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On Tying "New to me flies", and aggressive sunfish!

Yesterday, I was tying up a storm, since it was my day off. Several different GFA Hopper patterns, to round out the basic color variety that we get here in OK. Green, yellow w/ green, yellow w/ brown, and brown. I might tie up some yellow w/ white, as my son Logan caught a yellow hopper with white wings this morning when we were fishing.

I also tied up some Gurgle-Pops in different colors, and a couple in size 6, intended for some LMB's. I took a stab at tying a size 12 mayfly pattern, in pale yellow. I'm expecting a hatch of mayflies soon, that's about the size and color.

I decided to tie up a streamer on a size 6 hook. White hackle for the tail, white deer hair for the body, and a red maribou feather (the whole thing) on the head. I wrapped about half of the hook shank in lead wire.

This morning, I took my boy Logan fishing. I had some nightcrawlers, so he could play with the sunnies, and I was going to use my fly rod. I probably caught a dozen small Green Sunfish. Those things are aggressive! Smashing the hopper pattern and running. You have to put the hopper practically on the bank, in maybe 6" of water, near the rocks. The sunnies are in ambush positions, to look for holes in the rocks where a fish could hide.

Logan caught a few sunnies, then he managed to catch a 2 lbs Channel Cat. Boy, was he excited! Hollering and screaming. I looked up, and saw the fish thrashing on the top, but thought he had a bass, until he told me it was a catfish.

After a while, I decided to put that streamer on and see how it does in the water. I cast it out about 30', AND THE DARN THING FLOATED! I had to strip it in almost to the bank before the maribou became waterlogged and it nose-dived. However, it's a SLOW sinker, maybe a foot every second or two. I guess the next one will have a little less deer hair and I'll fully wrap the shank with lead wire.

As I was casting and stripping the streamer in, I had a Green Sunnie grab it and take off! Now, this streamer is about 4" long, and the fish was probably 6" long. Did I mention these things are aggressive? I didn't land the fish; it was on for about 3 seconds.

I may tie up some smaller streamers today.

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Comment by Greg McWilliams on July 9, 2012 at 7:05pm: YESSIR, ALLEN, WELCOME TO THE BLACK HOLE OF TYING!!!!!!! :-)

Comment by dick tabbert on July 9, 2012 at 5:55pm: Yea Jeffrey made Jim's jig pretty popular but I think the spots he went to played a big roll in it but catching 300 fish on a single jig is unheard of. Have fun you'll be tying for awhile.

Comment by Allen Morgan on July 9, 2012 at 5:14pm: You could always recoup your losses by selling some to locals. Got a bait shop that needs some???

Heck, I've got one close, might be able to do a limited run of some proven patterns, especially if they're cheap to make. I'm thinking GFA Hoppers, Gurgle-Pops, etc. If I can perfect a fly that matches the spinner hatch on that same local lake, it out to be a bluegill killer.

Mark, I've always been an artist. I used to draw, paint, and do American Indian Beadwork. Right now, I cook for a living, which in itself, is an art-form. Because of my experience with beadwork, tying flies doesn't intimidate me. It's just a skill I need to learn, no biggie.

Comment by dick tabbert on July 9, 2012 at 4:56pm: Don't know how you get that free number if you spent 109 dollars. I just bought 300 jigs of different sizes starting at 1/100 of an ounce to 1/8 ounce so I'll be starting my jigs soon also. Good luck to you on your tying Mark.

Comment by Mark Stine on July 9, 2012 at 4:45pm: You got it bad Allen, hooked on tying so quick! So many patterns to try! Don't feel bad I drove to 30 miles to BassPro last night just to get supplies to tie some of Jim's Grass Shrimp only cost me $109 dollars. But now all my grass shrimp jigs will be free for the nest couple of years! LOL!

Comment by Allen Morgan on July 9, 2012 at 3:17pm: Thanks all. I know sunnies will hit just about anything, so any panfish flies I tie do not have to be "perfect". Especially after a few fish get ahold of them. I've already had a couple BH Wooly Buggers get the hackle pulled off, and ends up with a long hackle tail. They still work :)

The only truly "picky" fish for flies are trout, and we don't have a lot of them here in OK. Only two (possibly three) places that have them year-round, and those spots are a little to far for me to drive right now.

Come winter, it's a different story. One of the little lakes close to me gets stocked with trout in the winter. The operator of the local bait shop has a photo of a lady with a 7 lbs rainbow. He tells me they don't stock trout that big. It had to grow that big in the lake. He also gets reports all the time of "little-bitty" rainbows. Again, they don't get stocked that size. Then, he tells me that there are some submerged springs in the deep end of the lake. Basically, he believes some trout do survive through the summer, probably packed like sardines in those springs, and that somehow, they actually pull off a marginal spawn. Nothing's verified, though.

I've seen a video for a nice dragonfly nymph pattern. I almost have all the ingredients. I hear trout think those are candy! Hopefully, LMB's and hybrid sunnies do as well.

Comment by dick tabbert on July 9, 2012 at 1:36pm: Darn Allen you been a busy man. I'm sure they will mean more than store bought cause it feels good to catch something on something you made yourself. Good luck and continued tying.

Comment by Leo Nguyen on July 9, 2012 at 12:54pm: Looks like you two had a bonzai of a time. Don't worry about tying the perfect flies. Fly tying will reach its peak of perfection once you know the water critters' habits and tastes. Keep at it.