TexasKayakFisherman.com est. 2000

[Kayak Kid]

That’s mighty kind of you Kayak Kid! I’ll give a shout if I find myself needing any micro-flies! The problem is have is actually tying them onto the tippet!


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That's because they are impossible to tie onto tippet........,without small gadget designed for the purpose. It's kinda like a gizmo used to thread sewing needle, only using much finer wire.

[Piscator]

My wife wanted to go back to Vero Beach, FL. I read snook are in the surf this time of year. I tied some bucktail on jig heads for spinning and tied three Schminnows. May not be calm enough for fly fishing. They say white is the go to color.

[kickingback]

Nice snook flies!

Hope you catch many!!

[Kayak buddy]

https://youtu.be/wuW8LGP05PM

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[karstopo]

I haven’t been fishing much at all so no tying. What little fishing I’ve done this summer these pink borski sliders have been good.

[kickingback]

Pretty in pink! Nice!

[Kayak buddy]

https://youtu.be/grA6Uhzp_tA

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[karstopo]

Pretty in pink! Nice!

There’s cream and gray craft fur in there too!

Pink has always been a good color for trout and redfish. Pink shrimp, some little baitfish and fish fry have pink shades.

Borski Sliders seem to get most of the attention as bonefish flies, but they seem great for our local inshore fish. I’ve started fishing them wherever, Marsh, surf, nearshore and they are producing. I like to work in new to me flies now and then. It might get stale if I only fish the same things over and over again.

[kickingback]

They look good enough to eat! Did you use a marker to color the deer hair and fur?

[karstopo]

They look good enough to eat! Did you use a marker to color the deer hair and fur?

Just the craft fur. The deer hair I order dyed.

[kickingback]

That's funny because when I look at them it looks like you used the marker on the hair and the fur was natural pink...

That's how good they look!! I know I love pink in my lures as well. I like to think it is close to the "red" in the gills but it looks pink under water when the fish doesn't open their gills wide to breath.

[Kayak Kid]

Will be a trout killer in the surf. Those big surf specs seem to prefer pink over anything else.

I recall a PACK camp out trip to Cedar Bayou when several of us chose to fish a somewhat clear surf. I was using a large white fly and not getting a bump. I noticed that my buddy, who was fishing not more than twenty yards away, was having much better luck. I waded up behind him and asked him what fly he had on. "Pink", he said. I moved away, put on a pink bonefish fly I happened to have with me (large mantis shrimp) and a speck jumped on it the first cast. Many hits followed.

[The Angler]

Nice ties Karstopo. I always like to keep a few pink flies in the box as well; I like the contrast when the water has a trout green hue to it. here’s a quick tie I made the night before a trip last week. A bit crude, but still effective.
at least the schooling trout liked it.

[The Angler]

For a friend

[karstopo]

Nice topwater, crease fly. The bendback style and the other one both look good. They both have nice heads on them.

I’ve never produced a productive saltwater floating fly. I gave up trying to make or fish them.

[The Angler]

Nice topwater, crease fly. The bendback style and the other one both look good. They both have nice heads on them.

I’ve never produced a productive saltwater floating fly. I gave up trying to make or fish them.

Have you tried a VIP popper?

[karstopo]

Nice topwater, crease fly. The bendback style and the other one both look good. They both have nice heads on them.

I’ve never produced a productive saltwater floating fly. I gave up trying to make or fish them.

Have you tried a VIP popper?

Yes, didn’t work out for me. None, VIPs, disco shrimp, gurglers, crease flies, have worked out. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. But I’m good with ceding the surface to the fish.

[Kayak buddy]

https://youtu.be/tGLIKBl1wc8

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[karstopo]

One fault with my borski sliders is that the hackle tends to come unwound after a couple of toothy fish. This borski slider has had the hackle torn off after just a couple of Speckled trout. I should come over the hackle wraps with a few turns of thread to prevent the hackle coming undone.

I still fish the flies after the hackle comes off, but I think they are better with hackle than without.

EP and Steven Farrar Blend is a lot tougher than deer hair. That’s an advantage of using synthetic materials. I like flies that hang in there for more than a couple of fish.

[The Angler]

I’d still fish ‘em, but I do agree with you on the benefit of the hackle. I think it gives life to the fly, creating undulating legs, and pushes more water.

As for making the fly more durable, I have heard of synthetic hackles, but have yet to tie with them. I suppose one solution would be to wrap some thin diameter mono/vinyl rib around the hook shank, then palmering the hackle through the material to protect the stem.
For the deer hair, i usually add a light coat of hard as hull; it’s still deer hair, but I think it helps toughen the flies up a little bit.
If your solely looking for durability, then synthetics are the way to go, but there may be a comprofmise to other unique properties that you just can’t replicate with synthetics.

As long as you get a few of fish on them, then I’d say they’ve done their job. I’ve had those expensive corky lures get mangled after a single fish.

[The Angler]

I decided to try it out. Here’s a close up.

[karstopo]

Looks good.

[Do It]

Haven’t been tying much this year but I used some time off from work and was around the house recovering from surgery so I visited the bench. Amazing how something’s that used to be so simple were more difficult now that I’m out of practice. Here’s a sampling of some I tied.
Swamp Monsters
Hell Razor Craw
Redfish Crack

D.


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[karstopo]

Looking good. I hate going real long between tying sessions. But it’s hard to feel like tying if I don’t fish. I had surgery this year that kept me off the water for a while. It’s good to be fishing and tying again even if both are pretty limited.

[Kayak Kid]

I like those redfish crack like thingies. Although my refdishing is at a minimum these days, I am planning a trip to Flat Head lake in Montana and tying for that trip. A good friend of mine who just moved lakeside there is friends with the chief. We have permission to fish on the reservation in the fall. Big...,really big trout there.