Pike flies

My evening was mainly filled with experiments… with very disappointing results.
But hey, that’s the best way to learn. I’ve found out some interesting things
(primarily what not to do with certain materials).

 

So I've finished with the same pattern of the last few days again (just filling up my boxes).

But again, I've managed to forget the Crazy Legs in the head…

 

Twice!

(and they were laying right in front of my nose!)

But, third time lucky.

Pike flies

 

I’m still playing with the same pattern. This time in white and pink.

 

Actually I wanted to put some Flexifloss in the head, but I forgot…

 

so I’ve tied another one.

 

These flies are about 20 cm long, and tied on a Gamakatsu SC15-2H, size 5/0.

 

- I’ve started with a white rabbit zonker strip

- then some pink Ice Chenille wrapped around (1 cm of) the hook shank

- pink bucktail around the hook shank

- pink Polar Flash on top

- white saddle hackles

- and the head is white and pink lama hair, six strands of pink Flexifloss (three actually, folded double), and homemade epoxy eyes.

 

I like the look of this Flexifloss (or Crazy Legs) in the head, and they will add more movement, so I will be using this stuff more often.

Pike flies

You have probably noticed that I use a lot of polypropylene fibre lately, and I’ll try to do a post on that stuff soon.

The last couple of days I mainly used it to build heads on my flies. I know some of you are interested to give it a try as well, but don’t have any polypropylene fibre. So I’ve tried a couple of alternatives.

 

The first one, I’ve build a head with lama hair, but any kind of wool will do. Icelandic sheep for instance. I’ve got a lot of Merino wool laying around here, and it works fine too.

Of course, this stuff absorbs a lot of water, and will be heavier to cast. But it’s not so difficult, it’s fun to work with, and you get a nice result.

 

- I started with tying in a purple/black bunny zonker strip

- then purple Ice Chenille wrapped around (1 cm of) the hook shank

- black bucktail around the hook shank

- purple Christmas tinsel on top

- pink (it’s more like purple actually) grizzly saddle hackles

- and the head is purple and black lama hair (cut into shape), with some homemade epoxy eyes

 

If you do want to use synthetic fibre, make sure it’s not too stiff.

EP fibre works very well .That is basically the same as the polypropylene fibre I use, except that 1 package of EP fibre costs more than 1 kilo of the fibre I use (but more on that matter later).

 

The bottom of this head is Flash’n Slinky, but I find it way too stiff for this purpose.

The top of the head is Mirror Image, which is a lot better already, but it’s still too stiff for me. Perhaps on a bigger hook (this is only a 2/0), it will be easier to work with.

If you don’t have anything else, this fly will catch pike, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

 

There is one synthetic fibre that I can highly recommend for this purpose though.

It’s called Frizz Fibre (also from H2O). This fibre is even softer then lama hair, and very easy to use. In fact, I like this stuff even more than the polypropylene fibre (of course there is still a big difference in price, but it’s cheaper than EP).

 

I tied this fly the same way as the purple one (but orange, of course), with Frizz Fibre for the head, and no eyes (that would have been too much).

I’ve got a lot of tying material in stock, but I haven’t got everything, so I’m sure there is other stuff out there that works equally good. Just make sure it’s not too stiff (the softer, the better!)