What's Catching You Fish?

James St. Clair said:
@Tom Butler @mcswny super interesting conversation here. I have caught so many fish on PT's and Pat's Rubber Legs its insane. What I haven't caught a fish on is a prince nymph. Proven pattern for sure, and I am sure folks here have caught countless fish on them. But these days I can't talk myself in to tying one on.

Here is my take away, that which alludes to what a few have said here...confidence. We all have flies that work for us. We tie those on first, and likely fish them until we know the fish are seeing them, but not taking them. Then we tie on a different confidence pattern, and then another after that. Conversely, we'll tie on a pattern that we have heard works well, fish it with limited confidence, and when it doesn't work on the first few casts, we quickly switch flies to our confidence patterns.

I think all the flies work (even the prince nymph, which I despise, won't tie, and literally will not tie on the end of my line), but we make them work. We make them work based on how we fish them. I will always catch more fish on flies I tie because I will fish them harder, with confidence, and how much I want to catch a fish on them. If we fish a fly we don't have as much confidence in, we aren't fishing them as hard, possibly annoyed that they aren't working, quick to change them, and thus they get less fishing time.

Anyways, just my opinion. I had the best fall on my home waters on a pattern I randomly made up for a completely different river (which also caught 0 fish on said river). No confidence in it, but it was an original fly I tied, so it had a chance at least. Tried it as a dropper for fun and turned out the fish couldn't lay off it. Sometimes timing is key too!
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Couple have put it better myself. Thanks for chiming in James.
 
James St. Clair said:
@Tom Butler @mcswny super interesting conversation here. I have caught so many fish on PT's and Pat's Rubber Legs its insane. What I haven't caught a fish on is a prince nymph. Proven pattern for sure, and I am sure folks here have caught countless fish on them. But these days I can't talk myself in to tying one on.

Here is my take away, that which alludes to what a few have said here...confidence. We all have flies that work for us. We tie those on first, and likely fish them until we know the fish are seeing them, but not taking them. Then we tie on a different confidence pattern, and then another after that. Conversely, we'll tie on a pattern that we have heard works well, fish it with limited confidence, and when it doesn't work on the first few casts, we quickly switch flies to our confidence patterns.

I think all the flies work (even the prince nymph, which I despise, won't tie, and literally will not tie on the end of my line), but we make them work. We make them work based on how we fish them. I will always catch more fish on flies I tie because I will fish them harder, with confidence, and how much I want to catch a fish on them. If we fish a fly we don't have as much confidence in, we aren't fishing them as hard, possibly annoyed that they aren't working, quick to change them, and thus they get less fishing time.

Anyways, just my opinion. I had the best fall on my home waters on a pattern I randomly made up for a completely different river (which also caught 0 fish on said river). No confidence in it, but it was an original fly I tied, so it had a chance at least. Tried it as a dropper for fun and turned out the fish couldn't lay off it. Sometimes timing is key too!
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I like to say: "I catch 90% of my fish on the fly I fish 90% of the time!"
 
Wanative said:
It wouldn't have happened without your help that's for sure. Thanks again Brian.
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Yeah…way to go, Fred(y)

….and I was just about to ask if you did that ‘up here’.

Now I can stop kicking myself in the backside for not giving the salt just one more try ;)
 
That little thing in the corner of his mouth caught a bunch of his close relatives....

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Wanative said:
Tail- white marabou with a little pearl Krystal flash
Body- Pearl Ice Dub spun in dubbing loop and brushed out leech style
Eyes-Red glass beads glued to 60# test
tied clouser style
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Thanks very much. I thought those eyes looked like glass, but I hadn't heard of them being used like that. They look great, and give good contrast to the white stuff. I'm going to try tying that pattern. I bet it'll work great!
 
Otter said:
Thanks very much. I thought those eyes looked like glass, but I hadn't heard of them being used like that. They look great, and give good contrast to the white stuff. I'm going to try tying that pattern. I bet it'll work great!
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Thanks.
I gently melt with a lighter the end of the mono to form a small ball to hold the glass bead in place after super gluing the bead on the mono. A very small dab of glue so it doesn't plug up the out side facing hole of the bead. I'll try to post pictures as it's hard to explain.
Fred
 
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Wanative said:
Thanks.
I gently melt with a lighter the end of the mono to form a small ball to hold the glass bead in place after super gluing the bead on the mono. A very small dab of glue so it doesn't plug up the out side facing hole of the bead. I'll try to post pictures as it's hard to explain.
Fred
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I'd appreciate that as well as I'm totally confused as to how the mono comes in to play
 
I fished the PT, changing dropper positions with this jigged prince nymph all afternoon, which also took a couple fish, and never went to another fly. A bit more confidence in both now. The copper beads have not broken on these hooks, I think it's just the curved caddis type hook they break on. The rubber tails splay out in the water. I'm getting better with biots, maybe I'll go back to a biot tail.
20221117_prince.jpg
 
Pink Nighty said:
I'd appreciate that as well as I'm totally confused as to how the mono comes in to play
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Otter said:
Thanks very much. I thought those eyes looked like glass, but I hadn't heard of them being used like that. They look great, and give good contrast to the white stuff. I'm going to try tying that pattern. I bet it'll work great!
Click to expand...
Here's my very amateur step by step for making glass bead clouser eyes.
Czech glass beads sz 14+
60 or 80 lb. test mono
Super glue
Lighter
Needle nose pliers
Fly tying vise.

Step 1) slide bead on to a short length of mono and place a dab of glue ahead of the bead.
20221118_112917.jpg
Step 2) push the bead ahead on to the glue and rotate gently to spread inside the bead.
20221118_112825.jpg
Step 3) slide 2nd bead onto the other end of mono and place more glue where the next eye will be set based on hook size you plan to use.
Slide bead onto glue and rotate slightly.
NOTE; Set eyes aside to dry the glue for 15 minutes at least.
I make several sets of eyes before moving to the next step.
20221118_113118.jpg
Step 4) trim the mono to 3/16" or 1/4" depending on the hole size of beads.
Larger hole's require longer tag end of mono.
Then using needle nose pliers between the two beads use a lighter to gently melt the mono into the bead holes. Hold the mono vertical while melting and the melt
Will flow into the bead somewhat.
Do not overheat the mono as it will ignite,
burn and get black and crusty rendering it
useless for the intended purpose.
NOTE; Leave a tiny ball of hot melted mono against the bead hole while quickly setting the lighter aside. Wet your finger and push/ smooth hot mono into the bead.
20221118_113557.jpg

20221118_113456.jpg20221118_113624.jpg
I use the vise sometimes to melt for the first eye and the needle nose pliers held between eyes to melt for second eye.
Close up of finished eye filled with mono melt.
20221118_114003.jpg
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Tools and beads. Beads available at craft stores. For me this can be a messy frustrating process. It usually takes a couple tries to get the first good set of eyes. As sometimes I don't get enough glue and the beads slide or get knocked
loose from the mono.
If you attempt these don't get discouraged as the light weight bead eyes have a place that lead or brass eyes
are to heavy for, plus it's fun to
add a homemade touch to your flys.
I hope this helps some one.😊
 

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Excellent instructions, wanative! Thanks a lot for taking the time to make this detailed photo step-by-step!
I'm sure these glass eyes will be perfect in places where brass or lead eyes are too heavy. I can also see another advantage. Since glass is breakable, using them should help me concentrate on keeping my back casts up off the rocks behind me. Too many times, I've lost fish, only to find my hook point had been previously broken off by my sloppy casting. Heading to the craft store tomorrow!
 
Otter said:
Excellent instructions, wanative! Thanks a lot for taking the time to make this detailed photo step-by-step!
I'm sure these glass eyes will be perfect in places where brass or lead eyes are too heavy. I can also see another advantage. Since glass is breakable, using them should help me concentrate on keeping my back casts up off the rocks behind me. Too many times, I've lost fish, only to find my hook point had been previously broken off by my sloppy casting. Heading to the craft store tomorrow!
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Thank you for the glowing review.
You Tube here I come. 😂 😉😉
 
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Wanative said:
Here's my very amateur step by step for making glass bead clouser eyes.
Czech glass beads sz 14+
60 or 80 lb. test mono
Super glue
Lighter
Needle nose pliers
Fly tying vise.

Step 1) slide bead on to a short length of mono and place a dab of glue ahead of the bead.
View attachment 41654
Step 2) push the bead ahead on to the glue and rotate gently to spread inside the bead.
View attachment 41655
Step 3) slide 2nd bead onto the other end of mono and place more glue where the next eye will be set based on hook size you plan to use.
Slide bead onto glue and rotate slightly.
NOTE; Set eyes aside to dry the glue for 15 minutes at least.
I make several sets of eyes before moving to the next step.
View attachment 41656
Step 4) trim the mono to 3/16" or 1/4" depending on the hole size of beads.
Larger hole's require longer tag end of mono.
Then using needle nose pliers between the two beads use a lighter to gently melt the mono into the bead holes. Hold the mono vertical while melting and the melt
Will flow into the bead somewhat.
Do not overheat the mono as it will ignite,
burn and get black and crusty rendering it
useless for the intended purpose.
NOTE; Leave a tiny ball of hot melted mono against the bead hole while quickly setting the lighter aside. Wet your finger and push/ smooth hot mono into the bead.
View attachment 41663

View attachment 41664View attachment 41665
I use the vise sometimes to melt for the first eye and the needle nose pliers held between eyes to melt for second eye.
Close up of finished eye filled with mono melt.
View attachment 41666
View attachment 41668
Tools and beads. Beads available at craft stores. For me this can be a messy frustrating process. It usually takes a couple tries to get the first good set of eyes. As sometimes I don't get enough glue and the beads slide or get knocked
loose from the mono.
If you attempt these don't get discouraged as the light weight bead eyes have a place that lead or brass eyes
are to heavy for, plus it's fun to
add a homemade touch to your flys.
I hope this helps some one.😊
Click to expand...
This is everything I love about tying flies. The creativity, resourcefulness and delicate touch shown here is a goal to aspire to! Thanks man!
 
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