extends about 150 yards downstream. The head of run consists of several large boulders 2’-3’ in diameter and mixed of bowling ball size rocks. The current here is always swift. Those boulders are still slightly submerged now, with the drought that we are experiencing. Current boils, eddies and deep pockets formed below those large boulders. I have had good success fishing the current tongues and the seams of this run. But it had been a big dilemma fishing the head, where those boulders are. I had tried reaching the pockets from upstream, but the current was always too fast. My fly sank only a few inches. I couldn’t get it down deep enough to the fish. I had tried from the sides, but the conflicting currents prevented my fly from getting good drifts. Also, I had tried from downstream casting into those pockets, but my fly snagged the bottom every single time. Frustrated, I waded into the spot to knick my fly off the bottom. One or two fish would usually leap out of the water. That was how I discovered that there were always a few fish holding in those pockets. About 3 weeks ago, after fishing the current tongues and seams I was determine to catch those fish in the pockets. All my previous fail attempts had been casting into the pockets from distances away. The closest had been about 20 feet. I had to do something different this time. So, I approached the area from a side and slowly waded into a casting position that was about the rod length, about 9 feet. With only 11’ of leader out of my rod tip and a heavy weighted streamer (a Clouser minnow), I made a short 45 degrees upstream cast into the boil behind the first big boulder. I allowed the fly 2 seconds to sink and slowly guided it (dragged it) downstream with a tightline. Right away, a 14” smallmouth took the fly. I worked the spot a few more casts with the same presentation and got another 13” smallmouth. I repeated the same presentation at other pockets in the area and was able to pick up a few more fish. Since then, I had repeated the same technique at the spot with pretty good results. Those fish that held in the pockets were not very big around 12”-14”, but they were very hard fighters. I think a trout guy would call this “Pick Pockets with European Nymphing technique”. But since I was doing it with a streamer, so I called it “Pick Pockets with ISA Streamering technique”.

What would you call this or these Clousers?

I once used raccoon tail and it was called Crockett Clouser.