While foam may not be the ideal material to tie a delicate mayfly or caddisfly, it does a fine job on many terrestrial patterns, particularly beetles. There are somewhere around 400,000 species of beetles crawling around on this planet. In addition, beetles constitute almost 40% of known insect life and 25% of all animal life! So chances are pretty good that a few are going to end up in the water and ultimately in a belly of a fish.
Read moreFly Tying Friday - The Brood X Cicada
If you are a fly fisher, the Brood X Cicada should have crossed your radar by now. The Brood X bug is one of the largest and most widely distributed groups of periodical cicadas. They are scheduled to emerge this spring after spending 17 years underground.
Read moreFly Tying Friday - Jack Harford's House Fly
Jack Harford’s House Fly is a versatile topwater pattern for panfish and bass!
I have dozens of favorite foam patterns that I tie and fish regularly. One versatile design that rises near the top of that list is Jack Harford’s House Fly. The House Fly is an easy-to-tie pattern that you can modify to imitate a wide range of topwater offerings.
Read moreFly Tying Friday - Create Perfect Poppers For Panfish!
Waspi Perfect Popper Kits allow you to easily make great looking poppers!
This morning I tied up a mess of tiny poppers for panfish in anticipation of warmer weather to come. These little poppers are perfect early season offerings when the fish start looking up. I create popper bodies out of a variety of materials, including foam, cork, balsa wood, and hard plastic. All of the materials mentioned are great options for making panfish bugs, but for the tiny poppers, I like hard-bodied foam.
Read moreFly Tying Friday - The Shimmy Cricket
The Shimmy Cricket will dive when retrieved and pop back up to the surface with a shimmy!
The fly pattern for this week’s fly fishing post was submitted by Martin Burch a member of the Panfish On The Fly Facebook Group. The fly is called the Shimmy Cricket. The Shimmy Cricket is a topwater foam bug that is easy to tie and has great action on the water. When tied correctly, the fly will dive under the surface when stripped, with a tight wiggling action.
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