striper flies

[Loren E]

I tied up a few prototypes of a modified half and half. It's basically just your basic half and half/jig hook clouser but i added silver flashabou like in Blanton's whistler. They're tied on 1/0 eagle claw 413s with 3/16 nickel i-balz. Any suggestions? is the silver flashabou a good idea? Would a little olive bucktail on top of the chartreuse be better? Maybe some crstal flash or something else mixed in? I have only caught a few stripers so far, so i don't have much experience with what they like. Thanks in advance for your advice -Loren

[David Lee]

They look great !

Take the tip of the bunch of flash , trim it at a 45-degree angle from the tip to about 1/2 inch back .... it'll flash better .

Fish them with an eratic retrieve , include some fast pulls .

David

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

They look very good to me........

[Charlie Gonzales]

The flies look great and yes to all your questions. What I mean is have a variety of colors on you cuz you never know which one is going to be the hot one. I know guys that like olive over the chartruese and some that like blue over the chartuese.

[Adam Grace]

Your flies look great but the eyes look a tad bit too small, especially for all of that tying material, especially the bucktail. The aesthetics are great though!

[Anne Vitale]

Loren....In general the flies look good but I see a couple of practical problems.

The flash is alright and may even be necessary to catch fish. However, if it is too long it invites short strikes. Keep in mind how far forward the hook point is.

Adam is right about the eyes. Not only will bigger eyes look better, the more weight you have on the "under side" of the hook the more likely it will retrieve hook up and give you the jigging action you want.

Also...please crimp those barbs. Chucking a fly that size in the wind can do a lot of harm real easy. I'm sure you know what I mean.......Anne

[Loren E]

thanks for the advice everyone. David, i'm curious about your suggestion to trim the flashabou at a 45 degree angle, how does this work? What i mean is, how does the trim change the flashing qualities of the bug?

[David Lee]

David, i'm curious about your suggestion to trim the flashabou at a 45 degree angle, how does this work? What i mean is, how does the trim change the flashing qualities of the bug?

Loren -

By staggering the tips , you will cause each strand of flashabou to shimmer at a different rate of speed . Since any water flowing past will cause the strands to kind of roll individually , this will create more of a flashing effect from the tips (where most of the 'flash' comes from ....) .

Do this - tye-in about 30 or so strands (15 strands doubled over the tying thread , then secured) , make the flash tail about 5 inches long . From the tie-in point to past the hook bend about an inch or so ...... cement w/ flexament (this will keep your flashtail from fouling around the bend of the hook) . Now , measuring from the bend ...... take the fanned-out flashtail and trim it at 45 degrees starting at three inches -end the cut at about four inches .

Just try it .... you'll see what I mean .

David

[PaulC]

David is totally on it.
Sorry, I couldn't help myself but the engineer in me won.
crude natural frequency = sqrt(stiffness/mass)
Stiffness of a beam in bending = EI/L^3

So the mass of your material is reducing linearly when chopped, but the length effect is dominant by the cube of the length.
That being said each of your strands will have drastically different fundamental frequencies they will vibrate at giving more chaotic motion.
If you're looking for more of a wagging effect then keep em all the same length and for the most part they'll move together. You just won't get that chaotic shimmer.

Check out Bob Popovic's book if you get a chance. All sorts of great striper patterns for open or protected waters in there.
-Paul

[David Lee]

David is totally on it.
Sorry, I couldn't help myself but the engineer in me won.
crude natural frequency = sqrt(stiffness/mass)
Stiffness of a beam in bending = EI/L^3

So the mass of your material is reducing linearly when chopped, but the length effect is dominant by the cube of the length.

Huh ???

Cool !! What did I win ???????

David