I guess I'm tying flies now

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Prof. Salt
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I guess I'm tying flies now

Post by Prof. Salt »

I hurt my neck in late November and just had surgery to fuse another level in my neck. Knowing I would be down for a while regaining my strength, I bought a vise and some tying materials and began to learn to tie flies. I got the first few styles down before surgery and got to test them, with good results. Recovery time sitting at home hasn't been wasted on watching TV or just sleeping either - I'm getting pretty decent at making several styles that will be fun to throw to reds and other shallow water fish.

I started with basic Clousers, then moved to a long shank hook to make them in bend-back style. This proved completely weedless and gave me a good hookup ratio with the redfish.
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Then I started making them in small shrimpy colors so I could cast them on my 2 weight. The reds approved of that too. :D
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Next I found some wide gap hooks like bass fishermen use, and tied some minnows on that style of hook. They catch reds too, and I think they'd work on trout as well but I haven't located the trout yet.
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My latest tie has been developing a crab pattern. I wanted to come up with my own take on the crab, so I avoided looking at videos on how to make them and just set out to figure out how to make it happen. After half a dozen failures, I came up with a pattern that moves pretty well in the water and looks like a little crab. I can't wait to recover enough to stick these in front of a few fish.
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So recovering from a spine fusion isn't all bad. I have learned how to tie flies that work for me, and it's a nice way to pass the time. Catching fish on a lure you make yourself is more satisfying than I thought it would be.
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Ron Mc
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Re: I guess I'm tying flies now

Post by Ron Mc »

you're doing great Doc.

My favorite bucktail pattern is hi-tie - it pushes a little more water, collapses like a thread to cast, and has caught fish from bobbing off SP jetties, Arroyo docks, and black drum on LHL.
You just work stacks of hair up the hook shank - a drop of super glue helps stick the hair, especially with kevlar thread.
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ben_beyer
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Re: I guess I'm tying flies now

Post by ben_beyer »

Looks like they will catch fish!
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karstopo
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Re: I guess I'm tying flies now

Post by karstopo »

Good stuff!
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kickingback
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Re: I guess I'm tying flies now

Post by kickingback »

Nice work! Gotta stay busy when it comes to fishing be it actually fishing or thinking about fishing. :clap:
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Re: I guess I'm tying flies now

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Last night I realized that the crab flies are mostly too big for the 4 weight to cast very well, so... I pulled out a size 8 hook and tied a mini crab. I think the reds will still hit a tiny crab, but it should cast well on my favorite 4 weight!

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Re: I guess I'm tying flies now

Post by Yak Dog »

Those looks really nice , I tried my hand at fly fishing and found out it’s not for me . I don’t have the patience for it. I bet you save a lot of money on flies , I bought some before and those suckers aren’t cheap. Hope your recovery goes well
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karstopo
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Re: I guess I'm tying flies now

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Yak Dog wrote:Those looks really nice , I tried my hand at fly fishing and found out it’s not for me . I don’t have the patience for it. I bet you save a lot of money on flies , I bought some before and those suckers aren’t cheap. Hope your recovery goes well
I once did the math on the redfish crack I tie and it was about 70 cents per copy in materials. Redfish crack is normally a very durable pattern so it might be one of the more cost effective ones I regularly turn out. The Mustad 34007 stainless hook is one of the least expensive fly hooks and come in just under or around 20 cents per hook in the typical redfish sizes. I like the Gamakatsu SC-15 hook, but those are more like 30 something cents per copy.

If I get some longevity out of a fly and it’s inexpensive to begin with, it might work out to be quite a bit cheaper than buying lures or bait.
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Re: I guess I'm tying flies now

Post by Prof. Salt »

Last night I tried to mimic a leopard pattern just for fun. The orange is UV so it might show up better for the fish; it sure sticks out under the UV light. Either way it was a fun experiment.

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Re: I guess I'm tying flies now

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I used to fish orange a lot, somewhere, I got away from it. I can remember one day where orange got the eats and other colors didn’t. Colors on lures and flies is one of those interesting topics that I’m not sure has ever completely been nailed down and settled.

I know I must have something olive in any box, fresh or salt. Tan has to be in the saltwater box.

Those crabs look good. Someday, I will tie and fish crabs, maybe, possibly. I know redfish eat crabs, plenty of crab parts in their guts I do find. I think I have some of a similar crab pad material buried away in my supplies. Is the Avalon permit fly a crab or shrimp? I have fished those and they work.

I love good eyes on crustaceans patterns. I’ve got scads of glass seed beads and those make great shrimp, crawfish and probably crab eyes if I ever tied one of those. The store bought crustacean eyes are to my way of thinking ridiculously expensive, so I just burn 60# mono to fuse the Nylon around the glass. Works every time. The weight of the glass helps balance the pattern depending on how much weight is up by the hook eye. I like the shrimp to settle almost horizontally on the pause. Rise tail first on the strip.

My favorite redfish sight fishing strategy is to have some little something there waiting on the bottom as the redfish comes into range, give the fly a little strip, up pops the faux fleeing shrimp or blenny and the redfish pounces on it. Can’t always rely on that plan if the substrate isn’t favorable. There’s other plans though, got to be adaptable.
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Re: I guess I'm tying flies now

Post by Ken S »

Doc, those look great.
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