So, I purchased some cheap (relatively) fly tying tools...the vise, tiny scissors, bobbin to hold the thread, and the oh-so-cool sounding hackle pliers. I opted not to purchase a bodkin, which is a straight pin stuck into a dowel rod costing $8, nor did I buy a lot of premium feathers, fur, and such. Instead, I browsed around Hobby Lobby and found that their feathers were on half price sale! I got a jumbo sized bag of some of the most ridiculously tinted feathers I've ever seen for about $4. Turns out, a year later, that bag is still at least 90% full, and I let my tying students use all they wanted.
I found a great website www.warmwaterflytyer.com that shows a lot of patterns to tie for bass, and other fishes that lurk in warm water as opposed to the cold water trout, and proceeded to learn the basics of tying my own flies. Those first creations were pretty pitiful looking, but several of them actually caught a few fish.
This winter, I spent a little more money on proper fly materials (thread that doesn't come in a little kit for reattaching buttons when travelling, and feathers that don't look like they belong on a Mardi Gras costume), and honed my skills in spinning deer hair.
Now, spinning deer hair on a hook is a pretty complex, and incredible process. Deer hair is apparently hollow, so when you bind down a small bunch of it on the hook shank and tighten down on the thread, the hair will flair out 90 degrees from the hook and spin around it. After spinning subsequent bunches and compressing them tightly against each other, you can then trim the wild edges off with a super-sharp razor blade to make pretty much any shape you want. Mostly, though, I try to make it look like a frog, mouse, or something else a bass just may think he should eat...after all, a fly shaped like Windson Castle wouldn't be very effective, and would probably be a nightmare to try to cast in the wind.
So, here are some of the flies that I am most proud of. To be honest, it'll be a little difficult actually using these to fish with since I take the better part of an hour to make one of these little boogers. Practice, practice, practice.
The "Dredger" is weighted so it works to catch bass on the bottom.
Here is my crawdad imitation. This one is made mostly of rabbit fur.
I made this little weighted fly out of hair from a dusting brush that I had sitting on my table at the time.
The "Bottomhugger"
This flat fly is supposed to represent a small sunfish.
The ol' deer hair mouse. Can't wait to try this out come summer.
Does it look like a locust? Well, it's supposed to.
A more conceptual crawdad representation.
I'm really looking forward to seeing a bucketmouth inhale this frog fly.
The "Woolhead Leech"...yes, the head is actually made of a clump of wool.
I also learned that by stacking a spinning different colored deer hair, you can make some pretty cool patterns like this tadpole. The head is actually compressed hair even though it looks like a solid material.
This is probably my favorite fly that I've made, unfortunately, it rides upside down in the water, and doesn't dive the way I had hoped. Live and learn!
An old-timey red and white popper bug.
Another popper.
The "yellow head"
Supposed to work a lot like a tube lure, just made with feathers and rubber legs.
This is an adaption of the "wooly booger", and is called a "wooly grubber" with the grub tail.
I'll let you know how successful these are this spring and summer. I took them on the Cadron Creek a couple weeks ago and only caught one on the "Dredger". Should get better as the water warms up.
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