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Thousands of warmwater neophytes have lots of expensive trash in their fly boxes. Elaborately tied crawfish, minnows, frogs, even imitation mice that may please the human eye, but are just so much flotsam to the fish.
So what's the problem, why do so many otherwise intelligent folks have such stupid flies? We can blame it on trout. The trout orientation of so many fly fishing writers and tiers lead them to apply trout fly principles to their non-trout patterns. Trying to match the hatch crawfish (or minnow) with religious zeal, too many people give little thought to what actually appeals to the fish. Seemingly not understanding that piscavore species such as bass are very different than trout, lots of folks are still trying to apply trout theology to warmwater tying.
COLOR POSSIBILITIES
Warmwater color choices is another area that departs markedly from trout theology. While many trout flies attempt to duplicate the subtle hues of the "naturals," a tackle shop tour will show you where warmwater lure color is at. Many of the most effective lures sport exceptionally bright finishes, often in totally unnatural shades. The reason a gaudy color such as yellow or chartreuse is so good is simply because the fish can see them better than natural hues. Not only does a fish often have to find your fly in a low visibility environment, your offering also has to compete with an abundance of real food. A fly color that "stands out from the crowd" often receives more attention (and more strikes) than a more drab creation.
Though black bass, pike, white bass and other species are regarded as sight feeders, they also make good use of their hearing to detect prey. This is especially obvious when you make a popper "pop" and fish suddenly become very interested. In many cases, fish that wouldn't give a quietly drifting surface fly a second glance, come from significant distances to investigate the unusual noise created by a popper or hair bug. And this is why so many frog and mouse patterns are so awful. By attempting to imitate the exact shape of the creature, tiers create a fly that is not only unnaturally stiff, but is also incapable of popping, chugging, glugging or making any other sound that fascinates fish. Forget the "match the frog" concept. Use surface flies that have lots of tail (or leg) action and make distinctive sounds.
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THE RIGHT FLY WEIGHT
Even more important than a subsurface fly's size or color is its weight. With a floating line, fly weight will determine how close to the bottom you can fish, how fast the fly will sink, even how much you'll snag up. Water depth, current speed and buoyancy of the fly's material should also be taken into consideration when deciding on the weight to use. But despite the critical importance of fly weight (especially for river fishing), few give it the attention it warrants. Do you know how much your woolly bugger weighs, or how heavy the barbell eyes on your Clouser Minnow are?
Though manufacturers don't always clearly label them it's critical to know how much your flies weigh and their sink rates. You should also realize that it's not just the total weight of the fly, how it sinks is important, too. Not only will a weight-in-the-body fly sink horizontally, it will sink slower than one tied "weight forward" (weight in its head).
Fortunately, with weight forward flies (especially those with metal eyes) it's easy to produce the same pattern in several different weights. While river fishing, I commonly use several different weight flies during the same day. Light 1/50th ounce eyes are best for shallow slow current areas, 1/40th or 1/36th ounce flies are good for moderate depths and current speed, while extra heavy 1/24th ounce eyes are needed to reach bottom in deep water and strong currents.
WARMWATER FLIES-- THE ACTION FACTION
Unquestionably, the motion or action of a fly is its most critical attribute. No mater its size, color or weight, if a fly doesn't produce an attractive motion, you're out of luck. Most of the best patterns are those that generate lots of tail undulation, or have a pronounced side to side wobble or produce an up and down hopping motion. And when you combine plenty of undulation with side to side action or up and down motion you have a terrific fly. Of course, to produce these characteristics you need to include the right materials in the fly, add the proper weight to it and use the right retrieve.
The three most common materials that create hot tail action are marabou, rabbit strips and long bucktail hairs. Even with slow retrieves, all of these materials produce good to excellent undulation, with most effective patterns including one of these materials in its tail.
PUTTING THEM ALL TOGETHER
To best understand how important the correct fly weight is and how a good retrieve is necessary to produce attractive motion, let's look at a specific pattern. An old favorite of mine is the rabbit strip leech. So simple and plain some guys seem embarrassed to use it, the bunny leech is nothing more than a palmered strip of rabbit fur with plenty of tail. Though rabbit strips produce great action, the real secret to the bunny's success is its barbell eyes and hopping retrieve. Since it's tied "weight forward" the fly dives head first to the bottom, and with a slight snap of the rod (followed by a distinct pause) the rabbit strip leech hops up and down along the bottom. It stays in the zone where fish reside and it produces the motion fish can't resist.
Does this column cover everything there is to know about warmwater flies? Of course not, but this should give you a solid foundation to build on. And hopefully, I'll see fewer of those stiff crawfish and mouse imitations around.
Tim Holschlag is Midwest Fly Fishing magazine's warmwater fly fishing editor.
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