Jay Murakoshi
03-15-2007, 05:06 AM
This could be a lengthy post but it will definitly help those who are tying up the hairy crank bait patterns.
Fished the Delta yesterday with KD under some windy conditions and over cast to partly cloudy skies. For me, it was a R&D day for testing the Hairy Crank Bait patterns under REAL fishing conditions and not the simple easy testing I do at the local lake and my swimming pool. We launched around 9am to dead calm flat conditions and we thought "boy what a great day ahead". After making the first couple of stops and using a green and yellow dalberg with no LOOKS [-o<, KD told me that he wanted to see the HCB in action. So I tied on a green and yellow 1/0 HCB and threw it into a thick tule clump. It crawled and crept across each branch. The weed guard worked perfect and then JUMPED it on to water and started retreiving the fly back to the boat. It did what it was suppose to do. Dive and wiggle as it was stripped back to the boat. After a few cast, a couple of LMB came out to check it out.
After fishing this a while, I noticed that the bug wasn't diving and wiggling like it was designed to do. So I checked it out and found out what the problem was. This is what I observed:
The bodies that I spin and sort of leave soft (not packed TIGHT) well - what was happening was the hair where the bill was glued onto stayed intact and the hair around that once it became saturated with water was like a wet noodle. So this was causing the diving bill to move back and forth when stripped, thus causing the bug not to dive and wiggle. Now on the bugs that were packed real tight, had no problems. I put all these flies through a tough testing. Bounced them off of tree stumps, dragged them across heavy timber, wrapped them up in the tree branches and even fished open waters.
So now the solution: If you spin the hair and pack it tight (like a Steve Potter fly) chances are that the fly will not absorb water and it will become a floater on the surface. Now if you spin deer hair like I do and try to keep it somewhat tight but still enough air space for it to absorb water and make the fly sink, you'll end up with the problem that I had today. The flies I had packed tight had no problems of coming loose.
So, if you pack it tight, you'll have to add some weight to the fly.
Here's a couple solutions (I thinks).... I have been sitting here all night solving the problem (I hope). I have taken some thinned out Automotive Goop and saturated the hair around the diving bill so it bonds all deer hair fibers together. Another solution is, I've taken some straight Automotive Goop and with a bodkin glued the hair together behind and underneath the diving bill. I"m going to let them dry a full day and then test them tomorrow at Kelsey Bass Lake. I'll post my findings and the results.
This has been a whirl wind day. I stopped in Manteca for a Starbucks to help me stay awake for my 3 hour drive home. I also added 4 shots :shock: of Expresso to the BOLD KENYA that they brewed. Right now the body is doing about 110 MPH with no slow down in site. I hope that I'm not driving or riding my bike when this stuff where's off. I think the sun will be rising soon.
Oh well, hope this report helps for those of you who are tying up the HCB.
Jay ](*,), :eek:,
Fished the Delta yesterday with KD under some windy conditions and over cast to partly cloudy skies. For me, it was a R&D day for testing the Hairy Crank Bait patterns under REAL fishing conditions and not the simple easy testing I do at the local lake and my swimming pool. We launched around 9am to dead calm flat conditions and we thought "boy what a great day ahead". After making the first couple of stops and using a green and yellow dalberg with no LOOKS [-o<, KD told me that he wanted to see the HCB in action. So I tied on a green and yellow 1/0 HCB and threw it into a thick tule clump. It crawled and crept across each branch. The weed guard worked perfect and then JUMPED it on to water and started retreiving the fly back to the boat. It did what it was suppose to do. Dive and wiggle as it was stripped back to the boat. After a few cast, a couple of LMB came out to check it out.
After fishing this a while, I noticed that the bug wasn't diving and wiggling like it was designed to do. So I checked it out and found out what the problem was. This is what I observed:
The bodies that I spin and sort of leave soft (not packed TIGHT) well - what was happening was the hair where the bill was glued onto stayed intact and the hair around that once it became saturated with water was like a wet noodle. So this was causing the diving bill to move back and forth when stripped, thus causing the bug not to dive and wiggle. Now on the bugs that were packed real tight, had no problems. I put all these flies through a tough testing. Bounced them off of tree stumps, dragged them across heavy timber, wrapped them up in the tree branches and even fished open waters.
So now the solution: If you spin the hair and pack it tight (like a Steve Potter fly) chances are that the fly will not absorb water and it will become a floater on the surface. Now if you spin deer hair like I do and try to keep it somewhat tight but still enough air space for it to absorb water and make the fly sink, you'll end up with the problem that I had today. The flies I had packed tight had no problems of coming loose.
So, if you pack it tight, you'll have to add some weight to the fly.
Here's a couple solutions (I thinks).... I have been sitting here all night solving the problem (I hope). I have taken some thinned out Automotive Goop and saturated the hair around the diving bill so it bonds all deer hair fibers together. Another solution is, I've taken some straight Automotive Goop and with a bodkin glued the hair together behind and underneath the diving bill. I"m going to let them dry a full day and then test them tomorrow at Kelsey Bass Lake. I'll post my findings and the results.
This has been a whirl wind day. I stopped in Manteca for a Starbucks to help me stay awake for my 3 hour drive home. I also added 4 shots :shock: of Expresso to the BOLD KENYA that they brewed. Right now the body is doing about 110 MPH with no slow down in site. I hope that I'm not driving or riding my bike when this stuff where's off. I think the sun will be rising soon.
Oh well, hope this report helps for those of you who are tying up the HCB.
Jay ](*,), :eek:,