Let’s be honest — most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking about terminal tackle. A store-bought fly, a simple leader, and a section of tippet takes care of most of our fishing needs. But there are times when we require something more to get the fish to bite. This is when so many of us fall prey to the allure of complexity. How else do you explain fly boxes stuffed with seldom-used, yet extremely difficult to tie flies, leaders apparently designed on a supercomputer, and knots that can be visualized only by an origami expert with a Ph.D. in topography? Don’t get me wrong, all of these things can sometimes help. But perhaps there are quicker and simpler solutions.
Silicone Enhancements
Ever wonder why the Green Butt Skunk is such a successful pattern? Shine a UV light on one and see how the back end resembles a fresh uranium fuel rod. Hot-spot nymphs, which have been gaining popularity with the Czech nymph sect, glow brightly under UV, too. There are a number of theories that try to explain why fluorescent materials attract fish, some of which may even be correct. Whatever the reason(s), there’s no denying that fluorescent colors can sometimes make our flies much more effective.
Now maybe you have plenty of time on your hands and can tie loads of neonenhanced flies in all manner of sizes and color combinations. For most of us, this simply isn’t realistic. We either buy flies or tie whenever we have the opportunity, which obviously limits our options. Thankfully, the arts-and-crafts world has provided a simple, cheap solution — Pepperell’s Pony Bead Lacing. This hollow silicone cord comes in a wide variety of colors, including vibrant neons. The tubing is super stretchy and at just 2 millimeters wide is perfect for slipping over the front of a nymph or wet fly or the back end of a streamer. If you think your flies might benefit from a boost of color, just snip a piece off the lacing and slip it onto the fly for a neon head or butt. If a particular color doesn’t work, simply remove the tubing and try another color. Sometimes the trick succeeds. Sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, it’s a lot easier and a whole lot cheaper than buying or tying a bazillion flies.
Bye-Bye Loop Knots
Most of the time, flies get knotted onto tippets using a simple Clinch Knot. Easy to tie and relatively secure, the Clinch is the bread-and-butter knot of fly fishing. But sometimes this simple knot isn’t the best setup. If you want a streamer to articulate freely or need your Clouser to drop through the water more quickly, you are better off using one of the loop knots. These aren’t too hard to tie on warm days or with lighter tippets, but once your hands go numb or tippet strength nudges past 15 pounds, things can get a lot more challenging. Hell may never freeze over, but tying a loop knot while fishing for steelhead in the depths of winter can be a special kind of frigid purgatory. And let’s not forget saltwater bite tippets, which often have the resilience of rebar and can require heavy-duty pliers and a gloved hand to ensure they get properly snugged down.
There really is no need for this masochism. Forget about fancy loop knots and use a metal snap link instead. Perhaps you have thought about their value, but are concerned the fish will see the snap and refuse the fly. This is understandable, but usually wrong. Every year, millions of fish are caught on metal lures and plastic plugs that are connected to monofilament with a shiny metal snap. I have caught countless fish using snapped-on flies.
Metal snaps provide two big real world advantages. Perhaps the most significant is knot strength. Unlike loop knots, which need to be retied every time you replace a fly, you rarely need to reattach a snap. Most of my tippets are history long before the snap needs to be reattached. This means you can attach the snap in the comfort of a warm truck or at home, where it is so much easier to form and test the knot. Trying to do that on the banks of a river or while bobbing around in a float tube can be a lot more challenging. The other benefit of snaps is you can change flies quickly and easily. Even in good conditions, it can take me almost a minute to make a properly sized and well-tied loop knot. With a metal snap, the new fly is usually in the water within seconds. Anyone chasing fast-moving fish, such as blitzing stripers or roosterfish, will see the value of the snap. Sometimes, seconds really count.
There are a lot of snap links on the market. While I would never discourage anyone from experimenting, two types seem to meet the needs of most fly fishers. The hook-shaped “no-knot” snaps (Fas Snap and Mustad) are perhaps the simplest design. All you do is push the eye of the fly over the point of the snap. The spring steel flexes just enough to allow the fly slip past the pinch point and into the loop. To remove the fly, simply reverse the process. If you are having trouble getting the fly off, simply slip the hook bend of another fly (such as the one you are about to use) into the snap loop and pull the two flies in opposite directions.
Another option is Mustad and VMC’s Duo-Locks. These are longer than the no-knot design and are better suited to larger flies. I often use these snaps when targeting stripers and largemouth bass with large streamers or chunky, foam-bodied flies.
Mass and Bling
We have all experienced times when our flies just won’t sink fast enough. This problem is usually solved by tying on beadhead or weighted flies or by adding split shot to the leader. There is, however, another way to approach this problem — thread a bead onto the tippet and let it slip down to the fly. This approach gives you the convenience of a beadhead fly without actually needing a beadhead fly. The setup won’t win any prizes for fly aesthetics, but that doesn’t seem to matter too much to the fish. It also helps simplify fly selection, since you don’t need weighted and unweighted versions of the same pattern. If you are worried that the bead won’t stay close to the fly, just hit it with a tiny spot of superglue or hold it in place with a slip knot tied with clear, stretchy silicone cord (available at many craft stores). Most of the time, I find the tippet knot creates a friction fit with the hole in the bead, so no glue or silicone cord is needed.
Another option is to give your fly a heavier butt by sliding a bead onto the hook and securing it with a silicone cord slipknot. Adding mass to the back end of your fly will probably give it a slightly different action, which may or may not induce a strike. If it works, great. If not, just remove the bead. I have plans to try some rear-weighted chironomid emerger patterns this season and am currently playing around with butt-weighted crawdad patterns that have floating claws.
The beads I use are glass, and I purchase them at a local craft store, although they are easy enough to order online. Three dollars will get you a lifetime’s supply. The choice of bead depends on the type and size of fly and how fast you want it to sink. These “seed” beads come in a variety of shapes. Round and oval are my favorites. Size 10/0 beads weigh the same as six turns of .015-inch lead-free wire (yes, I weighed them both), which is a typical amount of weight for size 12 to 16 nymphs. Larger size 6/0 beads work well with size 4 to 8 hooks, which covers things such as stonefly and Hexagenia nymphs.
But weight isn’t the only reason you should consider glass beads. They also add flash and color. As folks who fish Flashback nymphs, Sparkle Caddis Pupae, and Chromie-style chironomids know, a bit of flash can make a huge difference when fish are feeding on ascending nymphs and pupae. A glass bead that is silvered on the inside acts like a miniature lens and mirror, creating an intense spot of light. If you think a bright spot of light is unnatural, I suggest you take a look at some photographs of ascending nymphs and pupae. Ralph Cutter’s Web site has a great piece titled “All That Glitters” (http://www.flyline.com/tips_trivia/all_that_glitters) Read it and take a look at the pictures.
You can buy packs of glass beads that come in an assortment of colors, which opens up some interesting fly/bead combinations. Another option is to stick with plain silvered beads and change the color of the bead with Sharpie markers pens. This gives you the flexibility to experiment with color combinations you simply can’t get with store-bought flies. You’ll never know if a tan-colored Bird’s Nest Nymph is better with a red, blue, chartreuse, black or purple accent unless you try it. What if you want neon colors? No problem. Seed beads come in a variety of UV-active neon colors that will really make your fly pop.
Serious Mass
When I took over this column back in 2016, I made it clear that I may, from time to time, discuss things that may not sit well with everyone. The following is likely to be “one of those things.”
It’s all well and good talking about dainty little seed beads, but what if you want to get a big fly very deep, very fast? There’s a lot of water that fly fishers write off as unfishable because it is simply too deep or too fast to fish. I can’t be the only fly fisher who chafes at the idea of water being unfishable. Like it or not, there are going to be days when the “fly water” is crowded with other anglers. The usual and oft-cited solution is to hike some ridiculous distance in the hope of finding water that isn’t already infested with wader-clad hominids.
As you slog along the river’s edge in search of a spot that isn’t being flogged to death, you will no doubt pass by the chutes and plunge pools so beloved by whitewater kayakers. Do you ever wonder what kind of behemoths are feeding below? Most fly fishers ignore these places, assuming there’s no simple way to get a fly down through the deep, churning waters. Some try a leader loaded with split shot, which can work. I’d like to suggest an alternative.
If you want to fish really deep, turbulent waters, try conventional bass anglers’ worm weights. A 1/8-ounce worm weight has the same mass as 7 BB or 3 SSG split shot. Not surprisingly, a worm weight snugged up against a crawdad or sculpin pattern will get the fly down fast and keep it down. If this makes you uncomfortable, but you are intrigued, just think of it as Czech nymphing on steroids.
Trout and rivers aren’t the only reason to try worm weights. A number of steelhead fly fishers use them when conditions make conventional fly-fishing techniques futile. I often use them when targeting largemouth bass in the late summer and early fall. At that time of year, lakes usually have a thermocline, which acts like a ceiling for bass and baitfish.
The worm weight quickly gets the fly below the thermocline and keeps it tight to deep-water cover, where the larger bass hang out.
Worm weights can also be very useful for saltwater fly fishers who fish the state’s offshore reefs. Like it or not, there are going to be days when the fish simply won’t stray far from the bottom or when strong currents make getting the fly down to the fish almost impossible. Even heavy tungsten lines cast uptide and allowed to swing down with the current are often not enough to drag the fly down to the fish. Faced with such conditions, most folks break out conventional gear or give up and motor back to the harbor. That’s unfortunate, because often all you need to do is slip a 1/4-ounce weight over the bite tippet and you’ll soon be scraping the top of those reefs. The combination of a tungsten shooting head and 1/4-ounce worm weight has absolutely no trouble dragging a big fly down through 30 feet of water. I have even locked onto the earth’s crust in 60 feet of water. If you want a very real chance of hooking impressively large lingcod or rockfish, a worm-weighted fly and tungsten shooting head combo is hard to beat.
A word of caution. Don’t even think about casting these worm-weighted beasties overhead. A roll cast will get the fly out without causing traumatic brain injury or shattered graphite. Some may question whether this is fly fishing, but I can assure you that really big fish don’t care. A double-digit bass, brown trout, or rockfish that is trying to drag you into the water will quickly render such philosophical concerns moot. We all have days when the fishing is tough or we can’t get access to the prime spots. Before you decide things are impossible and head back to the car, give some thought to simple fixes. They may just save the day. To paraphrase a popular surfer saying, “Go simple or go home.”
