Recent Fly Tying

I have been in a good groove tying some flies lately. I have been focusing on saltwater flies almost exclusively for the first time ever. I tend to be more comfortable tying bass and panfish flies, likely because just about anything that looks hairy or buggy attached to a hook gets eaten. Also, I have really been favoring craft fur recently. It is a great material in that it is simple to use, readily available, comes in a laundry list of colors, is cheap, is very consistent in shape and size being synthetic, and has a great action in the water. Here are three successful patterns I have been tying...

The first is loosely based off of the Feather Craft Sand Shrimp. It is fished as a shrimp or crab imitation by stripping it slowly over the bottom, however can pass as a baitfish imitation with a quicker retrieve. 

• Tail: White craft fur, barred with a sharpie marker, plus a couple of strands of Krystal Flash 
• Body: Palmered Estaz in a "tan" or "natural" color
• Eye/Weight: Lead dumbell eye in desired weight. 
• Wing: Craft fur in a similar color to the estaz body.

The second is the famous Crystal Schminnow. It is fantastic when fish are feeding on smaller baitfish, as is generally the case around docklights. I recently caught my first flyrod snook and first flyrod redfish in the same night off of this fly. I have also had success with this fly on the beaches and flats. A great all around fly that is simple to tie. This fly can cover just about any water column by varying the weight of the eyes. A mono eye will result in an extremely light fly which is perfect for delicate docklight applications. A beadchain works well for all around fishing, while a dumbell eye can bring this fly to the bottom which can be deadly on redfish.

• Tail: Maribou clump. Cut to roughly the length of the hook shank (I prefer a slightly longer tail).
• Body: Palmered Estaz or Pearl Chenille
• Eyes: Mono Eyes/Beadchain/Dumbell Eyes

The third fly is a whitewater clouser, as originally perfected by Bob LeMay. I chose to tie some with craft fur instead of the usual bucktail and I am very pleased with the action this fly has. I caught my spillway snook on this fly, and the carp picked this fly up off the bottom while I was distracted as well. The dumbell eye is attached first with red thread, and a thread base is layed back to about the bend of the hook as a sort of "throat" or "gill." The fly is whip finished, and a chartreuse thread is then used to tie in the wing and form the head.

• Eye: Dumbell eye attached with red thread to create "gill"
• Wing/Tail: Craft fur (or bucktail) Lighter color for underbody, darker color for back.
• Head: Build up with thread and coat with head cement or epoxy of choice

As you can see, the recurring theme with all of these flies is that they require a minimal amount of materials and are relatively quick to tie. I don't have any desire to spend 20 plus minutes and take 15 or more steps to tie a fly that will likely be torn to shreds after a handful of fish. I hope you found this helpful, now have some fun tying and keep those rods bent!