What did you tie today?

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karstopo
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by karstopo »

Cuervo Jones wrote:First flies of 2018. A pair of Del Canty’s No-body muddlers. Tied rough the way many of his flies were.
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I like those. I think rough is good. Good for creating turbulence and bubbles and good action. Looks like a largemouth bass might ear one, too. How big are those?
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by Cuervo Jones »

They’re tied on tandem #4 streamer hooks, so they measure out at ~4” long. Good size to mimic a mouse or dying baitfish. They’re typically fished at night on a floating line at or near the surface.


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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by Cuervo Jones »

This evening it was time for some fluorescent orange wooly worms.
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Like the one Del Canty used to catch this:
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by Cuervo Jones »

Ready for tomorrow, I wrapped up some bead chain clousers in case I find my tailing redfish friends around the shallow oysters again.
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by karstopo »

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The gray and white one worked nicely. That’s a redfish crack color that I tied recently for the first time but hadn’t fished until yesterday. It’s among the first two tone crack flies I’ve tied. I was a guest on a boat, but didn’t snap any photos since the my fishing buddy wasn’t into that. I didn’t get to use the whip a bunch, but when I did the fly did pretty letting it fall with little strips over shell and mud dropping off into deeper water. That produced 4 reds and a trout and out fished his paddle tail at that spot.

Gray over cream craft fur tail, a little orange red estaz, silver eyelash yarn, silver white EP, and small dark eye Balz dumbbells. Size 2 Mustad big game light.


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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by Kayak Kid »

karstopo,

As soon as I shake off this damnable flu I'll be tying up several of those small cracks. Won't be as clean looking as yours, but I'll bet they catch a few fish.
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by kickingback »

Good looking flies Kars! Well done!
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Re: What did you tie today?

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Kayak Kid wrote:karstopo,

As soon as I shake off this damnable flu I'll be tying up several of those small cracks. Won't be as clean looking as yours, but I'll bet they catch a few fish.
Sorry about the flu, it’s certainly epidemic now. I’m wiping done every surface I touch and trying not to mingle in public more than absolutely necessary until the plague passes. I’ve got added incentive to stay healthy as I have a scheduled surgery next Monday.

The fly is just like Scott Null’s version on YouTube. I add three or four wraps of Eyelash yarn (silver in this case) between the estaz and EP. I’m not even sure it’s necessary, but I do it anyway. I don’t put in a ton of craft fur in the tail like I see in some versions. The craft fur puffs up nicely in the water and I don’t want a big fur ball to show the fish.

I don’t like the EP to be very thick and so just lay just a little thin wisp of it in a dubbing loop instead of using premade EP brushes. I don’t like it to be long either, just long enough to get to the bend of the hook or maybe a hair past. The EP ends up semi shrouding the “guts” of Estaz and eyelash yarn, that’s the effect I’m after.
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by NativeSon »

Cuervo Jones wrote:This evening it was time for some fluorescent orange wooly worms.
Image
Like the one Del Canty used to catch this:
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Mr. C, what size hooks???
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by Cuervo Jones »

They’re a 4. Big enough to tempt some larger (even trophy) fish.


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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by NativeSon »

Thanks C.
A buddy has invited me up to Colorado this summer for trout on the fly.
I hope to make it, and finally catch a freshwater trout.
Planning on doing some tying for the trip, but it may be a hurdle jumping from local salt & fresh to that, trying to wrap my mind around it.
I think the smallest I've ever tied is size 8.
BTW, great looking flies.
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by Cuervo Jones »

NativeSon wrote:Thanks C.
A buddy has invited me up to Colorado this summer for trout on the fly.
I hope to make it, and finally catch a freshwater trout.
Planning on doing some tying for the trip, but it may be a hurdle jumping from local salt & fresh to that, trying to wrap my mind around it.
I think the smallest I've ever tied is size 8.
BTW, great looking flies.
If you tell me what waters you’re likely to hit up and what month, I’ll send you a few patterns that should do the trick. You can use them as models to duplicate, or just to start your fly box. PM me details and your address and I will fire them out to you.


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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by Cuervo Jones »

Wow! 50k views and 59 pages on this thread. Hope everyone is enjoying all the great patterns and excellent tiers we have here. I’m always inspired after browsing through the pages. Here’s today’s effort on #4 hooks. The classic black ghost.
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by kickingback »

Nice ties!!!! Awesome!
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What did you tie today?

Post by Cuervo Jones »

Some #4 bead chain-eyes, giant grizzly shrimp.
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With the eyes, they can pass for shrimp, baitfish, or big insects. I’ll give them a shot as soon as we’re out of this mini-ice age and see what the local bass and sunfish think. Then, probably give them a workout next time I’m up north in brown trout territory. This is the pattern that Joe Butler, Del Canty, and others were catching record browns and rainbows on in Flaming Gorge in the ‘70s.



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kickingback
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by kickingback »

More nice ties! They look like a shrimp!
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by NativeSon »

Cuervo Jones wrote:
NativeSon wrote:Thanks C.
A buddy has invited me up to Colorado this summer for trout on the fly.
I hope to make it, and finally catch a freshwater trout.
Planning on doing some tying for the trip, but it may be a hurdle jumping from local salt & fresh to that, trying to wrap my mind around it.
I think the smallest I've ever tied is size 8.
BTW, great looking flies.
If you tell me what waters you’re likely to hit up and what month, I’ll send you a few patterns that should do the trick. You can use them as models to duplicate, or just to start your fly box. PM me details and your address and I will fire them out to you.

OK.....figuring out how to PM can't be that hard...even for a techno-neandertal like me.....


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NativeSon
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by NativeSon »

OK, I surrender, cry uncle, throw in the towel...
Can anyone please tell me how to send a PM on this forum?
Much appreciated.
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Re: RE: Re: What did you tie today?

Post by Bayoutalker »

NativeSon wrote:OK, I surrender, cry uncle, throw in the towel...
Can anyone please tell me how to send a PM on this forum?
Much appreciated.
Are you using Tapatalk?

Cliff
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by NativeSon »

Thanks so much, Bayou,
think I got it now.
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by Kayak Kid »

Cuervo Jones wrote:Wow! 50k views and 59 pages on this thread. Hope everyone is enjoying all the great patterns and excellent tiers we have here. I’m always inspired after browsing through the pages. Here’s today’s effort on #4 hooks. The classic black ghost.
Image


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While I have been fortunate, through the years, to have been afforded many more than my share of extensive fishing experiences, most of my fishing these days is restricted to the vicarious. As such, I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate and enjoy the stories and photos within these posts. The days spent at my tying desk attempting to copy what ya'll tie have been enjoyed to the fullest.
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What did you tie today?

Post by Cuervo Jones »

Yep. Good to see TKF is back.
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Also these:
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karstopo
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Re: What did you tie today?

Post by karstopo »

Nice ties, Cuervo.

BTW, I recall that you’ve been to Pyramid Lake and other still waters in a fishing capacity. Have you any familiarity with a pattern called a balanced leech? I’m exploring the idea of tying up a few and don’t know of any real people that have fished them.

YouTube is one version of this evidently popular pattern out there.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=glbDmlMLsBg
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Re: What did you tie today?

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I haven’t tied or used balanced leeches, but they make me laugh. They’re essentially complicated marabou jigs, and I’d be inclined to just tie directly onto a jighead instead of going through the additional effort. I had thoughts of going back to Pyramid Lake this year, but all sorts of other stuff has gotten in my way. I’ll be hauling my float tube around the west for sure though and I’ll post up reports, even though a tube ain’t a kayak.


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Re: What did you tie today?

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Cuervo Jones wrote:I haven’t tied or used balanced leeches, but they make me laugh. They’re essentially complicated marabou jigs, and I’d be inclined to just tie directly onto a jighead instead of going through the additional effort. I had thoughts of going back to Pyramid Lake this year, but all sorts of other stuff has gotten in my way. I’ll be hauling my float tube around the west for sure though and I’ll post up reports, even though a tube ain’t a kayak.


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I guess the deal on them is that they always come back to horizontal when suspended under a cork.

I’m really not sure if a normal jig doesn’t do the same, though. Might have to test that.

Years ago, I used to fish the lake I now live on in late February and March with crappie jigs suspended a couple of feet or so below a cork. It was deadly on LMB. All I had to do was toss over the rig to an appropriate distance from the shore and wait no more than 10 seconds and usually less than that. The bass would suck in the jig in that time frame or I’d move on and cast a little down the shore. I’m not normally a big cork fisherman and never have really liked soaking shrimp or an artificial shrimp under a cork in the saltwater. I haven’t yet to try an indicator with the fly rod.

My godfather is a Crappie fisherman deluxe and I thought at least those balanced leeches tied with a tungsten bead might be something I could give him that would give him an edge on the lead jig head competition. And I might tie a couple for myself. They do present a longer profile than a standard bugger of the same hook size.
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