Smallie Bait

[afishinado]

The water is warm and the rivers are down for easy wading...it's Smallie time!

I've always found Hellgrammites and Stonecats (actually Madtoms) great bait for smallies. Back home in NE PA they're called Clippers and Catties.

I tied up some bait and I'm ready to go!!

 

[Fredrick]

Nice Bait . Can we get a receipe ?

 

[afishinado]

Fredrick wrote:
Nice Bait . Can we get a receipe ?

Both pretty easy, just zonker strips for both.

The Stonecat is all zonker strip with a Fish-Skull. Tie in a zonker strip in the rear of the hook and wind the zonker around the shank towards the eye. Slip on the Fish-Skull. I use epoxy to secure the head and tie in a thread dam just behind the eye. I form the tail by applying some Sally Hansens to the end of the tail and pressing flat.

The Hellgrammite is tied the same way. Tie in a zonker strip for the rear of the fly. Cut a strip of thin leather and tie it in on top of the shank. Tie in uand wind tan chenille to cover the shank. Tie in rubber legs and fold the leather strip over the chenille to form a collar and tie in behind the eye. Use the excess leather hanging over the eye to trim into a helgy head shape. I color the head and collar with a dark brown marker and use Sally Hansens to coat.

Tying bait is a lot easier than picking bait by kneeling down in the riffs, sticking your hands under each rock and getting pinched and stung!....like I did back in the day...

 

[Fredrick]

afishinado wrote:

Fredrick wrote:
Nice Bait . Can we get a receipe ?

Both pretty easy, just zonker strips for both.

The Stonecat is all zonker strip with a Fish-Skull. Tie in a zonker strip in the rear of the hook and wind the zonker around the shank towards the eye. Slip on the Fish-Skull. I use epoxy to secure the head and tie in a thread dam just behind the eye. I form the tail by applying some Sally Hansens to the end of the tail and pressing flat.

The Hellgrammite is tied the same way. Tie in a zonker strip for the rear of the fly. Cut a strip of thin leather and tie it in on top of the shank. Tie in uand wind tan chenille to cover the shank. Tie in rubber legs and fold the leather strip over the chenille to form a collar and tie in behind the eye. Use the excess leather hanging over the eye to trim into a helgy head shape. I color the head and collar with a dark brown marker and use Sally Hansens to coat.

Tying bait is a lot easier than picking bait by kneeling down in the riffs, sticking your hands under each rock and getting pinched and stung!....like I did back in the day...

Thanks not all of us are expert tyers like yourself Tom . ;-)

 

[Dave_W]

Good stuff. Definitely game time!

"Clippers" are a good fly this month as the naturals are active.