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Henry
03-01-2006, 07:59 AM
Hey gang,

Posted these pics on the "Carribean/South America" forum and thought it might be more applicable here.

Here's the fly I did really well on last year (that's besides doing well on my Ultimate Shrimp pattern). This is just a variation on Veverka's mantis shrimp.

Note: Many if not most bones follow and grab the fly "from behind". First hand experience supports this theory. With that in mind, I feel that the "side-profile" of a fly isn't as important as the "following" profile. That's why one of my pic's shows that angle. I believe the presence of "eyes" is extremely important in any pattern. Something about eyes just "seals the deal" when a fish is trying to determine whether your imitation is real or not. As you can tell, I'm also a firm believer is Sili-legs. The added movement they provide just screams "I'm alive...eat me!".

This fly isn't small, I tie them on size 4 and 2 Mustad 34007 hooks. It's meant to be an attention grabber for tailing fish as well as fish that are really "on the move!". Nothing like a large filling meal to stop a big bone dead in it's tracks.

The tie is simple... burnt mono eyes...craft fur tail with SW peral Krystal Flash antennae...Dubbed craft fur body brushed into a wing with a velcro pad glued onto a popsicle stick, and of course sili legs. I tie it in cream, tan, blond and brown. You can tie them weighted with 5/32 dumbell eyes as this one or "blind" with just a sliver of lead wrap. This big bushy/leggy fly is real quiet on the splashdown and moves loads of water when stripped/twitched in cloudly water around actively mudding tailers.

Oh yeah! I use a 30lb flouro V-shaped weedguard.

Best regards,

RogerStg
03-01-2006, 08:10 AM
Nice fly Henry. Good observation about the view from the rear. I think I'll start putting stalk eyes on more of my bonefish flies. Thanks for the tips.

Jim Miller
03-01-2006, 08:21 AM
Fly looks great!
after your post yesterday .... I tried tying up a few.
As you say: The fishes view as he is about to eat is just perfect. ;)
btw: Pulgasi "dubbing brushes" make building the body very easy. Although a dubbing loop works fine.
Thanks Henry!

kyhnau
10-22-2007, 07:41 AM
Just found this one...
Looks absolutely great.
I think a version a bit darker will be the favorite dish of a danish seatrout.
I will let you know after saturday :cool:

One question: Do you paint the eyes after burning, or is it just the effect of the melding mono? Am I the only one having a hard time getting the eyes look good. They will often end up beeing too "clumsy" and ugly or crooked.

-Lars

Henry
10-22-2007, 11:30 PM
For the burnt mono eyes, I use 25lb "generic" hard mono. I usually spend a few hours to burn up a couple hundred at a time. I tape each mono stem onto a toothpic (convenient for a few reasons) and only burn the end enough to get a small round burnt ball. Later, after the burning, I mix up a small batch of epoxy (tinted with permanent sharpie marker). I then quickly take each toothpick with mono attached and dip the burnt ends into the epoxy. I then simply stick each toothpick into a large chunk of styrofoam (packing from electronice equip) till the epoxy sets up. I find the dark pupil surrounded by transluscent coloured epoxy provides a pleasing appearance.

For easily attaching the mono eye stems to flies, I measure, cut, then crimp and flaten the tying end of the mono with needlenosed pliers. The teeth in the jaws of the pliers creates a nice set of groves in the mono which makes tying the stems in securly easy.

Best regards,

Henry

PVJensen
10-23-2007, 01:04 PM
Henry,

Instead of taping each piece of mon to a toothpick, try making a bend on a 4-5" piece so that it`ll have a V-shape. That way you can make two eyes on one piece of mono, and then hang it to dry on a string/something.

Cheers,
Peter

kyhnau
10-23-2007, 03:46 PM
Great, thanks for the tips.
I would like to avoid the epoxy thou.
Will not take the risk of nasty skin eruption once again... It kinda freaked me out last time.

Will hot glue also do the trick here?
I tried "melting" the mono untill i had a decent eye size. Most times it looks ugly and clumsy, but i succeeded a few times. Dont know if this solution is as "resistant" as the epoxy one..

-Lars

PVJensen
10-23-2007, 03:51 PM
Lars,

The trick here is not to get the mono too close to the flame. If you hold it 5 mm/1/7" from the candle/lighter it`ll melt slowly, but you CAN experience that the eye "tilts" to the side. A better option would be to put it directly into the flame, remove it almost instantly, and blow out the flame. If you colour the end quarter inch with a black marker it`ll burn quick, and usually won`t cause any problems.

Cheers,
Peter

kyhnau
10-25-2007, 11:49 AM
Worked well...
Hint: remember to blow out the flame before its starts drippin' --123-3