Weird Swimming Flies

[Yozuri-Man]

This has happened 2 times.

Last year I tied a big(7") wide and bulky herring fly. I used 2 thin coats of epoxy on the head. The head was fat. Came out great, but a lil' heavier than I wanted. I used it in the spring at some herring run areas and was amazed at the action. It would swim in a slug-go like fashion with a left to right shake as you retrieved. This thing got absolutely pounded!! Bass would come right in close and suck it in on the pause. Sometimes in the clear water you would watch as 2 fish fought each other to get it first. I had to strip it so fast most of the time cause I was deep hooking even schoolies!! I believe the way the epoxy dried and combo'd with the bulk of the head caused this action. Something that you just can't repeat enough. Has anyone tied any eratic swimming flies and had success like that.....??

[DbleHaul]

YM- For what it's worth, I've gotten some erratic action from the same type of fly just by using a loop knot of some sort. If I've tied the fly on without a loop, the action is very static. If it's tied on with say a no-slip loop knot, the action is just what you've described.

Epoxy heads are rarely symmetrical, and even if they appear to be with the naked eye there are usually imperfections. These slight imperfections should give the fly some waggle if given some freedom to move correctly.

[jazzman]

In the freshwater context, there are a number of flies tied to swim with action. Gary LaFontaine has the "rollover scud," with lead tied to one side of the hook to make it flop over, and the "beadhead marabou worm," which has a bead head, and then a marabou tail with a small piece of foam attached. The worm is supposed to somersault in the current because it's weighted on one end and buoyant on the other.

[Paul Cheever]

last season I had tied several bunker patterns ,using epoxy on the head and eye area for durability,I put the first coat of epoxy on ,placed the flies on a battery driven fly drier and went off to do something else .When I came back about an hour later ,I found the wheel not turning and a very interesting shape to the epoxy,when you looked at the flies from the eye of the hook it had the shape of a spoon,I figured these would become flies for blues.When I tried them I discovered a very simular swimming action as discribed by Yo-zuri man which the stripers found to their liking.