Week ten -- Popper

This week's fly is one that could be fairly generic or fairly specialized depending on what you are really trying to get out of it. With this one, I decided to use one of the foam dremel bug bodies I have created and make a popper that resembles a frog.

Let me know what you think.

(Click Images for a larger version.)

The first step is to gather the materials required for the popper fly, which are pictured above and as follows:

• Hook: stinger or aberdeen hook


• Thread: yellow or to match body


• Tail: soft feather tips


• Body: shaped foam


• Hackle: to match body / tail

You may have noticed that there are many popper / slider bodies in the picture. I make a few with my Dremel tool each time I am using the grill.

After gathering your materials you will need to mount the hook to be used in the vise and get the tying thread started on the hook. When getting ready to start the thread, I have found that the best place to start is right behind where the popper body will end, so I measure where to get it started.

There is a lot of flexibility when choosing the tailing materials for a popper. Pretty much it should represent, in some way, whatever the popper is supposed to be. In this case I am starting with a few strands of flash material.

I next chose to tie in a pair of grizzly hackle tips. I am showing here that I will be tying them in with the curved sides pointed out to represent frogs legs.

I tied them in, one on each side of the hook right at the bend. You can see the flash better in this view.

I then tied in a bright green feather on each side. These were brighter than I wanted so I only used one on each side.

Then I tied in two feathers per side of more of a olive green to tone down the bright green and the grizzly.

I then tied in one of the bright green feathers for the hackle to be palmered over the tie-down area for the tail materials. I tied it in by the tip after stroking the feather barbs backwards and trimming the tip.

Palmer the hackle forward and tie it off in front of the teil tie-down area.

Wrap a layer of thread up the hook shank and tie off the thread. I use a couple fo half hitches, but a whip finish works also.

I then colored the body to resemble a frog. In this case a leopard frog. (No, I am definitely no artist!)

Then coat the hook where the body goes with some super glue or head cement or whatever you want to use.

Position the body on the hook. You have to work somewhat quickly as super glue dries rather quickly.

Add some stick on eyes. I also like to coat them with some glue to make sure they stick really well.

Completed Fly.

Top view of Fly.

Bottom view of Fly.

Happy fishing!

Lime Trude

Week nine -- Stayner Ducktail

This week's fly is one that I read about over on Fly Angler's Online a couple of years ago. The article about it can be found here: Stayner Ducktail. At that time I printed out the article and have occasionally looked at it and thought I should tie some up and see if the minnow eating fish in my local lakes would give them a try. Since I am trying new flies this year, especially through this blog, I decided it was time to get this one tied. I am hoping that as the ice comes off the crappie and bass and bigger gills will find them irresistable.

Let me know what you think.

(Click Images for a larger version.)

The first step is to gather the materials required for the Stayner Ducktail fly, which are pictured above and as follows:

• Hook: 3XL streamer hook


• Thread: brown or to match body


• Tail: brown hackle fibers


• Body: dark olive chenille (I used a olive/black variegated chenille)


• Rib: mylar tinsel


• Beard: brown hackle fibers


• Wing: mallard flank feather tied flat

After gathering your materials you will need to mount the hook to be used in the vise and get the tying thread started on the hook.

Pull a few fibers from a brown hackle feather and tie them in for a tail at the bend of the hook.

Then take a piece of mylar tinsel and tie it in at the bend.

Then tie the chenille in at the bend also and bring the thread toward the front of the hook leaving room for the head.

Wrap the chenille forward and tie it off leaving room for a head.

wrap the tinsel forward in open wraps to the front and tie it off also.

Strip another small bunch of fibers from a brown hackle feather and tie them in as a beard at the front of the body.

Strip the fluffy fibers from the bottom of a mallard flank feather and tie it in on top of the fly so that the tip of the feather just reaches the tip of the tail fibers that were tied in at the beginning.

Add a whip finish or a couple of half hitches, cement the head and you are done.

Completed Fly.

This week I had a little 'helper' who has not been feeling real well, but he did keep swiping the box of hooks and wandered off shaking them like a rattle. I thought they were gonna pop open and I would be digging through the carpet looking for somewhere close to 100 hooks.

Happy fishing!

Lime Trude

Week Eight -- CowDung

This week's fly is one that when I first saw it I thought maybe it was joke. It is not. It is an old fly that is meant to immitate the flies that live on, in, and around the substance for which they are named. The general idea was that if there were cattle close by the fishing area, these would be present and available for food. I think they serve admirably as a standard fly immitation. I also really enjoy the winged wets that others tie and some day hope to be as good as they are. This is my first 'public' attempt. It is not beautiful, but I am hoping it will bring in some fish once the ice is gone.

Let me know what you think.

(Click Images for a larger version.)

The first step is to gather the materials required for the CowDung fly, which are pictured above and as follows:

• Hook: Wet Fly Hook.


• Thread: Brown or to Match Body


• Body: Olive Floss


• Beard: Dark or Mottled Hackle Fibers


• Wing: Matched Pair of Duck Flight Feather Slips

After gathering your materials you will need to mount the hook to be used in the vise and get the tying thread started on the hook.

First, tie in the floss on the shank above the barb of the hook. Then wrap the thread toward the head making a tapered underbody with the thread. I do this because it is easier to make it smooth using thread than using extra layers of floss. (Yes, this one is not real smooth. I was having troube seeing it with the camera between me and it.)

Next wrap the floss forward making a nicely tapered body. If the underbody is smooth and you don't let the floss get away from you, this should be a nice smooth body.

Tie off and trim the floss.

Next, using some dark or mottled hackle fibers, tie in a beard to represent the fly's legs.

Select two duck flight feathers from opposite wings so they are mirror images of each other, roughly.

Trim a small slip of fibers from each one that is about as wide as the gape of the hook.

Tie these in on either side of the fly above the body. Here is another place that I need more practice. While mine are functional, they do not look as nice as some other wet flys I have seen.

Form a nice head, knot it, and apply cement.

Top View

Bottom View

Completed Fly.

Happy fishing!

Lime Trude

Week Seven -- Worm Fly

Some time ago I took part in a discussion about how to compete with bass fishermen who were using worms. This lead to many points of view and opinions. One of the fly patterns that came up and was discussed was a furled worm fly. I like the looks of this fly and have wanted to give it a try for a while, so this week I have tied some Worm Flies. For the demo I am using chenille to create the worm fly, but I also tied a few using other materials to demonstrate different looks and to see what the bass like. I hope they work for the bass when it gets warm enough to try.

Let me know what you think.

(Click Images for a larger version.)

The first step is to gather the materials required for the worm fly, which are pictured above and as follows:

• Hook:   Streamer Fly Hook.


• Thread: To Match Body


• Tail: Furled Body Material


• Body:   Chenille, Thread, Yarn, or Other Material


• Hackle: (Optional) To modify and adjust the action of the fly

After gathering your materials you will need to mount the hook to be used in the vise and get the tying thread started on the hook.

First tie the chenille down to the hook shank. I tied it along the entire hook so the body is the same width.

Next I attach a hackle plier to the chenille at a distance twice as far from the tie in point as you want the finished tail to be. This way, once it is furled it will be the length you desire.

Twist the chenille until it starts to try to twist back on itself. Then fold the twisted chenille in half and tie it down to the hook just at the bend. Allow the twisted part to furl together into one rope to form a tail.

Next form a body by wrapping the chenille forward. I wrapped over a part of the hook twice to make a part of it thicker.

Finally wrap a nice head and whip finish.

Cement the head and call it done.

This one I tied using a purple shoelace type material that had some sparkle type netting around it.

This one uses some thread with mixed green and brown and yellow fibers. I thought it was a little smooth looking so I wanted to rough it up a bit.

I used some of the hook side of some velcro attached to a stick like this.

With it I scuffed the body of the worm like this.

And it looked like this after I was finished with the velcro.

I tied one using some olive chenille and put some thin hackle around the body of it.

I also used a peice of wool thread to make a much smaller one just in case that is what is desired.

Completed Flies.

Happy fishing!

Lime Trude