Any salt water fly tyers here?

[M.J.]

Hello,

I tie salt water flies already. What I am looking for is help on tying foam bodied poppers. Does anyone know of any good books or dvds on tying poppers?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[Bluegill]

Foam Poppers

Hi MJ, Here is a link to a great foam surface pattern. It is called the Gurgler. http://www.flyfishsaltwaters.com/flygurgler.htm If you mean the pre-made foam or styrofoam bodies they are really easy to tie. Most premade bodies have a cut down the middle which slides right on to the hook shank. First tie some bucktail (any color, I like white or yellow for a tail) to the tail of the hook, mix in some crystal flash for an extra attractor. I then slide the Foam or styrofoam body onto the hook shank and then use 5 minute epoxy to secure it onto the shank. Once the epoxy is dry you can paint the Foam body any color you want and even add eyes. I always use two coats of testors model paint and then two coats of hard as nails or any head cement that you like. The paint may bleed a little with the lacquer but it should be good to go by the second coat. I use a toothpick to apply the paint, it seems to be easier to manage the drips than a brush and you wont get brush marks if you just let the paint flow over the foam. I make dozens of these same foam poppers for a friend of mine in Maine and he slams the Smallmouth on them with his flyrod. I have actually done very well with them in Quabbin for the Smallies. The Stripers and Blues love them just as much. Good luck and tight lines MJ, OpDETDelta

 

[M.J.]

Hi OpDETDelta,

Thank you for your help. Is there a specific brand of bodys you use? Also, What size and style of hook are you using?

I will mainly be tying them for stripers and blues.

Thanks again & Tight lines,

Matt

 

[boomerang]

I don't know of any really good books on how to tie flies, but here's some good books on flies and saltwater fishing.

Saltwater Fly Patterns by Lefty Kreh.
Inshore Fly fishing by Lou Tabory.

I've seen some good tutorials online for complex tying, like deer hair heads and such, but I don't have any links.

Here's what I just made a few days ago.
It's a 12" double hook eel fly for dropping into rips with a lead core line.
I hope it works.

 

[Bluegill]

Hi MJ, The two packages that I have are made by TCS. These are the smaller size 4 popper bodies for freshwater. You are going to want to get some of these http://www.wapsifly.com/pp.html Wapsi makes excellent fly tying products. On the left side of the webpage you can see the Hard Poppers. Thats what you want. Next to the Poppers pictured is the hook sizes that they will accommodate. On the website you can see exactly what I was describing to you on how to make Popper flies. It is much easier to see in pictures than to type. The Popper on their website they are tying is more of a Bass bug and you do not need to put those wiggle leggs through the body. Also just buy straight shank hooks and depending on the popper legnth will determine how long of a hook to buy. The broader the popper head the more splash you will get. I like to use different size poppers especially for saltwater. Stripers and Blues do get finicky like trout and dont always want the huge flies or huge poppers. If I am going out on the beach or the rocks for the day I bring flies in size 6 hooks which are very small and up to size 2/0 and bigger. You never know what sizes they want so bring several. Last year I was fishing an upper Maine Trib that loads up with big stripers and I was outfishing all of the bait guys on a small size 6 sand eel imitation. The Bass were just keyed in on that small Silhouette of the sandeel and would not take big cut bait or big flies. I have found that Poppers work best for me in the early morning and evening time. Remember that if they are not breaking the surface, take off the popper, put on your sinking flyline and throw them some clouser minnows either Chartreuse, Yellow, White, Blue, and my favorite is very sparse olive bucktail using only the metal shine of the hook shank as flash, finish them with small or medium red lead eyes depending on the depth you are going to fish. Bring some small sand eel patterns, and a few small deceivers, same colors as the Clousers. The ultimate goal is to cover the whole water column. You will eventually find the fish. I hope I answered your questions but if not just let me know.

Have a good night,

Op

 

[Bluegill]

Boom, That Eel fly looks killer! They will definetly slam that fly.
Dont forget to bring some Squid flies with you for the rips, white, pink, red, black, and white.

PM me if you need some.

Nice work.


-Op

 

[GaryO]

Anyone looking for a salt water fly rod and reel?

 

[M.J.]

Anyone looking for a salt water fly rod and reel?

What brand, line weight, length, number of pieces is it?? Also, What is the line capacity of the reel?

 

[M.J.]

I don't know of any really good books on how to tie flies, but here's some good books on flies and saltwater fishing.

Saltwater Fly Patterns by Lefty Kreh.
Inshore Fly fishing by Lou Tabory.

I've seen some good tutorials online for complex tying, like deer hair heads and such, but I don't have any links.

Here's what I just made a few days ago.
It's a 12" double hook eel fly for dropping into rips with a lead core line.
I hope it works.

Hi Boomerang,

Those are both good books. A few more to check out are:

Saltwater Flies of the Northeast by Angelo Peluso.
Sight-Fishing for Striped Bass by Alan Caolo.
Clouser's Flies: Tying And Fishing the Fly Patterns of Bob Clouser by Bob Clouser.


Nice fly. Let us know how it works.

Thanks for your help,

Matt

 

[M.J.]

Hi MJ, The two packages that I have are made by TCS. These are the smaller size 4 popper bodies for freshwater. You are going to want to get some of these http://www.wapsifly.com/pp.html Wapsi makes excellent fly tying products. On the left side of the webpage you can see the Hard Poppers. Thats what you want. Next to the Poppers pictured is the hook sizes that they will accommodate. On the website you can see exactly what I was describing to you on how to make Popper flies. It is much easier to see in pictures than to type. The Popper on their website they are tying is more of a Bass bug and you do not need to put those wiggle leggs through the body. Also just buy straight shank hooks and depending on the popper legnth will determine how long of a hook to buy. The broader the popper head the more splash you will get. I like to use different size poppers especially for saltwater. Stripers and Blues do get finicky like trout and dont always want the huge flies or huge poppers. If I am going out on the beach or the rocks for
the day I bring flies in size 6 hooks which are very small and up to size 2/0 and bigger. You never know what sizes they want so bring several. Last year I was fishing an upper Maine Trib that loads up with big stripers and I was outfishing all of the bait guys on a small size 6 sand eel imitation. The Bass were just keyed in on that small Silhouette of the sandeel and would not take big cut bait or big flies. I have found that Poppers work best for me in the early morning and evening time. Remember that if they are not breaking the surface, take off the popper, put on your sinking flyline and throw them some clouser minnows either Chartreuse, Yellow, White, Blue, and my favorite is very sparse olive bucktail using only the metal shine of the hook shank as flash, finish them with small or medium red lead eyes depending on the depth you are going to fish. Bring some small sand eel patterns, and a few small deceivers, same colors as the Clousers. The ultimate goal is to cover the whole water column. You will eventually find the fish. I hope I answered your questions but if not just let me know.

Have a good night,

Op

Hey Op,

Thanks again for the info.

I am heading to the fly shop this weekend to order what I need.

I carry clousers, deceivers, eels and crabs with me. I was looking at poppers to cover the top of the water column because I really didn't have anything good to cover that part of the water column. Plus a good popper can help bring them up, if they are hanging on the bottom.

Thanks again,

Matt

 

[N.E. CHARTERS]

Heres the Buzz

Drift on over to

http://www.maineflyfish.com/forum/default.asp

 

[Bluegill]

Hi MJ, Yeah no problem. I end up getting carried away talking about Fishing or Hunting...If you couldnt tell
I live for this stuff.

Best of luck when you get to the surf.


Op

 

[M.J.]

I end up getting carried away talking about Fishing or Hunting...If you couldnt tell
I live for this stuff.



Op

Hey Op,

It's all good. I am the same way. +1 rep for all your help.

Tight Lines,

Matt

 

[sig shooter]

i do some salty fly fishing but i dont tye my own my salty flys but i want to start to.

 

[curlymaple42]

Tying saltwater flies is a lot of fun. Not so anal as tiny dry flies and the like. You can experiment a lot too which is great. When I had just gotten back into striper fishing a bunch of yrs ago I had tied some decievers and such and nothing was working on early season schoolies. SO I tied on some strange thing I had thrown together and WHAM!!! I hooked a schoolie first cast!! WHat a riot. Anyways, it is a lot of fun tying saltwater flies. If anyone needs any schlappen (white fuzzy feathers, like on a boa) I have a TON from when I worked at Spar Cove Fly and Tackle in Portland.

 

[M.J.]

Tying salt flies

i do some salty fly fishing but i dont tye my own my salty flys but i want to start to.

It is a good hobby. It shortens up the long winters between striper runs. Plus the feeling you get when you hook a fish on something you tied is awsome. It also lets you tweek your flys for the areas you fish or come up with your own stuff that may work better then what is already out there.

I learned to tie from a book. However, I recommend taking a basic tying class. They will teach you alot of the tricks in a few weeks that it took me months to learn on my own. Also, buy the best tools you can afford. When you buy a vise do yourself a favor, buy a rotary vise and learn to use it. It is a godsend when wrapping bodys and the like. Plus you really can't work epoxy with out one.

Oh, I should warn you it is a very addicting hobby.

Good luck and Tight lines,

Matt

 

[boomerang]

Op,

Here's a Blanton squid fly. I tie a few of these every winter, but hardly ever really try fishing them. I'll give it a go. It's white and pink with glow in the dark spots all over.

Evan,
It doesn't cost much to tie salt water patterns. I tie in my pantry. I use the pantry drawers for material. the vice is attached to the counter and one of the top drawers catches the clippings. There's no mess. The cat doesn't get into it, and it's easy to clean out the clippings. Tying salt water flies is much cheaper than buying them and the most effective flies are the easiest to tie (White Clousers and Deceivers).

 

[Bluegill]

Squid Flies

Boom, That's one sexy squid fly.
Here are some of the one's that I tie.
The larger ones are mainly for off the boat in the rips. The others are only hackle, marabou, flash, and spun deer belly hair, real simple. These one's are for casting from the beach or wherever. They are really light due to the deer hair and have a neutral boyancy.

Anyone interested in a NES Fly swap?
Boom I want one of your Squid flies.

 

[boomerang]

Awesome flies!
Lets do it.
I think we can get a few people from here to tie a few of their favorite fly for the swap.

I think we have two so far. Anybody else.

 

[M.J.]

I'm in

P.S. Op & Boom, those squid flys are great.

 

[N.E. CHARTERS]

Fly Swap

Fly Swap:

Thats a Winter Sport.

But when its frezzing and snowbound Ill get into a Fly Swap.


Enter both myself and my Son.


We have done this before.



If it ever stops raining and I can fiberglass the new deck for my Zodiac. Lets all get together and go striper fishing!