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Whats everyone been tying?

990K views 7K replies 604 participants last post by  cast4tailers 
#1 ·
Show your stuff... I have a bad eye and have been home all day whiped up a few flys.
 
#3,208 · (Edited)
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Finally getting around to making some wood poppers/sliders
Have enough cork and foam in the box and a half dozen of these will fill it out.
These start out from a 3/4" round dowel.
The old ones were made out of cork for a reason. Some in Balsa, yes. Foam or styrofoam is really the way to go for flies these days. Wood is just too heavy, unless you are using them on bait casters. I've made wooden plugs for spinning outfits and they were fun to make and work well for that. But not for fly fishing.
 
#3,210 ·
The old ones were made out of cork for a reason. Foam or styrofoam is really the way to go for flies these days. Wood is just too heavy, unless you are using them on bait casters. I've made wooden plugs for spinning outfits and they were fun to make and work well for that. But not for fly fishing.
Backwater, I get your point. I have a big plank of Balsa that I have been working with for a lifetime. With the availability of foam, I no longer use it for anything other then sliders because the heads are not as big and therefore weigh less than a full popper body. I will say that I love the Balsa for this purpose. My sliders hold up much better than foam and they seem to swim just right instead of wanting to skip on the surface like some foam heads do. I also like that they more slowly rise back up to the surface than foam. On the other hand, I still have to form the heads. That takes time when you can easily find preformed foam heads that work. So I admit that I use those too. Bait Fishing bait Fish hook Fishing lure Spoon lure
 
#3,212 ·
For backwater -the reel is a #2 Fin Nor Classic -the last of the Miami reels back when every part was machined out from solid metal by a skilled operator - long before computerized lathing and machining came along... This particular one has a rim control spool - not very many did, and they only were introduced a year or two before the original Fin Nor sold off... I was a dealer for Fin Nor back then in a very small way (I needed reels for the rods I was making to order...). I take it out occasionally and will sell it off someday..

For Dave Nickles, unfortunately that nice turned down wooden popper head simply won't work since no fly rod will be able to handle its weight... I knew a man, many years ago that was the premier lure maker down here in south Florida - life time member of the Tropical Anglers Club, Bob White (long passed away... ). He used to turn down "chugger" plugs for his customers out of cedar, then through wired them and weighted each one with a precise drop of molten lead before painting them up... Those chuggers were used with either spin or plug casting gear and were deadly effective on everything that swims - both offshore and inshore when fish were attacking baitfish at the surface.... I may have one or two still around somewhere that have to be at least 30 years old - and still brand new.

Bob White was my mentor when I was learning to make bucktail jigs - all those years ago. Wish I'd taken the time to tell him just how much he taught me...
 
#3,218 · (Edited)
Dave Nickles. I really like young tiers and always wanta help. Here’s some places I’ve posted these things. You should get the info you want. You can explore “denduke” for other outa the box stuff. Fly tying to me is a science not an art. We won’t worry about any knothead comedians along the way
Styrofoam ball bugs

http://forums.bullnettlenews.com/90-mississippi-fly-fishing/232731-easter-egg-poppers.html


http://forums.bullnettlenews.com/90-mississippi-fly-fishing/231839-roundies.html


http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=88183


http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=87762

BTW I don’t do swaps cuz I wanta catch my fish on my flies. SecretSanta deal awhile back I gifted a box each trout, bream, bass, inshore salty, blue water salty to the guys. My inshore box went to a guy in Australia. Hoping to hear if he gets a barimundy on one of my bugs.
 
#3,238 · (Edited)
Dave Nickles.... We won’t worry about any knothead comedians along the way
Styrofoam ball bugs


Denduke, with respect, there are lots of things people come up with, including myself , that can catch a fish. I was just being a little humorous trying to point that out, without saying something directly about it. I mean, heck, you can shred a white t-shirt, tie on a shred of that t-shirt onto a hook, cast it out there and as the "Law of Average" has it, if you cast it out there enough times, something will eat it. Is that my idea of a fly. Humm....not so much (unless I was desperate for food and had nothing else to use ;)). Lord knows I've tied up my fair share of experiments and alien food, which end up in the circular file before I'll use it or show it to someone. And even then, it needs to hit all the bases, like... will it cast properly or will it cause issues with the fly line, like dragging cause it's too heavy or helicoptering cause it's wind resistant (your turtles for example)? Will the action of the fly be effected? Lots of other questions there.

For me and what I've seen most experienced fly tiers and fly fishermen also do, I like to keep my fly fishing, exactly that..."fly fishing." Sure, I use all the latest synthetic stuff plus traditional hair and feather materials, with all the other items to cuase a fly to do certain things and look a certain way. There comes a point tho to where you can get obscured and gimmicky with it to the point where the gray area becomes distorted and you have to ask yourself, is this really a fly (in the sense of the word) or fly fishing? I mean, you can carve a wooden plug, paint it up, add a bass spinner to it with some hooks and troll it behind the boat with a floating fly line on a fly rod and pretend it's fly fishing.

Hey, I guess you can go to whatever extreme you want to go. But No, it's you doing you and not exactly fly fishing (just being honest, according to the general concensus in the fly fishing industry), maybe fishing, sure, but not necessarily fly fishing, traditionally speaking that is. That being said, I'm no fly fishing or tying snobbish traditionalist. But for me, there comes a point where I drawl the line and don't cross it. I'm not saying you need to be like me or others. Sure, some of your stuff has merit, but then again, some of your stuff went a little too overboard for others. It seems you are also trying to make a case to drawl in others, even newbs to come join you into thinking this is what fly fishing is all about, because....well... It might be for you, but not so much for most. Again, I understand that you want to do you and that's ok. But it does look like there was not a lot of thought through before you posted it. That's what I was trying to say.



Hey, I remembered 40yrs ago when this plug came out and it got lots of laughs and nods and you could even catch a fish with it. But I had no desire to tie one on to the business end of my bait caster rod nor did I want anyone else to see one in my box, unless I was using it as a laugh. So no way I'd use it, nor did anyone else I knew who were serious fishermen.

To answer Dave Nickles, the round floatation ball will cause the fly to have an un-natural action, hence after a century of lure and fly making out there in the fishing world, you don't see anyone marketing or using it for that. Humm... there must be a reason why and I assure you, it's been tried before, otherwise, you would have seen it. That being said, many things have spawn from ideas like that. Who knows, Denduke could be one of those pioneers. Hey, Bob Clouser was one of those pioneers as well. But his fly was also extremely effective, yet still "fly" like.. But personally, I wouldn't put something out there (web or otherwise) unless it's been tried and tested to be very effective and useful to people, looks and acts within the scope of what a fly is, instead of wasting their time out on the water thinking it would be good, when in reality, its just posting fly fishing street art as a fly to use, that may or may not do anything out there but spook the fish and frustrate you in the end.

I'm sure I'll receive flack for this post. But I am only speaking for myself and my experience with the subject after 30yrs now worth of fly tying and fly fishing here in the Florida salt.
 
#3,224 ·
Some were above someone posted about "dolphin" flys.
Back in the day my dad and I were in the Sea of Cortez and he made a hasty adjustment to his cast as we were literally surrounded by a school Dorado, (going for the big ones :)).
I gave him a little good nature "poop" as he snapped off his fly which landed about 30 " from our panga. As the fly slowly sank a 40+# drifted over and inhaled the fly. He looked over to me and said, "see... my flys are gust as good as bait" :)
 
#3,228 ·
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