esox niger

Onther favorite fly that I fish in the meramec as well looks like this....tied in brown or white usually very simple dubbed bugger with no hackle...first one standard on the slim side, next one fat with side fins...and a few more that have produced cats and hybrids

Id bet money theres plenty of bait fish...and I doubt they key the crawdads (i said crawdad) I just think they are top predators and when they hear or see anything under 5 inches long its on. The dad...between the bead eyes (have you ever heard them whistle when you cast? probably do the same under the water) the weed guard and the claws....probably would throw out some nice vibrations for any predator to key in on. (NO self respecting fish turns down a crawdad IMO) They are all comin from the Missouri River....I don't catch them hand over fist but every so often I will catch 2 or three nice ones in a given spot . They may even be coming from the Mississippi but id guess they come from the Missouri in that creek.

Oh man....hybrids!!!!!! dude I been gettin em (last year and the year before) at like 20-22-24 inches usually off one particular rock pile with water between 5-11 ft deep depending on river conditions (and at other random spots but rocky banks are best, my best spot has a water overflow discharge pump which blasts water into the creek every so often)....which backs up the creek causing height variations. IMO they hear the fly hit the water and track it from there ....hits usually at 2-4 ft deep...its not critical to go deep with them in my experience a bead chain eye is all I need..... this is one of my favorite big Hybrid and Freshwater drum flies....the legs are new...never fished with the legs before.(im lying yes i have)...just spicing things up. the fly i've been using for a couple of years has a weed guard like the second image. and i don't fish it fast just a slow bump bump settle bump bump...kinda like a craw(though it never hurts to try all speed...even blazing fast but med slow tends to work). this rabbit strip fly could be a craw, tallywag, baitfish or leech. the 3rd one is the one I've been using for a couple of years....and then the fish...these things are awesome beasts!!!!...i didn't even know about them till a few years back. that one laying across my vest almost looks like a stripper as its bars don't seem to be broken (im probably wrong) So your question....i do get them on baby craws and then i switch over to something more substantial if only minorly more substantial...and not typically on bottom...I have no doubt they would slam this "Major DAD" fly if present...typically any fly will do when the hybrids are pressent.(in my neck of the woods) Im pretty sure your conditions are slightly different than mine.

yes and no....to really crawl bottom in 8ft of water yes lead, or current ..otherwise this is good for 3-4 ft deep which is as deep as I would plan to go with this guy...it all depends on your needs...for what I would use this for ...hybrids and cats off rock piles you don't really need to be all that deep and sight fishing im usually not going very deep. but you guys are sorta right, to have a well rounded arsenal you would want some lead. For most of my fishing this gets the job done....best choice for me under most conditions

Weight Is seldom an issue. I find the sink rate to be close to 1 ft per second...I think it provides a natural sink, if I need to go deep I can put on a sink tip; and or add a split shot. or i tie up lead eye flies, but I don't often fish too deep. and when I do I usually go pretty slow so the bead chain works just fine usually.

Some guys at the St. Louis Feather Craft are organizing a Carp trip to the great lakes in early June...I've seen some of the flies those guys tout and they are pretty large in deed. This fly's been on my brain for a while now and I just spit him out finaly. Probably not a bad fly for some of you guys going for larger bass. I know this will produce on a number of species like hybrid bass, drum and catfish....more that likely great lakes carp (I hope) Might also be a good frog pattern as well. Hook: Dai-Riki #930 size 4 Thread: 210 Eyes: XL bead chain Claws: Squirrel Tail (fox color) Under Body: red/orange/light green dub Over Body: Crayfish Orange Magnum Rabbit strip Guard: 16 lb Mason Hard Mono

Yes thats my dubbing .... (I think I have good deals with packed sanwich bags full for about 10.00)

I put weed guards on a lot of my good flies. This is how I do it, you may find this helpful. If anyone else wants to explain their favorite style guards please do. I've tryed most and this is what works for me. I hardly ever lose a fly or a fish with this style and its quick and easy.

I've seen some talk lately of blue carp flies being productive on certain waters....if not all blue go 1/2 blue 1/2 normal color or go normal color with blue uv ice dub...etc etc. I'd bet it will work, if its the right size...thats at least half the battle.

One thing leads to another.... (does anyone else squint at flies to get a more imprssionistic view of them?, Im always squinting at flies) the little mini thumbnail images in the edit mode actually look almost perfect for a small craw....Ok everyone squint and back up 20ft

I've had this one on the brain for a couple of days. Just got some bucktail for dubbing and wanted to put it to the test. The body/case extends via 16# mono. Did a dubbing loop with about 1 inch free of dubbing to start my way back down the mono then wraped forward to the eyes. Ostrich hearl for the head and thats it..I guess most caddis are simple, this one is.

The pontoons are for stability and they just so happen to be a good place to put the motor. I also cut a piece of plywood to go in the cuped out sit spot which gives me a small platform to comfortably stand on. The battern is a Bass Pro Power Series, AGM Deepcycle 140 part #XPSA24 , motor: Minn Kota endura 30lb thrust i think,,the cheap one I used to place the battery at the front of the rear storage spot in a case and use it as a seat, but with the wind it gets might tough to keep the yak from spinning with all the weight in one spot, so i've rewired with some 12$ walmart humper cables and put the batter in the front storage opening, battery effectively rest on the hull of the yak. I don't know how deep or swift it gets below the powersite dam but I'd think if you can get a little crayfish, I mean CRAWDAD, or even a little flesh fly in white through brown, (anything really) on bottom and drifit it down youd probably get takes, drifting on bottom in deep water is easier said than done usually. its a tough one. I just do the warm creeks that feed into the Missouri for the most part, almost entirely sight fishing. I definitely wish you guys the best of luck I still think that the hardest part is finding a spot where the fish feed, you can see them, and you can get casts at them...once you've found that combination...its higly likely they will be there time and time again throughout the year. You wouldn't believe the time I put in up front to actually start catching these fish...it was substantial. The yak helped a great deal giving me access, ability to cover lots of water, and stealth. And as a final thought, I could be wrong here for sure...personaly I would try and find places where i can see the fish feeding either directly or indirectly...better to be directly because knowing exactly where the fishes head is makes all the difference in the world, unless its a giant pod. If I was you, I'd still try and find warmer feeder creeks and backwaters that are a bit smaller and shallower even wadeable, but its really hard for me to give that advice not knowing the area at all.

Thats funny cus as I was just hitting this page again, I was thinking to myself...the black ops doesn't have any frills (its pretty darn plain) They don't need to be tailing, though an actively feeding fish is usually best, sometimes I catch ones that are just slowly moving mid column or haning by a particular brush pile, sometimes they ignore me too. I haven't ecountered pods of moving Carp, per say, too often. Actively feeding fish or fish on the war path are the ones to hit. I just googled Rockaway Beach, looks like there should be some real nice spots where you live, what river is that? some of those oxbows,creeks, backwaters look prime, don't know if you kayak fish any, or if you can get a boat in there with a trolling motor, but looks like theres some prime water in the area. Oh, your on Taneycomo...shoot son, Sounds cold! hmm Bull Creek looks pretty good and any of those backwaters if they get to warm up. A very different fishery than what im used to....

I like it! Looks like it should work. Im thinking double the tail a little marabou plume...probably just a character flaw on my part .

If # 3 is orange yes....brown orange should be just fine...straight up orange, havent tried. I have a bad habbit of sticking to what works #3 deffinitely works for me. A simple black fly (Black Ops) also works pretty darn well too, when carp are in the area and even when they aren't I'm likely to have this fly on(it takes every species in "my creek" 8species in one day)...I'll tie a couple up in straight pumpkin orange for this season and see what happens. I was just thinking...maybe use a marker to mottle the orange a bit...should be just fine. leave the claw tips orange though. They will really flash when you strip the fly, looks good that way. you've prabably seen the "Black Ops" before but here it is anyway Black Ops Looks kinda like a dud but shoot darn thing works. I'd post the image right here but can't find one on my computer I have heard that orange or red caddis pupa's are good for the rough fish, havent tried yet. Too many flies to test and its hard to test things when I already know whats good to throw. I've got good reason to start test some more things this year though.

yes, I use dubbing loop for everything accept the little ball i tie in at the back to help split the claws and Thanks for the feedback everyone. Everywhere I look it MFU this MFU that...Big up Unit! Wrench, I'll have to work on my vocab...I also say Mizzureee vs Mizzuruhh, its just another case of "you say tomato I say tamato" Crawdad Crawdad Crawdad ...Crawdad... it'l take some practice

Apparently I have a little thing for crayfish.

Mic, I've had fairly huge success with a size 6 prince, typically no hackle, no beads, just biots, on the smallest of streams. The fish just don't care...at least not the fish over 10 inches. And the prince is my favorite, I don't even have any under size 6. Well I lied, looks like i do hackle some of my flies, with just plain old saddle hackle.

That things beastly you might want to practice with a couple more. all in good fun. Now you've got two things to work on...your tying and your photography. but well done for a firtst try.

Brian, if that was your video I saw, or you are the originator of this method then you deserve alot of credit for the construction of this device. I'd pm'ed Stu Thompson at warmfly and he mentioned something about air, I searche around and found a vid(i think there are a few out there), wasn't happy with aparant force or size...made two bags that blew out then hit the right combo. To each his own, "mine" is not necessarily better than anyone elese's method. I was just pleased with myself and stoked on the results.

will do!

a big air compressor with a 10$ trigger air gun with long thin output stem from HomeDepot I think. looks little bit like a gun...like this one here

Well Im pleased with myself now! Someone mentioned to me using compressed air to blend dubbing and there was a video but they were using a little can of compressed air in a bag to mix fur.... it was a little to "small and weak" for my liking. So after several bag blow outs using an air compressor, I rigged up this giant crouton container and BOOM!!! Big time batches of dubbing in minuets. Now if this works on plastic canvas yarn I'm set. that test tomorrow. so what i did was cut a grid into the container to support the filter then slathered the inside with silicone and then worked a patch of old underware over the grid and made sure all the edges were siliconed down. Then poked an air tight hole in the lid for the nozzle of my air gun. some heat from a blow dryer and couple hours later.... Dubbing by the cubic foot! This was 1/2 inch sections of Red Heart yarn...2 min under the gun and nearly perfect separation. The Blender Blender with Fresh Product Some Perspective

Sound like a combination of things. going from chuck and duck to a bulky air resistant fly might take a second. Try hauling your line and "over do" the line speed. Really snap it out like your trying to knock a can off a rock or something! and combine that with what was said earlier about pulling back on the line as the cast settles to the water. when that fails consider the line to leader connection, is the line cracked right at the end? also consider the taper of the leader and finally tippet size and length. 7.5 ft 5x should be pretty easy...Im not a trout guy so i just rig up my own leaders. if I was you I mignt go 15lb to 10lb to final or something. the longer the thick section the easier to cast. its probably just a softer leader with a different tapper, and casting experience...

I've heard the argument that barbed hooks do less damage because they are more likely to stay in place, vs slip around and cut the fish up. Personaly, I can't fish barbed because of bad experiences tearing fishes faces apart ....barbless never loses fish for me, I can barely remember the last time i lost a fish mid fight. its so darn nice to just slip that hook out and releases!!! particularly when the fish is 3 ft long and threatening to break my rod while landing im in my yak. Or a wild trout, or a bluegill....I smash barbs in my vise...old thompson..usually just enough of a bump left to hold pretty well anyway.