Pete: Do know (kinda) what you mean about the ribbon... There just so happened to be a man and his son , also fly fishing at the lake, and I talked to him for quite a while, cause he is about my age (47), and has been tying since he was a teenager.. He showed me some GREAT looking flies, and one was made from ribbon that you would make a present bow out of, and he cuts them in strips, and buys the colors of ribbon that have the pearlesance in them, and he makes a fly similar to what you described. He also, takes that same ribbon, goes over the hook eye, and down back under (after tying in a stiff hackle tail), then, he used 5 minute epoxy, and uses black plastic hair brush bristles, that have been heated and an "eye) put on one end... and , in the end, these look just like tiny baitfish, or minnows..... Chuck
----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Gramp" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2005 7:29 PM Subject: Re: [VFB] Fall Bluegill fishing > Anybody have some good "go too" flies for Bluegill fishing in the fall???? Hey, Chuck (and all)- Coming off of a GREAT saturday here! I just need to coat the guide-wraps with Flexcoat and my 6'6" 2wt is finished. I finally had a weekend that I'm off work, and my wife was in Pittsburgh for some librarian's conference thing... Bottom line, I got to get soaked (rain, now, not falling in... yet...) fishing in the remnants of this last tropical storm. Several panfish of notable length, but the "catch of the day" was a 13.25" smallmouth on a size 22 (yes, 22) zug-bug pattern. This nymph was fishing behind a PMD foam- bodied emerger, not a single hit on it, but was the best indicator I had in the rain... In any case, Chuck, the flies I prefer for brim (bluegills in particular) are: (LOooooNG descriptions for a few flies!) any soft-hackle... Just wrap a bright color of floss as a body, perhaps some stiff hackle barbs as a tail, but I seldom even do that much, a bead above the body, below the head, and a soft hackle (hen, partridge, coot, European Jay Body, Crow, you name it) between the bead (glass "pony" beads work best for my preference) and the head. Zug Bug. Standard, available on nearly any website, including the VFB archives, if I recall correctly. Loads of peacock herl = loads o' C&R'd fish! Also the Spitfire, which I already passed on for you... Prince Nymph is nice... oh! My S^5 (Super Simple, Silly, Screwed-up Sowbug). On a C12 Gamakatsu hook (or any other brand of standard scud hook), tie in some 6/0 or smaller thread (it'll be over-wrapped, so color really doesn't matter, but I use black). Dub on some pale ginger dubbing VERY sparsely to the bend/ butt of the hook, as an underbody. Now for the silly, screwed-up part... take a 6" length of 1/2" wide wire-edged organza ribbon, and slice it straight down the middle, lengthwise. Take one of the halves and start at one end, pulling out the threads that run parallel with the wire-edging. If you're not confuzzled yet, just wait... so after all of this, you have a wire with a very small edging keeping it attached to the cut threads (perpendicular to the edge of the ribbon). Tie in the piece of ribbon, with the majority of the piece sticking out the back- side of the fly. Wrap the thread to an eye- length behind the eye (leave room for the thorax / dubbed head). Then wrap the ribbon in very tight and close- together wraps, stroking back the short fibers towards the back of the hook every wrap, so as to keep them fluffed and not caught by the next wrap. So you now have this ribbon-hackled body thing that looks like... well, let's move on, shall we? Tie off the ribbon stuff with the thread, and apply heavy amounts of black-and-brick-red dubbing (mix 1/2 and 1/2 of two colors) sold by Byard of Line's End :) Dub a really thick head / thorax, and whip-finish the fly (this gets tricky) behind the thorax. This is, between the dubbed thorax and the ribbon stuff. WHEW! long explanation for a super- simple, silly, screwed up sowbug! There are many others I use for brim, but this e-mail is likely already on the "long" side, so in the interest of sparing some people's inboxes, I'll send this off. Let me know if you need materials, pictures, or examples. Tight wraps, Pete
