Smallie Flies

[thebassman]

Hey Guys,

I am new to the world of tying flies and have just messed around with coming up with stuff....I know for those who are masters of this art could find everything wrond with mine, but I am just curious if you guys think these will catch fish? Maybe one day I will be as good as some of you guys....I see what you guys come up with and they are just stellar patterns....

I hit the water the other day with the goal in ming to use only a fly tied by myself, but I ended up switching to a little popper a few hours into the trip.

this is the fly I tied...I have no clue what I was trying to base this fly off of.

Then i switched to the popper and killed the gills

I ended up tying my fly back on and caught a decent rock bass with it....it was my first fish caught by a fly that I had created.

So today I decided to try and tie a few flies to use to chase after smallies. I attempted to tie two streamer patterns and a crayfish pattern.....and here is the end product.

no weight on this pattern

I added some weight to this one

both streamers are about 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 inches long

Then I tied this.

You guys think these will work for smallies? Any tips on tying would also be appreciated

 

[Lonewolve]

Bassman, that crayfish looks good,usuualy though you might need a half dozen or so ,when you fish them you will lose quite a few all part of the game.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

[gfen]

try way less material in your clouser minnows. they should look like a wisp of a minnow, something darting and moving and barely there to provoke the attack out of sheer need to hit it before it flees.

bob clouser himself says that most commercial ties are way too heavy, and that they work best when they're chewed apart and most of the hair is gone.

also, remember the words of one lefty kreh, "ain't no use if there ain't chartreuse."

 

[BelAirSteve]

The first fly kind of looks like a wooly bugger, so it will probably catch fish. As long as it has some movement and a little weight, it will. You might want to add some flash to the tail. Most streamers should have something with a little flash in them. I think that is what gets the attention, then the movement entices them to strike. It doesn't have to look like anything in particular. The analogy I like to use is one my brother taught me. Fish chase a stream the same reason a cat chases a string or a feather on a stick...it's instinct.

I also noticed that the tippet looks very heavy for the fly in the first picture. It could just be the picture, but consider going a little lighter and you might get some more movement while you strip the streamer. And you don't always have to agressively strip. Sometimes it seems like I catch all my fish when I just left the fly descend slowly, then strip, then sink, then strip...etc.

I have a lot of success with anything olive or white, more than brown. Tie up something bugger-like in olive and give it a shot. If the smallies are keying on that color, you might be able to fish all day with the same fly.

I also agree with gfen...chartreuse in general is deadly. If they are not hitting anything else, try something with chartreuse and white and you will catch fish. If not smallies, then gills and sunfish.

 

[thebassman]

when it comes to tippet and leaders for smallies.....what size should I be using....My leader in the above picture was just straight mono...i think in the 6-8 lb range. This stream has in the past produced 18inch smallies for me on spinning tackle so I was afraid to go to light even though it was a smaller fly....

 

[gfen]

heavy flies require short leaders and stout tippet. i'd say 8# mono is fine.

short leaders help turn over, and are doubly beneficial if you're using a sinking line or poly leader.

 

[Fredrick]

Here are some of mine except the sneaky pete
http://www.smallmouths.com/smallmouth-forum/showthread.php?t=284

 

[gfen]

wiggle minnow quite cool

 

[afishinado]

Good stuff. Gfen is right about Clousers being sparse. Look at Fred's Clouser below: sparse hair, dumbell 1/3 of the way back on the shank to balance the hook, a little sparkly stuff added, and the materials are not compressed so they can pulse on the strip and add lifelike movement. A good fly to use as a template.

 

[Fishidiot]

Bassman,
Congrats on your first fish on a fly you tied. Now aren't yuh glad you took off the popper and went back to something of your own?

As for tippet size, I like heavy tippets for bass and sunfish and usually use something in the range of 12-15lb test.

 

[gfen]

Do you taper at all, FI, or is it a straight mono leader?

I admit, I'm surprised that its that heavy, I'd been using 8# mono hand twisted to about 3' plus another 2' of just 8#.

I suppose that if you're at 12-15#, and I'm much lower, it might explain my turnover with top water bass flies.

 

[Fishidiot]

gfen wrote:

Do you taper at all, FI, or is it a straight mono leader?
.

Yes - typically a butt of 40lb, belly of 25lb, and a leader of a couple feet of 12-15lb. Pretty much the only time I use a straight leader would be fishing with a very heavy sink tip line using only a 3-4' leader. Honestly, I'd guess that most bass guys probably use a tippet more in the range of 8lb test. For me, I've seen little evidence that tippet thickness makes any difference in catch rate and prefer to fight my fish hard so 12lb+ works for me. I use the same very heavy tippets for streamer trout fishing too.