Happy New Year !

Shad style Baitfish

Here's a little Shad style baitfish pattern created using some long Hi ties and short Lo ties.
I will do a step by step or possibly a video soon to demonstrate the techniques used to achieve the profile in the pattern. The fly can be used for both Salt and fresh water predators.

Polar Flash Dubbing

Here's a great material by Czec company Sybai, their Polar Flash Dubbing.
This is a super fine and soft material with superb translucent properties. The Dubbing also has a super fine flash blended in. Not as short as normal Dubbings this is designed specifically for Bonefish shrimp patterns and small Baitfish imitations and is cut slightly longer. Very easy to use and create some great fly patterns from, the limit is just your imagination ! Available in a wide range of colours.

Here is a small Baitfish pattern tied with the Polar flash Dubbing, once submerged in the water the fibres will open out giving a broader but more transparent profile with great movement even at 2.5 inches long !

Transparent Baitfish fly

I'm not sure who the originator of this type of pattern is, but no doubt it was designed with Sea Trout in mind, however it's one of those patterns that is far more versatile than perhaps the originator intended. Certainly it will take Bass and Pollock here in the U.K but no doubt many other species around the world will find it's simple elegant form attractive enough to munch on !

So here's a variation that I have come up with. The body is made from Sybai Polar Flash Dubbing which is a beautiful soft translucent material that I think suits the design parameters of this pattern down to the ground. In the core is a tiny pinch of Deer Creek Laser Dub in red, a very thin mylar tube is used for the tail to which I have inserted a grizzly hackle to form the Caudal fin. The head is finished with a small amount of Deer Creek fine flex UV resin. I'll certainly be carrying a few colour variants of this fly in my box next season !

Flash Blend Flies

Flash Blends are a staple material for all sorts of flies for Predators both Salt and Fresh water ! sheds water well, light and castable, good movement and looks great !

This fly is tied Hi Tie style with my own 'SPF' ( Saltwater and Predator Flies ) version, chosen and hand blended by me for consistent quality and value. 

Busy times !

Time for an update !


As for other current projects we are now coming into freshwater Predator season here in the UK so the focus is on Pike, Perch and Zander which begin to feed more aggressively as temperatures drop and winter approaches. Now is a great time for the predator angler to focus on a fly fishing approach for these species so I've been busy tying up some baitfish patterns in readiness !

These are my double Bunny Baitfish that feature a twin Zonker tail for plenty of movement !

Next up are some Hothead Baitfish

These feature a nice long flash blend tail, again plenty of movement in the water.

And some Hot coloured Baitfish

All of the above flies are tied on size 3/0 Sakuma 420 hooks.

New step by step added, Foam Grasshopper !

 I have put together a new Step by Step for a nice little Foam Grasshopper pattern, if you enjoy fishing on the surface with foam insect patterns then you may want try this one ;)

http://fishoncustomflies.blogspot.co.uk/p/step-by-steps-foam.html

I don't claim to have invented this pattern because I didn't but I did take several ideas and combine them to get this result so I hope you like it :)

More blog updates coming soon so watch this space !

Chris

Sea Trout and Bass Flies

Here are a couple of recent patterns I have tied for Sea Trout and Bass. They are both designed with a Sandeel theme in mind as you will see by the colours.

EP style Baitfish

For my own fishing this year I am trying to focus mostly on using Baitfish imitations like the ones in the picture below....
Now these are actually made with Deer Creek Baitfish fibre which closely resembles EP fibre and therefore can be tied in a similar fashion, hence the 'EP style'. I have tweaked these slightly during the tying process and used slightly more material around the body and head than is the norm for this type of pattern to give a slightly fuller more rounded profile, however they still remain light and castable, shedding water well on the back cast.... I was easily hitting 30yds with them while test fishing them the other night and the fish also gave them the seal of approval...
They are tied on a 1/0 Sakuma saltwater hook and measure around 4 inches.

Bunny Baitfish

Here are some recent Baitfish patterns I have been tying, they are made with the awesome Deer Creek Mega Laser Dub and some rabbit Zonker.The Flies are finished with Gator Eyes and Diamond Fine Flex Tack free UV resin, also available from Deer Creek
They will fish great for any freshwater predator with lots of movement coming from the Zonker and some nice flash from the Mega Laser dub. Tied on my favourite Sakuma hooks.

Firetigers and Fatboys

 

 

 



Mega Laser dub Firetiger Baitfish with Tail Hackles

Fatboys

More Baitfish patterns

I've been working on some more baitfish patterns of varying styles and profiles, here's a couple of Perch imitations that I did recently. I've tried to blend several colours of Deer Creek Baitfish fibre, ( similar to ep fibres ), to achieve a semi realistic natural colour scheme.

Baitfish flies and tying 'v' style

After a little break I've returned to the vice with a renewed vigour and have really been getting into tying again.

I have been working on some different tying styles recently, particularly the Muddler and trimmed type Baitfish patterns that use the Johnny King 'v' style of tying.
Here are some of my latest ties and if you like them and would like to know more about how to ties this type of pattern I have added a new step by step tab. Hope you like them !