egg patterns

[ryguyfi]

Ok I've been tying for about 2 years now and just have a question about egg patterns. I tie a lot of them for trout and steelhead with good success. Most of the ones I find in the stores are different than mine. The egg itself is about a third of the size of the hook. I would rather use a smaller hook so that the edge of the egg is right at the bottom of the hook bend. my egg's aren't as tight as the store/fly shop bought ones, but the fish don't seem to care. I just feel that the less hook being seen, the better. The same size egg on a store/fly shop pattern on a size 10 hook, I'll tie on a size 14 or 16. Anyone else have some views on this?



p.s. had great success with a pale yellow egg with a salmon colored blood dot for steelies last year. Just an FYI.

 

[hammertime]

The biggest problem with that is the hook gap. The egg can't be too big that it closes the gap at all, or the hooking percentage will go down.

 

[ryguyfi]

that's the main reason I asked the question. Like I said before, I tie mine not as tight as the ones I've seen so I don't seem to see a difference in my hooking percentage, but that might just be my nievity. If I have a little worse hooking percentage but get more takes due to less hook exposure to the fish, I think I'll take that trade off. Not sure if that's the case or not though.

 

[jayL]

I try to use bigger hooks, but sometimes I'll tie the egg so that there's a groove on the bottom for the hook to sit in when using a smaller one. You can accomplish this by working the globug yarn to the top of the hook after tying, and massaging it back into position every ten or fifteen casts.

Try to offset the hook a few degrees to the side too. It'll widen the gap on a smaller hook.

I actually differentiate between two different glo-bug style patterns. I'll call a smaller, tighter fly on a bigger hook an "egg" whereas I'll call a bigger, more loosely tied egg on a smaller hook a "glo-bug". I know they are essentially the same pattern, but I like to carry both.

The loosely tied versions can represent anything from power bait, flesh chunks (they pulsate in the water), or impressionistic eggs. The tightly tied versions are pretty much an exact egg imitation.

 

[ryguyfi]

yeah I've had the same problem with the yarn slipping on the hook. I started tying them this year with putting thread the whole length of the shank and then putting head cement on the whole thing, then starting my tie. Haven't tested it yet, but I'll let ya know. I'll try to take some pictures of my ties and put them on here to see what ya think. Not that egg patterns are exciting, but if you think I'll have an issue with hooking up. Thanks for the help.


Ryan

 

[jayL]

Make sure you put a good thread base down before tying on the yarn. It really helps with the slippage. I use the heaviest thread that I have on hand for these, and usually come close to bending the hook with all the pressure I put on it when wrapping.

 

[hammertime]

I tie mine looser as well. When it gets wet it fills out fine. If the yarn is too dense it doesn't roll on the bottom like it should. I think maybe that if its tied too dense it doesn't absorb the water as well and doesn't look as natural in the water. Not that I've seen or took notice to many eggs rolling in the water.

 

[RLeeP]

From an ease of tying perspective and for as much as (I believe) it matters to a steelhead (at least the over-harassed neurotic fish of the PA Erie tribs ), I see no reason that an egg fly even needs to be round.

I simply tie in my yarn perpendicular to the shank, pull it up and give it a haircut and tie it off at the eye.

But maybe this makes it a mushroom fly, not an egg fly.

I dunno. Catches fish though..

 

[JackM]

I think they mistake most egg patterns for a bit of free-range powerbait.

 

[ryguyfi]

expanding on this a bit. What other egg patterns do you use and what materials do you use for them. I've had some success with a sucker spawn egg pattern with some of my wife's yarn she uses for knitting. Caught my eye one day and cut a lenth off with it, caught a decent amount of steelies with it. It was off white with a bit of tinsel in it, and looks great when it gets wet. I also just bought some braided cord in white and pink to make some chrystal meth ss patterns. I have also seen a few of the plastic egg patterns, also saw a thread on using colored hot glue to make these. Never used those before.
What, if any of these, do you prefer, also including the above referenced single yarn egg/glo bug?

 

[jayL]

Estaz is nice for great lakes tribs. I've never used them for stocked trout, but I'd imagine they would work well.

 

[MKern]

I like the hot glue eggs -- some large and some in clusters.
But I usually stick with sucker spawn in cream, light orange, blue, and pink. I tie it both with cotton cord and diamond braid.

 

[tomgamber]

I just thread those craft sore pom poms on a larger hook and sometimes I even bother to secure them...like I've said before, I'm just lazy.

 

[sandfly]

here are a few:

 

[Padraic]

ryguyfi wrote:
Ok I've been tying for about 2 years now and just have a question about egg patterns. I tie a lot of them for trout and steelhead with good success. Most of the ones I find in the stores are different than mine. The egg itself is about a third of the size of the hook. I would rather use a smaller hook so that the edge of the egg is right at the bottom of the hook bend. my egg's aren't as tight as the store/fly shop bought ones, but the fish don't seem to care. I just feel that the less hook being seen, the better. The same size egg on a store/fly shop pattern on a size 10 hook, I'll tie on a size 14 or 16. Anyone else have some views on this?



p.s. had great success with a pale yellow egg with a salmon colored blood dot for steelies last year. Just an FYI.

If you want to tie "mini-eggs", you could buy mini-pom-poms from a craft store. Use a sewing needle to put a loop of mono through the pom-pom (ie sew the mono through twice). Then tie the mono down on the hook. Craft stores have a wide variety of sizes for the pom-poms and they are very cheap.

 

[Maurice]

RLeeP wrote:
From an ease of tying perspective and for as much as (I believe) it matters to a steelhead (at least the over-harassed neurotic fish of the PA Erie tribs ), I see no reason that an egg fly even needs to be round.

I simply tie in my yarn perpendicular to the shank, pull it up and give it a haircut and tie it off at the eye.

But maybe this makes it a mushroom fly, not an egg fly.

I dunno. Catches fish though..

I agree with RLeeP...I tie mine the same way. I've been ridiculed about the Mushroom style of my egg flies. So what. The way I see it when the fly is drifting toward the fish its two dimensional. You have about a 50% chance of it looking totally round and when wet, they tend to "fill up" with water casuing them to look more round than they really are. Anyway they work and are easier than trying to get that extra piece on the bottom.

The same applies to nymphs...the typical phesant tail or GRHE is tied in a round fashion when the nymphs are actually somewhat flat. But when the fly is coming toward the fish it looks flat because of the 2-D aspect.

Thats how I see it, with one crooked eye....

 

[Acristickid]

A kind gent gave me some of these eggs the stream other day to try out. If he told me how to attach them I was'nt paying close enough attention.

Would any you guys recommend using a needle to slide them on? Once on, do you think you need to glue them to get them to stay? (did'nt want to waste the few that I received)

Never used these. I usually just tie some yarn on for eggs and has worked fine. Wondering if it would help with hook ups in the lower clearer water.

 

[flyfishermanj]

Guys,

Here's a link with Charles Meck and Eric Stroup tying an egg pattern: The Steeler Egg! jayL, I think you'll like the colers :-D Let's Go Pens!!

JH

 

[jayL]

ffj,

That's the one I agreed to tie for Paul. I knew I read that article somewhere on meck's site. I might tie a few up for this weekend.

 

[ok1morecast]

I use the standard ole sucker-spawn (cream, peach and pink) Crystalemeth ties the same way you tie sucker-spawn just gives it a little sparkle. I tie a dubbing egg kinda like a nuke egg. size 14, 16...lay down a thread base, i use "ice dubbing" wrap it thick like an egg..the add a small plume of glo-bug yarn to give it a "milking" look...works ok for me!