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Perch Pattern II

1K views 20 replies 9 participants last post by  Stonefish 
#1 ·
I've been busy messing around with many new flies and decided to revisit my perch pattern -- meant to represent the perch in Foster Reservoir. It worked quite well as it was for fooling the smallmouth bass in the lake last summer but for the heck of it, I decided to add more bulk... maybe the larger bass would prefer a fatter perch... (in only 5 or 6 months, I should be able to find out! :))

Sky Artificial fly Insect Fishing bait Bait


I've been experimenting with the seal bugger style of patterns and have found if I add a lot of dubbing, I can shape the body similar to shaping deer hair with scissors.
 
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#4 · (Edited)
Well... the tail is medium grey dyed marabou. The bead is gold. The collar is yellowish orange Scud Dubbing from Hareline. The body is also mostly Scud Dubbing (I like the material because it is very coarse and makes nice seal buggers) but it is a mix of my own creation.

It's primarily olive with some orange and brown mixed in.... plus some UV stuff from Spirit River. I didn't write down the exact parts to the mix so I can't tell you exactly. What I did mix is stored in a 35mm slide film canister. I'll have enough to last for awhile but if the mix is critical for catching smallmouth, I'm out of luck trying to figure out what the heck I added and how much.

Oh, Ryan, the hook size is 6.
 
#6 ·
I have a number of unique dubbing mixes... I have one for March Browns duns, Callibeatis emergers, BWO and PMDs dries and emergers . .. all kept in old film canisters. Again, I have no idea which and how much of what that I used to create the dubbing. Problem is, when I'm adding material, I don't keep track because I don't know if the end result will work to catch fish or not.

I have a least learned to mark the canister as to what the dubbing is for if it turns out the stuff works.
 
#9 ·
Nope. Haven't tried eyes. If I was targeting LMB and not smallies, I'd add eyes for-sure. I should tie a few with eyes anyway... sometimes patterns with eyes worked better for the smallmouth on the Umpqua River than the patterns without -- but not always.

Jim, I did catch a bluegill with the pattern at Foster and I had no idea there were bluegill in the lake so you're probably right about the crappie.

I know the Northern Trout Minnow (aka squaw fish) also like the perch pattern but the trout seem unimpressed -- at least last year.
 
#10 ·
I have seen significant improvements in the performance of my perch patterns (for pike) by adding stripes on top with a sharpie. I think it gives the fish more reference for lateral movement.

It is a different species/size/type of pattern/location/etc so who knows...just a thought
 
#11 ·
Nicholas, I tried adding bars to a larger perch pattern I tied with a different technique and it didn't seem to help. In fact, the smallies didn't like the "realistic" looking perch representation at all -- and it looked danged nice :)

These guys are much smaller than my "model baitfish" pattern. I was looking at the small perch in the lake and the little guys do not have the same pronounced vertical markings as do the larger ones. However, they did have an obvious yellow throat so I made sure I added the yellow collar to the pattern as seen above.

I think the smallies are chowing down on the smaller perch so they are not so interested in exact markings as they are size, basic colors and movement than they are realism.

At least, that's my theory... today... at this hour... subject to change without notice.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Nicholas, last summer when I started fishing for the smallies at Foster for the first time, I was catching a lot of perch (we call them "yellow finned perch" around here). I caught a few smallies so I knew there had to be larger ones around. The perch were actually a nuisance because there were so many of them. The bass had to be eating the guys.

So, I used clipped Body Fur for the body and suede tail to create a bait-fish pattern that resembled the perch I was catching...

this is the pattern:

Blue Rectangle Fish Tail Creative arts


I have made similar patterns and used them with a barrel swivel with good success for LMB in nearby farm ponds but the smallmouth at Foster would have none of it.

That's why I switched to a smaller pattern that is tied similar to a Seal Bugger. It did work and really quite well.

Blue Rectangle Fish Marine biology Fin


So I'm sticking with the smaller patterns but have added some bulk to the dubbing for the body... thus the pattern shown in the first post.
 
#13 ·
That is a realistic fly, far more so than what I use. How is the water clarity at Foster?

Imitation is fun and works in theory, but emperical results rule. Go with what works.

My favorite perch imitation uses tandem 3/0 bass hooks with a bucktail body. It is about 8" long. I have caught LM on it, but not very often. Pike absolutely destroy it in clear water over weedbeds though. I will try to get a pic.
 
#14 ·
hat is a realistic fly, far more so than what I use. How is the water clarity at Foster?
Because Foster is fed by two medium sized Cascade rivers, the water clarity is normally quite good unless they are dumping water from the dam... that does stir things up. But during the summer months when they are holding back water and I'm targeting the smallmouth and not the trout, the visibility is quite good. Usually, I can spot the bass in the shallow areas of the lake.

Right now, with the rains in the mountains, the water clarity is not so hot... and one reason I'm not bothering to try fishing the reservoir at this time. I have driven over there recently to check out the lake and spin anglers are fishing for the trout from the bank -- regardless of the color of the water... so, in theory, if I didn't mind freezing my butt off, I could fish it for trout.... and there are some days I almost convince myself to give it a try.
 
#21 ·
Ebey,
Here is the recipe along with some alternative materials.
The body is gold Krystal Flash covered in clear v-rib. Gold tinsel under the v- rib will also work.
Gold bead chain eyes. Use small dumbbell eyes if you want it to sink faster for more jiggy action on the retrieve.
Red marabou throat. You can also use red poly yarn or Krystal flash for the throat.
Chartreuse fishhair wing. You can also use marabou, craft hair, super or ultra hair or calf tail for the wing.
Black sharpie for the bar marks.
SF
 
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