FNF Creeper

[Shad]

Nature's Spirit had a booth at the recent Fly Fishing Show in Bellevue, and I saw a few things I thought I "needed." One of those things was a material I hadn't seen before: FNF Creeper. At first glance, this stuff seems to be a guide fly dream; dubbing, flex floss, and optional UV flash, all integrated into a convenient dubbing brush-like strand. I'm experimenting with it, and so far, I like it a lot. I'm thinking this stuff will be deadly for warm water fish in particular, but the guy at the booth told me he has enjoyed using it in big streamers for river fishing as well (says you can feel the wiggly stuff wiggling while you strip the fly, which sounds exciting). FNF recommends it for crab patterns, too, which may come in handy when I go to Florida in a few weeks....

How's this for a simple bass worm tie (taken from YouTube)? The tail is just a length of the Creeper, tied in at one end, twisted over itself until it furls, then tied in at the other end. The body is just palmered Creeper. Took me just a few minutes to tie and will take about 3 minutes after a couple more reps. Looks like the tail will bounce and wiggle nicely, and the jig head should help with action and sinking.
Any of you other sea run chasers thinking pile worms??? I sure am...

 

[Squatchin]

I've fished a "beach creeper" a couple times and have used it as a bass worm. I like the material, but I've had issues with durability. Maybe I am doing something wrong, so

 

[Stonedfish]

I tied up some marine worms with it. Like @Squatchin the material was a bit odd to me. Maybe I got a bad batch, but the chenille like material in it was super thin or missing which created gaps in it when palmered. To combat that, I braided three strands together to create the worm body then cut the rubbery leg parts back to better mimic short feeler like legs on the natural. They did catch fish.
SF

 

[Brute]

Nature's Spirit had a booth at the recent Fly Fishing Show in Bellevue, and I saw a few things I thought I "needed." One of those things was a material I hadn't seen before: FNF Creeper. At first glance, this stuff seems to be a guide fly dream; dubbing, flex floss, and optional UV flash, all integrated into a convenient dubbing brush-like strand. I'm experimenting with it, and so far, I like it a lot. I'm thinking this stuff will be deadly for warm water fish in particular, but the guy at the booth told me he has enjoyed using it in big streamers for river fishing as well (says you can feel the wiggly stuff wiggling while you strip the fly, which sounds exciting). FNF recommends it for crab patterns, too, which may come in handy when I go to Florida in a few weeks....

How's this for a simple bass worm tie (taken from YouTube)? The tail is just a length of the Creeper, tied in at one end, twisted over itself until it furls, then tied in at the other end. The body is just palmered Creeper. Took me just a few minutes to tie and will take about 3 minutes after a couple more reps. Looks like the tail will bounce and wiggle nicely, and the jig head should help with action and sinking.View attachment 105235View attachment 105236
Any of you other sea run chasers thinking pile worms??? I sure am...

how buoyant is it?...

 

[Shad]

how buoyant is it?...

Good question, and one which I had pondered but had yet to resolve with a test, so I did one. Turns out it's very buoyant, so much so that I'm not sure it will sink without adding significant weight to a hook or leader.

Obviously, the worm on the jig head won't float, but a "drop test" or two in the sink shows that the tail moves really nicely. I think it'll fish, but I'm not the ultimate judge of that, of course. The core material appears to be dry fly dubbing, or maybe egg yarn, which we all know is relatively buoyant until it gets saturated. Upon further examination, I think it might be the same stuff they use to make daphnia fritz, or indeed, a strand of the very same. I'll test a popper/gurgler-type thing later, to see how it performs in top water applications. I think it might actually be a little TOO buoyant for that, but we'll see....

 

[Shad]

I've fished a "beach creeper" a couple times and have used it as a bass worm. I like the material, but I've had issues with durability. Maybe I am doing something wrong, so

I can see where durability could be an issue. I haven't put this stuff under a ton of stress, but it did withstand being twisted and furled pretty well, so I wasn't too concerned. Of course, a wire counter-rib or similar could improve the durability (of the stuff on the hook shank, anyway)....

 

[Shad]

I tied up some marine worms with it. Like @Squatchin the material was a bit odd to me. Maybe I got a bad batch, but the chenille like material in it was super thin or missing which created gaps in it when palmered. To combat that, I braided three strands together to create the worm body then cut the rubbery leg parts back to better mimic short feeler like legs on the natural. They did catch fish.
SF

I thought the legs were just a tad long for pile worms and might need some trimming (or a lot LOL).

The dubbing stuff is uneven and can pile up funny or leave gaps on your hook shank. I think the volume of that material required to hold that stuff together might be the reason (or else it was just convenient to use a strand of the fritz material they already had on hand?), but it's a bit of a compromise. An extra twist or two while palmering, plus using tight wraps, gives you at least full coverage of the body, but even that leaves some spots where the dubbing piles up a bit. I'm not sure I'll ever tie anything "pretty" with this stuff, but that's not what I'm after when tying "worms..." I'm after fish here, down and filthy, and it sounds like your experience has been that fish like it.

 

[Brute]

Good question, and one which I had pondered but had yet to resolve with a test, so I did one. Turns out it's very buoyant, so much so that I'm not sure it will sink without adding significant weight to a hook or leader.

Obviously, the worm on the jig head won't float, but a "drop test" or two in the sink shows that the tail moves really nicely. I think it'll fish, but I'm not the ultimate judge of that, of course. The core material appears to be dry fly dubbing, or maybe egg yarn, which we all know is relatively buoyant until it gets saturated. Upon further examination, I think it might be the same stuff they use to make daphnia fritz, or indeed, a strand of the very same. I'll test a popper/gurgler-type thing later, to see how it performs in top water applications. I think it might actually be a little TOO buoyant for that, but we'll see....

I was curious about the buoyancy...I tied up some bonefish "worm" flies with a head of tarantula brush...only used bead chain eyes; When I first fished them in T & C, I cast to a small bone in 3 feet of water...by the time it sank to the bottom, the fish was ten feet away already. I wish I had dropped them in the pool first, I would have used lead or brass dumbbell eyes...but it did not make a splash on the cast.

 

[krusty]

I purchased a packet of that stuff at our local flyshop. Tied up a few with orange tungsten beads, figuring it might work like a Pumpkin Head in our NE WA trout lakes. Interesting material.

 

[MatthewLeBret]

I absolutely love this stuff. The olive makes a great bass bug

 

[Shad]

Following up...

Another take on a "wormy" thing using the Creeper. Sure makes for fast, buggy bodies on flies we're going to throw into the weeds on purpose...

 

[wanderingrichard]

Following up...

Another take on a "wormy" thing using the Creeper. Sure makes for fast, buggy bodies on flies we're going to throw into the weeds on purpose...
View attachment 106014

Ya kno, that looks like a tube worm... what deep water fish eat tube worms ?

 

[Takeum]

Love this material, I use it now exclusively to tie crappie jigs,,, makes for a great profile for our very large crappie here in the Midsouth area,,,checkem out