Northwest Fishing Reports

I tied this dude up for the purpose of targeting largemouth and smallmouth bass. To be fished much like a bass jig, in incorporates a moderately heavy head that will add extra speed and to the fall. Fly fishing for bass in water less than 10 feet deep is a breeze with fly gear, and usually you'd be fishing water even shallower. Interestingly, I've found that often times properly presented flies can out-perform standard gear due to the slow sinking action of flies compared to their heavy lead-headed brothers. Its always much more fun on fly gear anyways. Tying:
#4 streamer hook, preferably stout
Feelers/antennae: Rubber legs
Claws: Saddle hackle/Shlappen
Body: Chenille
Legs/ underbody: Wound Saddle Hackle
Shell/Carapace: Rabbit strip
Weight: Dumbell Eyes

Happy bassing!

That looks like a great one!!! I like it! I've been looking for a good mud bug, big trout eat them too.

Ian, does the hook point ride up or down? looks like down.

MotoBoat wrote:Ian, does the hook point ride up or down? looks like down.

Very good point (no Pun) for both the mud bug and shrimps. They kinda move along the bottom.

Actually with the hook point up. It's concealed by the rabbit strip. The fur is over the hook, not the actual skin strip. This is a prototype and would work better with a wide gap, heavy wire hook. I used a standard streamer hook, which works, but better hookups would be with a hook with a wider gap, for bass at least.

I noticed where the barbell eyes were located (under the hook shank as it is pictured), So, the fly would be fairly weedless, hook point up. But could not make out a hook point.

What fish species have you caught with either newly tied fly pattern?

Man y'all should see this thing when it gets wet. It's honestly ridiculous. And it does catch fish, and pretty damn well. I was out for a couple of hours just messing around at a local lake, and managed five bass and a crappie on the fly. The biggest ones were 17" and 15" and the rest were 10-12. This lake rarely grows fish over five pounds and 12 inches is more or less the "average" with the bigger ones being hard to come by. I'm pretty stoked!

Damn, nice catch Ian. Crappie must have been a decent size to get that fly in it's paper thin mouth.