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Fly Fishing

Legged Mud Minnow SBS

February 24, 2012
Fly Fishing, Fly Tying
2 Comments

My friend Blake has agreed to provide a much needed fly tying component to the blog. I’m not yet a tyer so I couldn’t accomplish this without some help and Blake ties a really nice fly. The first step-by-step he has provided is the fly that I used this past weekend. This is a fly that he created by just throwing some materials together, it didn’t come from an existing pattern. He then told me I had to name it since I broke it in. Talk about pressure! What I like about this fly is that it looks a little like everything redfish eat; shrimp, minnows, crab, and I think you can fish it as such. I can’t really pin it down to any one type of fly pattern, it borrows traits from several different patterns, but I guess to me it most resembles a mud minnow. So I give you the legged mud minnow.

Materials (in order of application):

Mustad 3407, Size 2

Barred Ginger Zonker Strip

Dumbbell Eyes

Webby Hackle

Wire Rib

Dubbing

Sililegs

1. Use bodkin to poke hole in zonker strip and run onto the hook from the bottom to the top.

2. Mount hook in vice. I use a clothespin to hold the strip out of the way.

3. Start thread, tie in dumbbell eyes and bring the thread to the bend just above the barb.

4. Tie in hackle, wire rib, and clean up the ends.

5. Split the tread and fill it with the dubbing of your choice. I like something pretty flashy and bushy. Spin the thread and dub the shank of the hook to about 1 eye length behind the dumbbells. I forgot to take a pic of the spun dubbing before I wrapped it on.

6. Palmer hackle and tie in behind the eyes. Then counter wrap the wire rib to reinforce your hackle and tie in behind the eyes.

7. Take a dubbing brush and brush out some of the dubbing into the hackle feather. This will cause it to sweep back a little. Before and after pictures below.

8. Trim underside of fly (side with the eyes).

9. Turn over fly in vice and tie down rabbit strip behind the eyes. Make sure to pull tight so the hole in the strip is butted up against the other materials. Cut the waste end of the strip and cover the butt end with thread Leave yourself some room behind the eyes.

10. Tie in sili legs on either side of the hook. I like to make them sweep back .

11. Just as you did with the dubbing on the body, slit the thread, insert dubbing, and spin. You want this bit of dubbing to be really buggy and loose, not tight like a dry fly. Take one wrap of the dubbing right in front of the rabbit. Then figure 8 around the dumbbells eyes. Tie off the thread and use the dubbing brush to tease the dubbing fibers back into the rabbit strip.

12. Finished fly.

The legged mud minnow works! On reds, sheepshead and black drum thus far.

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Fat Tuesday fun

February 21, 2012
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Kayak Fishing, Music, Saltwater, Video
2 Comments

Took advantage of the Mardi Gras holiday and the good weather and headed to the marsh to try to sightfish for reds. The drive down was shaky to start as I narrowly avoided three deer on the side of the road who decided to cross just as I was about to pass. I swear they do that on purpose. Once Zebra came on the radio though I had a good feeling about today’s fishing.

Met up with Blake, his dad, and two of our friends from New Orleans who just got kayaks. Blake gave me a fly he tied up to use for the day. I don’t recall what pattern it was, but it just looked fishy. That fly ended up being pretty damn effective. I caught 7 reds, 2 sheepshead and a black drum on it. That’s a cajun slam in my mind. Sightfishing was pretty decent throughout the morning, with a number of fish tailing and some sunshine here and there. Wind was never an issue as it laid down all day. Clouds rolled in after lunch and made sightfishing pretty tough. The first red I caught was my big fish on the day, 28″.

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A couple of other interesting bits. Early on I was throwing a new 4pc TFO BVK 8wt. I got this BVK because TFO couldn’t replace my TiCr, so they stepped up and gave me a BVK to replace it. They called me to tell me this when I sent in the TiCr for warranty work. I was bummed I wouldn’t get my TiCr back, but looking forward to using the BVK, which is all the rage these days. It is light and I guess fragile too because it broke during the fight with my 2nd red. I don’t think I did anything out of the ordinary to cause it to break – it just broke while under sustained pressure from a 25″ red. The drag on my reel was loose and all line was clear. The rod just snapped right below the ferrule for the top section. This time I remembered to bring a back up rod, the trusty Redington Crosswater. This rod has landed dozens of redfish without problem. TFO has a solid warranty, so I’ll give the BVK a shot at redemption, maybe I just got a lemon?

I also fell in today. First time ever in the marsh. It has happened a few times on rivers, moving water. Unfortunately I wasn’t filming, because I’m sure it would have been hilarious to witness. Anyways, I went to sit down but forgot I had my fly rod in my seat. This was the back up rod, so I didn’t want to put all my weight on it. I sat up to slide the rod forward and get it out of my seat, but I guess I put too much pressure on one side and I went over the other way. The Coosa flipped as I fell out. The only thing I think I lost is the suction cup mount for the GoPro, everything else floated or was leashed. It was pretty funny, I’m glad it was warm out today. Water temps didn’t feel that cold. Just goes to show you, it doesn’t matter how stable you’re boat is or how good your balance is, one mistake is all it takes and you’ll be in the water.