Being cold and bored while waiting for spring does funny things to my mind. This latest return to cold and gloom has me very much looking forward to spring stillwater fishing. In recent years, I've taken to actually targeting spiny rays and the like when the trout fishing is slow (or when I just want to try something different), and with all kinds of spawning, etc. going on in the spring, it's becoming as much a part of every day as trying to catch planter trout.
Anyway... I do most of my bass and panfish stuff with typical trout patterns (not sure anything could outfish a bugger or Clouser with a soft hackle streamer trailer most days), and that certainly works pretty well, but I've started thinking more about presenting stuff that the pros use on those days when the usual stuff just won't make 'em go... you know, soft plastic kinda stuff.
Now, anyone whose ever tried to cast soft plastics off a fly rod knows it's impractical at best and probably not very effective, not to mention how bloody uncivilized it is to put a plastic worm, crayfish, swim bait, or pretty much anything on a fly line. With that, I started getting curious about how to re-create some of the bass fishing staples with things that could, maybe, on the best of days, be called fly tying materials. We've all seen mouse flies and know those are a winner, but man, what a pain to tie! There are lots of good crayfish patterns out there for rivers, but the lake bugs tend to be bigger and harder to imitate, and besides, most crayfish patterns are a pain to tie, too.
Enter Shad's Tacky Rig, which is a fake Wacky Rig made from a 3-way swivel and a strand or two of pipe cleaner. Let's be clear: this thing is ugly, stupid, ill-conceived.... On the plus side, it's stupid easy to make (could easily be done in the field), requires no glue or thread, and actually does look kinda like a Wacky Worm. Here it is:
The "tying" steps are as follows:
1. Insert one end of pipe cleaner of desired color/thickness through one of the perpendicular loops on the swivel. Push it through to about half the length you want for your worm, bend at the loop, then start wrapping the shorter end around the longer, standing end until you run out of stuff to twist. Cut the rest of the pipe cleaner off.
2. Repeat step 1 on other perpendicular loop of swivel.
3. (May need some new ideas here) Attach a hook to the snap.
To fish it, tie the same loop the snap comes off to your tippet.
The good parts about this design are that it flops around freely, almost like a soft plastic worm, so it should cast easily and might provide a little movement in the water, that it would be easy to change size/colors, and that it's stupid easy to make.
Potential downsides I anticipate:
1. The wire in the pipe cleaners being too stiff to allow for much movement besides downward in still waters; it might end up looking like a dead, limp, broken in half worm on the best of days.
2. I'm not sure the hook attachment is very skookum. Seems like a stinger setup might do a better job of finding purchase more often, but rigging that makes the "tie" much more complicated, so I think I'll try this first.
Any ideas to improve on this goofball design? Maybe I'm hoping it's just "wacky" enough to work?
Anyway... I do most of my bass and panfish stuff with typical trout patterns (not sure anything could outfish a bugger or Clouser with a soft hackle streamer trailer most days), and that certainly works pretty well, but I've started thinking more about presenting stuff that the pros use on those days when the usual stuff just won't make 'em go... you know, soft plastic kinda stuff.
Now, anyone whose ever tried to cast soft plastics off a fly rod knows it's impractical at best and probably not very effective, not to mention how bloody uncivilized it is to put a plastic worm, crayfish, swim bait, or pretty much anything on a fly line. With that, I started getting curious about how to re-create some of the bass fishing staples with things that could, maybe, on the best of days, be called fly tying materials. We've all seen mouse flies and know those are a winner, but man, what a pain to tie! There are lots of good crayfish patterns out there for rivers, but the lake bugs tend to be bigger and harder to imitate, and besides, most crayfish patterns are a pain to tie, too.
Enter Shad's Tacky Rig, which is a fake Wacky Rig made from a 3-way swivel and a strand or two of pipe cleaner. Let's be clear: this thing is ugly, stupid, ill-conceived.... On the plus side, it's stupid easy to make (could easily be done in the field), requires no glue or thread, and actually does look kinda like a Wacky Worm. Here it is:
The "tying" steps are as follows:
1. Insert one end of pipe cleaner of desired color/thickness through one of the perpendicular loops on the swivel. Push it through to about half the length you want for your worm, bend at the loop, then start wrapping the shorter end around the longer, standing end until you run out of stuff to twist. Cut the rest of the pipe cleaner off.
2. Repeat step 1 on other perpendicular loop of swivel.
3. (May need some new ideas here) Attach a hook to the snap.
To fish it, tie the same loop the snap comes off to your tippet.
The good parts about this design are that it flops around freely, almost like a soft plastic worm, so it should cast easily and might provide a little movement in the water, that it would be easy to change size/colors, and that it's stupid easy to make.
Potential downsides I anticipate:
1. The wire in the pipe cleaners being too stiff to allow for much movement besides downward in still waters; it might end up looking like a dead, limp, broken in half worm on the best of days.
2. I'm not sure the hook attachment is very skookum. Seems like a stinger setup might do a better job of finding purchase more often, but rigging that makes the "tie" much more complicated, so I think I'll try this first.
Any ideas to improve on this goofball design? Maybe I'm hoping it's just "wacky" enough to work?
