Rainbow Smelt

[sandfly]

been thinking on this one for awhile. Found some mustad #3576 hooks in a size 2 and wasn't sure what to do with them. The middle hook in the pics are mustad 94720 # 2 10x long and bottom one is a 9672 #2 for comparison. Been planning some trips either this year or next to fish the finger lakes in the pontoon. It's set up for trolling. Thought these would make some nice smelt imitations.

The rainbow smelt, Osmerus mordax, is an anadromous species of fish inhabiting rivers and coastal areas of North America from New Jersey to Labrador on the east coast and from Vancouver Island to the Arctic Ocean on the west coast. It has been introduced to the Great Lakes and from there has made its way to various other inland bodies of water in Ontario and the midwestern United States.

The body of the rainbow smelt is slender and cylindrical. It has a silvery pale green back and is iridescent purple, blue, and pink on the sides, with a light underside. When fullgrown, the rainbow smelt is between seven and nine inches long and weighs about three ounces, and ones over 12 inches are known. They eat zooplankton, invertebrates and other fish, including small smelt, sculpins, burbot, and whitefish. They are preyed upon by larger predatory fish such as coho salmon, burbot, trout, walleye, and yellow perch.

 

[beadhead2]

Nice !!!!
Do you think they will work in Asaph Creek ?

 

[MKern]

Bob,

They appear to be thin to me. Will this effect their profile?

 

[sandfly]

Matt,
To many flies are tied to full, where as these are an illusion of color. Kenny Abrams does the same thing with his flat wings for salt water. I was in maine a lot. (married a mainer) and saw how the smelts should be tied. very sparse.

 

[osprey]

Not trying to step on you Sandy but Bob Clouser used to say that all the time "the sparser the better" he said he even counted the strands of bucktail on the minnows and if i remember he said 15-20 strands is enough. That shiner looks just about the same concept , looks good to me , i have some of those hooks 5x long shank in 12 and 14 i'm gonna borrow if it's ok with you. Clouser also used to say that when you stopped stripping , when the fly was in between strips it would let the fibers "breathe" and move in a way that would bring a strike. Is that your experience too? in other words the strike will come between strips when the fly is sinking motionless on the retrieve and the fibers move "breathe"???

 

[sholgate]

Nice streamers. I suppose they may work well in some if the Erie tribs when the smelt start staging for spring spawn.

I have been experimenting with some of the "old school" bucktails like the Micky Finn, Grey Ghost, et al. Many variations with silver, white, and reds.

 

[sandfly]

Osprey wrote:

Is that your experience too? in other words the strike will come between strips when the fly is sinking motionless on the retrieve and the fibers move "breathe"???

Yes they seem to hit when the fly stops at the pause.

 

[osprey]

THANKS SANDY......THAT"S what i call priceless testimony , verifies that what he said has something to it so i'm in for some experimentation with this idea , that smelt pattern of yours looks almost exactly dressed (sparsely) According to Bob when you strip you compact everything and when you pause they move outward on their own giving the impression of "breathing" and an injured or stunned minnow which like lions hunting a herd of something as soon as one acts "different" it's like the dinner bell going off.