Further Developments on the Head-Stand Leech

It looks like I am going to submit the Head-Stand Leech I am working on for the fly swap.  A couple of weeks ago I had started with the intention that it be an articulated leech but I gotta tell you - it was a ROYAL pain in the butt to tie.  It was a really interesting pattern and had already caught several carp, but it was just too annoying. Check it out.

I am still using Pat Cohen's Carp Dub, but after playing around with some other ideas I have decided to ditch the articulation.  Instead I am using a short rabbit strip pierced at the hook and tied in behind the eyes.  The cool trick is that I am putting the rabbit strip on upside down so that it pushes the rabbit fur and the Dubbing shag against each other and flattening the profile of the fly.  It gives the same laterally flattened profile as the original concept, takes about 1/3rd the time to tie and has BETTER action under water.

Here is a picture:

  

And here is some bathtub video of the new version:

I think this will probably be the version that goes out for the swap.

Headstand Leech Proto Carp Fly Using Cohen's Carp Dub

Leeches are an important food element for many species of fish, including carp.  I have several friends that catch a good majority of their carp every year on leech flies.

Up to now I have always gone with a black Zimmerman's Backstabber when I wanted a leech.

The Backstabber is a superb fly and super easy to tie, but I much prefer to catch fish on flies I have designed myself.  As a result, I have been trying to come up with a leech of my own for over a year now.  I have tied up at least 15 different ideas, and I hated them all the second they came off the vice.  Unoriginal.  Ugly.  Too hard to tie.  Doesn't behave right in the water. You name it, I have screwed it.  What I needed was inspiration and that inspiration recently arrived when Pat Cohen from rusuperfly.com sent me a bunch of his new Carp Dub from Hareline.

Pat is one of my favorite on-line tiers because everything he ties has a high level of aesthetic artistry that is just beyond me.  Don't get me wrong, I think my flies are pretty spiffy and they catch the snot out of carp, but there is just no way they are as artistic as Pat's for the simple reason I am not as artistic as Pat.  So, when he sent me all that dubbing in the obvious hope that I would make something cool and carpy with it, I was a little overwhelmed and intimidated.  On demand  is NOT how the creative process works for me.  It works in it's own good time, and for no apparent reason.  If at all.  I also felt a little pressure to make something worthy of Pat freaking Cohen.  As a result I avoided my tying desk and the pile of carp dub on it for several days.

Finally yesterday I was walking by my desk when I happened to notice the "Northern Lights Black" looking at me funny.  You know, kinda out of the corner of it's eye and I just had to stop and actually take a closer look.  Pull a pinch out of the bag and feel it.  Put it under a light and check out the color variation.  "Micro-flash".  "Niiiiiiiice".  "squigglies".  "Ummmm Hmmm".  "Coarse but not TOO coarse.  "Ohhhhhh yeah".  Not really ideal for dubbing a tight body, but good for a buggy dub and PERFECT for a dubbing loop!  Twenty minutes later this was sitting there on the table in front of me.  Like magic.  A leech I don't hate.  A leech I like quite a bit.  And I feel it.

So this was version 1.0 of a Headstand articulated leach with a Cohen's Carp Dub dubbing-loop-body trimmed for a lateral - almost spoon-like profile.  Very sexy, but like I said above, pretty is not really my forte. What the fly does in the water is my thing and even as I was loving this fly I knew deep down that it would not do a head-stand as intended.  I used the shank from a size 12 dry-fly hook and there is just not enough natural buoyancy in this dubbing to lift that.

Fortunately my subconscious was on the job as I slept.  When I awoke this morning I knew exactly what I needed to do and hopped in the car for a quick run to the fly shop to get some tube tying stuff.  You know.  Stuff.  Whatever the heck stuff you need to tie tube flies.  After some consultation with David (one of my favorite shop guys because he is a born-again carper) and a quick buoyancy test in Anglers All's goldfish tank I bought this stuff:

Forty minutes later version 2.0 was off the vice and in the sink.  It now had a tail built on a 3/8" long piece of small tube fly tubing attached to the hook with big fly thread.  A quick dunk in the sink confirmed that version 1.0  (top fly below) flopped right over on it's side while version 2.0 (bottom fly below) did a decent (although not perfect) headstand.

Now I had a problem though.  I was REALLY feeling this fly.  Feeling it enough that I was going to be agitated until I got the chance to try it out.  Fortunately today was a really nice day and by 2:00 I had a little time to run to the river for some quick on-the-water winter testing.

I had some good shots in the next two hours and learned some things.

First of all I am on the right track.  I had at least 6 carp turn on the fly.  For winter carpin it was a very very positive response.

Second of all I think the fly might need to be a smidge smaller for winter carpin on the South Platte.  In other seasons and on other bodies of water I think it would be fine, but four of those carp lost interest in the fly after their initial positive reaction. In my experience, on the DSP that typically means that the fly is too big, being fished with too much movement or is too flashy.  In this case I am going for just an eensy weensy bit too big.

And finally I learned that although I THINK I am on the right track, I KNOW that the fly will actually already work as-is because two of the 6 carp were more than happy to eat the dang thing! The first was a little guy but I don't care.  The only feeling better than a winter carp is getting the stink off of a new pattern!

The second was a whole different story.  Big.  Real big.  As a matter of fact if the second fish was just half a pound heavier I could have closed out 2013 the same way I closed out 2012.  With a super-rare-for-me twenty!

Not a bad start for the Headstand Leech.  Not a bad start at all, but as you may know a fly doesn't earn a quirky name, recipe and place on the favorite flies page around here until it proves itself worthy. Two carp does not worthy prove!

Carp Slam Mind Games

Is this my newest go-to carp fly for this years Carp Slam or just another poser proto-fly?  Wouldn't you like to know.

McLuvin Hybrid Proto-Fly

Ahh Heck.  Who am I kidding.  Make no mistake - the McLuvin Hybrid will work and probably work well.  Development of it has been scheduled since the moment I discovered red pine squirrel several weeks ago but I think we all know what is going to be tied on the end of my line Saturday morning.

Flies For Lake Meeechigan

I used to have a recurring nightmare.  You know the one.  In this nightmare it is senior year of college and somehow you managed to completely forget that you were enrolled in some stupid humanities class, get an F and flunk out.  Coming back to you right?  What is up with the orange circus elephants and giant floating chocolate chip cookies in the sky in that dream anyways?  Or is that just me?

Alright, that may just be me but I bet you have had this one:  You are on your biggest travel trip of the year.  You have found the magic fly and for half a glorious hour all your hopes, dreams and aspirations have been met.  Your are a do-it-yourself fly fishing legend!!!!!!!  Except of course you only tied up one of those.  You see where this is going right?  Suddenly you break off the fly which brings on an unimaginable streak of bad luck complete with sudden cold fronts, red tides, rogue waves and instant collapse of the eco-system.  Most of which isn't even possible where you are fishing.

The whole thing is ridiculous of course.  I always come back from a travel trip with at least 3/4 of the flies I tied dry and un-touched.  Except when I don't.  Last year it actually happened.  On the first day of my trip with John Montana on the Columbia river I was in the middle of the hottest half an hour of carpin I have ever had when I lost the only Foam Trouser Worm I had with me.  It was a complete coincidence but from that moment on the luck on that trip took an about face.  An experience like that does a number on reinforcing my travel-trip fly prep paranoia.

This year I think I am going to do something a little different.  I have heard some studies that indicate that while lone humans are absolutely terrible at predicting the future, large groups of humans have an almost mystical ability to prophesy.  Therefore I am going to put the fly selection for my up-coming pilgrimage up the Lake MI coastline up to vote.  Of the prototypes I have put together so far which is going to be the hot fly?  Upper Lake Michigan, Michigan coast-line, mid June.

The Montage:

FLY A - Basic Bunny - Small Sculpin-Head, rabbit strip tail, dubbing-loop rabbit body.

FLY B:  Large Jaimee's Krazy Carpers with dubbing looped and brushed egg-yarn bodies

FLY C - small sculpin head, Light olive Puglisi brush body, Olive-Yellow rabbit strip.

FLY D:  Large and heavily weighted MMF's (Magical Mutha F@#!$%%).  Basically a bulky profile arctic fox clouser.  I have caught many many many SE Michigan carp on this fly.

FLY E:  Packed wool tube-fly.  Packed wool head, layered marabou tail.  VERY painful to tie.

September is Saved!

2011 has been a great year for me and so far I have caught around 4 times as many carp as 2010.   The learning curve has started to get friendlier. Until September that is.  All delusions of fly fishing for carp grandeur came crashing down in September.  As of September 29th I had caught one carp.  As in one more than zero, a whole bunch less than lots!

This is however, not a story of self pity and loathing.  There were 30 days in September, and that 30th day provided vindication and relief.  On Friday I arrived at the river at 8:30AM.  It was too early to easily spot fish so I went straight to a classic ambush location.  Feeding fish are readily available here tight to a bank of boulders but they get heavy pressure and the cover is inadequate.  If you want to sneak up on the fish you have to crawl down to the bank as slowly as possible taking advantage of the light brush when available.  After taking a good 10 minutes to slither down I was in position.  So far so good, there were about a dozen fish holding tight to the boulders roughly 10 feet away.  Most of them were still in an early morning snooze, but three or four where in a slight nose down attitude and one fish was tailing hard so tight to the boulders that his head was actually under an over-hang.

I was nearly on my belly using a clump of 10" tall grass to hide most of my profile.  I couldn't get off a cast though and had to partially raise my torso just to make an attempt.  Raising my head a couple of feet blew my cover and all the fish slowly but emphatically ghosted away.

But wait.  Remember that one fish tailing with his head under a boulder?  He could not see me and was intent enough on something delicious that he failed to notice all his buddies making for parts unknown.  I lobbed a lightly weighted Trouser Worm 3 feet past the stone over-hang dragged it back and let it drop slowly through the gap in the boulders at the bottom of the picture above.  The drop was about 6" to the left of where I imagined it's head to be.  With just a slight flick of it's tail the carp changed directions and after a brief pause I set the hook into resistance. 

What a relief.  I have caught many carp on flies this year, but even though this is a cookie cutter DSP carp (just under 9lb) this may be one of my favorites.  After all, it busted my September slump!  After that I was able to relax a little bit and get into a better flow and by the end of the day I had caught 2 more in the river.  I may talk a little more about one of them in another post because I would like some thoughts from others on how to deal with one particular scenario.

On the way home I stopped off at a local pond and nailed a couple of smaller fish on a prototype carp fly I am working on.  Progress has been slow.  Although the various iterations have hooked some fish here and there (including one in Oregon by John Montana) they haven't landed a fish yet.  I am not certain they are getting the response I am looking for and it was nice to get a couple of really savage takes with a happy ending.  This latest iteration is a combination of prototype 1 and 3.

Proto-Flies: Working on New Head-Stand(s)

I have been thinking for some time that I need another version or two of my head-stand carp flies.  My head-stand worm is very interesting in that I often get takes on the strip.  That was the intention of the design - to have a worm pattern that was more flexible in the presentation.  Still, I am a little surprised.  After all, how often does a carp see a red worm swimming along in a rocking, bouncing motion?  Obviously this is more of an attractor / strike trigger response and I attribute it to the action rather than the overall worminess of the fly.  Perhaps I can get even more takes on the strip if I combine that action with a little more body and a crayfishy color scheme.

I will publish recipes if / when the design(s) get finalized and catch carp but at first glance what do people think?  Any winners?  Any ideas?  I am thinking of some combination from #1 and #3.   

Off-topic, I am really digging what I can do with my underwater camera now that I am getting the hang of it.  Keep tuned, I am going to try and make under-water videos of the drop and strip behavior of a bunch of carp flies.

McTage's Leather Trouser Worm Carp Fly

Update 9/1/2011:  The preliminary name of this fly was "Leather Head-Stand Carp Worm".  The final name is "McTage's Leather Trouser Worm Carp Fly".  A fly gets a goofy name when it earns it! 

This post gives the details on the leather version of the Trouser Worm.  This is essentially the same fly as the foam version except it uses the leather from a rabbit strip as the tail instead of foam.

The leather has some advantages over the foam.  While the action on the foam version is stunning I suspect it may occasionally be over-the-top for Carp in certain moods.  The leather still has great action but it is slightly more subtle.  Using leather simplifies the process and there is something to be said for natural materials. 

There are also some disadvantages.  If you are looking for a full-on headstand all the time then the foam can't be beat.  The leather loses a little buoyancy and drops the full headstand after it is fished for a while.  Fortunately It still falls, rides and lays hook-up and the leather usually sits slightly off the bottom.  This is probably good enough for most situations.

MATERIALS:

1. Hook:  Size 8 Scud hook.
2. Bead:  3.25mm Tungsten (put on backwards)
3. Eyes:  #6 Stainless bead-chain.
4. Body:  Red Amnesia Mono filament
5. Tail:  Red rabbit strip with the hair trimmed down to about 1/8" length

Go Fly-Carpin!

(Hard to see the fly....he took it deep!)

McTage's Foam Trouser Worm Carp Fly

4/25/2013 - This post has been updated to reflect an evolved version of the Foam Trouser Worm.

This post details the Foam Trouser Worm, a later post will explain the leather version.

The standard San-Juan Worm may be a good carp fly.  It may even be a great carp fly, but I find it awkward to fish for carp and it lacks versatility for different presentations.  In order to have a better carp fly I wanted to improve on the standard San-Juan Worm in several major areas. 

1. Fall, strip and sit hook-up.  A hook-down carp fly is just not natural.  The idea to go full head-stand came later.
2. A fly with some decent action that can work on the drop, twitch AND strip as the circumstances dictate.
3. A fly with some decent durability.

The Foam Trouser Worm and it's leather variant satisfy all these requirements..

MATERIALS:

1. Hook:  Size 8 Scorpion Gaper.
2. Thread:  UTC red waxed 280
3. Bead: 3.25mm black brass bead
4. Eyes: #6 Stainless bead-chain.
5. Body:  15lb Red Amnesia Mono filament
6. Tail:
1. Uni Big Fly Thread, red
2. Spirit river extra small glass bead
3. 2.7mm black brass bead
4. 14 1/16" thick, 1/8" diameter foam plugs made with a hole punch. 

DIRECTIONS:

CARPTORIOUS: The Worm And I Have Some Fun

I had a chance today to do some field testing with the worm pattern I was working on last week.  For the most part it did extremely well.  There are some issues and I think the final pattern will get some tweaks to increase the durability before it earns a name and goes on the favorite flies page but it can clearly catch fish.   

It was a perfect day to hit the river.  We had great weather all week with a falling flow and increasing clarity.  My hope was that a certain flat would load up in the afternoon with feeding fish.  I love it when a plan comes together. 

ProtoFlies: Headstand worm

No time for fishing this weekend but I did have a little time to dink around with prototype flies.

I have heard from many people that they like the San-Juan worm or different variations of it for carp.  I experimented with the worm this winter without much luck (1 hook-up).  I think my main problem is that I lack confidence and quickly switch to a proven pattern.  Time to manufacture some confidence.   (Note: This picture is under-water in my sink looking down).  The fly will get a goofy name, a cleaner tie and some fine-tuning if and when it catches carp!  Otherwise it will sit in a box with all the other un-fulfilled dreams.