Friday, June 25, 2010

Convertible Calamari

I got a tube kit today, and had this on the brain.
pink BT hollow tied on tube
pink stritch, clump tied 360
white marabou folded and palmered
white webby hackle palmered and forced back

The squid is similar to the Sinister Squid, you will notice a few differences.
Owner AKI 4/0 hook
yellow arctic fox tail
JC eyes
yellow grizzly webby hackle, palmered and forced back
4 white hackles
light olive stritch palmered
4 white hackles
light tan finn raccoon in a dubbing loop and palmered
bleached peacock clump tied 360
6 olive bird fur hackles tied flat 360 around shank

With this setup, I could make the squid extra big and add a bit of color, or fish just the squid without the tube attached.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Chovy flatwing

I am already anticipating the arrival of Fat Albert, I know its still a little ways off. Here is a fly I tied to imitate some chovy's a buddy and I found in early May at a local salt pond.
BT platform
thin white saddle tied in flat over platform
pearl body braid
light tan finn raccoon wing with a little olive ice dub topping
BT throat with a little senyos laser dub over(bottom fly I substituted red calftail for BT)
JC eyes
hard as nails to coat JC eyes and brush a little over ice dub to tame it

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Sinister Squid

I recently recieved some very nice Rhea as a gift, and have been playing a little. Here is a squid inspired by Dave Nelson and Chris Taylor, I think the stripers will tear this thing up when swung over their lies.

Mustad Signature hook, 2/0
50 lb mono with big dome eyes CCG'd on the end
blue arctic fox tail
black webby saddle, palmered and forced back
3 grizzly saddles
palmered rhea
3 grizzly saddles
palmered rhea
4 lavender saddles
bleached peacock
black marabou folded and wrapped 4 turns
black webby saddle, palmered and forced back







Sunday, June 20, 2010

fancy flex candy

I have been playing with both the CCG thin and flex, here is the flex.
Gami sc15 size 1
pearl mylar body braid
white BT
pearl flashabou, 1 strand folded
bleached peacock herl
JC eyes

Thursday, June 17, 2010

6/17 sand eel infestation

I got on the water around 7:30, about 3 hours into the outgoing. I ran into a buddy I havent seen since last year in the parking lot, so we caught up a bit. He told me there were birds working over blitzing fish and it just fizzled out, he was heading to another spot. I waded out to a hole as the tide had dropped enough to let me get there. I saw clouds of sand eels, in all directions dimpling the surface, but not alot of crashing, and then some bass moved in, big splashes, fish coming out of the water, it was mayhem.
The fish were fussy, I threw a few different flies, finally settling on a small CCG candy made with craft fur. There was a bass set up on a feeding station crashing sand eels passing by, but I was directly across current and couldnt present to this fish. So I waded up current to a spot where I could get a good swing in front of this fishes station, similar to swinging a wet fly to a trout on station. On the third cast the line came tight, and a few moments later I brought this gorgeous striper to hand, snapped a quick pic and sent it on its way. While this fish wasnt particularly big, it was great to solve the puzzle of the night.


Here is the fly

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Honey hole bass

I got this smallish striper at my honey hole, note the "Crazy Eye".

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Dark Drifter


This is a fly I like to fish at outflows at night on a drift and swing.

Feeling crabby






I love this crab fly, its very spey-esque. I got this pattern from Chris Taylor, there is a step by step on the SOL forum. I substituted church window feathers for the carapace and soft hackle hen for claws.