Have you tried these flies before

[deewy]

Hey guys I was a bit bored in the office so I decided to scratch around on the net and have a look at what I found. One is a silicone baitfish but tied in fantastic colours. Some off the flies are new and I certainly think they can hook us a couple off fish(especialy leeries ).
Steve are you keen to try and tie some off these,I will buy the materials(I must buy my own vice now )

Have a look at the Shrimp patern.....looks like a killer for the grunter and the cob??

[Chris Shelton]

Hey guys I was a bit bored in the office so I decided to scratch around on the net and have a look at what I found. One is a silicone baitfish but tied in fantastic colours. Some off the flies are new and I certainly think they can hook us a couple off fish(especialy leeries ).
Steve are you keen to try and tie some off these,I will buy the materials(I must buy my own vice now )

Have a look at the Shrimp patern.....looks like a killer for the grunter and the cob??

I like the silicon baitfish. That will work for leeries for sure

[Chris Shelton]

I dont know so much about the gummyminnow though. No movement in it

[deewy]

You must have seen those small fry thats normaly in the beach breakers or in the shallows off the lagoon,I recon that is a perfect imatation,on the site were I found it they say that it is an absolute must for tarpon and bluefish(shad or elf ) I recon if you fish that in an estuary with a 4wt outfit you can have some good fun with pan sise elf even a small leerie.
We can allways addapt it to give it movement aswell,maybe a silicone tail
Maybe even the offshore guys can put it to use when they locate a scool off snoek ar yellowtail feeding on baitfish,If you have this fly tied on a bigger hook it can only produce results...I would say.

[Nepptune]

Those Shrimp patterns are Bob Popovic's Ultra Shrimp I believe.... Bloody Easy to tie in fact..... They represent more of a swimming prawn than our mud and sand prawns down here, but no doubt would be dynamite up the East Coast and in the Kei where there are alot of swimming prawns and such....
I'm sure the pattern can be adjusted though, to suit our prawns. I have tried a few variations too..... Manily replacing the epoxy with silicone to cut down on teh weight for shakllow water presentations....

Those gummy chaps would work I'm sure when fishing around large shoals of silverside baitfish.... but I dunno if I'd fish them blind..... But then again, can anyone think of a more effective lure than a plastic worm????

[rols]

hey deewy
what site did you get the pics from? do they show how to tie or just the end result?
cheers

[deewy]

Hey guys I found some more:

[deewy]

Roland you can just google a flies name,I am sure you will find the blue prints that is needed,I just did the gummy minnow and raed this guys it looks interesting

Roanoker Blane Chocklett's amazingly lifelike Gummy Minnow is making a huge splash in the world of fly fishing.


By Mark Taylor

Bruce Olson sees a lot of fishing flies.

The "fly czar" at Umpqua Feather Merchants, the world's largest fly-making company, Olsen reviews hundreds of new patterns every year. Once in a great while, one really stands out.

"In my years doing this, I've received two flies for which I immediately smelled greatness," Olson said.

One was John Barr's Copper John, a now-popular nymph pattern. The other was the Gummy Minnow, created late in 2002 by Roanoke's Blane Chocklett.

Introduced in limited scope last season, the amazingly lifelike Gummy Minnow is making a huge splash in the world of fly fishing.

In its 2004 catalog, fly-fishing retail giant Kaufmann's Streamborn calls the fly "everybody's fly of the year." The tiny fish imitation also received a rave write-up in a recent Orvis newsletter.

Olson said he wouldn't be surprised to see sales of the Gummy Minnow, at a cost of about $5 each, reach 25,000 this year.

"That's a lot of guys walking into a lot of fly shops and buying a couple of flies," Olson said.

Chocklett, owner of Blue Ridge Fly Fishers in Roanoke, has been stunned by the fly's instant popularity.

"I've been really surprised by the reception," said Chocklett, who spends most spring, summer and fall days guiding fishermen on the region's rivers and lakes.

At the recent annual fly-fishing industry show in Denver, Chocklett stood amazed as crowds lined up to watch him tie Gummy Minnows.

"I kind of freaked out," he admitted.

The Gummy Minnow and its cousin the Gummy Sand Eel aren't exactly traditional fishing flies.

Instead of feathers and fur, the flies are made of flexible, adhesive rubber called Sili Skin. Sili Skin is the creation of Chocklett and partner Harry Steeves, a retired Virginia Tech professor and well-known fly fishing guru.

The material, which Chocklett and Steeves manufacture by hand, is colorful, pliable and flexible - qualities that contribute to the fly's realism.

"If you put it in the water among a bunch of minnows the same size and color, you'd have a hard time picking out the Gummy Minnow from among the real ones," Olson said.

So it looks fantastic.

Does it work?

Yes, says Skip Eubanks of Roanoke.

Eubanks bought a few of the flies at Chocklett's shop last fall. During a bass fishing trip to Smith Mountain Lake he decided to try the fly, casting to docks along a shoreline he'd already fished with traditional tackle.

"They were killing it," said Eubanks, who estimated he caught a dozen small- to medium-sized bass on the Gummy Minnow. "I guess it was something they hadn't seen before."

Chocklett, married with a toddler daughter, didn't just luck into his creation. He's constantly trying to think of new patterns, and not only while he's at his tying desk or on the water.

"Sometimes it keeps me up at night," said Chocklett, who often sketches out his ideas before trying to tie the flies.

Chocklett came up with the idea for the Gummy Minnow while trying to create a fly-fishing version of soft plastic jerkbaits such as flukes, Fin-S Fish and Gary Yamamoto Senkos.

Chocklett knew that those lures often out-performed traditional streamer flies in smallmouth bass rivers during the low-water months of late summer.

The Gummy Minnow doesn't really have the random darting action of a soft jerkbait.

"You need to give it some action with the rod," Chocklett said.

It does have a unique wobbling motion in the water. Combined with the lure's lifelike appearance, that's often enough to draw strikes from picky game fish.

The fly's users say it is effective not only when retrieved, but when allowed to simply drift in the current like a stunned minnow. Chocklett said dead-drifting can be especially effective in trout tailwaters, where minnows sometimes get washed through power-generating turbines.

Although it appears to have great potential for bass, big trout and other freshwater predators, the Gummy Minnow's main appeal may be in salt water. In fact, its debut - a successful one - came at the hands of saltwater fishing guide Brian Horsley during an autumn false albacore trip off the North Carolina coast.

"In the world of saltwater, the only thing I've seen that's created buzz like this has been Bob Popovic's Surf Candy and Bob Clouser's Clouser Minnow," Olson said, noting two of the most popular, most effect saltwater flies ever created.

Despite the Gummy Minnow's limited availability last season, it reportedly accounted for more than 30 species of fish.

Yet even Olson is careful not to deem the lure an instant legend.

"Like music, there are a lot of one-hit wonders," Olsen conceded. "But this thing catches fish."

Chocklett collects royalties on flies Umpqua Feather Merchants sells, but the amount is modest, so it's not like he'll be retiring and living the high life. The biggest payoff will likely be in reputation, which will help him further boost his career as a fly-tier, guide and fly-shop keeper.

As Olson says, "Blane has definitely put his stamp on the fly-fishing world."

HOW TO TIE A GUMMY MINNOW

Step 1: Using clear mono thread and .030 lead wire, wrap the shank of the hook.

Cut a piece of Metallic Silver Sili Skin about an inch long and an inch wide. Fold up on shank and trim. It will provide some thickness for the minnow's body.

Step 3: Cut a piece of Metallic Silver Sili Skin an inch wide and the desired length of the fly. Make a cut through the middle of the piece (lengthwise) about three-quarters the length of the material. Apply from bottom of hook and fold over hook shank. Trim top to about one-eighth inch above hook shank. Apply a one-eighth-inch wide strip of Green Splash Sili Skin along the top of the hook, the length of the fly, to form the fly's back. Cut to a point and trim along the bottom of the hook shank.

Step 4: After applying stick-on eyes, form fly's outer layer by overlaying a piece of Mother of Pearl Sili Skin about 1-inch wide and slightly longer than the fly. Trim to the shape of the minnow.

[deewy]

Those twister tail prawns looks awsome,very similar to our own mudprawns....maybe someone can catch a stompneus on one off those,does it sound possible??

[gkieser]

I'm sure there's a catch report that mentions the gummy minnow.

I also saw the gummy sheets at suburban, if anyone wants to try make them.