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Fly Tying

Blake’s squid fly

October 31, 2013
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Fly Tying, Saltwater
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October’s fly of the month is Blake’s take on a bait that we don’t often talk about here, squid. We don’t talk about it much because we fish a lot of brackish water where you won’t find many squid, however, there’s no doubt in my mind that redfish like to eat squid and this may be the best time of year to throw this pattern, as we begin to target big bulls that are making their way inshore. It looked to be a good fly choice this past weekend for Blake as he and Barret had a pretty good day catching slot and bull reds.

Materials (in order of application):

  • Lead tape (same tape that was used here: Blake’s deceiver variant

  • Your favorite long shanked streamer hook

  • Bucktail

  • Ostrich herl

  • Flash

  • Saddle hackles

  • Flash chenille

  • Stick-on eyes

  • Pseudomarabou

Step 1. Cut a piece of lead tape so that it covers the shank of the hook. Leave yourself enough room at the bend to tie in the tailing materials and leave room at the front to finish off the fly. Cover the tape with a layer of thread.

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Step 2. Bring thread to a spot right before the bend of the hook. Tie in a small clump of bucktail.

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Step 3. Tie in a few ostrich herls over the top of the bucktail. I like this to extend farther than the bucktail.

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Step 4. Tie in a few pieces of flash either on top or on either side of the fly, your choice.

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Step 5. Find four somewhat small and webby saddles and tie them in, splayed out, with two on either side of the fly. I used some cheap saddles that I got from one of those Cabela’s feather grab bags. Tidy up the shank a little.

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Step 6. Tie in chenille at the back of the fly and palmer it forward. I like to coat the shank with super glue or SHAN before palmering the chenille to make the fly a little more durable. Tie the chenille down leaving some room at the eye.

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Step 7. Trim the chenille to a point at the front of the fly. This will help the veil lay back rather than splay out in a future step. Cut the back ends of the chenille body flat on either side to make a good base to glue the eyes.

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Step 8. Glue the eyes on the base that you made. I use the stick on eyes and glue them on using household goop. Notice the pointed end of the chenille at the front of the hook. I should have used some bigger diameter eyes for this fly because squid have huge eyes for their size, but I didn’t have any.

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Step 9. Tie in a clump of pseudo marabou at the eye. I do this by making a cylinder with the material, making a small hole in the middle of the cylinder, and pushing it over the front of the fly until the material is as far back as I want it. Take a few gathering wraps of thread , push the butt ends back and tie everything back on the shank.

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Step 10. You could leave the fly as it is in the previous pic, but I decided to trim the collar down. I just want it to show a little motion in the water.

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Finished Fly:

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Proof of concept:

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Blake’s crabby clouser

September 30, 2013
Fly Fishing, Fly Tying, Saltwater
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September’s fly of the month is a variation on an old standard, the clouser minnow. It’s not to be confused with Joe Bruce’s Crab Colored Clouser, though we realize some people call that fly a crabby clouser as well.

It’s a simple tie that has proven to be very effective catching redfish and sheepshead down here in Louisiana

Materials:

–          Thread

–          Dumbbell eyes

–          Bucktail

–          Schlappen

–          Rubber legs 

Step 1. Start a thread base and wrap to a point where you want to attach your dumbbell eyes.

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Step 2. Attach dumbbell eyes using figure 8 wraps and a few horizontal wraps between the shank and the eyes. Add some glue to lock everything down.

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Step 3. Tie in a clump of deer hair at the eye of the hook in front of the dumbbells. Bring the thread behind the eyes and finish tying the bucktail down until you get to the hook bend, same as you would with a normal clouser minnow.

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Step 4. Tie in a schlappen feather.

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Step 5. Tie in 3 rubber legs using figure 8 wraps. I like the span-flex legs, but they tend to be a bit unruly.

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Step 6. Palmer the schlappen up the shank and tie in behind the eyes. I find this step to be a lot easier when I use a piece of lead wire to keep the legs pulled forward while I palmer. I use my bodkin to pull sets of legs back as i get to them.

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Step 7. Tie in the buck tail over wing just like you would on a regular clouser minnow. Cement your threads. Add some epoxy on the dumbbells and thread wraps if you would like.

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Finished Fly.

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Proof of concept.

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SS Goby SBS

August 25, 2013
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Fly Tying
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The fly of the month for August is the first we’ve had featuring Fish Skull products, Blake writes, “I’ve caught a few reds that had gobies in their belly, so I figured that I would give one a shot using the sculpin helmets that I bought. I ended up with the SS (Simple Sculpin) Goby.”

 Materials:

  1. Your favorite jig hook (The Mustad 34011 will also work, just bend it into a jig hook)
  2. Magnum and crosscut zonker strips
  3. Flash
  4. Thread
  5. Sculpin head

Step 1. Puncture a hole in the zonker hides using a bodkin and push the hook point through from the skin side to the hair side. Mount the hook in the vise.

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Step 2. Start thread and lay down a good base along the hook shank.

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Step 3. Tie in flash on either side of the shank.

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Step 4. Tie in the crosscut zonker skin side up with the fibers pointing away from you. This will ensure that the fibers will lay back toward the bend when palmered up the shank.

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Step 5. Palmer the zonker down the shank in overlapping turns. I lay down a layer of super glue on the shank to help things stay in place. Tie in the strip leaving enough room behind the eye to fit the sculpin head. I like to slide the head on now and make sure that I have enough room.

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Step 6. Bring zonker strip over and tie in at the same spot.

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Step 7. Tie in a clump of rabbit hair on either side of the fly at the same spot that everything else is tied in. The tie-in area doesn’t need to be neat and tidy as the helmet will cover everything up. Just make sure that the tie-in area is not too bulky as to inhibit the head from fitting snug to the materials. Tie off the thread.

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Step 8. Coat the tie in with superglue. I also like to put some superglue in the inside of the sculpin helmet. Push the helmet on to the fly making sure to butt it up nicely against all the rabbit hair.

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Step 9. Start thread in front of the helmet and wrap a thread dam to keep the head in place.

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Step 10. Add a small amount of super glue in each eye socket and place the eyes in their spots. Coat the thread wraps with some SHAN and the fly is ready to go. Finished Fly

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