A Couple of Flies for Summer Fishing

(The following article, by Pete Cook, was originally printed in the July 2004 issue of Streamlines)

Crystal Bugger

By Pete Cook

 

Summertime fishing in Maryland often means bass fishing and fishing the Bay especially when September rolls around. This month we feature two flies that Joe Bruce of Fisherman’s Edge has written about in his books. Joe introduced me to his Crystal Bugger a number of years ago for both smallmouth and striper fishing. I got a hint for you; it also works on largemouth as well especially in larger sizes and as other fish are so inclined. The fly shown above is a yellow body with yellow marabou tail. You can make it in any combination you want, however, chartreuse/chartreuse; chartreuse/ yellow; yellow/yellow, and pearl/white body and tail combinations work well for both bass and stripers. Experiment with other color combinations of your preference for example black/black, peacock/olive, and chartreuse/white. The original patterns were tied with crystal or flash chenille body and marabou tails. Recently, I used a crystal bugger with an Artic Fox tail and had a 2 ½ – 3 lb. largemouth make a meal of it.

Tying instructions are adapted from Joe Bruce’s Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass.

Materials:

• Hooks: Mustad #9672 or equal 3XL hook size 6-10 for smallmouth, 1/0 to 6 for largemouth, Mustad #34007 size 4 to 3/0 for salt water.
• Thread: 3/0 or flat waxed nylon, color to suit
• Lead eyes: #6-8 – 1/50 oz, #10- 1/100 oz. As a general guide use 1/36 oz. for sizes 2-4, and 1/24 oz. for 1/0 -3/0.
• Tail: marabou or Artic Fox color of choice. Tinsel(Optional) Krystal flash or holographic flash to match the tail.
• Body: Flash Chenille of color of choice.

Tying Instructions

1. Place hook in the vise and attach thread behind the hook eye and wrap to bend of hook.
2. Tie in marabou or Artic Fox. Tie in tinsel on each side of hook and let it extend no more than a ½ inch beyond the tail. Tail material should be at least the length of the hook.
3. Tie in the flash chenille and advance thread to about 3/16 inch behind the eye.
4. Tie in the lead eye by wrapping a figure eight pattern over the dumbbell eye and hook shank followed by wrapping the thread under the eyes several times. This will secure the dumbbell eye. Add a drop of cement to the wrapping to give further security to eyes.
5. Wrap the flash chenille forward advancing to behind the dumbbell eye. Then figure wrap the chenille figure eight style around the lead eye and wrap forward to behind the hook eye.
6. Tie off the chenille and form a head. Whip finis and apply head cement.

Cactus Striper

By Pete Cook

 

This is a Lefty Kreh pattern originally designed for saltwater and could be used for bass as well. One uses crystal chenille for the body. An early brand of crystal chenille was referred to as ‘cactus’ chenille thus the ‘cactus’ in the fly’s name.

You can make it any combination you want however, pearl/white; chartreuse/ yellow; yellow/yellow, chartreuse/white; and chartreuse/chartreuse body and tail combinations work well. The saltwater version is tied from 4-9 inches in length. You may want to down size it for bass a little bit. Tying instructions are adapted from Joe Bruce’s Fly Fishing for Striped Bass.

Materials

• Hook: Mustad #34011, Size #1/0 – 4/0.
• Thread: Flat waxed nylon to color of fly. Joe Bruce prefers fire orange thread for all color combinations.
• Tail: 4-6 long saddle hackles.
• Tinsel: Several strands of holographic flash on each side of the body, e.g., silver, blue flash.
• Body: Flash or cactus chenille.

Tying Instructions

1. Place hook in the vise and attach thread behind the hook eye and wrap to about 3/8 inch behind the eye.
2. Tie in the lead eye by wrapping a figure eight pattern over the dumbbell eye and hook shank followed by wrapping the thread under the eyes several times. This will secure the dumbbell eye. Add a drop of cement to the wrapping to give further security to eyes.
3. Wrap the thread to the hook bend and prepare the saddle hackles by stripping off the fluff. Attach 2 or 3 hackles per side. The length is up to you. Tie in holographic tinsel at the same point, down each side to extend about a ½ inch beyond the end of the hackles.
4. Wrap the thread to behind the lead eyes and tie in the flash chenille. Then advance the thread to a short distance behind the hook eye.
5. Wind the chenille toward the bend, return to the lead eyes and wind around the lead eyes in figure eight fashion. Make two to three figure eight wraps and then advance one or two wraps. Tie off and clip the chenille and make a head with the thread.