Flashy Profile SBS

[chris williams]

Deewy, thanks for sharing this with us. I havn't the technical skills to emulate your photography or tying!

A couple of hopefully constructive comments on how possibly to improve these flies. I won't bother 'smoke-blowing'( ) you with the good points. Perhaps your flies need to be built bigger at the head end and tapered more dramatically towards the tail? This allows for more streamlined casting, yet when the fly 'bulks out' in the water you still have silhouette to imitate the 'natural'.

As I'm sure you know every baitfish has a particular season/habitat and behaviour. They also have vastly different profiles in body depth/colour and and 'trigger' points to further assist the leerie/shad whatever to accept you creation!

I'm not going to reinvent the wheel, but if you havn't got a copy of Bill Hansford Steele's 'Saltwater Flies For South African Waters' - an inexpensive and handysize reference - personally I'd highly recommend it. In this little tome he eloquently explains 'matching the hatch' in saltwater.

If you havn't got a copy already, and the bank/wife/girlfriend permits, in my opinion "Pop Fleyes' by Popovic and Jarowovski is a MUST for efficient baitfish epoxy-based imitations and the theory/practice behind using same.

These publications, and I'm sure a lot of experienced locals' advice, will allow you to vary your creations to suit the prevailing 'hatch' - and catch!

[deewy]

thanx uncle chris

I have seen that book and I agree with you...but I have never heard of a south african who fishes the blond series of flies. All his flies are just variations of a couple of paterns.

uncle bob's book is on my future shopping list for sure, but first is a book by uncle lefty. That can almost be classified as the saltwater fly fishing bible.

now just to find the fish...

[chris williams]

Ja I almost forgot Oom Lefty - but never would do so!

The Blonde series were one of the first attempts at baitfish imitations and are largely 'out of date'. Their beauty was the hair 'wing' wouldn't wrap round the body in the surf because the pretty long/robust tail prevented it. Not an intricate fly, but in different colours/'thicknesses' it still does the job and takes half the time to tie of some of the more intricate jobs. Very good for when shad or tiger are on the run and destroying half your fly in one take! Synthetic 'hair' and no body or body painted with silver paint with white paint undercoat, tied with silver wire at head also often outthinks these 'toothy critters'!

Wish you good tying/fishing!

[chris williams]

By the way, you got me activated into searching my little library at home, apart from Lefty's saltwater flyfishing book (the only book apart from my Compleat Angler that's been so well thumbed-thru it's fallen apart) - other good titles in case you havn't seen include?:

Lefty's Ultimate Flyfishing book is a cracker.

Good companion book to Lefty's saltwater one is Lou Tabory's 'Inshore Fly Fishing" - superb altho aimed more at east coast USA anglers, easily extrapolative for SA. He also explains the relationship of baitfish flytying to
actual practice in the surf.

A good companion to Popovic's book would of course be Bob Clouser's 'Clouser's Flies'. This also explains technical detail of tying and it's symbiotic (big word for today...) relationship with how they fish. He tied these predominantly for SM bass, but as we all know these things will just about catch any fish in the world.

[deewy]

saw an ad in an american magazine yesterday, for a new book on "matching the hatch" saltwater flies. I was just browzing through the book in CNA and saw a review about it. Now for the life of me I can't remember the name or the authors, but its got some amazing paterns in. Will see if I can find out more.

[Scythe]

Nice SBS ! Great attention to detail.

My only comment is that you have to remember the profile while dry is the profile it will have inside the water. When you wet and remove from the water the fibres sling together changing the profile.

That's a big valuable lesson I learnt from Bob Pop's book.

[deewy]

thanx skyth

what I figured with these flies is that you would most probably retrieve them fairly fast with double hand or so. That should make them more stream line. Should you use one hand strips they will pulse with every pause. Plus they are tied quite bushy I can easily trim them on the water with my leatherman's scissor, to give them a more slender profile.

as I said I am planning on using them in the surf and the bigger they appear the better the chance of an oom garrick or an oom kob to see it and eat it.

[Adrian]

Nice one Deewy , will try some this eve