That opening line of course taken from the movie JAWS. If the above gizzard shad, which went about 14 inches, is what bigger fish are eating then I'll need to add a lot more material to my ties.
With the weather up and some of my regular "why change it" flies getting beat to shit it was time to sit down and wrap some hooks. I started with some darker colored flies for low light before going
through my fly wallets and seeing what I needed. One of my go-to's, which I was going to catch a fish on even if there were two strands of Squimpish on the hook, had an Ahrex Bluewater 6/0 hook break.
Now, those hooks are big and strong, but no matter how strong they can only take getting bounced and beaten up on the rocks for so long before the right, or wrong cast, just hits the weak spot. Better to do it on a cast and not a fish.
I came up with something that works for me. I bought these mini clothes pins in the dollar store and use them when I have material going every which way and I need to tame it before building the dam in
front of it. Works for me, maybe it'll work for you. I cut off some of the still usable material off the broken hook fly and used it on a new fly. Saddle hackles ain't cheap and the Squimpish is pretty much
indestructible. I re-used the mono/ tungsten beads I use for both weight and some noise. It's just a short tie in and it seems to keel larger flies well. I usually keel them in the bend of the hook as needed. This
fly was a quick tie on a new Ahrex Bluewater 6/0 that will get pretty beat up and quick. I was able to fish a bunch this weekend looking for bank feeders as the water dropped and cleared up. I moved a
few fish and am looking forward to catching a few soon. All of the waters; Raritan Bay, Navesink, Hackensack and the Delaware are off color and just need of a few days of warmth, and no North wind, to get things going. Tomorrow is the new moon and the Lunar Eclipse and in two weeks the full Pink Moon. That's when the gettin' could be gettin' good.