I know. Enough with your the stupid flies. Too bad. 'It's my party and I'll post what I want to". Soon it won't be about tying but about fishing. First thing, I'm not doing anything that hasn't been done before or anything tat someone hasn't done before. I'm tying a fly, using materials and techniques discovered, designed, and put into practice by those before and better than me. That's the disclaimer.
But now I will introduce the "Beauty Shop Bunker Fly". What that name? Becaue 90% of this fly is tied using that hair braid/extension material I found at that beauty shop in Trenton. I love this stuff. Why? Because it's cheap. Is a little challenging to work with. And most important, it can be trimmed up nicely with a pair of scissors. And why is that important, because not every tie comes out tapered or as equal as we would want. But this material is good. Woman who use this to make wigs and hair
extensions don't want t mop on their head when they go out to the club and it's raining outside. It sheds water. Now, you have to pause a bit before you cast, but they are castable. On these are for my 12 wt, maybe even my 11wt, and the faster rod. These are big flies, made for big fish to eat. There's enough
up front to push a lot of water. The above fly, 80% of the beauty hair, has some SF and Squimpish in there for some color and contrast. But for the early or night time outings the top fly, or the "BSBF", might a go-to for me. I think all I need is 10 inch flies. I could have let those hackles hang out the back a bit. I took the above fly for a field test, below, and after seeing it confirms why I take pics with the ruler
next to the fly. You can tie beautiful flies but unless they work in the water they are better off displayed than fisjhed. Above is nearly 9 inches, but looks closer to 5 inches in my hand. I've been taking these flies for a dip, to see how them swim, how the material reacts to water, and how the keel on the hooks
is. The "BSBF" on the top is tied on a 5/0 Ahrex Clouser hook. My buddy Andrew suggested I move away from the Musatd's and to the Ahrex Bluewater's, as it's a stronger hook, has a wider gap, and keels dead on. Advice well taken.
I've been opening my Squimpish swag from TFFS as I go and it continues to serve me well. For the average tyer this stuff really can get you into the big fly game. You can tie long, and if you tie in a mono-extension, or reverse ties, you can add bulk and some diameter to your flies. And then there's the
Squimpish brushes which are a hoot to tie with. Above are two I did, the yellow a little thicker than the bottom fly. Starts out sloppy, looks like a wreck 3/4th's of the way through, but then picked and combed out to be pretty. And those eyes just do it for me, 10 and 12mm tab eyes.
I was out for a scout yesterday in Monmouth County and swore I saw bunker on the low tide. But it could have just been the way the breeze hit the dead-low water. But it got me going. And then back home I ventured out today in the 40 degree weather to scout. Tonight's the "Snow Moon", full and bright, and it's a great time to scout and reaquaint yourself with your home waters. After the cold spell we had river temps dipped down just above 32 degrees, down from 40, but the warm-up will begin
tomorrow, with air temps forecasted to hit 60 on Thursday. While I was out I took 100 pictures so I could map things out. When I got home I couldn't wait to see what I had. Zip. Bang. Boom. The time I pulled this move was in 2018 when Joe and I had 40's and 50's blowing up on mackeral at Romer Shoal. Luckily that day I took a bunch with the iPhone or else there wouldn't be any proof from that day.
