2023 Flies

[Further North]

Made another jump on my quest to create a fly with the characteristics of a Senko.

 

Various lengths and hooks.  A couple different materials and colors.

 

 

I have another version percolating in my head as well.  Maybe two.

 

...and more Mega Murdich:

 

 

The Mega Murdich are about 8 ¹/₂" long., for scale

 

Olive and black with orange flash Flenkos.

 

 

 

[PressuredFishing]

Those look great, mop fly material?  Let me know how their weedless attribute turns out, it's hard to find a good weedless fly pattern

[Further North]

FnF Creeper for most of the "Flenkos", except the one in the upper right, that's baby blanket yarn.

I've been tying similar for a year, this is just an evolutionary step...they run very weedless.

[Dwight Hottle]

They are all beautiful. Nice work. Have you tried tying a simple black bunny fly made from rabbit fur? They are killer on early spring pike as they mimic leeches. After ice out the leeches emerge from the mud bottom bays and are one of the early meals a pike can rely on. 

[Further North]

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

They are all beautiful. Nice work. Have you tried tying a simple black bunny fly made from rabbit fur? They are killer on early spring pike as they mimic leeches. After ice out the leeches emerge from the mud bottom bays and are one of the early meals a pike can rely on. 

I have...and I have a bunch of nutria zonker strips to try this year.

[Further North]

 

Another Mega Murdich, shades of pink.

More experiments with the furled FnF Creeper.  That's a tungsten bead at the front of the hellgramite looking black ones.  I am thinking a smaller hook would be better.

[Fallser]

Nice looking flies.  I'm going to have to pick up some of that  FnF Creeper and give it a shot.  I used FNF Predator-9 Worm soft chenille furled to make up some Ned flies last year, but never got a chance to try them.   The Senko pattern would work well on one lake I fish a lot which is pretty weedy.  Have you thought about tying the fly "wacky" style?

[Further North]

46 minutes ago, Fallser said:

Nice looking flies.  I'm going to have to pick up some of that  FnF Creeper and give it a shot.  I used FNF Predator-9 Worm soft chenille furled to make up some Ned flies last year, but never got a chance to try them. 

The Predator9 material is excellent, but not as "buggy" as the Creeper.

I've furled some, and its got it's advantages, the bottom two here:

 

Definitely tighter, if that makes sense?

 

 

46 minutes ago, Fallser said:

The Senko pattern would work well on one lake I fish a lot which is pretty weedy.  Have you thought about tying the fly "wacky" style?

I have given that some thought.

I'm not a big "wacky style" fan, even with gear but there's times when it excels...Texas Rigging gives me the same results on the drop, but gives me a "jerk bait" kind of retrieve on the way back to the boat. If that makes any sense?

I have some ideas,  not quite ready for prime time yet, that I'll post when I try them. 

Please put up any ideas you have until I get there.
 

 

 

 

 

[Fallser]

13 hours ago, Further North said:

The Predator9 material is excellent, but not as "buggy" as the Creeper.

I've furled some, and its got it's advantages, the bottom two here:

That's one of the reasons I want to take a look at the Creeper material.  These are a couple of the "Ned" flies.  I used the 1/20th oz "Ned" jig.  One on dry land and of them in a container of water.

I'm thinking about using it furled for a variation of my weedless frog pattern and one of my crayfish patterns.  Winter's just starting I've got plenty of time of tying.

  The guys I fish with, fish the Senko wacky style.  I still prefer it Texas rigged.  Pretty much for the same reasons you do.

 

[Further North]

@Fallser those are really cool.

I've played with the idea of "ned flies" too...kinda-sorta what I was after with the hellgramite looking flies.

 

[Further North]

The first ever FURdich Minnow

 

 

Two more of the Mega Murdich Minnows

 

 

...and some more Flenko experiments

 

[VolFan]

Could you furl it around something like a thin variety of weed eater twine for that senko shimmy and slow fall? I’m just spitballing but it seems like it might give you that end-to-end wiggle. I was thinking that or something like very thin surgical tubing…

[Further North]

5 hours ago, VolFan said:

Could you furl it around something like a thin variety of weed eater twine for that senko shimmy and slow fall? I’m just spitballing but it seems like it might give you that end-to-end wiggle. I was thinking that or something like very thin surgical tubing…

I'd have to do some thinking about how to to furl it around something, and try it to see how it worked.  Too much stiffness would be a problem, and I feel like weed eater line would be way too stiff.

[VolFan]

Yeah that’s my limiting factor…maybe some braided titanium leader material or something like that - hard to get the right flexibility and resilience in the same package.

[Further North]

1 hour ago, VolFan said:

Yeah that’s my limiting factor…maybe some braided titanium leader material or something like that - hard to get the right flexibility and resilience in the same package.

Yep...and I'm not sure it's even needed. 

...I am also having a problem thinking about how to furl the material around something...but there's a good chance I'm making it too complicated, like I did with all the previous versions of the Flenko flies.

[Further North]

The last two weeks' flies.

 

The black and red "FURdich" needs to evolve a little, but it'll get eaten.  I am thinking a dubbing loop for the fur rather than wrapping the nutria zonker strips.

 

The black and orange Mega Murdich is much more visually appealing in person.

 

 

This week's batch was in improvement.  The Flenkos are FnF Predator9...the top one is olive and black, the 2nd one has red flash woven into it.

 

It doesn't show well in the picture, but the Mega Murdich has an olive tail with orange and black/brown flash; the head is bright orange filler flash with the top colored bronze. 

 

I like the way the little pink Murdich turned out.

 

 

[VolFan]

I just looked up what that Predator 9 material is - it’s fascinating how far fly tying materials have come. It has a core so I’m not sure furling it around something else makes any sense. Really great flies; I’d fish the poop out of those neds and flenkos.

[Jigfishn10]

Outstanding work @Further North! My tying days are pretty much behind me due to eye issues. I can tie bucktail jigs because they are bigger and not a intricate as what you're producing.

 

Love the work. Keep posting.

[Further North]

42 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Outstanding work @Further North! My tying days are pretty much behind me due to eye issues. I can tie bucktail jigs because they are bigger and not a intricate as what you're producing.

 

Love the work. Keep posting.

Everything I've posted is easy to tie, and the opposite of intricate...those "flenkos" take about a minute each, and even the big Murdich flies are pretty quick ties with simple materials and no complicated steps.

You should give them a try, I'm sure you could tie them.

[flyfisher]

Great ties as always man.  I still haven't tied a single fly this winter but i thought about it a few times....

[Further North]

2 minutes ago, flyfisher said:

I still haven't tied a single fly this winter but i thought about it a few times....

That's why I go to the fly tying club...it pushes me to tie.

[Further North]

I've been a little remiss...

 

Last week's flies.

 

 

The top one is one I tied...took most of the time at fly tying club last week.

 

Mostly learning, but it'll fish.  Much better taper than I've managed in the past.  Practice may not make perfect, but it certainly improves fly tying.

 

2nd fly is one of four I got from a friend tied by Ian Devlin.  The guys loved the fly, and we're speculating on what action it'll have in the water.  Tons of profile, almost no cross-section...hoping it darts side to side like a son-of-a-gun.

 

The 3rd fly was tied by Gabe Park, one of the local guides that comes to fly tying club.  He works with Hunter Dorn at Wisconsin Fly Fishing Company, and down at Musky Fool.  Gabe impresses me with his knowledge and overall fishiness...he's quiet and thoughtful...Anyway, the fly is the fly fishing equivalent of a glide bait...like a Suick, but with fur, feathers and flash.  The fly is a beast, and you [i]might[/i] be able to toss it with a 10 wt., but a 12 wt. is the better bet.  The density o f the bucktail in the front 1/3 of this thing has to be seen to be appreciated.  There's a loop to add a drop hook about 1/3 back too.  Dunno if I'll ever use it, but it's there.

[Further North]

More "not my ties".

Brian Vander Maazen from Amaazen Outdoors donated a float trip to our RGS banquet (along with a guided upland hunt), and I wanted to spice up the presentation a bit...so I asked my friend Dustin to donate a half dozen flies or so.

This is what arrived this morning:

 

...that's 41 flies. 

Thanks Dustin!

 

[Further North]

I attended "The Fly Tyer's Rendezvouz" on Saturday.

 

Great event, well attended...and I won a box of 76 flies donated by some of the best tiers from around the country (along with a few of my own).

 

 

It'll be fun trying to work them all - along with half of Dustin's flies from above - into my fishing this season.

[Bdnoble84]

Awesome. I have an urge to dropshot the fenko