What's in your vise?

[Stonefish]

 

[Zak]

View attachment 224218

You can switch out the hook section?

 

[Stonefish]

You can switch out the hook section?

Yes
Not happy yet with the end results.
SF

 

[Randall Clark]

View attachment 224218

is that a cotter pin? How does that thing look in the water (the true test)?

 

[Stonefish]

is that a cotter pin? How does that thing look in the water (the true test)?

Randy,
That is one of the Firehole Sticks shanks I posted about maybe a week ago.
Haven’t water tested yet. I need to throw some polar chenille or something in the back of the first two sections to hide the connect points.
I should have used a thicker chenille to make the body fatter.
SF

 

[b_illymac]

I'm always curious, how do you go about adding all those rubber legs on your flies? Are you tying them in a few at a time, wrapping them like hackle while leaving one end of the bunch attached to the rubber they come on, or putting them in a brush or loop or something?

I've been kicking around the idea of using legs like that on some albacore trolling flies

Hey Nick let me see if I can explain the different ways I do it. The key to a skirt is all in the flair. Basically you want 360 degrees and you want it out from the body. This creates a pulse on retrieve. You dont want clumping or lumps in the rubber. When it dies on retrieve or jigging on the bottom you again want it to spread out and move or breath if that makes sense. This is the key.

In the gear world this can be achieved as simple as a small rubber band or oring with 2-4 tabs of rubber through it placed on a thick lead jig head. The thickness of the head helps to evenly space it 360 degrees around the hook/head. This is what you see with spinnerbaits etc.

In the bass world a punch setup became popular several years back. This is a bobber stop, a large tungsten weight, a hub with the skirt flairing out and then a hook and a rubber bait rigged weedless. This is used often with very heavy line (65 pound braid) in heavy cattails etc.

Ok so onto the fly world...

The challenges are being able to throw it. I think 2 tabs maybe 2.5 is tops for fly fishing due to weight. You want a large even thread base on hook to work with. If you want a mix of colors just set the two tabs on top of each other and with a heavy thread or even braid or wire tighen almost like spinning deer hair. Work around it and tighten as you go. Massage it with your fingers and again tighten as you go. Keep the wraps close to each other and dont over do it with thead or wire etc. It doesn't move much or slip I have found. If you wan't different colors you can place a tab on top of hook of one color. Tighten. Highlight colors where you want them. Tighten etc. Final step is to trim it. I like my skirts all same length. You can also add maribou or schlappin or flash before advancing thread but often rubber gets in way and this can be tricky. I then pull all rubber towards back of fly and makes sure its 360 degrees and build a small thread dam in front further locking in place.

Another way is using a thick hook or nail and a rubber grommet like this: You tie it in same way. Then you have a ready made skirt. I use this on my poppers quite often. As far as I know I'm the only fly guy to ever use something like this but the gear guys do for their punch setups. Here are some sample skirts I made to give ya an idea: Here you can see how much thead I tie it down with: Here are some hubbed poppers: Check this site out I think you will like it: https://fishingskirts.com/product-category/skirts-unlimited/skirt-making-material/glitter-scale/

 

[P-FITZ98]

does it come with a helmet.....for you to wear? damn, that thing'll get eaten!

Come to think of it, I need a jig fly or two for muskies....never tried it before, but I bet it'd work.

4/0 hook. Big cone. I’m reluctant to try and cast it with 10wt

 

[P-FITZ98]

These trippy beads caught my eye at the fly shop, thought they’d make great egg suckers.,but I quickly discovered they aren’t slotted., sooooo I improvised and tied them balanced on sz.2 jig hooks. Only come in 6mm, intended for articulated divider beads. They remind me of the old “balls-I-fire” eggs in the jars, haha

 

[Norm Frechette]

Levoy

Hook - Gamakatsu T10-6H
Thread - Black
Tail - Dyed red hackle fibers
Body - Green chenille
Wing - Fox squirrel Tail
Hackle - Dyed orange hen

Reference - Hair-Wing Atlantic Salmon Flies - Keith Fulsher and Charles Krom

 

[Norm Frechette]

Caddis Nymph

Hook - Nymph/wet style
Thread - UTC Woodduck
Body and Thorax - Light brown floss body; dark brown floss thorax
Legs - Guinea hen fibers
Antennae - Very fine peacock herl sword fibers

Substitute tying thread tapered to shape; thorax colored with brown marker

Substitute a stronger more durable material for the antennae

Reference

The American Fly Fisher Magazine - Summer 2013 Volume 39 Number 3

Fly-Fishing: Some New Arts and Mysteries - J C Mottram

 

[Riogrande King]

They remind me of the old “balls-I-fire” eggs in the jars, haha

 

[Riogrande King]

"This time for sure, Rocky" ,
From Stranahan’s Fly Shop, Hamilton, Montana. Chuck’s Brindle Chute

This fly has developed quite a following. Originally tied for the autumn Hecuba hatch.

From Joshua Bergan’s web page:
Hook: Standard dry fly
Thread: Rusty brown 6/0
Tail: Deer hair dyed golden brown
Body: Dubbing blend as follows: 2 parts natural hare's ear and antron blend, 1 part orange rabbit and antron blend, 1 part olive and antron blend. Adjust overall shade by adding small amounts of desired color, and then add about 10 percent amber or gold tri-lobal fiber to overall mixture.
Wing: White calf tail
Hackle: Grizzly dyed light golden brown. (I use Whiting “March Brown” dyed grizzly)

 

[Irafly]

Doc Sprately. These used to be my go to pattern, but on a recent trip, I realized that I didn’t have any in my boxes!

 

[Meeshka]

Ira,
Used to be my go to fly for years and one of the first I ever tied. My mentor taught me to also tie it in another form. Instead of the pheasant tail wing use pheasant rump and wrap it Carey style. Works just fine as well, possibly a bit more dragonflyee

 

[Speyrod GB]

The Dr. Spratley is a great SRC and summer steelhead fly as well. I used to tie them with a grizzly collar instead of the guinea fowl and omitted the peacock herl. I have also used Teat flank for the collar and spey style hackling. Black and burnt orange were my two favorite colors.