The "Butt-Munch" Baitfish

     Here's another baitfish streamer I put together last night at the vise. I had planned on tying up a few of Kelly Galloups Butt Monkeys but as I got going  I decided to add a few things, subtract a few, and substitute some materials. This is what I ended up with so I'm calling it the "Butt-Munch" Baitfish!

     Tying this pattern last night reminded me of something many tiers may overlook. The flies we tie, from streamers to tiny Trout nymphs, look very different when wet in the water than they do dry clamped in our vise. It just so happened I was testing out some "Walk The Dog" style topwater flies in my bathtub so I decided to get this guy wet to see how it would look to the fish. It looked great! 

     The next time you tie something it doesn't hurt to test it out in the bathtub, sink, or if your lucky rig up your rod and make a few casts into your swimming pool! Fully understanding your materials and their individual properties is paramount to simply knowing how to attach them to a hook. Furthermore, how your flies perform in the water in front of a hungry fish is what matters, not just how they look to us under the artificial light at the tying bench.

Hook: Gamakatsu SP11-3L3H sz. 2

Thread: White Uni 6/0

Tail: White Marabou over Pearl Ice Dub

Wing: Magnum Cut Grey Rabbit Zonker

Body: Pearl Estaz

Hackle: White Schlappen

Eyes: Painted Lead Dumbell

Head: Grey Senyo's Laser Dub

     

The "Lay Z" Baitfish

     What do you get when you add Senyo's Laser Dub to a Zonker? You get the "Lay Z" Baitfish, just in time for the Fall Feeding Frenzy!

      In the Fall Bass as well as Trout put on the feed bag. Bass start targeting baitfish like Shad in Lakes and Reservoirs and Bluegill in Ponds in preparation for the Winter ahead. Trout on the other hand, especially Browns, hammer all types of big Streamers and Nymphs in preparation for spawning.

     The Zonker is known as a pattern for big fish and the addition of a Laser Dub head just makes it that much more effective. With the array of colors available in Zonker Strips, Mylar Tubing, and Laser Dub it's possible to come up with a pattern that matches the forage in your waters. The pattern shown here is just a generic "Minnow" but the possibilities are endless as far as what you can come up with. Aside from that, you can also play around with the weight of the fly quite a bit. You can hide a lot of lead inside the Mylar Tubing or even a Glass Rattle or both. For a more weedless fly use a Tungsten Scud Body from Hareline to flip the shank over. 

     There are many ways to fish guy from swinging it across current in rivers and streams to manipulating it with a jerk strip retrieve in stillwaters. Play around with different retrieves until you find one that works. Even though the weather is cooling off the Streamer fishing is heating up!

Hook: Gamakatsu B10S sz.2

Thread: White Uni 6/0

Wing: Magnum Cut Grey Rabbit Zonker Strip

Underbody: Tapered Lead Foil

Body: Large Silver Mylar Tubing

Head: Grey Senyo's Laser Dub

Eyes: Wapsi Stick-On Holographic Silver

Pop Art (Painting Bass Poppers)

     Constructing Bass Poppers occupies a special place in my Fly Tying repertoire. My readers might not know that aside from being a Fly Tier and Fisherman I've been an artist since I was old enough to grasp a brush. Making poppers gives me the opportunity to blend my interests and the vicious topwater strikes from a hungry Bass attacking the finished bugs are just an added bonus. 

     As with a lot of things, making your own Bass Bugs can be as easy or as complicated and time consuming as you want it to be. Back in the day an angler who wanted a Bass Bug would have to carve and shape it from scratch out of cork or balsa as well as paint it. Today however we have things much easier although many tiers still prefer to make them from scratch, not only as a nod to the past but for the freedom it presents to create something unique and personalized. 

     If your looking to make a bunch up quick or are just starting out you can't go wrong with the "Perfect Popper" kits from Wapsi. These can be purchased with or without hooks and also include an instructions sheet for assembling them. There are also tons of "How-To's" on the Web as well as videos on YouTube to get you on the right track.

      The Poppers shown here are from the Wapsi kits. I purchase mine with hooks but have found that the popper bodies really benefit from a hook that is 1x larger than what is on the pack. I really like the Gamakatsu B10S. If you do decide to use the hooks that come in the pack I recommend opening up the hook gap slightly with a pair of pliers. 

     Once you have the bodies attached to the hooks it's time to paint. Before you paint however use fine grit sandpaper or an Emory board to get rid of any mold lines. If you don't they can show up in a big way once color is applied. Also, if you are using adhesive stick-on eyes it's a good idea to apply them before you paint then mask them with tape, it can be difficult for them to adhere properly on top of the paint. 

     Now for the fun part, painting! I paint mine with spraypaint but am looking forward to trying the Copic Airbrush system. Some paint theirs with acrylic craft paint while others use plain ol' permanent markers like Sharpies and Prismacolors. Each have their pro's and con's so it's best to experiment. I prefer spraypaint for it's ease of use and the myriad of different effects you can create with stencils and the paint itself. For example, the crosshatch pattern on some of the poppers below was created by using DryWall tape as a stencil. On others the plastic net bags that fruit comes in were used as a stencil or stamped into the wet paint for a different effect. Go crazy and have fun!