something a little offbeat today

time to play with smaller predators

OK so while i was out last week with Kevin from orvis in Edinburgh i could help but notice the amount of fairly lively perch that were having a go at the big pike flies , so i decide to have a go at some smaller flies to target these perch and as i was on toddler watch today i had to bring bits and pieces through from my main tying area so i could do flies and also watch the toddler

all i need

so portable vice and some other bits and I'm ready , now the great thing about this is i can tie a few of the same pattern without being distracted by other bit of materials lying around my bench

perch flies

perch are a strange old fish for me (well in this country) i only ever seem to catch big ones I'm talking 3.5 lb as my biggest but this is more by luck than anything as I'm usually fishing sparkly pike flies and catch them completely by mistake so its going to be nice to target them as a species and not an accidental by catch of pike fly fishing

so whats the deal then

movement and sparkle that's whats the deal perch love movement and sparkle simple how do i know this well I've had enough of the bloody things follow flies in before to know what I'm doing well that's the theory anyway so i set about making what i hope will be the ultimate perch fly

so whats it all bout then

OK so what I've done is used my favorite streamer hook a tiemco 300 in a size 2 , i picked these up in the states awesome hook , anyway I've weighted the hook with some wraps of lead wire added a marabou and rubber legged tail this will give the fly movement the orange marabou will give it not only movement but they seem to really like red or orange flashes of colour added to that a head made from a sparkly orvis chenille and i think i have a winning pattern

so there you go hopefully a great catching fly and i have a sneaking suspicion that these may also do rather well on a little old smallmouth lake i know in Vermont so ill be having a box full by may next year ho hum

a box full of cat puke

the rubber legged version of course , ill just keep filling the box till i need another one as the boys in Vermont will no doubt clear me of a few ....... so I'm hoping to get out this week and test some patterns but its been a bit crazy weather wise we have had short sunny spells followed by high winds and monsoon rains , it supposed to settle down later in the week so fingers crossed

i spoke to ken at pikeadventures earlier today and him and Brian were planing a river float today something that we had planned but never got round to when i was there so I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do today on my favorite smallie river am i jealous to right i am have fun boys

mcfluffchucker

(missing VT and the grill)