One of those days

[JG63]

From 2018 - a home made “blockhead” style popper cut from EVA flooring foam with a pair of scissors and some stuff thrown together on a hook yielded a fine day on a certain pond - the pics are only a few of the Bluegill and Bass who participated in the all out attack on this bug - I haven’t fished it since - the success of that one day earned it a special place in the “HOF retirement flybox”

 

[Bamboozle]

It's not the same thing, but I have a couple of flies I tie for brookies that would probably work just as well on sunfish, but I never tried.

They are nothing more than a short piece of 1/8 or 3/16 diameter cylindrical foam lashed to a bare hook, usually a size 16. No hackle, no tail, no legs; just a hunk of orange or yellow foam.

When I'm fishing a brookie stream and I get a hit or two on a strike indicator, that's when I tie on a "Foamie." I also have started the day with one and never changed flies.

They won't win any beauty contests, but I can tie a dozen in a little over 15 minutes and they work!!

 

[JG63]

It's not the same thing, but I have a couple of flies I tie for brookies that would probably work just as well on sunfish, but I never tried.

They are nothing more than a short piece of 1/8 or 3/16 diameter cylindrical foam lashed to a bare hook, usually a size 16. No hackle, no tail, no legs; just a hunk of orange or yellow foam.

When I'm fishing a brookie stream and I get a hit or two on a strike indicator, that's when I tie on a "Foamie." I also have started the day with one and never changed flies.

They won't win any beauty contests, but I can tie a dozen in a little over 15 minutes and they work!!

Hmmm … something about “great minds” - I was one of the guys Troutbert mentioned in the Clarks Creek entry of his book using “painted cork” all those years ago (I’m still using them too) panfish, trout, and bass are stupid for them - but that’s an entry for another time 😏

 

[Bamboozle]

Hmmm … something about “great minds” - I was one of the guys Troutbert mentioned in the Clarks Creek entry of his book using “painted cork” all those years ago (I’m still using them too) panfish, trout, and bass are stupid for them - but that’s an entry for another time 😏

Excellent!!

I just lash mine in the middle and use a shorter piece of foam. It looks like one of Bill Skilton's foam bee patterns minus the banded foam & hackle for legs.

 

[Mike]

Instead of a thread on junk flies, this thread could be the foundation for one on flies made with junk that work. Could be interesting. So far I’m enjoying the simplicity and creativity.

 

[Bamboozle]

It's not the same thing, but I have a couple of flies I tie for brookies that would probably work just as well on sunfish, but I never tried.

They are nothing more than a short piece of 1/8 or 3/16 diameter cylindrical foam lashed to a bare hook, usually a size 16. No hackle, no tail, no legs; just a hunk of orange or yellow foam.

When I'm fishing a brookie stream and I get a hit or two on a strike indicator, that's when I tie on a "Foamie." I also have started the day with one and never changed flies.

They won't win any beauty contests, but I can tie a dozen in a little over 15 minutes and they work!!

Excellent!!

I just lash mine in the middle and use a shorter piece of foam. It looks like one of Bill Skilton's foam bee patterns minus the banded foam & hackle for legs.

I found some (not so great pictures):

 

[JG63]

I found some (not so great pictures):

View attachment 1641248986View attachment 1641248987

Really reminds me of a mcmurray ant - bluegills will destroy those! Photo is of a Clark’s wild Brown from 2009 with one of those “painted corks” mentioned in 1987

 

[Bamboozle]

Really reminds me of a mcmurray ant - bluegills will destroy those!

Maybe not as cool or elegant, but a lot easier to make versus a McMurray Ant.

FWIW - I knew someone who used to make McMurray ants from pot seeds on the assumption after a few takes by the same trout, you could just grab the woozy fish with your hand... 😉

 

[RLeep2]

Maybe not as cool or elegant, but a lot easier to make versus a McMurray Ant.

FWIW - I knew someone who used to make McMurray ants from pot seeds on the assumption after a few takes by the same trout, you could just grab the woozy fish with your hand... 😉

Close to 40 years ago, Nick Lyons or maybe it was John Randolph wrote in Fly Fisherman that you can make the process of releasing a trout easier by mixing up a 1 % dilute solution of Valium and DMSO and spraying it along the trout's lateral line. The trout immediately goes limp but recovers within a few seconds and release becomes a breeze. This was obviously chain pulling on Lyons' part but the next issue had several letters from guys who tried it, said it didn't work and wanted to know what they were doing wrong.

Barnum was right: There's one born every minute..

 

[Bamboozle]

Close to 40 years ago, Nick Lyons or maybe it was John Randolph wrote in Fly Fisherman that you can make the process of releasing a trout easier by mixing up a 1 % dilute solution of Valium and DMSO and spraying it along the trout's lateral line. The trout immediately goes limp but recovers within a few seconds and release becomes a breeze. This was obviously chain pulling on Lyons' part but the next issue had several letters from guys who tried it, said it didn't work and wanted to know what they were doing wrong.

Barnum was right: There's one born every minute..

I guess you would have to be careful if you had to relieve yourself immediately afterwards and had a date that evening... 😉

It sounds like something Nick Lyons would suggest...

I was chummy with Nick back when I lived in NYC because I would bump into him at events and we both have the same first name which seems to be a bonding thing with Nick's versus other first names.

Some of the inscriptions Nick & author/angler Bob H. Boyle, "Unofficial Hudson Riverkeeper" wrote in some of my books and are pretty darn comical...

 

[BrookTroutLover]

Really reminds me of a mcmurray ant - bluegills will destroy those! Photo is of a Clark’s wild Brown from 2009 with one of those “painted corks” mentioned in 1987View attachment 1641248997

The McMurray Ant was the hot new secret fly when I was a beginning tier. And living the next township over from McMurray, there was a certain hometown pride in tying and fishing them. But damn, foam was a revelation!