What's in your vise?

James,

Thanks for your input. I caught a few fish a while back on something similar to the Half Down but that was in water that had just opened for the season in western MT and they weren’t particularly choosy. Besides Carnage Skwalas, where I use a curved shank hook for the extra gap it provides (and the body has a slight upward curve)

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I use either straight shank hooks or stuff like a Dai Riki 280 with a slightly curved shank.

The War Pig variation was something that just looked interesting to tie. Whether it works remains to be seen; hoping to fish some Skwala water in a few weeks.

Regards,
Scott
 
The fly I was thinking of from MFC was actually called Clark's Floater in the Pool. Super similar to the War Pig. I don't think I ever got a rise on that fly. But, those styles must work or they wouldn't be commercially produced. I agree the War Pig is a cool tie, and I would definitely consider tying that pattern on a straight shanked hook, and like you add an ungulate wing.

Super similar for me on hook choices for skwalas. I use a shorter shanked curved hook for both extended body Skwala adults and nymphs. I like the Ahrex FW 511 and the Firehole 316, 317, and 413.
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And then for straight shanked dries I use the TMC 5262 and 5263, or 5212, depending on materials. IMG_20200608_175003_094.jpg

I am not a huge fan of stonefly nymphs on scud style curved hooks (unless extended body), as the naturals seem pretty straight, and not as flexible as say a swimming mayfly nymph. I don't mind tying them on like a TMC 2312 or the Ahrex FW 531, or the Dai Riki 280 as you mentioned.
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Scottp said:
Skwala Stonehog

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hook - WFC Model 6 #8
thread - Uni 6/0 camel
body - Ice Dub brown
overbody- 2mm foam brown
wing(s) - deer hair dyed dun
hackle - pheasant rump dyed brown

Regards,
Scott
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Interesting fly. Is the deer tied in over the foam? Does that hold well when fishing?
 
longputt said:
Is the deer tied in over the foam? Does that hold well when fishing?
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Thanks. The deer hair is tied in at every segment on the foam. I measure/ trim the hair to length, tie it in leaving enough of the butts exposed for a couple additional wraps with a little dubbing on the thread. As long as I use the right amount of tension, everything stays in place.

Regards,
Scott
 
I've been going down more rabbit holes regarding internal fly/lure design. Last night I listened to a great podcast with Joe Goodspeed regarding musky fly design and how he basically observed how gear guys were crushing them on these Suick lures that were basically a piece of cylindrical wood where the differences in action was provided by balance and weight distribution. What they did, instead of just a walk the dog style, was that combined with a sideways slide that slowly righted itself on the pause. Kind of like a glide bait with that extra sideways movement to it. He accomplished this with the addition of foam on top of the shank (towards the back end), then a keel weight set further up the shank (1/3-2/3 up the shank).

Below is my iteration of such a thing. I kept it really simple until I can see how it behaves in the water (my foam is large enough where I can trim it down if necessary). I ended up tying in some foam on top of the tail (rather than the foam discs I have used in the past), and then partway (1/3 of the way down from eye to bend) up the hook shank, there's a 7/16 lead eye tied on the underside. Rather than coat the head with silicone like Joe does, I just made the head more dense (I used about 4x as much titan dubbing for the head than I normally do)....but you want a thick head to push that extra bit of water to draw in fish that may not be able to see the fly.

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clarkman said:
I've been going down more rabbit holes regarding internal fly/lure design. Last night I listened to a great podcast with Joe Goodspeed regarding musky fly design and how he basically observed how gear guys were crushing them on these Suick lures that were basically a piece of cylindrical wood where the differences in action was provided by balance and weight distribution. What they did, instead of just a walk the dog style, was that combined with a sideways slide that slowly righted itself on the pause. Kind of like a glide bait with that extra sideways movement to it. He accomplished this with the addition of foam on top of the shank (towards the back end), then a keel weight set further up the shank (1/3-2/3 up the shank).

Below is my iteration of such a thing. I kept it really simple until I can see how it behaves in the water (my foam is large enough where I can trim it down if necessary). I ended up tying in some foam on top of the tail (rather than the foam discs I have used in the past), and then partway (1/3 of the way down from eye to bend) up the hook shank, there's a 7/16 lead eye tied on the underside. Rather than coat the head with silicone like Joe does, I just made the head more dense (I used about 4x as much titan dubbing for the head than I normally do)....but you want a thick head to push that extra bit of water to draw in fish that may not be able to see the fly.

h7bUFww.jpg


4x1rkO3.jpg
Click to expand...
Reminds me of Cousin It from the Adams Family…
 
Same as above but in more of a sucker/pikeminnow color scheme. I'll see how it swims before considering adding eyes...

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clarkman said:
That's the model of consistency right there.

I dunno the names of anything you tie, but I'm guessing that those saddles are on the stiffer side to help accentuate the kick on the pause?
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I first tied these with schlappen but like the taper better with the saddles. I imagine they kick better with the saddles but will probably get better “S” motion with the schlappen.

Now I’m gonna mess around with some different colors as I have some barred marabou to work through.

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swimmy said:
I first tied these with schlappen but like the taper better with the saddles. I imagine they kick better with the saddles but will probably get better “S” motion with the schlappen.

Now I’m gonna mess around with some different colors as I have some barred marabou to work through.

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thx.

I really like that barred look.
 
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