Much Needed Fish Post

Its been awhile since there has been a fish post up here on Fly Bible, so I have dug up some pictures from the past month of fishing. Here are some pictures, Enjoy.

Although this rock bass is not a monster, while fishing a rod given to me over 10 years ago that casts a 1 wt. line and the 1 wt. line feels heavy, small fish like this can be a ton of fun.

Flies over bait. Caught on my flies in the same area two tournament bass boats were fishing. They weren't happy.

The reason I like to wear waders even in the summer...

Deer Hair Bass Bugs

Lately the fishing around my area hasn't been great, which has resulted in me doing a lot of tying. I've done a little bit of deer hair bass bugs in the past, but with the past period of poor fishing, I have been putting a lot more time into tying with deer hair.

Tube Diver

Mouse: white belly, ears, eyes, whiskers, tail, and feet.

7 piece frog. I saw one of these at a show and thought it would be good to duplicate. Not something that I am interested in tying again and its not something you would fish. Fishing has to be very bad for one to tie something like this.

Paddy Sr. Pheasant Tail

This one will be called the Paddy Sr. Nymph because of its simplicity. There is nothing complicated to it and it is a very easy and quick tie. Its not original, just a variation of the affective pheasant tail pattern. I think it is just easier to tie. Works the same.

Hook: traditional nymph hook
Thread: 12/0
Materials: Pheasant tail, dubbing, bead head, wire.
Tools: Vise, scissors, bobbin, whip finish tool.

Step 1: slide bead head onto the hook. Start thread behind bead head and spin a small amount of dubbing behind bead head.

Step 2: in the back of the fly tie in a piece of wire.

Step 3: tie in a pinch of pheasant tail in the same spot you tied in the wire. (5 pheasant tail fibers will work)

Step 4: dub the body giving it a natural taper.

Step 5: hold the pheasant tail down with your hand and wrap the wire up the body. Tie off the wire and clip any extra.

Step 6: wrap the pheasant tail around the hook shank to make a thicker body behind the bead head. Tie off pheasant tail and clip any extra

Step 7: whip finish and apply head cement.

Furry Baitfish

This is another very simple pattern. It is tied in three major steps and can be tied very quickly but it works. Its a lot like a clouser and Im not going to say that this is a super new/original pattern because its not, but it works, and its quick and easy to tie so I thought I would share. 

Hook: Size 6 Daiichi 

Thread: Ultra thread

Materials: dumbbell eyes, arctic fox tail (could also use craft fur), polar chennile

Tools: vise, bobbin, whip finish tool, scissors

Step 1: tie in dumbbell eyes at the very front of the fly. Tie in a pinch of arctic for as a tail in the rear of the fly. Tie in a piece of polar chennile

Step 2: Wrap polar chennile towards the front of the fly making sure fibers lay back and not straight up. Tie off behind the eyes.

Step 3: tie in a pinch of arctic fox on the top and another on the bottom of the fly. Make sure the darker color is on the opposite side of the dumbbell eyes. Whip finish and apply head cement.

 

Bass Magic

BThis is a relatively simple pattern. It doesn't use a lot of materials or any fancy type of tying technique, but wow does it work. In my bag that I carry there is a front compartment the opens and has foam on the from of it. I only put the most used flies there and I have a bunch of these in there. This pattern has been golden this summer, catching perch, sunfish, largemouth, rock, and smallmouth bass. It has worked on river and lake smallmouth as well as deep and shallow water largemouth and everything in between. Trust me this fly is killer. All a bass pattern needs is a rabbit strip, marabou, rubber legs and flash. that combo makes them go crazy. All I have fished this in is purple and black just because it has been working so well, but i have also tied blue, all black, white, chartreuse, orange, pink, and red. As you can tell I tie a lot of this pattern. It has a slow decent even with dumbbell eyes and that is a key feature. Tons of movement and it drives fish crazy!

Hook: size 6 (can go larger or smaller depending on fish)
Thread: ultra thread
Materials: dubbing, polar chennile, marabou, rabbit strip, dumbbell eyes
Tools: vise, bobbin, bodkin, whip finish tool, scissors

Step 1: tie in dumbbell eyes on top of the hook shank at the very front of the hook just behind the hook eye. Tie in a rabbit strip so the leather is facing up off the back of the fly

Step 2: Tie in a piece of polar chennile. Once it is tied in, use dubbing and spin dubbing around the thread and wrap the dubbing and thread up to behind the dumbbell eyes.

Step 3: Wrap the polar chennile up the body making sure the fibers lay back and don't stick straight up.  Tie off behind dumbbell eyes and clip any extra material

Step 4: Tie in 2 rubber legs on each side of the fly.

Step 5: Tie in marabou and make a marabou collar behind the dumbbell eyes. Whip fishing and apply head cement.