IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Montana => Ice Fishing Montana => Topic started by: RobG on Dec 19, 2011, 07:27 PM
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For those that roll your own, what do you like use? (And for what species.) Put them on the scanner and let us see them.
rg
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I used a prince nymph on Sunday at Georgetown and I caught my only kokanee with it. Sunday was my first time trying a fly.
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I tie many different versions of my namesake using different colored wires, tungsten beads and other variations. It's such a deadly nymph recipe for hard and soft waters.
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I have used bead head scuds, pheasent tails and hares ears with great results and all very easy to tie!!!! Good luck and happy fishing!!!
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I use some variations( loosely ) of lafontaines (sp.) Caddis flies and have had great results in Ny waters. Green has been my go to color
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So what sizes do you guys use? #16-18 to be realistic, or bigger sizes.
I've seen a few caddis larvae in the trout I've caught, but mostly they are full of water fleas (looks like green sludge but if you look close you'll see eye spots). Don't have a water flea pattern or the size 75 hook to tie them on. ;D
It seems like the flies should be horizontal instead of hanging vertically, like a nymph on a noose. The jig hooks I've seen have all been too big, but I've been playing around with a counterweight bead chain out front to level the fly. It seems to do an ok job of orienting the fly horizontally.
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You know, I've pondered using some flies but never have yet. I wonder if you try something like a midge pattern to mimick the fleas. Something that mimicks a small group of them. That way you don't have to use a hook size that doesn't exist.
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I usually tie size 10 or 12. If you tie them on a loop they generally move horizontally on the drop or hop. they seem to work well for me.
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I use size 14 Dai-Riki 135's awesome hooks....
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It seems like the flies should be horizontal instead of hanging vertically, like a nymph on a noose. The jig hooks I've seen have all been too big, but I've been playing around with a counterweight bead chain out front to level the fly. It seems to do an ok job of orienting the fly horizontally.
I took some pictures of the bead chain "jig." Unfortunately the camera isn't up to the task so it is blurry, but you should be able to get the idea. You need to bend the hook eye down or the bead will block the eye. They seem to work well, but maybe there isn't a need to keep it horizontal. (There is obviously also a regular jig there and some scuds... mostly I'm looking for a way to make a small jig with the bead chain head.)
(http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b290/rgregoir/IMG_4167.jpg)
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Nice work! :thumbsup:
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I really like the looks of these, haven't felt the need to make the fly hang horizontal at all times but will definitely try this to see if it makes a difference. I tie some with a little crystal flash in the tail which makes the drop more horizontal and this may be helping?????????
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RobG,
Thanks for the pics. How do you secure the bead in front of the hook eye? Are you just threading it through and the bead is just hanging? thanks.
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Thanks for the ideas. I think I'll use this rainy day to tie some up!
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RobG,
Thanks for the pics. How do you secure the bead in front of the hook eye? Are you just threading it through and the bead is just hanging? thanks.
The bead in those flies is actually from a bead chain. If have a chain and cut a bead in half you will see they are connected by little posts. I tied the post to the hook.
After starting this thread I found another way to do it with the beads used for trout flies:
(http://members.pioneer.net/~scooter/Matzuo1:0.jpg)
Using a stick pin allows you to use those overpriced beads from the fly shop, so the fly has gotta be more realistic ;) I've also been using mono threaded through the bead and tied to the eye of the hook, or even putting a loop of mono behind the bead to move the center of gravity towards the middle.
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what is the hook your using? I really like the ideas you've had for the beads.
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Here are a few my dad tied me(under protest, purist!) the pink one by the penny is actually a condom fly. I am goin to fish them on the Ruby tomorrow, will post a report on them.
(http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae229/Diertae79/ice%20fishing/IMG_20111226_120325-1.jpg)
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what is the hook your using? I really like the ideas you've had for the beads.
The bent shank hook with the bead on a pin is a Matzuo Sickle hook with 60 degree bend, but I've never used them. The pattern is for a steelhead fly tied by a friend in Oregon. I don't think they come in the small sizes I'm trying to tie.
The best hooks I've found so far for the bead chain are short shanked egg hooks with a down eye that I raided from my wife's materials. The post for the chain is short so it doesn't stick in front of the eye very far so you can't counterbalance the weight of a long shank hook with a single bead. I don't have a hook number but they are probably Mustads and they need to be soft so you can bend the eye down without breaking the hook - many of the modern hooks are too brittle to do that, although my Dai-riki 305C don't break about 1/2 of the time if I'm careful.
With a bead on a pin you can position the pin out in front of the eye at any distance to balance a longer shank fly. The "bead on a pin" approach seems to be the best way to balance the fly. Either that, or tying a small mono loop on the back of the fly at the balance point.
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Thanks, I'm going to be doing some experimenting, my flies never look that good but I've had good results. I used to fish stripers on Cape Cod with the fly rod every year and my buddy always said my flies weren't tied exactly to the "recipe"... I always caught fish though.
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I don't have any pics but I learned to tie flies by tying Ice fishing flies for trout on reservation lakes.
we used to tie a size 6 or 8 weighted with a white or yellow body and white legs.
silver, white, and yellow bodies also worked good with black deer hair tails. we'd tip them off with a grub and hang them veritcal.
they don't look at all like any nymph but they caught a lot of fish.
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10 minutes after the fly got wet this is what happened. only tried 2 of the flies today, but both caught fish, was a bit slow and seems like the fish are about half the size they were year before last.
(http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae229/Diertae79/ice%20fishing/IMG_20111230_092940-1.jpg)
(http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae229/Diertae79/ice%20fishing/IMG_20111230_092952-1.jpg)
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great job I would rather catch small fish all day on a fly I tied then one big one on something else, OK I lied about not catching a big one but it's way more satisfying on one I tied. ;D
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Its even more satisfying to convince a die hard fly fisherman to tie you ice flies....and pick the materials, listening to the whimpering and gnashing of teeth when you mention "ooooo pink maribou and blue tinsel off the christmas tree!" Its been so long since I caught a big fish Ill just settle for tormenting my father.
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exactly why my buddy always got mad at me he would say "6 urine stained fox tail hairs, and blah blah blah, " I'd say yeah OK this looks like that gonna put it on a hook. Flies are tied as a work of art... no offense Copper John, and they are tied to be the closest replication of what they represent. If you see my earlier post I tie loose representations of Gary Lafontains (sp.) caddis flies. I'm sure if he saw them he would say those are not my flies to be polite. If they catch fish they did their job I.M.O.
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good job
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Horizontal is the way to go! ;D I started using them this way and iced more fish
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On that photo above, there looks like a brass sliding weight above the fly. Where do you find those?
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On that photo above, there looks like a brass sliding weight above the fly. Where do you find those?
I rigged a brass cone and oblong bead on the line above the fly for some "rattle". I stole the cones from my father while he wasnt looking from his fly tying materials. I think you could get the cones about anywhere they sell fly tying stuff, and the beads come from craft stores. They dont last as long as the "fly tying beads" but i lose flies faster than i can buy them anyway.
I tested the rattle bead theory in a glass of water, we could hear them rattle from across the room (10-15'). Seemed to bring in the fish too, short, sharp jigging for about 2 minutes, dead stick for a few minutes, seemed like the fish would come in and hit about the second or third iteration of jigging. Bear in mind that I only think i have it cracked... generally this is about the time i start getting skunked and drunk.
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Thanks! I will give that a try. I need all the help I can get!
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Do you tip these flies with something or fish them bare?
Don
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Do you tip these flies with something or fish them bare?
Don
We caught fish on them with waxies, maggots, and worm.
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I had one take on a bare scud when I was using it as a dropper below a baited jig, but it is hard not to tip them with a maggot. Bait can mess up the balance of the fly. I've had one person tell me that fish take the fly a lot better if horizontal.
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Scuds as dropper and wooly buggers on jig heads, I rarely put any bait on them. I also think I catch as many fish without bait as I do with, of course that depends on the lure. Something like a swedish pimple or tear drop almost always gets baited where as the flys and even twister tails or fuzzy grubs I rarely bait. This all being for trout.
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Interestingly enough, I caught a couple of suckers the other day on a black woolly bugger jig with no bait.
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I've caught tons of trout with a seal bigger tied on a jig hook. Gonna try some studs tomorrow.