Sea Robin

[Peterjay]

A little background on this one: about ten years ago when I was working for Reel-Time, I called Eric Peterson down in Fairfield for a fishing report. Eric said the fishing was slow, but he "guaranteed" he was going to catch a striper over 20 pounds that week. I think it was in July or August, so I was a bit skeptical, but Eric's reputation being what it is, I asked him how he planned to do it without resorting to dynamite or poison. He told me a story about how he was fishing one evening when a guy nearby happened to catch a small sea robin and tossed it back in. The fish kind of wallowed around on the surface for a few minutes until an enormous bass came up from nowhere and gulped it down. Eric went home and designed a sea robin pattern, which he said never failed to produce a big bass or two whenever things got a little slow. When I asked him to describe the fly, he was pretty evasive, ( I think he sold them in his shop) so I was left to come up with some ideas of my own. I use a number of less complicated patterns, but this is the one I like the best, though it's a pain to tie. Kind of a wool-headed sculpin-type fly on a bigger scale. I tie it unweighted and just let it drift along under the surface on a very slow retrieve. It's a pretty effective pattern, especially in low light.

searobin46 copy.jpg

[velo]

Nice pattern. Thanks for sharing it.

[saltfly]

[falkners]

Very nice. How about a material list?

[Peterjay]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I haven't had my morning caffeine jolt just yet, but I think this is how I tie it.

Hook: Mustad 34007

Thread: White 8/0 Uni-thread, brown flat waxed nylon or monocord to spin the head

White bucktail tied in at rear

Small ball of white chenille over the bucktail ends to act as a spreader

A pair of wide Cree or grizzly hackle feathers flanked by a pair of furnace or brown, flanked by rust-colored golden pheasant body feather, all curving in.

Up the shank a little - a little more sparse white bucktail underneath with another chenille ball flanked by another one or two pairs of GP body feathers.

Another chenille ball with another pair of GP body feathers under one or two pairs of pheasant marabou plumes (or any marabou) for the pectoral fins.

Wing: orange/red/rusty (or whatever) dyed squirrel tail. (or bucktail or calftail, etc.)

Collar: rusty brown wool, trimmed and left long on top.

Head: spun wool, trimmed.

A couple of notes:

It's important to trim the bottom and sides of the collar pretty close, as wool stretches tremendously when wet, and it will cover the fins otherwise.

I tried a lot of stuff for the pectoral fins, and the only thing that really worked was delicate marabou plume. Any kind of rigid stemmed feather will make the fly roll, and wool just folds back along the body. I suppose rabbit fur might work.

The spreaders are important - they give the fly a nice fishy shape when viewed from the top or bottom.

I'm one of those knuckleheads who's constitutionally incapable of resisting the urge to tinker with a pattern, so I tie a lot of variations - I even tie a yellow version. I seem to remember seeing a similar fly somewhere in pink with black fins and collar. Gotta try that.

I like fishing this fly, because I tie it on when things are deadly slow, and I'm usually contemplating the misfortunes of the Red Sox' starting rotation when something grabs it and scares the living hell out of me. If you guys can suggest any improvements, I'm all ears.

[JoeBass]

very cool

[falkners]

Thanks!