Baitfish patterns

Tied up some baitfish patterns the other week. Anyone interested in a set of 13 then click the link
True Fishing Gear's site. All tied onto Partridge Predator 4/0 hooks and are around 4" to 5" long. Perfect for most predator fish.

Wiggle tail "Bass jig"

Those that knew me within the pike fly fraternity, will have read on many a page strewn within my other blog "Pike fly fishing articles", that I was very fond of.....Sorry!! .......Actually let me just phrase that differently, I f*****g loved fishing for pike with Wiggle tails & were first introduced to me in 2009 by an ex Italian client, now good friend Giorgio Consioni when he came out to fish the island I was guiding at. On first inspection, I honestly was left with lingering doubts how he'd fare in the harsh Baltic sea waters with literally a full box of assorted wiggle tailed flies for seven days, Let alone withstand a barrage of pike teeth . The first two days my doubts seemed to be confounded, with only a hand full of fish being caught with his flies, but as the proverbial goes (Weather conditions)....shit happened!!! and the next 5 days both Giorgio & his mate Michele turned me in to what the " Trout tweed-boys" would call the "Dark side of fly fishing"........A wiggle tail convert! What encouraged me even more though that over the next 2 years every Italian client...& there were over 20 that I guided, all had several different styled wiggle tail flies in their boxes, and all were successful.

Anyway while rummaging through some boxes of materials early last year I stumbled across a batch Paolo had sent me some years back, and decided to dress ten or so hooks with the remaining colour's I had left, and the rest is history really. Those ten flies have been so prolific for me on practically every Bass dam that I have fished on here in the Natal Midlands, that I invariably end up taking only 5 flies out on the water with me....and  three of those will be some kind of wiggle tailed critter.

Many purists though within the sport, frown upon dressing such things onto their hooks, let alone fish with them. Personally if I can cast it with a fly rod, It's a fly in my eyes. A number of fly fisherman I've met over here that have seen me fishing with them, questioned their longevity, but I still have the same ten flies in my box that have caught over 180 or so Bass and still going strong!

One only has to check out the impressive array of fish Paolo has caught with them (Peacock Bass, Tarpon, Trout, Trevally to name but a few)  to see how effective they really are in both fresh & salt water conditions.) I personally, have fooled Northern Pike, Perch, Shad (Elf), Saltwater Bream, SA Barbel,  Malabar rock cod & Bar tailed sand gurnards with a WT fly. Although I've caught several Small & Large mouthed Bass with the more flashier Scale skin tales they seem to prefer the softer Alcantara tails in White, Yellow, Black & Olive ( A white tail coloured in with an olive permanent marker pen)

Colours to look out for and that have been productive for the TFG team  with Bass in SA are Black, Yellow, Tan, Blue, Gold & Holographic.

One of the most effective flies I fish with when bass have moved in to deeper water is this easy to tie wiggle tail bass jig.

                                                                         Step 1 

Take a Medium White Alacantra wiggle tail and colour over with an olive permanent marker. Then tie on to the back of the hook

                                                                         Step 2
First take a length of Dyed Olive/Brown UV Polar chenille and tie onto the back. Then take a length of Medium Rootbeer ice chenille and tie in front of the polar chenille. Then run your thread down to the hook eye.

 

Step 3

Wrap the rootbeer chenille around shank up to the hook eye. whip finish and cut tag end.

                                                                       Step 4

Then wrap Polar chenille around shank up to hook eye. Whip finish and cut tag end

 

                                                                         Step 5

Invert hook and slide a small Sculpin fish skull until it butts up against the chenille. Trip the UV Polar chenille to the length of around 10mm.

 

Materials

Small sculpin head
streamer hook size 3
Ice chenille (Medium) - Rootbeer
Dyed UV Polar chenille - Olive Brown
Wiggle tail - size (M)
Olive permanent marker pen

We are now stocking wiggle tails at the www.truefishinggear.com and are now available in South Africa.

Baitfish patterns

Due to popular demand, I'm going to be bringing back and adding a number of my baitfish patterns (25-35) from my Baltic pike flies range to the new www.truefishinggear.com site within the next week. There will also be a selection of "Baltic scuds, Soft belly baitfish & Rattle & Hums" to choose from as well.

Ice dub bugger baitfish

In 1988 my oldman presented me with my first fly rod and reel combo set after completing  3 months basic training up at 5SAI & I still remember the first fish I ever caught with it as if it was yesterday. An 87cm Springer (Ladyfish) off the sandbanks around by the container terminal in Durban harbour. I hadn't a feckin clue what I was doing, and my sheer lack of skills allowed it to open up a big can of whip ass on me, stripping all 27m of fly line plus 30m of backing off the reel before I managed to turn the odds in my favour and landed it.. The harbour provided me with a large expanse of water in close proximity to my home that I could regularly visit and hone my skills on , and in all honesty is probably the reason why I've always had more of an affinity towards chucking fluff at saltwater species over fresh water.

                                                      Ice dub bugger baitfish
Anyway the rather crudely tied fly that I caught it with, had.....If I can remember it correctly, similar design qualities to a white chenille Chrystal flash bugger commonly called a "Salty Bugger". You'll still find one tucked away in practically every saltwater fly fisherman's box over here, being the effective fly that it is. The thing is though, I'm personally not a big fan of having a lot of bling (Flashy materials) dressed onto my saltwater flies and crystal pearl chenille, being one of the main ingredients of the Salty Bugger, puts me off fishing with this fly altogether. So I replaced the chenille with some of my "Cookies & Cream" Ice dub Blend which to me has not only given the fly a better profile in the water, but also given it more of a darker natural appearance with just the right amount of glint along its flanks.

                                                                         Step 1
Slide a 3,6 mm Tungsten bead down to the hook eye of a "Size 6 Octopus hook". Then take an inch long clump of Tan strung Marabou and tie onto the back near the bend.

 

Step 2

 Twist Slab slayer "Cookies & Cream" Ice dub along the thread and then proceed to wrap evenly along the hook shank up to the Tungsten bead.

                                                                         Step 3

Whip finish and add a generous blob of head cement over the tie off point. Then take a strip of velcro and brush the Ice dub strands back towards the tail. I fish this fly fast in both the surf and in the harbour and is light enough for it to be trailed behind a flipper.

Materials
Thread: 12/0 white Nano Silk
Slab slayer ice dub:  Cookies & Cream
3.6mm Tungston bead
Hook: Size 6 Octopus
Species caught with this fly:
Big eye Trevally, One spot snapper, Sand Gurnard, Springer, Rainbow Trout, Small mouth Bass

The "Big Easy!"

 

                                                                  "The Big Easy!"
Any fly fisherman passionate about the sport will inevitably become an accomplished fly tier. The need to turn fluff and feathers into “Fishing Gods” whether they be realistic imitations or over the top attractor patterns is what constantly pushes me to find new materials to dress hooks with. One of these gems I stumbled across about 6 months ago while rummaging around A sewing/knitting shop in Pietermaritzberg looking for glass beads.  It's Called" Plume" and if there's one material that has truly added an arsenal of decent Trout catching flies to my box, it has to be this Plume.         

It comes in a multitude of different colours, you get 50m of the stuff and best of all, it's as cheap as chips....result!

I particularly took a shining to the "Tuscan Olive" which on closer inspection has three different shades of olive green single iridescent fine strands running along it.

                                                                        Step 1
Anyway onto the fly I call the "Big easy" and the perfect fly for any novice fly tier to tackle. Take a decent clump of brown marabou the same length as the hook shank (Mustad size 6 streamer hook) & tie onto the back near the bend. Add a blob of head cement. Again I don't see the need for a strand of Krinkle flash here as the Plume has enough iridescence to not warrant any.

 

Step 2

Cut a length of plume that will have at least two colour variations running through it and then tie on directly over the tied off Marabou. Then Palmer (Wrap) around the hook all the way along the hook shank. Keep the wraps tight but directly in front of each other or the plume will splay out, which isn't what you're looking for.

                                                                         Step 3
Whip finish and add a blob of head cement. Then take a black water resistant marker pen and darken the tips of the marabou. Fish this fly at varying speeds on an intermediate line. You can see why I call this fly the "Big Easy". On a privately stocked dam near Badplaas in the NE Transvaal I fooled 12 trout alone with this same fly in one afternoon session.

Slab Slayer Ice Dub blends

If I have to be brutally honest, sourcing quality fly tying materials in this country can be an absolute ball ache. Majority of the fishing shops that have a fly fishing section attached, barely stock the essentials, let alone anything out of the ordinary. I suppose in their defence they're only able to hold a limited selection of materials due to the amount of floor space allocated to the sport, and seeings how popular conventional Bass and Carp fishing is over here, it's only inevitable that us fly fisherman get shafted.

Anyway one of these products I've found hard to source out has been blended ice dubbings. Fishient Produce a few colour variations of "Hares blend dubbing" and I've seen the odd shop retailing a few Hairline, Wapsi & Veniard blends but nothing that seemed to suite my needs. So several months ago I started blending my own colour combinations.....and so "Slab Slayer Ice dub blends" was born about.
They come in a variety of funky colours (Custard, Choc fudge, Cookies & Cream, Forest Moss, Mushy Pea, Xtra virgin olive, Pumpkin seed, Rootbeer, & Liquorice) Many of the fly tutorials I'll feature within "All About The Grab" will have these Ice dub blends applied to Trout streamers, Yellowfish nymphs, Carp flies as well as saltwater shrimps, Crazy Charlies & Saltwater buggers. Anyone interested in obtaining some then Visit The "True Fishing Gear" site. They can all be seen here on the "Slab Slayer Ice dub blends" page as well.

The "Daft Punk"

South Africa's been gifted with some truly stunning Trout rivers, found draped against the backdrop of some amazing countryside..........One only has to read Peter Briggs
"Call of the stream" to get the gist of what I'm harping on about. Yet much of the lets say specimen trout caught over here generally hail from closed water systems like dams and water reservoirs.

Anyway since getting back to S.A last year after 10 yrs worth of guiding in Northern Europe, I've spent a fair amount of time flogging these waters with many of the traditional still water Trout patterns that are regularly fished with over here with moderate success.  Sure I'm not as practiced on Trout still waters as I would like to be, and I do become easily frustrated when I'm not catching fish and my reluctance to try and learn all the technicalities and subtle nuances that still water trout fishing has to offer probably has gone a long way to me being not as successful as I could have been. The thing is right, I'm not much of a traditionalist when it comes to fly fishing, even more so with regards to fishing traditional patterns especially on still waters that have been flogged to death year in and year out with the same old same old flies. Call me the spawn of Satan, but I'd rather watch paint dry than spend my day dry fly fishing on still water. Sure it has its merits and can be very effective given the right time of year, weather conditions blah blah blah, but I need to be active and in my eyes that means being able to strip a line through my fingers regardless of the speed I retrieve my fly back. Hence why I'm partial to fishing with streamer styled flies over all others.

                                                                 The "Daft Punk"
Any South African fly fisherman who has fished these water has at some time in a days fishing, opened up their box and thought about using  a tried and trusted Black(Speed cop)/Brown or Olive wooly  bugger, which lets be honest, generally gets the job done,but as I mentioned earlier, the majority of trout in our still waters over here have seen that same styled fly literally hundreds of times in their short lives. So it got me wondering, why not take certain elements from the design and add my own flavour to an already existing tried and trusted pattern. One of the first of these patterns that has been a game changer for me I called "The Daft Punk". Super easy to tie and dressed with minimal materials.                                                                                                                       

                                                                          Step 1
 Take a decent clump of either Dark Brown Marabou or from some grizzly cock saddle the same length as the hook shank and tie on to the back of the hook near the bend. I don't bother with a single strand of krinkle flash on either side of the tail, which most tiers like to add purely because the Ice dub I add in the next step has enough in it not to warrant any more bling!

                                                                          Step 2
Twist Slab Slayer "Cookies & Cream" ice dub blend along your thread and then wrap evenly down along the hook shank until 3mm from the eye. (Will talk more in depth about the use of Dubbing in my next post)

                                                                          Step 3
Tie on some peacock body braid, snip away tag end and then wrap around the hook shank until a decent head butts up against the eye. Whip finish and add a generous blob of head cement over the body braid.

                                                                         Step 4
Take some velcro or your dubbing needle and brush the dubbing until you get some decent lengthed strands of the ice dub and dubbing and comb back along the body toward the tail.

I've found this fly works well with a slow retrieve 

Materials
Hook - size 8 or 10
Thread - Semperfli Nanosilk 12/0
Slab Slayer Ice dub blend - Cookies & Cream
Body Braid - Peacock