Have you ever made a fly using one of

[Mr. Sandman]

those weighed hooks that are typically used for slug-go type rubber?

I am using a fast sinking dredge line but I am looking to go real deep

[saltydog]

YES, called BENDBACKS,Do you know where I can get some in SS.4/0 or bigger I have a pattern I need to tie.
GOOD LUCK GOOD TYIN

[Mr. Sandman]

I have not seen them in SS, owner makes a decent (and sharp) hook with some kind of coating but it is not stainless. I'll keep my eyes open.

[Mr. Sandman]

my first bend back (don't make too much fun of it)for fishing 20-50' in moving water from a boat... I will probably destroy this one and try it again but this is the general idea I am looking for.

[JackK]

Looks great! Innovative idea.

Maybe wrap the lead with some bodi-braid to cover the metal color & add a little flash/bulk?

[iamskippy]

I like the concept
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[Mr. Sandman]

I made one with more material around the midsection and it just looked too bulky. I kind of like seeing a hint of the weight as it looks like the inner belly of a minnow of some kind and helps defines the shape . I will clean up the design a bit and make 3 or 4 of them and give them a try.

[saltydog]

Look good nice color choice, just EPOXY the eyes an make a head out of it, your going to lose them if you dont. you know you said your fishing of a boat , I'd use a FAST SINKING LINE an use a 4' leader, drift over the hole an time your sink rate , the fly w/ NO weight one will act more realistic an the line will pit down. my thought, an will will also get fish that hanging on the EDGE of the hole, w/ a free floating fly.
thats a good fly to DRAG on the bottom stur some sand up, make great eel pattern.
are you going to plug fest, Ill bring flys.
GOOD LUCK GOOD TYIN

[Mr. Sandman]

Thanks. I now have a dedicated rod/reel with the fastest sinking line I could find just for this kind of fishing. (They called it a dredge line) It doesn't cast great but is sinks pretty fast. (which is fine, casting performance can be sacrificed since I will be drifting) I normally keep a flyrod on the boat that has a intermediate, saltwater taper, relatively easy to cast and gets the job done. But this is the second time now where I knew the bigger fish were thick on the bottom and I could not get down to them. (I did with a jig however on a spinning rod) I was catching fish on the fly but they were smaller fish near the surface or down a few feet.
I will bring some normal flys and clouwsers with me is too but I want to cover the full range and have something that would sink like a rock. This has been in the back of my mind now for a while.

I agree the action will be odd and it will dip at the very end of the line. But I am hoping the boatspeed drift will compensate a little for that. Also, a lot of times I am seeking big bluefish which are not that finicky you just have to get it down to them.

I was also thinking that instead of using this lead weighed hook that I might attach a length of lead-core line at the end to aid the sinking and give a more natural action when looking for bass deep. Have you ever done this?

[PRBuzz]

Would you be able to 3-way using sinker a fly to the bottom rather than weight the fly? Might be able to use lighter leader to help keep a more nature action of the fly?

[Mr. Sandman]

I think the 3-way sinker approach goes beyond the limits of what is considered " fly fishing". Actually, this weighted fly may as well but since I have seen flys with small lead weight on them before, I figured this is still legal. I know I don't want this fly to hit me in the back of the head while casting though!

[PRBuzz]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

I think the 3-way sinker approach goes beyond the limits of what is considered " fly fishing". Actually, this weighted fly may as well but since I have seen flys with small lead weight on them before, I figured this is still legal. I know I don't want this fly to hit me in the back of the head while casting though!

Didn't realize the name of the game was "fly fishing", I thought it was to catch hunkered down BIG stripers!

[Mr. Sandman]

Oh, just catching them is not the problem... I have to do it on a flyrod.

[saltydog]

SINKERS on a fly line----> It's called CHUCK an DUCK. The old salmon an steelhead guy use to do it all the time, killer way to pull'em off the bottom in N.Y.

FLYFISHING HOLES, It's not hard to do, you will need practice . TIMING will be the most important thing, know your SINK RATE an get the timing down. use the boat to your advantage nice slow controlled drifts over the hole, ones you get a fish REMEMBER EVERYTHING you did an REPEAT it no magic just get out an SPEND some time ON THE WATER.
if you fishing a HOLE W/ fly rod an just drifting. your NOT casting,your letting your line OUT before the hole, an letting the fly DRIFT IN an SINK W/ the current in the hole, as I said PRACTICE.
GOOD LUCK GOOD FISHIN

[derekl]

nice idea but how much does it weigh
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[O.D. Mike]

You can tie a fly with a tungsten bullet weight on the hook (close to the eye) or you can slide the weight on the flouro leader, tie the fly on and slide the tungsten weight down to the knot, take a toothpick and stick it in the end of the tungsten weight as a stop and break off the extra toothpick.

I would hate to get hit in the back with one of these....

[derekl]

My question is how is this more a fly then a bucktail
To me the hardest part of fly fishing is getting the fly to the.fish that fly wont cast if feeding out a fly on a long drift to get a fly way down is flyfishin then so is dropping a 6oz bucktail with a fly rod
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[iamskippy]

Originally Posted by derekl

My question is how is this more a fly then a bucktail
To me the hardest part of fly fishing is getting the fly to the.fish that fly wont cast if feeding out a fly on a long drift to get a fly way down is flyfishin then so is dropping a 6oz bucktail with a fly rod
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Im sure you can get these light enought 1/2 or way less may need to hit the fresh water section. But in a good current you could drift no problem
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[Pete F.]

Might try Rio T-14 on a shooting line, you'll wack yourself with it sooner or later. The worst thing is when you hit your rod with it.
I use a heavily weighted fly for trout in deep pools, you don't think those fish are just down there sleeping.
I also tried things like that but then figured out that there are things fly rods do really well and casting jigs is not one of them. You could try three-waying a fly?

[derekl]

Thats not what i.was getting at i dont see this as really fly fishing this is basicly wire line jigging

Weighted line.behind boat with weighted hook with.hair on it
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[iamskippy]

Originally Posted by derekl

Thats not what i.was getting at i dont see this as really fly fishing this is basicly wire line jigging

Weighted line.behind boat with weighted hook with.hair on it
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Point well made good sir
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[Mr. Sandman]

I know am getting close to non fly fishing. But there is a big difference between this and wire line jigging...sorry. This is what I don't like about many fly fishermen. Many are closed minded purists.

Many clouser flys have a barbel weight on them and I can cast those OK. This is just a little more weight in a different place (these weigh 1/8-3/8 oz) and it is not a bucktail it is a weighted hook. One could argue that a bucktail is a type of fly. What about those gummy flys... or tube flies or any fly with eyes or epoxy. Those could be considered lures not flies.

I have not tried to cast this yet but if I can not fly cast it (in a fly fishing manner) I will not fish it. That is my personal rule of thumb.

Many people have different views of what "fly fishin is"... I suppose the purest see standing on a stream edge, casting a 4 weight rod with a 2# tippet and a dry fly the size of a gnat catching fish that are 4" long the "true" meaning of what fly fishing is and "suppose to be". Others using teasers to lure in a marlin then "fly casting" a 14" "fly" to a fish 6' away and battling them on 80# backing and a rod that can only be described as heavy surf rod. Bottom line....To each is own.

Personally, I see pure "fly" casting as the act of casting the line not the lure. When the fly gets so heavy that it interferes with this act, then your not not fly casting...you can still be fly fishing though...you have a fly rod (in my case a 9 or 10 weight) and fly reel with fly line and a weighted fly.

I may be able to get down with the new denser fly line alone and a normal fly...I will find out. I am just experimenting, I try a LOT of weird things ( I do all kinds of fishing too, boat/shore/inshore/offshore/spin/conventional/big game/and a little fly) so there is a lot to try (only sw though) most ideas don't work as well as I hoped (brainfarts)but some do. This is just one of those things. Frankly I get a kick of trying something that hasn't been done much before. I have a lot of memories of catching fish on weird stuff.
A few come to mind:
A prime-rib bone I had for dinner, removed marrow, poured in lead and rigged for trolling. (caught both bass and blues before finally loosing it)
A potato peeler I found on the beach, I rigged it up right on the beach and caught a bluefish with it the second cast.
A solid plastic squid I made...30# bass
A unique backwards bucktail that sits at a certain angle when retrieved and has replaceable wings of different sizes. You can adjust the wings to get the bucktail at any depth you desire. I have only caught a couple fish with it (small bass) but I am still perfecting it. I love fishing this thing for some reason.
Ball and socket jointed plugs.
Garden hose tube
umbrella rigs made of all kinds of stuff.
a solid metal needle fish lure (aluminum)(this is pretty cool)
A SS heavy tube needle lure (also cool)
A complex mag weighted minnow plug (most effective surf casting plug I own, but they take forever to make)
Large fluke jigs (more like halibut jigs) for fishing deep.
I made a fly out of a piece of electric wire while on-board, cast it hooked up instantly.
A lot of other wacky crap most I don't remember anymore but that is half the fun of it for me. Try it, it may work, that is my attitude.

[iamskippy]

Originally Posted by saltydog

YES, called BENDBACKS,Do you know where I can get some in SS.4/0 or bigger I have a pattern I need to tie.
GOOD LUCK GOOD TYIN

asspro has them but its 3 for 7 dollers. however they now sell long shank hook weights which will work better, and save you some money


I grabbed a few smaller ones and i am going to give it try, don't want to get beat up by Niko.

[derekl]

All i was saying is to me its.not fly fishing if you cant cast the fly 3/8 oz is very heavy as a fly you may be able to drag behind and water loaded the rod from the back.cast position but dont see a way to pick up a fly nearly that heavy i just put a clouser with magnum eyes on my po scale and it was 4.5 grams so 3/16 of an oz i had tied those back when chasing footballs with a 16wt and i could throw those about 30 ft make sure when you try to.cast this.you wear a pair of shatterproof glasses and a hard hat the sleed that will be moving when traveling past your head will do some real damage
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[iamskippy]

Originally Posted by derekl

All i was saying is to me its.not fly fishing if you cant cast the fly 3/8 oz is very heavy as a fly you may be able to drag behind and water loaded the rod from the back.cast position but dont see a way to pick up a fly nearly that heavy i just put a clouser with magnum eyes on my po scale and it was 4.5 grams so 3/16 of an oz i had tied those back when chasing footballs with a 16wt and i could throw those about 30 ft make sure when you try to.cast this.you wear a pair of shatterproof glasses and a hard hat the sleed that will be moving when traveling past your head will do some real damage
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you forgot about the military issued flac jacket for the neck and back protection.