Every once in a while we all do something foolish. Last week I replied to Olli's posting on his blog about tying with hair. I agreed to tie Olli a Dahlberg diver and a Humpy in exchange for a full service guided 2 week fishing trip if I ever decide to come to Finland. I've had worse deals in my life...
The Dalhberg diver shown here has the following ingredients:Hook: Tiemco 8089 bassbug hook
Thread: Chartreuse Danville Flymaster Plus
Weed guard: 20 lbs mono
Tail guard: 20 lbs mono
Tail: striped rabbit strip (wide cut) & Krystalflash
Skirt: Hackled Chartreuse hen hackle
Collar: deer hair
Head: spun deer hair (chartreuse and olive)
The Humpy and the Diver are ready for shipment!
11 comments:
Wow!
Did I say two weeks?.. Oh well, if you are the one who tells it to my wife.
I'm sure the cuteness of the Dahlberg Diver will take care of it! :)
What if Dahlberg Diver eats that Humpy?
Looking very good Jay. Thank you! I'll send you my (hotel) address by e-mail: opaxff@gmail.com
You're welcome Olli!
If you ever come to the eastern U.S., I know of a Shenandoah River Smallmouth Bass that I bet would jump into your flybox to get one of those divers! And although I know you are accustomed to catching more beautiful fish, those smallies are just GREAT fighters!
Although I've been tying these neat bassbugs for ages (hence the name of my blog), I've never cast them to a large or smallmouth bass myself.
Friends of mine have been catching with these buggers themself.
Let me know when the bass season is at its hight. I'll send you one too.
Now I have two guided trips waiting for me! *grin*
I've never been able to catch smallmouth unless the air and water are really warm (May-August). But I love it, wet wading in cool water on a hot day, not carrying a big heavy vest, just a few tools and a box of flies. Tons of fun.
Well, that gives me time to come up with some ideas for the bugs to tie.
Do smallmouth bass also take surface bugs?
You know, a lot of guys have more success with bass poppers and surface flies like that than anything else. Maybe I just don't fish them as well, but almost all of my smallmouth are caught below the surface, with streamers. Personally, I have not found anything that works as well as an olive wooly bugger. Sometimes white works great too. I don't tie my own flies but I often thought if I did, I would make a wooly bugger with olive and white and I bet it would work great!
Maybe you should try using a diving bassbug on a slow sinking line. This way the bug swims just below the surface, yet still evoking this enticing diving motion.
The Dahlberg Diver I made for Olli seems to be about the right size and color. I'll use a more olive-like color hair for the head for you. Instead of just two colors, I'll do some stacked colors giving the head a more mottled appearance.
Sweet!
I have a couple of those sink tips with the loop connections. I have only tried them once, for shad/striper fishing. But I need to experiment more with those for smallmouth fishing. One of the tips sinks more slowly than the other, I think they're about 12 feet long.
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