Been working on a lot of different patterns lately.
These are tied up for bass. Topwater floater/diver, APDIVER style. I get a lot of use of these. I keep one tied on from spring thru fall. I usually carry 3 flyrod setups in the boat.
Those mice and fat frees look great! What's your favorite sites for ordering materials? Richard's store is too far to drive too often and the local GOPC and Orvis stores have limited supplies.
Kev: Pretty work. Bet they'd be great shad flies too. I tie a very similar fly with barbell eyes and ostrich herl tail cut square about the length of the hook. Sometimes will throw a bucktail wing on the top Clouser style. (Sorry no pic) Great smallie fly. That ostrich tail really paddles in the current.
You think that size hook is OK for the size tail and wing? I think maybe something with a bigger hook gap might be better, but I'm no expert. I just bought the kip tail this morning, they only had white and pink, but I think it'll be great for tying small streamers.
I think the length is fine, I tend to leave my flash material just a tiny bit shorter than the hair, but that is only because I like the way it looks. I don't think the fish care... Going a little sparse on the green hair doesn't crowd the hook gape as much is my feeling. But I like a #10, catches a variety of fish and is not a pain to cast.
I've mostly always left the flash a little longer thinking it might look like a tail kicking about, but again, as Uncle Steve would say, "but what do I know, Charlie's a duffer", lol!
Fly tying allows the tier to add his particular likes to a fly. If the fish bite it, you did good, if not, then a little tweeting on a fly may change the outcome. Some like them thin, some like some meat on the bones, sort of like women.. as long as they work, I am good with it.
I started out using a size 10 hook for bream and crappie, but had a lot of the fish to swallow the size 10 hook so deeply that I tried using a size 8. I may miss a few smaller fish, but still catch a lot of the larger ones. The smaller fish I was catching were very small ones. I'll catch an occasional LMB, and the size 8 seems to give me more success with catching them. If I were to use a dropper fly, most likely I'd use a size 10, or smaller for that. I mostly use a 4 wt fly rod now, and haven't had any problems with casting those on the 4 wt.
Would love to know other's opinions on using a little larger hook for bream, rather than a smaller hook.
Another thing that I've found is that I almost exclusively use a Crappie Candy fly for bream and crappie, and tie it up in white and chartreuse. I also catch them on a down sized Clouser, tied on a size 8 hook.
I use the size 8 hook for my top water, craft foam bream bug flies, tied up in yellow and green. I'll also catch an occasional LMB on that bug also, if I put it right over them.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
NC Angler Forums
649K posts
29.6K members
Since 2004
A forum community dedicated to North Carolina anglers and sporting enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about safety, licenses, tips, tricks, rivers, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!