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Easy pattern for Pinks?

6K views 46 replies 20 participants last post by  Richard E 
#1 ·
Anyone have an easy to tie pattern for Pinks? Yeah yeah, I know Pinks will eat all sorts of stuff. But I'm looking for a bit more of a specific suggestion here. I'm not much of a fly tier and I'm not much of a salmon fisherman. But with my interest in cutthroat flies, I'm going to be tying more. And with my interest in getting my father in law out somewhere that doesn't require a mile hike to some random creek, I'm going to see about fishing for pinks this summer. I'll mostly be in the rivers I expect with perhaps some beach salt if necessary.

So I'm looking for something fairly easy for an inexperienced idiot to tie that has a decent chance of getting the attention of pinks. The more specific you can be, hook size/materials/instructional links/etc, the better. Like I said, I'm an idiot when it comes to tying.
 
#2 ·
Pink patterns are simple. Keep it small, size 6 at the biggest, keep it sparse. Pick up some sort of synthetic pink colored hair or something similar, tie with pink thread. Weight your flies with beadchain eyes. Keep them cheap.

Here is a pink Charlie fly tied up by Troutrageous.

 
#3 ·
#7 ·
A heap of us have posted stuff here: http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/board/showthread.php/76917-*Official-2011-pink-salmon-thread*

including the use of a longer leader and slow retrieve being key.
Check the saltwater forum.
Recent good thread on this subject.
My issue is more that I need a bit more specific instructions than what that thread gives. Lots of cool flies on there, but despite the time I have fished, I really know little about tying (or salmon for that matter). So how they were made are a mystery to me. If the answer is "it's all secret sauce, figure it out yourself" that's cool too. Some stuff is just like that. But I'd like to know so I don't waste time banging my head against the wall.
 
G
#6 ·
Josh if your a cutthroater then tie up some pink muddlers and some bright green ones as well...you can get um on the swing, you can get um stripping...I've fished a back slough with them in schools and a fast strip across the bow will normally get one or two breaking off and hitting it...

Mostly I use pink muddlers...
 
#9 ·
Definately not secret sauce!

Here's how I tie in all of my weighted eyes, bead chain eyes, and even the burnt mono eyes, though obviously with a heap less tension than with the weighted eyes. I also use Bobs method of folding the material over when tying nearly anything synthetic as it jsust results in a more durable fly:



as far as recipes go:

1. something small like Evan digs
* size 6-8 hook. if you want to fish the salt use the Gami Sc15's, if for fresh water anything you have on hand, iirc Evan was tying his small stuff on the Allen 3769. I'm partial to the 105's because I can tie small stuff directly to them, or use em' for cutty tubes.

*lash down eyes as per Bob Clouser video. Apply small amount of epoxy or varnish if you wish.

* tie in a touch, like 3-4 strands doubled over, of crystal flash

*tie in pink material

*whip finish and apply a few coats of varnish or epoxy. For my personal stuff I always epoxy over the holes on the bead chain eyes, otherwise they'll only last like 2 salt trips.

2. pink turd
* Any 3xl streamer hook should work.

* Lash down eyes per Clouser vid.

* run thread back to mid part of hook, tie in a sparse pink tail of synthetic or bucktail.

* tie in small or medium crystal chenille, wrap thread forward to just in front of the eyes, follow that with the chenillie wrapped forward to build a body.

*if you're feeling saucy add a wrap or two of some marabou.

*whip finish, and varnish for durability.

If you do tie some pink muddlers make sure you tie a few with a few wraps of lead near the front of the body. Lots of guys make the argument that it doesn't matter what you toss, and they're right, for the 2 weeks of the main part of the run. The rest of the time it helps to be prepared with atleast 2 patterns tied a few different ways/weights.

Also tie a few things up in other colours. We caught fish last time around on black, brown, purple, and this time I've tied up things in some outlandish mixes just to see if they work (for funsies.)
 
#16 ·
man, now I have to notify the Speypages guys that you're using the wrong names for things again!

This is a turd to the rest of the fly fishing community:



originally a bonerfish fly...replace the light brown with pink shizz, varnish for durability, and slay feesh. :cool:
 
#18 ·
I fish 3 or 4 different colored comet style flies - size 8 mostly - some with bead chain eyes and same fly with dumbbell eyes - very sparse and quick to tie. When they go off one color - like pink - I will throw a change up and it usually produces. Colors I like in addition to pink are all white, black with a white wing, and orange. PM me your address and I will send you a free sampler.
Good luck!!
 
#19 ·
Some good info here. I kinda had the same question.

I've never fished for pinks. Bought some materials a couple of years ago but never got out then or tied anything up.

I've been scanning this board for patterns so I'm glad Josh asked. My fallback was going to be a plain old pink clouser.

Lefty Kreh says he's caught something like 4,815 different species of fish on a clouser (I may have the number wrong, but you get the idea.) I've caught my share off the beach with that pattern as well. Might bore a lot of tiers on this board and won't win any awards in a fly swap, but in a pinch, you can't argue with success.

(This coming from a guy who, half the time, fishes for trout with a boring old adams. And catches fish.)
 
#21 ·
Josh, here's a pic of my fly box I'm building up. I like sizes 8 and 10, sparsely tied. If you need specific instructions, let me know. But they're pretty basic and easy to do en masse
At the risk of making myself look even more stupid than I do normally, let me emphasize once again the "I am idiot about tying" aspect of my original post. It's just one of those things that, for some reason, is hard for me to wrap my head around.

So specific instructions are very much appreciated.
 
#22 ·
Sure thing. I can even do a youtube video later if you'd like.

Hook: Allen 3769 size 8 or 10
Thread: Pink whatever you want
Weight: medium or small beadchain eye
Hair: Fluoro Fibre (http://www.pacificflyfishers.com/Catalog/ProductPages/Tying/TyingProdDetail/FluoroFibre.htm). You can also use anything else you'd like. I like the look of the Fluoro Fibre personally.

Start by getting the thread started just a little over halfway up the shank, toward the eye of the hook. Tie in the bead chain eye by criss crossing around it several times, then cementing it in with head cement, or any other glue of your choice.

run your thread back, almost to the bend, and tie in a pinch of your hair. Start with a few loose wraps, then tighten it down. For the ones on the right of the picture, I use thread for the body. So I just wrap thread all the way up to the bead chain eye, a few layers thick until I like the look of the budy. Then I wrap up the nose area in to a cone shape, then tie it off and cement.

Really not a whole lot else to it. But I'll make a few youtube videos either tonight or tomorrow.
 
#28 ·
I fish them in both. I find that small, sparsely tied flies are almost always the ticket (well, always the ticket for me). The smaller I go, the more interest I get. It just gets to a point where the hook is so small that keeping them hooked is an issue. I find that size 8 and 10 is the happy medium.
 
#47 ·
You're making this too hard . . .

Tie up some Gotchas, somewhat like the Caddis Fly Shop dude did in the YouTube video. You don't need to use rubber legs; that's the "Modified" portion of his Gotcha. It's just another material and decision to make, and you don't really 'need' it.

So, you need 5 materials; hook, dumbbell or bead chaing eyes, thread, flat diamond braid, and craft fur (the classic version uses bucktail, but I'd suggest craft fur). All easy to find, easy to use, and just follow the YouTube video.

If you use the color combos suggested by the YouTube tyer, you can save whatever you don't use for your bonefish trip; that' a money color, pattern, and size for bonefish everywhere. You can use the base hook/eye/braid pattern as a basic for a whole variety of flies, and just change the wing color. Heck, Mingo catches all of his cool Hawaii reef fish on a pattern extremely similar to this.
 
G
#32 ·
Josh, I really wouldn't sweat it a whole lot...they will hit just about anything sparse, pink or bright green, silver with a tiny bit of flash...purple or blue muddlers...All have done well in the rivers I've fished...swing...swing and strip....It's fun at first but it gets old pretty quick and when they start getting nasty you'll be dreading the hump...
 
#33 ·
Oh I know it doesn't matter that much. Everyone's advice points to just getting something sparse and pink and getting it in the water.

But as this is one of my first tying attempts, I can use the info I learn for other stuff. I really have no idea what substitutes for what. So any of that info is useful to me.
 
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