Bass flies

The_Sasquatch

The_Sasquatch

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Joined
Jul 6, 2011
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Location
Malden, WV
I'm gonna be chasin some smallies on Saturday. My WW flies are dangerously low at this point. I'm even out of wooly buggers.

Here's a fun project. Using the following materials, that I have plenty of, what kind of fun things would you tie up!?

1-lots of turkey feathers (thanks to BradfromPotter)
2-Zonker strips-white and black
3-Chennille in yellow, brown, black, and olive
4-Maribou in olive and brown
5-bucktail in chartruce, yellow, white, and olive
6-led eyes
7-various big hackles in black, brown, and grizzly

What kind of fun stuff would you attempt to make from this limited list of supplies? I have no beads (Shakey told me it's bait fishing if I use beads).
 
Who needs beads? Just use lead (free) wire. You could tie any ww fly you want with those materials.
 
So give me some idears! I don't need bead heads, I agree.

Obviously I can do some buggers. I can do a few deceivers. Anything "different" that I could do?
 
Big, ugly, sinking water movers. Made of everything but the kitchen sink. They're bass get them mad and you hot tight lines.
 
check out rusuperfly.com you could get some ideas from there. Cool stuff to check out
 
Clousers
 
Ya got me thinkin here...I would probably go with:

1. wrap black chennille body
2. pierce black zonker strip with hook (leaving an inch or two of the strip on either side) to create tail/overbody, and tie down flat on underside of hook shank. Trim as needed.
3. lead eyes. Secure them clouser-style so it rides hook up.

You could quit here, but what kind of hackles are we talking? If they're big and webby, I would palmer some around the eyes to create a bigger-profiled, sculpin-ish head (skip this if it's stiff dry-fly hackle). That or the marabou around the eyes could work too.
 
an easy leach pattern could be created with the black zonker strip with chenille wrapped in front it it. Use black for the tail, and alternate the body chenille colors for different color schemes

A simple zonker fly could be made with chenille for your body and the strip for the tail, and dorsal fin.

obvious could be clousers with the lead eyes and bucktail

i have seen some clousers tied with zonker strips tied in on the end as well. This could be another pattern to look at, since you have the white strips. be sure you tie it in on the correct side.

That being said you could also tie in some of the big hackle for a tail as well but not sure how well the action of your fly would be.

A mickey fin variation could be tied up, but instead of silver strip body, use chennille

replenish your wooly bugger supply as well.

you could create a decent looking crayfish out of those materials as well.

MATERIAL LIST

marabou-claws
turkey tail feather fibers- antenna
chennille - body
hackle- legs
turkey tail feather fibers-body case & tail
lead eyes- weight

hook, point side up
1) tie in lead eyes about 1/16" to 1/8" in front of hook eye
2) tie in and segregate the brown marrabou for claws
3)tie in two turkey tail feather fibers for antenna
4)tie in a large bit of turkey tail fibers to wrap back over the body of the fly.
5) tie in a hacke fiber to make legs.
6)tie in the brown chennille for the body. Double wrap at the body end of the section and create a decent taper as it goes to the tail. Depending on your tying ability you can half hitch right at the end of the body, and wrap the hackle fiber to create the legs and tie in.
7)pull over the turkey fibers and tie them in at the end of the body to wrap over the body. Leave the tag end there to continue to make tail segments
8) continue to wrap your chennille in and pull over the turkey feathers to creat the segmented tail setion. your last wrap for the body case should be just behind the lead eyes. Pull up the tail and whip finish. Trim the clump of left over turkey feathers in the shape of the tail.

You could come up with a ton of different color schemes for this as well with the colors you have. If you have rubber legs I would suggest putting them on a few instead of hackle.

lead eyes arent critical but placed correctly they could ensure you crayfish swims hook point side up and also will make it be able to rest with the marabou flowing above, much like how rubber crayfish are presented.


I could tie one of them up and put up a picture as a guide, or send you one if you want to have a template to go off of as well. Never tied it that way, but would be similar to how i tie them now.

Hope that helped and was a bit more narrowed.
 
slumpbusters
 
Keep them coming. This is fun for me.

I'm definitely tyin' up this SOB!
http://www.flybass.com/html/white_bunny.html
 
I do have rubber legs. I'll try that crawfish. Sounds like fun too.

I'm basically trying to expand from the "usuals". I get stuck on clouser/wooly bugger/poppers. They work great and I catch a lot of bass, but given the fact that I have to restock the bass box I figured this would be a good time to expand a little and try some new stuff.
 
Good call on the slump buster, Ryan. I usually see them w/ cone heads, but I can get around that.
 
Mike, post a pic if you can of that thing. I'd like to see it.
 
I need to focus on warm water a bit more. Fly fishing lost its luster as of lately, and could bring it back with some unfamiliar water, and new species.

I'll try to get a concept of the crayfish tied up tonight and send you a picture via pm or facebook.

I think that adding some sort of crayfish pattern to your arsenal would be a good move.There are a lot better patterns out there than the one i suggested with your material.

Crayfish are not just for bass but other fish in the rivers hammer those things as well. I caught a few trout, and a lot of rockbass on mine . A friend slammed carp on the effluent of Yellow Creek in Indiana County on a few I gave him to try on small mouth, since I never got out because of the birth of my son. One of the carp weighed 35# and snapped his 8 wt. He said he caught a few smallies, but the carp were all over them.
 
Sas, sent you a pm of a similar patter to the crayfish and how i tie my leeches, you could probably use some sort of black yarn and the fray out a few strands to give it the "buggy" look.

hope that help. Ill try and get that fly done up to give you a better idea.

good luck
 
My suggestion would be a black wooly bugger tied in the following fashion. Black rabbit strip for the tail. Black chenille body. Black, brown or grizzly hackle. Lead eyes tied in (Clouser style). You could also throw some of those rubber legs - tied in across the body at several locations before wrapping the chenille. Hang on! They won't be able to pass it up.
 
That's pretty much how I do tie my buggers.
 
Mike, didn't get a PM. Don't send me a crayfish pattern...I want to experiment. I got some idears based off your suggestions.
 
Check and see if the pm went through no. Not sure why it would not work before.

I'll let your imagination run with it, then. Be sure and post up what you come up with. I am actually in the process of tying a few of my original crayfish, and can do one with the materials you supply as well. I am anxious to see what it would look like as well.
 
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