kneeling pad flies

[mike_richardson]

I am cursed with an eye that is always looking for different ways to make flies out of materials you can find at department stores and such. Upon researching poppers I saw a guy took some foam flooring tiles to use for his popper bodies. When I saw these "keeling pads" for the garden at Dollar General I had to pick some up and try.

Here are the flies I came up with.

I really like the frog but think the legs may inhibit hooksets. I will play with it and find out. I just wanted to try and make a decent frog from "non standard material" I weighted the underside of the hook and buried the dumbbell eyes. My hope is that this will always make the frog ride hook point up, and also make his rear sink a little in the water. Not sure if it will work like that but sounded good on paper.

I can't wait to hit the waters this year in search of warm water species, and give the trout a rest this spring.

 

[mike_richardson]

If you look close at how I cut out the frogs body I notched his rear end for clearance for the dumbells and also to help some of the Shclappen fill that gap as well.

Im happy with this frog. I have some of the cohen frog legs coming in but like creating flies 100% by hand as well. You may lose some of the aesthetic attributes, but catching a fish, on something you 100% crafted by hand is more rewarding IMO.