Undulation!!!!

Re: Undulation!!!!

feeds@kickapps.com (agedsage) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:36:16 PST

John:

It is my pleasure to pass on what little I know. With respect to still being a boy, I am 72, going on six and my fishing buddy is 85 and going on seven! And yes, we are both eccentric about some of our toys. We both fish from water wagons, his homemade and mine store bought (caught a going-out-of-business sale), and we can access every corner and the entire shoreline of the private water we fish. Thank goodness it's private, or someone would have the guys in white with their butterfly nets after us if they ever heard some of the banter between us.

Frank

Re: Undulation!!!!

feeds@kickapps.com (gillbuster) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:20:19 PST

Frank,
I like the way you think!!! no nonsense fly fishing is what we are about... except many of us (me included) are still young boys at heart when it comes to fishing and get a little eccentric about our fishing tackle and fly toys... That's what I like about this sport keeps, you young at heart...you never stop learning and never stop trying to out fish ourselves with new tactics and theories...thanks for the info
John

Re: Undulation!!!!

feeds@kickapps.com (agedsage) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:55:05 PST

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, and I do plan to stick around as I find this to be a great no-nonsense site.

John, my first rod is an old Shakespeare 7ft 9in., yellow, Art Howald Process hollow fiberglass rod for a 9 wt line, or, as originally labeled, GAAF. It was complimented by a South Bend Oren-o-Matic reel. You were on the south east fringe of some of the best flyrod water in the state when you were in San Antonio. Kerrville puts you in the heart of it. I have looked at the Goldie fly and find it appealing. I tie a gold Rattle Rouser that works quite well. Had a great day with it in south Florida four years ago on peacock bass.

Flytackle, I have played with blue in some of my wet flies with good results and have convinced myself that it should be used more in my flies; but, simply have not done it. Thanks for your input as it is the kick-in-the-seat that I need to use it more. My fellow east Texans and neighboring cajuns did not have chartreuse available...

Re: Undulation!!!!

feeds@kickapps.com (Flytackle) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:13:07 PST

Welcome to The Bass Pond, Frank.
As for colors, I would urge you all to try blue. Last year I had great success fishing blue flies (wet) both shallow and deep. I am a believer. The blue fly in my avatar is the "Hipo" from the Weber "Henshall Golden Spinner" series. Both it and my own "Wyanoke" which is primarily blue, were irresistable to the largemouth that I put it in front of. Try blue!! Alec

Re: Undulation!!!!

feeds@kickapps.com (gillbuster) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:49:28 PST

Welcome Frank to the Bass Pond!

Great first posting and I love your reply and analysis of Holschlag's article. Your professional and fishing background hold quit a bit of weight.

I agree most deer hair bugs make quit a bit of top water commotion, unless it is one of my tied bugs which is usually not as tightly packed. I have found for bass, Black is the best color here in New England. When I fish in Mississippi (Tenn-Tom waterway) Black and Chartreuse is the "go to" colors. Surprisingly Gold is also a hot color here. Search "Goldie Fly" on our website and you will see some nice small-mouth and large mouth bass with this famous fly in their mouth, it also is a hot color in Mississippi.

Today's modern fly tying material that is on the market are too much to mention... Every month there seems to be a new type of synthetic or like wise material available, all has it place and use... Thanks again for you posting and please...

Re: Undulation!!!!

feeds@kickapps.com (agedsage) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:08:54 PST

Holschlag makes some good points, but I take exception to a couple and might even want to add some qualifiers to others.

Unless he is talking about a deer-hair mouse tied by Mike George, I have never seen a deer-hair mouse that was "stiff" and that could not be made to create a surface disturbance. Even th deer-hair mouse works-of-art that Chris Helm turns out can be made to do this. Mike can pack deer hair so tightly that it can be sanded for final trimming. At $75.00 a pop for his deer hair flies, I seriously doubt anyone would be throwing them to begin with! Their whiskers, as Chris puts on them, should undulate as they are being retrieved. The crayfish in my part of the world are pretty stiff and rigid and generally move around on the waterbody bottom rather slowly, using their thoracic legs for movement. The bass down here (Texas) find them to be quite tasty, even though their only body parts that undulate, as the term is used in the article, are their...

Re: Undulation!!!!

feeds@kickapps.com (BigJim) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:52:56 PST

Good article! I call the problem he referred to, "trout mentality" and agree with him 100%. I don't necessarily agree about drab colors, as I've caught many bass on drab colors. There's a time & place for both bright & drab. I've also found that the simplest flies, those with the characteristics he described have worked the best for me too. But, I still tie some that are more elaborate than they need to be to catch fish. I guess it's the artistic part of fly tying that compels me to do so.

I don't get concerned about how much my flies weight, but am very aware of sink rates.

I like his choice of materials, and use all 3 often, but will add that there are others that I use that work just as well, and still have that undulation characteristic. Fox fur & tail comes to mind.

After thinking about it, he's right, as my two favorite, and most successful types of subsurface flies are the rabbit strip types &...

Undulation!!!!

feeds@kickapps.com (gillbuster) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:28:03 PST

Here is an article to add to your winter reading. This is a well written piece on "What Makes a Great Bass Fly?" by Tim Holschlag, from Midwest Fly Fishing Magazine. Tom , a veteran fisherman, discusses his opinion on several factors that cause Bass to look, take a predatory interest and strike at Bass flies. It is well thought out paper and I came away looking at making and buying my flies a little differently after reading this article. "Undulation" is the vital key; my flies will have more of that characteristics from now on…Your thoughts...

http://www.mwfly.com/pages/archivea12.html