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42K views 161 replies 59 participants last post by  barry noll 
#1 · (Edited)
Ok all, I thought I'd start a fun thread for everyone here. The theme of the thread if to see what everyone's all-time best flies are, their absolute most reliable go-to flies you use to scout with since you know you have the best luck with them. Mainly inshore saltwater fly fishing, but freshwater and offshore flies are also welcome. If you are normally a lurker or just reply occasionally, we really want to hear from you. From the lower western Gulf Coast TX, through MS, the LA Bayous, wrapping around Florida and up the East Coast to NC and beyond!

Again, your best 3 all time go-to flies and describe for what specie, time of year, conditions and a little bit about the fly and how you work it! If you see someone else post the same fly, still post yours too since we want to see what you also like! Please comment on any fly you like or want to give feedback on! If you purchased them, where did you purchased them from or a source to buy them. If you tie or tied them, please comment on materials used or any twist, spin on it or variations of that fly you do with it on the vise. This information will be a great source for fly fishermen to know where to purchase them or for tiers, what materials to use.

I believe this will give the newer members and new to fly fishing a great head start on what flies they need or need to pick up to start being productive. Or new to fly tying, it would be patterns they need to start learning to tie for themselves, to start being productive. Heck, some of us guys that have been in it for a while might also want a new trick in our fly box when the fish are laughing and flicking birds at our go-to flies! LOL

No pretty froo froo flies that you're not sure if they work or not! o_O We're not talking about your 3 favorite flies that you love and have a romance with. We want the 3 "best" flies that simply work! We are talking about your real pickup truck style work horse flies that bang the fish out!!! We don't care how ugly they are, how simple they are, if they look like alien food or whatever. It's not a beauty contest, only the fact that they work, catch fish and work really great! We don't care if that's what you use to target ladyfish or freight train size redfish, from spotted sea trout, flounder, snook, jacks, macks, bass, it doesn't matter! Just if it's the best and your little secret weapon to go bend that rod immediately and for your favorite fun fish! :D

PICS PLEASE if possible! If not, name the fly and describe it. No fancy pics needed! Just pic the thing up, shoot a pic with your cell phone and post it! We don't care if there are 20 others posted just like it! Just show us what YOUR best ones are, regardless! ;) Hey, we all know that there will be a lot of chartreuse and white clousers, etc, etc.... Who cares, just show us or tell us!

We are looking for all active and non-active members on the fly board to participate!

If you are worried about getting credit for your unique original fly, then consider this thread as being published! It's time and date stamped and feel free to tag your name to it. We will later refer to and give your credit for it. We are all ladies and gentlemen here! Oh and, let's here from you ladies too!

If you want to purchase some of the flies where there is no source available (especially if it is a unique fly they tied), you could PM that person and work out some sort of deal for a few or them.

Hold no secrets back and go for it! Your 3 best flies! ;)
 
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#3 ·
If I had only one fly to use it'd be an everglades special. If I'm back home in Jupiter, Fl and using a fly rod its either chucking flies into the mangroves for snook and small tarpon or a couple ponds I have found with snook reds and poons. The waters pretty stained in both places so the ep works well. I've caught a bit of everything on it. Reds, snook, tarpon to 30lbs, ladyfish, jacks, snapper, small goliaths, peacocks and largemouths, crappie, and even the only sheepie I've landed on fly.

My go to up here in Jax is what I call the cha cha slide.


I was shown a variation of this by the guys at Blackfly. I use psuedo hair as the tail a pair of sili legs and tarantula brush for the body. I keep a ton of these in my lowtide redfish box in black and purple, tan, and purple and tan as pictured. Always on a #4 daichi 2546 with med beadchain eyes. Lands very soft and with the legs and brush has a lot of movement. If I put this where it needs to be and little ticks with a short pause in between it gets ate almost everytime for backing and busting reds. I've also tied it with either finn raccoon or rabbit strip as the tail and uv polar chenille as the body for the big spooky schools in the winter since you can let it sit but still moves a lot.

Last one is the only fly I carry besides a gurgler for tailers in the grass.


Called the bacon bit since Austin Bacon at Blackfly came up with it. I tie it with a ball of estaz at the back to splay out the rabbit strips a bit more and sometimes throw in mono eyes. Austin just uses polar chenille, rubber legs, rabbit strips for claws, tarantula brush, and of course a weed guard. X-small lead eyes so it doesn't hit the water too hard but I'll use sm or med eyes later in the tailing season as the grass seeds so it gets down to the fish rather than hangs up on the grass. I use a sl12s #2, it was originally tied on a #6 b10s but after people complained about breaking hooks Austin uses #4 2546's. I strip it long and slow and also works for sheepies in the grass although I can never get those bastards to eat.
 
#5 ·
If I had only one fly to use it'd be an everglades special. If I'm back home in Jupiter, Fl and using a fly rod its either chucking flies into the mangroves for snook and small tarpon or a couple ponds I have found with snook reds and poons. The waters pretty stained in both places so the ep works well. I've caught a bit of everything on it. Reds, snook, tarpon to 30lbs, ladyfish, jacks, snapper, small goliaths, peacocks and largemouths, crappie, and even the only sheepie I've landed on fly.


Your flies would work on Texas reds and speckled trout. Thanks for sharing.


My go to up here in Jax is what I call the cha cha slide.


I was shown a variation of this by the guys at Blackfly. I use psuedo hair as the tail a pair of sili legs and tarantula brush for the body. I keep a ton of these in my lowtide redfish box in black and purple, tan, and purple and tan as pictured. Always on a #4 daichi 2546 with med beadchain eyes. Lands very soft and with the legs and brush has a lot of movement. If I put this where it needs to be and little ticks with a short pause in between it gets ate almost everytime for backing and busting reds. I've also tied it with either finn raccoon or rabbit strip as the tail and uv polar chenille as the body for the big spooky schools in the winter since you can let it sit but still moves a lot.

Last one is the only fly I carry besides a gurgler for tailers in the grass.


Called the bacon bit since Austin Bacon at Blackfly came up with it. I tie it with a ball of estaz at the back to splay out the rabbit strips a bit more and sometimes throw in mono eyes. Austin just uses polar chenille, rubber legs, rabbit strips for claws, tarantula brush, and of course a weed guard. X-small lead eyes so it doesn't hit the water too hard but I'll use sm or med eyes later in the tailing season as the grass seeds so it gets down to the fish rather than hangs up on the grass. I use a sl12s #2, it was originally tied on a #6 b10s but after people complained about breaking hooks Austin uses #4 2546's. I strip it long and slow and also works for sheepies in the grass although I can never get those bastards to eat.
 
#6 · (Edited)
LOL..... No one wants to show their deep dark secret little weapons, when no one's lookin! :eek: I know it's tough! LOL

Remember people, this is more to help out the guys just getting started. But experienced or inexperienced, let's see what cha got! It'll be fun and a good way to give back to our fly community on this board!

Don't worry if you think they might catch all the fish out of your spots with all the best flies out there. If all the fly fishermen got out there and fly fished with the absolute best flies, all at the same time, it probably wouldn't add up to about 2% of what the live bait slingers catch in a day. ;)
 
#11 · (Edited)
These 3 fly have caught fish by me or guides in the Keys that I gave flies

1. Super Toad Tarpon fly. Yarn body, rubber band legs, rabbit and marabou tail


2. Bone fish fly T...Buggy Shrimp Yarn body with grizzly hackle, mono eyes, crystal flash antenna. You need to clip the palmered hackle on the bottom of the fly to allow it to sit upright


3. Merkin Crab, Permit Fly. Yarn body with rubber band legs, Marabou and Kristal Flash



Fly #1 and 2 are my creations. I have not caught a Tarpon on the #1 fly but guides have. Maybe this year will be the Year:(
#3 is my go to permit fly but I have caught Bonefish on them
The #2 fly I have never put it on the internet but Lefy put it in his book years ago

My flies aren't pretty but they catch fish
These are cell phone photos
 
#13 ·
It came from my stretcher box all rigged up. It's a loop knot on 80 lb. bite leader. Tie a small loop in your leader the feed the tag end through the hook eye. Then tie a knot in the tag end and push that through your loop then pull the loop closed tight. The knot in the end then stops at the closed loop. I'll see if I can find it on the inter net
 
#20 ·
Lefty's loop knot and the arbor knot are totally different animals, the knot described sounds like an arbor knot, and in the heavy bite tippet knot strength isn't important, conversely the loop knot aproaches 100% strength if properly tied according to Lefty's instructions.
JC
 
#21 · (Edited)
Jon, I've tied a ton of these knots. You'll notice that the tag end in this pic points to the hook and is a loop knot.
With an Arbor knot, the tag end points away from the hook and is a jam knot that is cinched down to the hook.

I created a new thread in response to the loop knot question about loop knots and to talk further about it. It's called (of all things) "Loop Knot!" I did this so we didn't get off topic to the theme of this thread. ;)

Back on topic. Jon, let's see what chu got! (i.e your best 3 flies!) :D
 
#22 ·
1. Tan gurgler
2. My wobbly minnow I posted up a while. back on an xl shank hook white with olive back
3. Chartreuse and white seaducer

Those three will cover bass, tarpon, snook, reds, trout and just about any other inshore species.
 
#29 · (Edited)
This is the first one of the 3 flies, in no particular order, but to say that it was the 1st fly I ever created that was any good and turned out to be a very good fly to find fish and to sight cast to. I first created it in the early 90's fished the heck out of it and finally published it around `2000. I think I've caught just about everything you can catch inshore in Florida (except bonefish and permit), especially snook, reds, sea trout, ladyfish, juvi tarpon, macks, jacks, bonitas, etc.. including freshwater large mouth bass. But it is exceptionally good for sight casting to laid up snook and dock lights. It's the simplest of flies and old school, but can cause a finicky fish to eat sometimes. When wet, it's basically a bay anchovy pattern and most fish will eat them like potato chips, even if they are not hungry.

It's called the Ted Haas' Tan and White.

The bottom fly is the original "Tan and White" and the top one is a variation of it.



Note, these look better wet than dry. The bottom is the original Tan and White fly. You can't see it with the lighting in this pic, but it has a pearl flash laterial line. I also do the laterial line in gold or silver (depending on water clarity (gold for darker water). The fly on top with the eye is a variation of the bottom fly, tied with Rumpf Extra Select tan craft fur wing (back) and of course, epoxy eyes.

In the original fly on the bottom, the fact that there are no eyes doesn't effect it's effectiveness. This particular is around 3.5" OAL. But I've tied it as little as 1" for bluegills and rainbows and as large as 6" for big pelagics. But my normal size I use is 3-4". Depending on material used, the longer ones can have sort of a Hogy lure action to it. It's also tied and used it in different colors.

Hook - This size is tied with a #2 Dai-Riki 930 stainless steel hook (one of my new favorite saltwater hooks for sure (Best Value)
Wing - Tan chinese strung rooster saddle hackle. In this case, I'm using Wapsi. Alternate colors that work good are, gray, chartreuse, olive or whatever. Alternative - tan Rumpf Extra Select craft fur
Latterial line -
Gold, silver or pearl flash. You can use crystal flash or flashabou. This one I used DNA Holo Chromosome, but use up whatever you have.
Belly - White artic fox tail. You can substitute AF belly hair, finn raccoon, marabou or a tuff of white bunny. I tend to like the artic for or finn raccoon since it holds more volumn than marabou underwater and breaths really well. But marabou will still work.
Tread - Danville 210 white flat wax nylon, clear mono or whatever you have.

It's a very basic and simple fly and very simple to tie. Start out with a thread base on the hook shank from the eye to the bend of the hook. Tie in between 4 to 6 strands of flash straight out the back of the hook shank (all together) about 1/2" from where you want the tail to end (I don't like flash going to the end of my fly or beyond, but that's just me). Note: a little trick I do sometimes is take some clear soft glue like Softex, GO2 glue or lately, Liquid Fusion, put a drop/dab of it between my thumb and index finger and run it down the flash a few times and gently twisting them together slight so that they stick and hold together. Then let it dry. That will keep the lateral line uniform (you will see it better on the next set of flies submitted).

Next tie in and wrap the shank of the hook from that point up to the eye of the hook. Before you wrap the shank with the flash, coat the shank thread wraps with some glue, then wrap it up to the eye and tie it off. Then you can coat the flash wrapped shank with Sally Hansons, Liquid Fusion or whatever else you may have, to lock it in. Allow to dry.

Take 4 hackles and trim to size. Place 2 facing inward on one side and 2 facing inward on the other side and bring them together, so they are curving inwards towards each other, instead of outwards (not kicker style like a Keys tarpon fly). Trim the butt ends evenly and stack them all together at once just behing the eye of the hook. Place a few wraps to secure them where they stand up straight and stick out the back of the hook. Then rotate the fly.

Next, cut off a tuff of fur/hair, pull out the under fur to leave mostly guard hair (the longer ones). You wouldn't have to do that with marabou. Trim from the butt end, about 2/3 the length of the fly. The longer versions (5-6", only use 2" of belly material, unless you have finn raccoon, which is longer). Tie it down in place and finish head. Add head cement or whatever you use to coat the head to lock in the threads. Note, as the fly on top, you can fishing the head with other thread colors or fingernail polish. In this case, I used Hot pink, which when coated with head cement, almost looks like light red. Other colors include red, chartreuse, pink or orange. That can help catch the eye if they are not keying in on it.

One final thought. I hardly use this fly anymore since I'm always working on new patterns to catch fish with. But this one is a good one to keep in your box to try, just in case they are being finicky and your go-to flies aren't working, as something else to throw at them.

I hope it works for you.

Ted Haas

More to come as I get them done.
 
#30 · (Edited)
Sorry to disappoint, but it's the simple Clouser, and my version of it. For you older guys, I'm not telling you anything new, but it get's over looked for the new guys.

Back many years ago a survey was done, by (I think) Fly Fishing Magazine and the survey ask what what was the most used fly, that caught the most fish, across the board, in Florida..... The survey reviles that about 80% of all fish caught in the state of Florida, back then, was caught on a chartreuse and white Clouser (of course designed by Bob Clouser). Today, most old school fly fishermen and fly shops still recommend that same fly as a part of one's must have fly in their fly box.

About the mid 90's, I started experimented with variations of that fly and wanted something similar, but with a slightly larger profile using about the same amount of materials. This is what I came up with and it as proven itself to be a basic staple in my fly box when I want to pull out a fly that I know will find fish. I also published this variation back in `1999.

It's called the Ted Haas' 3D Stand-Up Clouser (a.k.a. 3D Clouser).



What makes this fly unique is that instead of wrapping the belly hair (in this case, buck tail) down the shank of the hook with thread, I start the belly hair in front of the lead eyes (as you are suppose to do with a regular Clouser). Then, instead of pulling the deer hair (or whatever fiber you are using) and wrapping down the shank of the hook, I criss cross the thread around the lead eyes to hold the belly hair (in this case, white buck tail) straight out from behind the eyes, thus, giving the belly a larger profile. So not only can the fly represent an bay anchovy, but also the larger profile of a sardine (hence the 3D addition to the name). The finished fly also pushes more water than a standard Clouser. The larger belly causes the fly to "stand up" on it's nose when rested on the bottom, hence the name.

Next, roll the fly over on your vise and stack the wing (back) on as you normally would a standard Clouser. Note, I always start the fly in the beginning after I tie in the lead or bead chain eyes and tie in Flash as a laterial line and do the flash the same way as I do the flash in the Tan and White fly, above. It's hard to tell with the lighting in this pic, but I'll also highlight the actual stomach of the fly (once the belly is tied in) with some pearl flash, such as Hairline Dubbin, Inc's Baitfish Emulator Flash, DNA Holo Chromosome Flash, Pearl Angle Hair, Pearl Crystal, Pearl Flashabou, or whatever else pearl flash you might have in your supplies. Just about a 1/2" worth past the lead eyes.

These flies (Clousers in general) work great with many different materials. When the summer rolls in and the water is a bit murkier and lots of baitfish around, to get their attention, I'll use buck tail since the color is more opaque. With ultra clear water, spooky fish and cooler waters in the winter, I seem to do better with the Ultra and Supreme hair synthetic materials. I've also added just a touch of artic fox or marabou on the belly side, after the lighter belly hair has been added, to five the belly an added effect.

The 2 top flies in the pic are tied with a Dai-Riki #2 930 SS hook (again, one of my new favorites for quality and pricing). I'm using white Danville 210 flat waxed nylon thread. You can use whatever color to finish the head for added effects. If you use clear mono (not fun to tie with), you will see the separation of colors in materials at the head. In this case, I touched up the top of the head with fingernail polish to get the same effect. My daughters and I trade fingernail polish all the time! Ha! Anyways, the head can be finished off with chartreuse, red, hot pink, orange and olive and even black.

I've used this fly with about every color combination you have seen or could imagine. Think about your favorite color combinations of jigs and jerk baits, then tie them up using a this or a normal clouser patterns. NOTE, don't going buy large quantities of every color in the rainbow. Either use what you have or only get the very smallest pieces you can find. I will, however, buy a whole white bucktail (about 5 bucks (pun intended!)). Find a fly tying buddy and split materials when possible and agree to do so. You'll go alot further with that and not bulk up on too much stuff that you will hardly use.

Don't be afraid to go sparse like KnotHome's clouser up above, if they are being finicky. Funny thing about clousers sometimes is, the more it get's nailed and loses materials, the better it gets!

Have fun!

Ted Haas
 
#33 · (Edited)
Ok, a little of my own personal history on this fly. It's a very very simple and basic pattern. Whoa there... No, it's not the Norm Ziegler's Shminnow fly!

One of my good buddies, Scott Graham and I, back in the early 90's, were fine tuning a fly he developed for snook on the beaches and night dock light fishing. We had been using artic fox tail back then for a variety of things, as an alternative to marabou. We just plain like it, as well as finn raccoon. We tried bunny hair, but couldn't find in long enough for what we were trying to accomplish and it had a tenancy to absorb more water than the other natural hair materials. Also, craft fur was sort of new to the industry and it tend to stick together, while the fox hair flared out and breathed well.

One of the things we were trying to accomplish was to make a sort of shrimp fly out of it, so we laid a tail down with the fox tail hair and then palmered on a white hackle to create legs, much like a seaducer, except we had put bead chain eyes on it, clouser fashion. It worked but were were both always looking to improve the fly.

One day Scott was in Jim Swanns fly shop in Dade City, FL and Jim got in this new material by Wapsi called "Ice Chenille" We talked on the phone about it and the next time we went out together to fish (which was almost several times weekly), he showed me how it looked on the fly we were messin with. Bham! It made a big difference and our hookup ratio started getting better. What we both liked was how the Ice Chenille became more translucent in the water over the hackle and it pushed more water (snook will key on things they can feel).

After a couple of years, we both settled in to our own version of the fly, which was dubbed the Arctic Shrimp, a.k.a Arctic Crystal Shrimp. Scott had some articles written about his fly fishing and featured the fly, as well as a few others he used. He later published his version in 1999. His version used regular size silver bead chain for eyes, tied about halfway down the shank of the hook using a standard Mustad 3407 or 34007 hook. My version, tied on the same hook had the eyes, tied about where you would tie clouser eyes (about 1/4" from the eye of the hook). My shrimp eyes were plastic bead chain eyes (about the size of regular bead chain) and were pearl black in color and on a string, instead of wire. I found the string of bead chain in a fabric store. So instead of tying it like a regular bead chain (2 beads), I would cut off 3 beads from the chain, take a needle nose pliers and break out the center bead. Then you tie it in and the eyes stick out wider, which worked really well and had a nice look to it, but eventually one of the beads would break off. Several years later, someone came up with the idea of making mono or nylon dumbbell eyes. They worked too, but I didn't like it as much. I ended up going to black chrome bead chain eyes or better yet, antique brass bead chain eyes, which are very durable, especially coated with some Sally Hansens (and dried) to keep it from corroding. Then I changed the Ice Chenille to Polar Chenille (not the UV polar stuff) and hard to find.

For some years, we fished the heck out of those flies on all the barrier islands between Sanibel to Tampa Bay on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Then one day we were staying in a friends fish camp house on Little Gasparilla Island and was reading the latest edition of the Florida Sportsman Magazine and saw an article on Norm Ziegler who wrote a book on snook fishing on fly and featured a little fly that looked similar to our fly, except he used marabou and cut it off bluntly with some scissors. He must have found the Ice Chenille too. Back then, we didn't care about writing a book, but we knew we had caught hundreds of snook on our version of the fly before he ever landed on US soil from Europe.

Years later, I met Capt Rick Grassett out of Sarasota and he told me he came up with his version, the same way, once he discovered the materials and had never heard of Norm Ziegler either. Btw, I have respect for Norm and he's done well with his book, his fly and his little fly shop.

And so, that's how it goes....

This is my version of Scott Graham's (Capt Scott Graham back then) "Arctic Shrimp," which I call mine the "Arctic Crystal Shrimp!"



This is one of my go-to snook fly for beaches, dock lights and is a good one for fishing on light colored bottom. Can be weighted with plain ex sm or sm lead eyes and tied in various colors and color combinations. Yes it does mimic a front swimming shrimp, but can also be considered a small baitfish. I've even added legs and a small egg sak and that works too sometimes. I've caught everything under the sun, inshore on that lil fly, including freshwater bass (smaller version tied in a #4 bronze or black chrome hook). I have to say it's my all time favorite go-to bass fly for sure and have caught lots of different exotics on it as well. Sea trout, ladyfish, jacks, macks will crush it as well. So it's a good one to keep in your box to try. Try it with a shorter tail and med orange painted eyes for pompano, croaker, whiting and other beach fish.

Super simple to tie. Again, I use arctic fox, but can be substituted with finn raccoon (or both in body hair) , long bunny hair cut off the strip or a large tuff of marabou. I start the fly by tying in the eyes (description of the eyes is below). Wrap your white thread to the bend of the hook. Take a small tuff of hair and pull the under fur out of it. Trim the butt ends of the hair even and tie it down with your tail being about 1-1.5" based on a normal size fly from a #4-#2 hook. DON"T cut or trim the fur tips or ends of the hair like Norm does. It's just not natural looking. Anyway, at that spot, tie in your chenille and secure it. You can put a dap of glue on those wraps and let it dry to make it more durable.

Wrap the chenille up the shank of the hook, pulling the fibers back as you go so not to over wrap them. Depending on material thickness, space your wraps so the fly body is not too dense. You are trying to achieve a somewhat transparent silhouette. So wrap up to the eyes and give it an extra wrap or to behind the eyes. Some people like to secure the wraps behind the eyes, cut off the chenille at that point and tie in a small head past the eyes. That's new school stuff. But I like to figure 8 the chenille over the eyes one time then wrap it a couple of times up to the eye of the hook, then tie and finish off the fly.

I normally use a # 2 saltwater hook, like a Mustad 3407, 34007 or a SC15. But I do like the Dai-Riki 930 SS hook in a #2 for this fly, which I think is better than the Mustads (you can order those Dai-Riki's on ebay). I've tied it really small on a #8 and 1" long for small bass and exotics, up to 3/0 and 4" long for big tarpon both day and night under bridge lights. But mostly, it's tied about 2-2.5" long on a #2 hook.

This paticular chenille (hard to find) is a sparse version of Cactus or Estaz Grande with no pearl whatsoever. Pearl is not always a good thing for snook and is more for the fly fishermen to admire! Ha! Although ladyfish, spotted sea trout, jacks and macks seem to love it! So rarely, I'll use pearl, but sometimes I do for daytime use and as a change-up on the beach. Either way, Ice Chenelle, Cactus Chenille, Estaz Chenille or Estaz Grande. I've even used 1/2" to 1" EP brush. Note, space your palmered chenille wraps to keep the body somewhat sparse.

I personally like the antique brass (not the bright brass that looks gold). You can get a 99 cent pak of it in Walmart, home Depot Lowes or where ever. You can also try the mono (nylon) black dumbbell eyes you can buy. I've also used them in the green for my tan versions or I use a bone pearl plastic bead chain which I got a 1ft string of them from a fabric store, on the fly colors that are darker (sort of what DOA does with their shrimp).

Some color variations of the fly I like to use is all light tan (very natural look, especially for spooky redfish and bones), rootbeer or olive for redfish, pink for pompano and offshore and chartreuse for flats and mangrove fishing. The pic of the other examples have several with red heads tied in, also good for locating daytime snook and sea trout.

Ok then, tie some up and have fun with them.

The Arctic Crystal Shrimp fly by Ted Haas
 
#38 ·
Ok, a little of my own personal history on this fly. It's a very very simple and basic pattern. Whoa there... No, it's not the Norm Ziegler's Shminnow fly!

One of my good buddies, Scott Graham and I, back in the early 90's, were fine tuning a fly he developed for snook on the beaches and night dock light fishing. We had been using artic fox tail back then for a variety of things, as an alternative to marabou. We just plain like it, as well as finn raccoon. We tried bunny hair, but couldn't find in long enough for what we were trying to accomplish and it had a tenancy to absorb more water than the other natural hair materials. Also, craft fur was sort of new to the industry and it tend to stick together, while the fox hair flared out and breathed well.

One of the things we were trying to accomplish was to make a sort of shrimp fly out of it, so we laid a tail down with the fox tail hair and then palmered on a white hackle to create legs, much like a seaducer, except we had put bead chain eyes on it, clouser fashion. It worked but were were both always looking to improve the fly.

One day Scott was in Jim Swanns fly shop in Dade City, FL and Jim got in this new material by Wapsi called "Ice Chenille" We talked on the phone about it and the next time we went out together to fish (which was almost several times weekly), he showed me how it looked on the fly we were messin with. Bham! It made a big difference and our hookup ratio started getting better. What we both liked was how the Ice Chenille became more translucent in the water over the hackle and it pushed more water (snook will key on things they can feel).

After a couple of years, we both settled in to our own version of the fly, which was dubbed the Arctic Shrimp, a.k.a Arctic Crystal Shrimp. Scott had some articles written about his fly fishing and featured the fly, as well as a few others he used. He later published his version in 1999. His version used regular size silver bead chain for eyes, tied about halfway down the shank of the hook using a standard Mustad 3407 or 34007 hook. My version, tied on the same hook had the eyes, tied about where you would tie clouser eyes (about 1/4" from the eye of the hook). My shrimp eyes were plastic bead chain eyes (about the size of regular bead chain) and were pearl black in color and on a string, instead of wire. I found the string of bead chain in a fabric store. So instead of tying it like a regular bead chain (2 beads), I would cut off 3 beads from the chain, take a needle nose pliers and break out the center bead. Then you tie it in and the eyes stick out wider, which worked really well and had a nice look to it, but eventually one of the beads would break off. Several years later, someone came up with the idea of making mono or nylon dumbbell eyes. They worked too, but I didn't like it as much. I ended up going to black chrome bead chain eyes or better yet, antique brass bead chain eyes, which are very durable, especially coated with some Sally Hansens (and dried) to keep it from corroding.

For some years, we fished the heck out of those flies on all the barrier islands between Sanibel to Tampa Bay on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Then one day we were staying in a friends fish camp house on Little Gasparilla Island and was reading the latest edition of the Florida Sportsman Magazine and saw an article on Norm Ziegler who wrote a book on snook fishing on fly and featured a little fly that looked similar to our fly, except he used marabou and cut it off bluntly with some scissors. He must have found the Ice Chenille too. Back then, we didn't care about writing a book, but we knew we had caught hundreds of snook on our version of the fly before he ever landed on US soil from Europe.

Years later, I met Capt Rick Grassett out of Sarasota and he told me he came up with his version, the same way, once he discovered the materials and had never heard of Norm Ziegler either. Btw, I have respect for Norm and he's done well with his book, his fly and his little fly shop.

And so, that's how it goes....

This is my version of Scott Graham's (Capt Scott Graham back then) "Arctic Shrimp," which I call mine the "Arctic Crystal Shrimp!"



This is one of my go-to snook fly for beaches, dock lights and is a good one for fishing on light colored bottom. Can be weighted with plain ex sm or sm lead eyes and tied in various colors and color combinations. Yes it does mimic a front swimming shrimp, but can also be considered a small baitfish. I've even added legs and a small egg sak and that works too sometimes. I've caught everything under the sun, inshore on that lil fly, including freshwater bass (smaller version tied in a #4 bronze or black chrome hook). I have to say it's my all time favorite go-to bass fly for sure and have caught lots of different exotics on it as well. Sea trout, ladyfish, jacks, macks will crush it as well. So it's a good one to keep in your box to try. Try it with a shorter tail and med orange painted eyes for pompano, croaker, whiting and other beach fish.

Super simple to tie. Again, I use arctic fox, but can be substituted with finn raccoon (or both in body hair) , long bunny hair cut off the strip or a large tuff of marabou. I start the fly by tying in the eyes (description of the eyes is below). Wrap your white thread to the bend of the hook. Take a small tuff of hair and pull the under fur out of it. Trim the butt ends of the hair even and tie it down with your tail being about 1-1.5" based on a normal size fly from a #4-#2 hook. DON"T cut or trim the fur tips or ends of the hair like Norm does. It's just not natural looking. Anyway, at that spot, tie in your chenille and secure it. You can put a dap of glue on those wraps and let it dry to make it more durable.

Wrap the chenille up the shank of the hook, pulling the fibers back as you go so not to over wrap them. Depending on material thickness, space your wraps so the fly body is not too dense. You are trying to achieve a somewhat transparent silhouette. So wrap up to the eyes and give it an extra wrap or to behind the eyes. Some people like to secure the wraps behind the eyes, cut off the chenille at that point and tie in a small head past the eyes. That's new school stuff. But I like to figure 8 the chenille over the eyes one time then wrap it a couple of times up to the eye of the hook, then tie and finish off the fly.

I normally use a # 2 saltwater hook, like a Mustad 3407, 34007 or a SC15. But I do like the Dai-Riki 930 SS hook in a #2 for this fly, which I think is better than the Mustads (you can order those Dai-Riki's on ebay). I've tied it really small on a #8 and 1" long for small bass and exotics, up to 3/0 and 4" long for big tarpon both day and night under bridge lights. But mostly, it's tied about 2-2.5" long on a #2 hook.

This paticular chenille (hard to find) is a sparse version of Cactus or Estaz Grande with no pearl whatsoever. Pearl is not always a good thing for snook and is more for the fly fishermen to admire! Ha! Although ladyfish, spotted sea trout, jacks and macks seem to love it! So rarely, I'll use pearl, but sometimes I do for daytime use and as a change-up on the beach. Either way, Ice Chenelle, Cactus Chenille, Estaz Chenille or Estaz Grande. I've even used 1/2" to 1" EP brush. Note, space your palmered chenille wraps to keep the body somewhat sparse.

I personally like the antique brass (not the bright brass that looks gold). You can get a 99 cent pak of it in Walmart, home Depot Lowes or where ever. You can also try the mono (nylon) black dumbbell eyes you can buy. I've also used them in the green for my tan versions or I use a bone pearl plastic bead chain which I got a 1ft string of them from a fabric store, on the fly colors that are darker (sort of what DOA does with their shrimp).

Some color variations of the fly I like to use is all light tan (very natural look, especially for spooky redfish and bones), rootbeer or olive for redfish, pink for pompano and offshore and chartreuse for flats and mangrove fishing. The pic of the other examples have several with red heads tied in, also good for locating daytime snook and sea trout.

Ok then, tie some up and have fun with them.

The Arctic Crystal Shrimp fly by Ted Haas
Ted
Those flies look good and easy to tie they remind me of a wolly buger except with eyes. I've caught some really big rainbows and Browns on WB but have not adapted it for salt water
 
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#34 · (Edited)
First of all I do not tie at this time so most of the flies I use are commercial except for a few friends that tie some effective patterns. This series of flies are all floaters. Floating flies are great for exciting the fly caster and adding another layer to the visual experience. If I wanted to land as many red fish as possible I would not use floating flies. I may start the day with a floater at times based on years of experience. And remember my day does not start until we can see the fish. No low light blind casting. I save that for lures. First one that I enjoy fishing(but the red fish do not always enjoy eating) would be this Rainey's epoxy popper in any color they make. If you have watched the videos most of the surface bites are on this pattern. I have never used another surface fly
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0i5tzEA5XkVS
makes more noise than this fly and you can cast well for eight weight rods. Then the tan floating crab by my friend JK, and finally the Dahlberg floating/diver. In that order.
I don't use photo bucket so just click on the link.
 
#36 · (Edited)
He's from Florida, so I think it's a different person in TX. Nevertheless, I'm going to tie up his 3 Best go-to flies and also post them here. (without the lengthy description. ;)).

Btw Steve, we have a lot of deeper water here in Florida, so that is why I use those flies. But I love to watch a fish crush a surface fly and I have used a lot of Dahlberg divers in the past and still use a few for certain situations since the push a lot of water. I had the privilege to meet and talk to Larry Dahlberg for a long while, this past summer. He's an amazing guy and definitely one of my fishing heroes that I've followed over the years. We discussed a modification I did years ago on his Dahlberg Diver for night time tarpon, called, the "Dahlburger." I don't think anyone else has fished the world over more for giant fish than himself, hence the name of his show, "Hunt for Big Fish."
 
#42 ·
Ted, on the crystal shrimp with green on top, rest white, how do you get the body with green on top and white on bottom? I saw another fly at a local shop that seemed like it had a brush body palmered forward, but somehow the top was a different color than the bottom and i wanted to know how that is done.
 
#43 ·
Believe it or not, if you take a gold colored Sharpie and just color it, it turns a perfect errodensent goldish olive color. I have different water proof permanent markers in gold that run different shades of olive and green for some reason. I use the standard Sharpie gold mostly since I like that shade of olive. But I think I used a standard green Sharpie on the fly in the pic. Then I added a little green synthetic fiber on top of the tail. But you can color it instead wirh a sharpie instead.

Btw, the silver Sharpie is more of a gray than silver and the copper is more of a brown. So sometimes I'll color mullet pattern backs with the silver and then lightly touch the very top of the back ridge lightly with a black sharpie. Rhe black withh act more like a dark gray with added lightly to the silver. It gives the back more of a 2 tone mullet gray effect (their backs are not completely black).

I'm sure you get the point.

Ted
 
#49 ·
Ted, I have been fishing primarily at night so my favorites have changed a bit. Also been dealing with larger fish but fewer of them. These flies came from Sandy Morets shop and Blackfly. I am having the same patterns made in 2/0 and 1#.



Man those are nice and ugly bet they catch the fool out of fishies
 
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