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Flies for Goodnews River King Salmon

September 29, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Flies for King Salmon

This is the first in a series about flies used on the Goodnews River, Alaska.

Goodnews River king salmon typically rest in seam water that’s six to eight feet deep. There’s always a strong current. If you want to catch one with a fly rod you usually need a fast sinking fly line and a fast sinking fly.

Before my first trip there Bob Stearns allayed my fears about what to tie by telling me, “Those fish have never seen a fly before, never seen a fisherman. They will eat almost any well-presented fly.” Of course he was right. Most of the time the fish are way less fussy than the fisherman, and a heavy Clouser Minnow will often work as well as anything else.

That having been said, the old standard fly was a cerise-colored bunny leech tied on a size two Mustad 36890 hook, with a 1/30th ounce or heavier lead eye.

Bunny Leeches

Pink (cerise, actually) bunny leeches ready for deployment.

KingSalmonBunnyLeech

This hen king salmon took one of those simple bunny leeches.

Articulated flies (see how to tie one here) have become all the rage since I started working at the Goodnews River Lodge six seasons back. They take longer to tie but help prevent short strikes. You can tie big, crazy flies this way. For weight some tyers use lead eyes, others use tungsten cone-shaped beads. Both work, so use whichever you prefer.

ArticulatedFly-KingSalmon

This articulated fly, tied with both rabbit and Arctic fox zonker strips, was eaten by a king salmon.

On the Goodnews only single hook artificials are allowed, so you must break off the bend and point of the forward hook. Use an inexpensive iron for this work (I use a 2/0 Mustad 3407). Alternatively, purchase a special hookless hook made specifically for tying articulated flies.

Most guides at Goodnews like an octopus-style hook for the trailer, with sizes ranging from 4 to 1/0, the tyer’s personal choice. A larger hook is less likely to fail under duress. Some of us dress it, others leave it naked, again, a matter of preference.

KingSalmonArticulatedFly

Another king salmon falls for an articulated fly.

Effective colors include cerise, purple, hot pink, black, blue, orange, chartreuse, and combinations of these. Flash material is in good taste, and a rattle is easily tied in on the forward hook before tying in the dressing.

That is all you need to know about tying Flies for King Salmon.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Tips, Flies and Fly Tying, Goodnews River- Alaska Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Effective Fishing Flies- Gartside’s Gurgler

February 16, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

In my last fishing report I mentioned using the late Jack Gartside’s Gurgler for seatrout with great success. I went to Jack’s website (yes, it’s still up and running, you can see it here) to see if I tied it anything remotely like Jack did. It’s modified quite a bit. I suppose that’s to be expected. Fly tyers always modify stuff to fit their own needs.

You tie these in the sizes and colors you need to match what your intended target is. For the seatrout I tie it as below, in white. I tie it on a #4 Gamakatsu SC-15 for baby tarpon. I use it in Alaska as tied below, but in pink, for silver salmon and on a #6 long shank hook in orange for Dolly varden. I tie little ones for bluegills. It’s a wonderfully versatile pattern.

Here’s how I tie it. Fishing instructions are below.

Gartside gurgler fly

What a finished gurgler looks like. Note the double layer of foam at the front.

Hook- Mustad 34011, size 2

Thread- flat waxed nylon

Tail- short piece of calftail, marabou, or Arctic fox

Body- Estaz or similar material

“Shell”- craft foam cut to about a 1/4-3/8th inch width.

1) Start the thread and wind back to hook bend. Tie in the tail. I find a short tail fouls much less frequently than a long one.

2) Tie in the Estaz, same spot.

3) Take the strip of craft foam and your scissors and taper the end to a “V.” Tie in the point of the V such that the strip extends out over the tail.

4) Wrap the thread up to a point about 1/4 inch behind the eye of the hook. Wrap the Estaz to that point. Tie it off and cut it.

5) Fold the foam over and tie it off at the same point.

6) Fold the foam back on itself and tie it off again, at the same point. The foam is now two layers thick. Drop the bobbin and use the scissors to cut the foam off 1/4 inch behind where you tied it off. The doubled foam increases the fly’s buoyancy, and makes it somewhat more durable.

7) Whip the head, then cement it.

When fishing for seatrout I try to make the fly pop and spit water. It does not make the commotion a popper will but it seems to make quite enough for the trout.

spotted seatrout caught on a gurgler.

Spotted seatrout caught on a gurgler. They seem to like it quite a bit, and it’s easy to make.

In Alaska when fishing silvers I fish it the same way.

For dollies cast it quartering downstream and give it little pops as it swings. There is no more enjoyable way of catching them.

Please let me know how it works for you.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

 

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

 

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Filed Under: Fishing Tips, Flies and Fly Tying · Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Ten Favorite Redfish Flies

November 15, 2011 by ·

If you were dropped off anywhere in redfish range, carrying a selection of the 10 fly patterns listed below, you could catch redfish if you could locate them. These are my ten favorite redfish flies.

“Imitator” Flies
These roughly resemble stuff fish actually eat.

A Clouser Minnow selection.

1. The Clouser Deep Minnow. Since redfish often prefer to feed down on the bottom it’s an excellent fly for them. You’ll need a variety of different colors. If you think in terms of light, dark, neutral, and contrasting colors you’ll be fine.

You need a variety of sizes and weights. At the small end a size 4 (I’m thinking about going to #6 this winter) with bead chain or micro lead eyes is good. At the large end a size 1/0 with 1/36th ounce lead eyes will sink like an anvil for those rare occasions when you need a fairly large, fast sinking fly.

Some of your flies must have weedguards. My own preference these days is for a double mono prong.

A bendback made with bucktail on top, and with synthetics below. Both work.

2. Bendbacks. When the water is only a few inches deep, and the fish are behaving like a zebra around a pride of hungry lions, you need something that hits the water delicately. Enter the bendback.

A variety of sizes and colors is needed. I carry bendbacks as small as number 4 and as large as 3/0 (we get big reds where I fish). These are excellent patterns to wing with synthetics.

Do not to bend the hook shank too much, a common error when making these flies. The shank should only be bent five degrees or so.

From top to bottom, a Deceiver, Electric Sushi, and a Polar Fiber Minnow.

3. “Minnow” patterns from natural or synthetic fibers. The best known natural fiber minnow is Lefty’s Deceiver, although Joe Brooks’s Blonde series works as well. But synthetics are really the material of choice for these flies.

Examples of this type of fly include those shown above. Carry them in sizes from tiny to huge.

A gaggle of Merkins.

4. Crabs. Redfish love crabs, and they eat all kinds- swimming crabs, mud crabs, fiddler crabs, horseshoe crabs, and more. You need a few faux crabs in your fly box.

My own favorite redfish crab pattern is the Merkin in size four. As a rule redfish crabs don’t need to be terribly realistic, only suggestive, and most should sink like they mean it.

A Seaducer, above, and a Slider, below. They’re very similar flies.

5. Shrimp Flies. Shrimp flies are something like crab flies in that there are lots of patterns. I use two. One was developed by Homer Rhodes in the 1930’s and was called the Homer Rhodes Shrimp Fly. Most folks nowadays call it a Seaducer. The other is a Slider, my take on Tim Borski’s well-known pattern.

The bunny leech or bunny booger, a deadly fly.

6. The Bunny Leech. Although this simple tie looks like nothing in particular, it has dynamite action when in the water and suggests a wide variety of redfish foods. I usually tie these in only sizes 2, always with 1/50th ounce lead eyes. My favorite colors is black.

This mullet imitation is made with sheep’s wool.

7. Woolhead Mullet. These are time consuming to make and difficult to cast. Why carry them? When the fish are keying on mullet nothing else will do.

You can tie these in any size you like, as mullet do get large. When this fly gets large, though, casting it becomes nightmarish. I carry these in sizes 2 and 1, in gray and in white.

“Attractor” Flies
Sometimes the water is deep. Sometimes it’s dirty. Sometimes there are clouds, or wind. And sometimes you have a combination of these factors, factors that prevent you from sight fishing. So you need some flies that call the fish to them by one means or another. We call these attractor patterns.

Rattle Rousers, weighted and not.

8. Rattle Rouser. These are bucktail streamers tied hook point up on a long shank hook. They can be unweighted or tied with lead eyes, as you prefer. It’s a good idea to carry some both ways. Tied underneath the hook is an epoxy coated, braided Mylar tube, inside of which a plastic or glass worm rattle is inserted.

As you strip the fly the rattle makes an audible clicking sound, which attracts the attention of the fish. When you need it there is no substitute.

Jim Dupre’s Spoonfly.

9. Dupre Spoonfly. These look like miniature Johnson Minnows, and work much the same way. A curved Mylar sheet coated with epoxy, Dupre’s invention casts easily, hits the water lightly, tends to not twist your line, and is extremely effective. I’m not sure if the fish find it by vibration, flash, or both, but they certainly do find it.

My version of Gartside’s Gurgler.

10. Gurglers. Surface flies are usually not the best choice for redfish. However, as an attractor pattern when sight fishing conditions are poor they can be outstanding. The strikes are so exciting that a few less seems like a small price to pay.

These ten flies will produce redfish for you no matter where you may find yourself, no matter what the conditions may be. As an added incentive to carrying these flies, they will also work on a variety of other fish, including snook, tarpon, seatrout and weakfish, striped bass, bluefish, and more. Whether you tie your own or purchase them ready to use, these flies will put fish on your line anywhere, anytime. Try them and see.

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Tips, Flies and Fly Tying, opinion · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tying the Hot Head Fly

October 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Everyone loves a new fly pattern. The hot, new pattern is the Hot Head! It’s sure to become a classic for everything that swims.

An assortment of Hot Head flies, tied by your intrepid blogger.

With the hyperbole out of the way, it is a good looking fly. Marcia Foosaner has been using them around Stuart and has been catching seatrout, jacks, bluefish, snook, and other stuff with it. Jacks and bluefish will hit an acorn. Trout and snook are a little more discriminating.

The Hot Head requires the use of a Hot Head, a cup-like soft plastic head from DOA, designed to be used with their lines of shad tails and jerk baits. Marcia and I have found a fly tying use for it that makes tying a handsome baitfish imitation quite simple.

Here’s how I tie the Hot Head. Feel free to modify, and please feel free to share your successes.

Materials
Hook- Gamakatsu SC-15, size 2/0
Tail- three pairs of hackle feathers
Flash- small amount of pearl colored Wing ‘n’ Flash
Cheeks- one complementary/contrasting pair of marabou feathers
Collar- one red hackle feather wrapped around the hook
Head- DOA Hot Head

1. With hook in vise, wrap thread to bend of hook.

2. Match three pairs of hackle feathers. Tie them in at bend.

3. Take a small amount of Wing ‘n’ Flash and tie it in just in front of the hackle feathers. It should trail back past the tips of the hackles.

4. Tie in one marabou feather tip on each side of the hook, just in front of the Wing ‘n’ Flash.

5. Tie in the butt of the red hackle feather in front of the marabou and take four or five wraps around the hook shank. Tie it off.

6. Take a 6″ piece of medium chenille (if you want a slow sinking fly) or a six inch piece of medium lead wire (if you want it to sink faster) and tie it in in front of the hackle feathers. Build up a big head onto which you will slide the Hot Head. Tie it off and whip finish the head.

I have tried using Zap a Dap a Goo to cement the Hot Head into place but it doesn’t hold. I will be trying other adhesives, or may conclude that cementing it into place is unnecessary. It occurs to me as I type this that if the Hot Head isn’t glued on you can change colors instantly while fishing.

7. Use a hook point of bodkin and poke a hole in the front center of the Hot Head. Slide it onto the hook over the eye.

Voila! Your Hot Head is ready to fish. Boa sorte! Three languages on one line!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Tips, Flies and Fly Tying · Tagged: , , ,

Selected Redfish Fly Recipes

March 10, 2011 by · 3 Comments

Reader Ron Conner wanted recipes for the Mosquito Lagoon Special and Slider flies, which I use for slot sized redfish. Here they are.

Mosquito Lagoon Special

Hook-Mustad #3407 size 4
Eyes-1/100 oz. (approx) lead dumbell or bead chain
Wing- fox or grey squirrel
Flash-four strands gold colored Flashabou Accent
Head- small tuft of deer body hair

1) Start thread, tie in lead eye. Flip the hook so the point is up.
2) Wrap thread about halfway to bend. Tie in a small clump of squirrel hair. Top with flash.
3) Just behind lead eye tie in a small clump of deer hair. The butts should be facing  forward, the tread should wrap around the center of the clump. You want the hair to flare and stay in place on the “top” of the fly. Do not trim the deer hair.
4) Whip finish and cement the head.

Slider
Tim Borski ties some sweet flies. His slider is a classic, but way too much trouble for me to tie. I modified it to this.

Hook- Mustad #3407 size 4
Eyes-1/100 oz. (approx) lead dumbell or bead chain
Tail-craft fur or similar synthetic, color tyer’s choice
Body-ice or cactus chenille, Estaz, or similar; color tyer’s choice
Hackle- one Grizzly (dyed to tyer’s choice) hackle feather tied Palmer
weedguard- 15 or 20 lb. mono “V”

1) Start the thread, tie in the eyes. Leave enough room ahead of them for the weedguard.
2) Wrap the thread to the bend. Tie in a tuft of craft fur for the tail.
3) Tie in the chenille and the butt of the feather at the hook bend. Wrap the thread up to the lead eye.
4) Wrap the chenille up to the lead eye. Tie it off and cut it.
5) Wrap the feather up to the lead eye. Tie it off and cut it.
6) Tie in the weedguard in front of the lead eye. Whip the head and cement it.

If desired, mark stripes on the tail using a permanent Sharpie marker.

I like these in olive, tan, and brown.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Tips, Flies and Fly Tying ·

Tying the Bunny Booger

January 28, 2011 by · 2 Comments

Readers familiar with my writings frequently come across references to the Bunny Booger. Some readers write to me wanting to know what it is. Others want to know how to make one. This piece will answer those queries.

A bunny booger is an artificial fly. It’s evolved from a wooly booger, and uses only rabbit fur zonker strips, available at any fly shop or store that sells fly tying supplies. I’m sure other folks tie similar flies and have other names for them.

While here in Florida I mostly use black boogers for reds and black drum, in Alaska we use cerise colored ones for salmon. Exactly the same fly except for color.

I’m sure in brown it would be a more than passable crayfish imitation for bass fishermen.

Materials
– Mustad 3407 #2 or equivalent
-1/50th oz. lead dumbell eye
-bunny zonker strip, color your choice
-danville flat waxed nylon thread

1. Start the thread and tie on the lead eye behind the hook eye. If you intend to tie in a weed guard (recommended) put it back a little farther than you would otherwise.

2. Wind the thread to the bend of the hook. Take a 1″ long piece of bunny strip and tie it in as a tail, fur side down.

3. Take a 4-6″ long bunny strip and, right where you tied the tail in, tie it in like you’d tie in a pair of hackle you intended to Palmer. It should be at right angles to the hook shank, facing away from you, with the fur side up. Wrap the thread up to the lead eye, then Palmer the bunny strip up to the lead eye and tie it off.

4. At this point you either tie in a weed guard and then finish the fly, or just whip finish and cement it right now.

It’s PDS (pretty darned simple) and takes about 5 minutes.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Tips, Flies and Fly Tying · Tagged: , , , ,

don’t knock it; “I’ve caught several large largemouth”

January 1, 2011 by · 2 Comments

The Report from Spotted Tail 1/2/11

in this issue:
resolutions
tree huggers
Fishing Report
Fly Tying Contest Addendum

Resolutions
Happy New Year! It’s 2011. Many resolutions were made over the past few days. Most will be discarded before February first.

I’m going to learn to use Excel this year. I’m going to learn to type, actual typing, not the hunting and pecking that’s served me for the past thirty years. I’m going keep my weight below 175, by running and exercising at least three times weekly. And I should keep working on that most elusive of goals, universal enlightenment.

I also want to get my facebook business page up and running. Frankly, I need help with the static FBML. If any readers have expertise with this I would love to hear from you. Let’s make a deal!

How about you? Any readers have extraordinary goals for the coming year, something most of us should borrow? If you’ve got a juicy goal, please share it by posting a comment to the blog, or by emailing me at john@spottedtail.com. I’ll send a free book to those responders posting a particularly noteworthy goal.

Tree Huggers
When I was an active member of Florida Outdoor Writers Association, the term “tree hugger” was freely used by the hook and bullet types as a disparaging, almost insulting, term to describe someone’s approach to the outdoors. As someone who has actually started to hug trees lately, I say, don’t knock it if you ain’t tried it.

Let’s say you’re standing next to a big, fat tree that’s 100 years old. That tree has seen more than 36,000 sunrises and sunsets. It has stood there stoically, uncomplaining, through some of the worst weather imaginable. It has shaded weary travelers with fur and feathers, and provided some with food and shelter, for decades. It has worked hard producing carbohydrates and oxygen for a century. If it wasn’t for plants producing carbohydrates and oxygen, you wouldn’t be here. Don’t you think that tree deserves a hug?


I was lying under the snook tree today, an aging live oak that is absolutely magnificent. How many leaves does it have? I wondered. How many acorns did it drop this year? How many creatures live on it? It’s its own ecosystem, the entire universe for some creatures.

My botany professor believed that a tree could stand there spiritless, simply photosynthesizing, for centuries. Native Americans thought trees had spirits. I don’t know how we could measure something like that. We can’t communicate with dolphins in a meaningful way, and most researchers think they’re pretty darned intelligent. A dolphin has a brain. A tree does not. So trees are a bit more alien to our way of thinking. Still, I’m inclined to agree with the natives.

As a species, humans don’t seem to think much of trees. We use big violent machines to cut them down, knock them down, at our whim. I wish we all had more respect for them.

Wrap your arms around a fat old tree. Put your head against its bark. Spend a few minutes trying to feel its spirit.

The tree probably will not talk to you. On the other hand, if you’re perceptive it just might.

Fishing Report
I’m sure there was some outstanding fishing this week. I didn’t find it.

Wednesday afternoon I put a sleeping bag and fly rod in the Ocean Kayak and paddled off looking for fish. The water temperature was in the 40s, but it was almost windless and the air was warming. I saw one pair of redfish, one catfish. No trout, no rays, and darned few mullet. I didn’t make a cast.

Near sunset I found a lovely spot on which to lie down. I took a sparse supper and celebrated the sunset. Took some photos. Watched it get dark. Heard it get dark. Felt it get dark.

I felt it get dark.

Jupiter showed up first, then Vega. One by one the stars winked on until the heavens were full of them, old friends I just don’t visit with often enough. There’s Aldebaran! The Pleides! Alnitak, Almirak, Mintaka! Sirius and Procyon!

One of the mysteries I’ve never solved about how my brain works is why I can remember the names of those stars but can’t remember the names of people. There it is. If anyone can offer insight I’d love to hear it.

I woke up and Orion was straight up. Castor and Pollux were now visible, and the great bear pointed at Polaris as it always does. There’s a satellite, and another. A meteor! Cool! That must be Mars up there, it doesn’t belong in that spot.

Consider that until a hundred or so years ago watching stars was what people usually did for entertainment after the sun set. Now we have TV, and movies, and computers, and in a lot of places you can hardly see any stars at night. I’m not sure we made a smart trade there.

I woke up again and the moon was barely visible through a veil of clouds. I woke up again and it was getting light. I got up and had a spare breakfast. Took some photos. Packed my stuff and went looking for fish.


The morning was exquisite, birds everywhere, not a breath of wind. I paddled for miles. Did not see a fish.

When I loaded the kayak on the roof of the chariot the no fish part didn’t bother me at all. I had experienced nightfall and daybreak. Lived it. Loved it.
I have another resolution, to go camping more often in 2011.

The Fly Contest, Addendum
Last week this contest was officially cancelled. However, going back through my emails I found another submission. I would be a cad to not share.

It’s again from Texan Gary Griffin. He says, “The attached slider(s) photo is FYI if you have an application for sliders. I’ve been pretty successful with it.


“The basics are:
-#4 Gamakatsu B10 Stinger (important to use this hook for proper overall weight/buoyancy. See comments below.)
-Rainey’s Pee Wee Pop head (http://www.rainysflies.com/foamheads.php ) reversed. I put a couple coats of Hard As Nails on the finished head for durability.
-Skin on bunny tail should be no longer than 1.5 inches. Minimizes fouling on hook. (Don’t use looped mono to hold bunny tail up to prevent fouling. It screws up the weight and action)
“I think you can figure the rest out. What’s interesting is that the thing is just positively buoyant, so that while being stripped the sloped head produces enough negative/downward lift to cause the fly to ‘dive’ to about 6-8 inches below the surface. At the end of the strip it then slowly rises back to the surface with the bunny tail moving ‘enticingly’ during the ascent. Obviously you can play with the stripping to get the action you want.

“I’ve caught several large (6 – 10 lb.) largemouth on the Chartruese & White here in Texas, and when we were in Vero this past summer, several decent trout in the River down near Wabasso while wade fishing.”

I’d like to again thank Gary for sharing this with us. I sent him a book last week.

If anyone out there would like to share a hot fly (I can only put the redfish worm and bunny booger in so many times) please send a photo and tying instructions. I will still send you a book

Please- Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go camping!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2010. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Flies and Fly Tying, Uncategorized ·
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