Monday, May 6, 2013

Tying the Shucker - warm water fly tying - smallmouth & panfish




There are a few other folks that caught some fish on my pattern that they tied up themselves - including "pjhire" who had a productive evening catching fish such as the one in this photo. thx - pjhire



Southeastfly from Instagram tied up some Shuckers and landed this smallmouth bass.  Makes me proud to share a fly that seems to do well for folks.

Look at the photo below.  Yup, you see that picture correctly.  I have to cut back on my spending from time to time.  It doesn't take high dollar material or a high dollar combo to land fish.  These hooks are about 1/2 or less than your high dollar and high quality hooks.  But they work the same and are sturdy but when you tie up this fly, use whatever brand you desire.  I was using a size 8 but it was suggested to go bigger.  I figured that panfish wouldn't take it as much but  with a large hook.  And they did.  I took some nice rock bass and goggle-eye.  I'm not the best at blogging much less giving tying instructions.  Email me if you need more information.

I've had several people on Instagram tie up this pattern and even catch some fish on this pattern.  The tricky thing for me was trying to find the picture in a format to save an Instagram photo of those who made my Shucker.


This was tied by Pjhire who I follow on Instagram.  He had a pretty productive day with the Shucker.

Materials

  • size 10 Allen B200 bass hook
  • lead eyes but preferably brass or nickel
  • rabbit strip
  • Jay Fair's Long Shuck estaz
  • rubber legs




Tie on the eyes and the rabbit strip.  Note how the leather rides down when the fly will be floating in the water.  Which mean, fur side down when tied in.  Make sure to use an adhesive to secure the eyes.


Tie in long-shuck estaz.  Sometimes, I will use schlappen but it's up to you.


Tie the legs in front of the eyes.  They will be bent back over the top as you wind the estaz forward.


When wrapping the estaz forward, split the rubber legs - 2 on each side and make sure the legs are riding upwards back towards to hook point.


I have landed a lot of fish on this pattern.  Especially, this year and on the olive Shucker.


Here is the version of the fly I modified into the Shucker.  I received this pattern in a fly swap.  I moved the legs to the front of the eyes and substituted rabbit strip for marabou.  I tied this fly but ther tyer who made the original pattern had a lot of rubber and marabou for the tail.  The current Shucker pattern is the most productive.  It has a longer tail which provides better movement and the legs which having been placed over the eyes will also have more movement rather than being stuck along the body.   Schlappen will give it more motion and a bigger profile that those big fat smallmouth and bass will hit.

I have tied this in root beer, black, olive and chartreuse but some other buys are switching it up with other colors.  I think that movement along with the ability to get deep where the fat fish are make this fly a "must-have" for the fly box.


4 comments:

  1. I like this. Simple and effective.

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  2. Hi, Josh, I have heard you bang the drum for this fly before. I am going to add this to my warmwater box and see how Colorado fish handle it....

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  3. Chartreuse is where it's at here in fl I have a little darker shade of chartreuse that's been working really well here, by the way the fly looks great, my 13 year old son is starting to tie with his friend and this will be great fly for them to tie for when the bluegill goes back to the deeper water

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  4. I will try this pattern thanks for the information.

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