With all the recent reports of decent wiper fishing at Willard I thought I'd give it a go this upcoming weekend. I've been researching some patterns and found some that look pretty good. I just thought I'd ask you guys and see what you guys use.
This is a fly I tied that I thought would work. It's basically a double bunny with some tinsel chenille in between the rabbit strips to give off the shimmer of a shads scales. It's just something I whipped up and don't know if it'll work...hopefully it does. [
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I picked up a mackerel pattern at the cabelas in Grand Junction, CO that look pretty decent. They look a lot like the cranks that everyone has been trolling. Blue back and all.
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That should work awesome at Strawberry. I have a similar pattern that has been really great.
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Might have to make some of those for LMB.
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Do you have a picture of that pattern?
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I caught one wiper last year on a clouser minnow I tied up. It was white and chartreuse. I should try it is white and blue. I've also caught a nice catfish and crappie at Willard on a pattern I found online called "Crappie Candy"
I was using a 7wt with a fast sinking line. I usually cast out, let more line out as I kick back and then strip in. The one wiper I caught was a lot of fun, so I'll be out there chasing them again this year.
PM me if you want any more info. My catch rate is pretty low, so I can't say I really know what I'm doing.
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Below is the white and grey clouser that worked for me on Saturday for the wipers. It worked well but seems to thin compared to a shad. The second photo is s fly I wipped out tonight with rabbit and UV Polar Chenille. I think it looks like it could work. I'm thinking of adding glue on eyes.
Mark
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Tied up another double bunny "shad" This one with the top part with a blue/black barred rabbit strip. I just wish the rabbit strip was fully colored and barred.
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I'm going to try catching some on my fly pole this week. I hope the change in temps won't change things to much. The Wipers I got Friday, well the one I ate, was full of baby Shad (I think, should of taken a picture of them) were only 1- 1.5 inches long. However the cranks I used were about 3" long.. I like your patterns. Might want to make a couple of short ones if they get picky.
Humpy
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Thanks for the tip humpy! I'll have to do that.
I'm hoping they don't turn off either. I want to knock off catching a wiper and walleye off the list this year and I'm hoping I can do it all in one go.
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[#0000FF]From my experience...and the experience of a few other fly tiers and fly flingers over the past ten years I can say that location and presentation are generally more important than pattern . You gotta find the fish first and that can be tough. Then you gotta present your offering at the right depth and the right speed. That can change on an hourly basis.
Over the years plain white patterns have probably produced the most fish at Willard...wipers, walleyes and cats...and crappies...and smallmouths. Crystal buggers, zonkers and clousers are all on the fishies approved list. Adding eyes also seems to give a fly a slight edge over one without.
At this time of year wipers are feeding heavily on bottom dwelling invertebrates...like crawdads. So green/brown patterns on the bottom can produce. Shad spawn in June and by July there are baby shad all over the place...about 1 to 1.5 inches. That is when the wipers start chasing them and the first surface boils start happening. Fishing a small white pattern imitating the size of the prevailing shadlets is your best bet. And stripping it fast will get more bites than a slow retrieve.
By August into September the fast growing young shad may be 2 to 3". So you should be tieing and fishing larger flies to "match the hatch".
All that being said, wipers and walleyes both show a liking for "hot colors"...chartreuse, hot pink, hot red and hot orange. These colors are especially effective during cold water months and during periods of murky water. And you will usually fish them with a deeper and/or slower retrieve. So it is always a good idea to have some bright stuff in your arsenal just in cast you have to wake the fish up a bit.
I know how it is to want to create a masterpiece of illusion...something that looks exactly like the food item you are trying to imitate. I've wasted many hours at the vice in that pursuit. But when it comes to Willard Bay fishies, close enough is usually good enough. Some of the best days on flies I have seen have been on some of the simplest patterns. These include some years-old white wooly worms with red tails and some plain old quick-tie white streamers with silver tinsel bodies.
That being said, there is a growing legion of fly flingers who are adapting to the religion of UV materials in their flies. Have had a couple of good reports this year already and several from last year from tier/anglers who incorporated white UV stuff in their patterns.
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I know nothing of Willard but your Shad looks like a good fly…..I know of a cool trick that saltwater guys use, tie a lot of Clousers in white then carry different colored sharpies i.e green, blue..etc and make them match whatever you need, cuts down on a lot of tying material also.
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Thanks for the insight on Willard Pat! I'll have to give some more simpler patterns a try as well.
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Hey Tubedude, since when do you fish with a "fairy wand" huh? heh heh [sly]
Still, I don't disagree with your simplistic approach on Stillwater flyfishing patterns....I find that time in, time out a white woolly bugger with a little crystal flash in the tail and barbell eyes (orange or yellow eyeball decal on the barbell) works as well as anything for wiper, or any warmwater species for that matter. In fact, I have caught multiple species on it including crappie, bluegill, yellow perch, bass of all types, and brown trout as well.
I must say though, that shad fly from troutman 93 is a thing of beauty! Wish I had the patience/artistry to tie like that!.
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[#0000FF]Yeah...heh, heh. TubeDude using an actual flyrod? Deerickulous.
I grew up in Idaho in a family of flyrodders. Although some were known to fish spinner and worms with their bamboo wands. Every family gots some of those.
I have been fly fishing and tying flies for many decades. Hate to admit how many. In recent years I have not carried any of my feather-flinging rods on my tube but I have still fished a lot of flies. I use them with bubbles, with jig and spin combos, dropshot style and even long-lined trailing behind my tube on spinning line.
I also tie and sell a whole bunch flies and marabou jigs to some other feather fanciers. So I do keep in tune with what works and what don't.
I just finished making myself a new 7 weight to allow me to throw some larger stuff for assorted warm water species. Of course, I ain't too proud to reel in something with spots once in a while. And I am modifying my tube setup with a new rigid apron (sushi board) and rod tubes to accommodate taking out one or two flyrods on tubing trips.
So, it won't be long before you start seeing some posts of fishies with feathers in their mouths instead of plastic or minnows.
With that as a goal, I have been whuppin' up some larger versions of my "hot head" flies...the ones I make with a bead of hot melt glue for the head. I paint and glitter those and add eyes. The smaller versions have produced well over the last year and a half for lotsa troutskis as well as a grundle of "lesser" species. As you can see in the attached pics, I made some with a piece of wire coming out the front...to which I added a couple of small beads and a propeller spinner. Voila! "Pistol Pats".
Finally recovering from a sore knee on one side and a sprained ankle on the other. Look out fishies. Here I come...as soon as Mama Nature gets back on her meds.
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Alright, fair enuff tubedude...just bustin your balls a little.
Those are some fine looking feathery jiggy looking things...nice artistry there! I think my barbell headed white woolly bugger is about the same thing. will send you a pic. hope you get to feeling better, its a bummer when the old body starts falling apart.
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I've been wondering where you have been hiding.
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[#0000FF]I have seen a few patterns using the barbells. Good thinking to add the eyes. I have been putting eyes on just about all of my jigs and many of my flies for a lot of years. I firmly believe that most predator fish key in on eyes when hunting prey.
Had an old boy in California give me one of the best reason for putting eyes on flies. He was a big brown specialist and caught MANY over 5 pounds every year...on his own ties. And he painted or tied in eyes on all his big streamers. His comments: "When a big ol' brown sees something floating down the current it could be ANYTHING. But if it has eyes it suddenly becomes a potential meal to attack."
By the way. I apologize for not responding to your comment on the OPs shad pattern. Yes, it is a super tie. And I am sure it will be well received by wipers, walleyes and the other denizens of Willard. I am equally confident it would work well for the various species in Starvation, Deer Creek, Strawberry, Utah Lake and Yuba. Basic white is a universal color for almost all minnow-munching species. And that eye makes it look even better.
I use bunny fur for several jigs and flies. It really looks good in the water and it has accounted for a lot of big fish...of many species. But I have mostly downshifted on the stuff I tie. I try to simplify more than create exact imitations. Near 'nuff is usually good enough.
I also believe that there are generally other things far more critical to angling success than the color, size or actual pattern of your fly. That is especially true on Willard. You first have to find ACTIVE fish. And those fish up there move around and get moody. And once you are amongst 'em you have to make good presentations...at the right depth and speed...to hope to attract an inquiry. Inactive fish will ignore the "right fly" and the right presentation. Active fish will often smack anything in sight...at least for a short time.
That is kind of paraphrasing something else I picked up somewhere...from someone...sometime. "A good fisherman can catch fish on the wrong stuff. A poor fisherman often can't catch fish on even the hottest stuff."
Go ahead and take your best shots. I'm a big boy. (too big) I can laugh at myself and I'm not easily offended by good-natured ribbing.
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