Kent Edmonds Stealth Bomber

Martin Pursch at the Country Flyfisher Shop was kind enough to lend me an assortment of foam body cutters by River Road Creations Inc. Among them were two sizes of Kent Edmond's Stealth Bomber bodies. I'm definitely a fan of foam body cutters now.
Here is my variant of this popular bass pattern.

Hook: Gamakatsu B10S Size 2
Upper Body: 2mm Craft Foam cut with a medium size cutter
Under Body: White Estaz
Legs: 3 pairs of rubber legs
Tail: Several Strands of Flashabou below Marabou

Swamp Monster

I got this pattern out of Kevin Hutchinson's book Fly Fishing the Texas Hill Country. Among the things Christmas brought my way were some Green Caddis Outfitters Fly Boxes and one is going to become my perch jerk'n box. This fly begins the box and more will come.

Hook: Size 10 Streamer
Eyes: Med. Bead Chain
Wing: Black Rabbit Zonker
Body: Black Rabbit Dubbing
Legs: Olive Barred Rubber Legs
Rib: Three Strands Olive Flashabou
Tail: Black Rabbit Zonker

Salty Muddler

Ok this is not a new fly but a repurposed one. At a recent fly tying night we were talking about muddlers and deer hair divers and how if you tie them on saltwater hooks they can pull double duty in the gulf and on the rivers.  Genrally I tie in one of two extremes...way to many materials (see the Dog Collar) or super simple.   The Salty Muddler is definitely the latter.

Hook: Size 2 Saltwater Hook
Tail: White Marabou
Head: Spun Deer Hair

I like throwing white topwaters in the gulf for trout and redfish. However, I will tie up some other color combinations such as red with yellow and white with chartreuse (if all else fails go to chartreuse and white flies). Additionally smaller hook sizes are always a good thing to have in the box if the flies are gonna be pulling double duty.

For the record deer hair is my nemesis on the vice. However, the only way to get better with it is to keep tying with it. The simplicity of this fly makes it a great one to practice deer hair skills on because if it ends up in the crap fly bin all you loose is a hook and some marabou. Good luck.

Dog Collar - Articulated Fly

Hooks: Gamakatsu B10S size 2
Wire: Surflon 30lbs Nylon Coated Stainless Steel Leader
Bead: H&H Terminal Gear Red Glass Bead


Front Hook
Tail: Black Marabou
Fore Body: Black Estaz
Palmered Hackle: Olive Schlappen
Legs: 4 Black Rubber Legs
Eyes:  3D Eyes Coated in UV resin
Head: Clump of Black Ice Dub tied on the upper and lower sides of the hook.


Tail Hook
Tail: Black Marabou
Rear Body: Black Estaz
Palmered Hackle: Olive Schlappen
Legs: 4 Black Rubber Legs

Blood Belly Goby - Calico Bass Fly

This Fly Gallery goes out to the Calico Syndicate. They were looking for folks to post Calico Bass flies, and I took it as an opportunity to get creative on the vice. This one has never been tested on a Calico, but I tried to match the general trend of the patterns other folks posted with a couple of my own tweaks.
Essentially I wanted a "goby/sculpin" fly with a natural tone upper body and reddish under body to either represent a wounded fish or just the natural organs and ovaries visible through the underbelly.

At the time I didn't have the proper mono to make a weed guard, but these flies almost always have one as far as I can tell from examples on the Calico Syndicate page.

Hook: Eagle Claw 2x Long 2/0
Head: Sculpin Helmet
Lower Pectoral Fins: Chartreuse Arctic Fox Tail and Barred Rubber legs
Upper Pectoral Fins: Olive Arctic Fox Fur
Belly: EP Streamer Brusch (Color: Rust)
Tail: Magnum Rabbit Zonker Gold Variant

Classic Woolly Bugger

Hook: size 10
Thread: Olive Ultra Thread 140
Body: Brown and Olive Chenille
Hackle: Olive Rooster hackle
Tail: Olive Marabou

Foxy Sunfish Demo

After my last couple outings on the Guadalupe for trout I got thinking about other types of streamers that could be used on our trout.  The foxy sunfish is the result of those contemplations using some of the techniques developed by folks that throw large articulated streamers like Richard Strolis and Mike Schmidt.
For the record I do not know how monster streamers would do on our holdover rainbows most anglers down here are fishing size 8-12 streamers. Perhaps once our flow goes up I will have to experiment.

1. Tie in thread base

2.Tie in marabou tail. Tie back down the hook so your thread is just before the tail.

3. Tie in a schlappen or low quality hackle feather top first and bring thread to about two eye lengths before the hook.

4. Palmer the schlappen forward and tie off.

5. Reverse tie Arctic fox fur and cut off excess.

6. Fold fur back over the hook and tie down creating a fur and thread head. Whip finish.

7. Add 3-D stick on eyes to both sides of the head and add super glue in between the eyes to fix them in place.

8. Carefully coat the head in UV resin. (I use Tuffleye Finish).

Go fishing

Foxy Sunfish

Hook: size 10
Thread: Olive Ultra Thread 140
Head: UV resin
Eye: 3D Stick on Eyes
Wing: Reverse Tied Arctic Fox Fur
Body: Olive Palmered Schlappen Feather
Tail: Olive Marabou and Olive Flashabou