Conomo Special: This
winter while attending a fly show outside Boston I happened upon Rich Murphy and the
Conomo Special. The fly immediately caught my eye while wandering among the many
booths. Rich was behind the vise and he was very generous in describing on how to
tie the Conomo and many other patterns he ties using Easy Body. The fly looks like a
real winner and I heartily suggest you give it a try. I made a few plans to fish
with Rich this season and am sure we will sling a Conomo or two. Also Umpqua Feather
Merchants markets the fly and you can find it wherever Umpqua flies are sold. Happy
tying.....Jeff
Defense
Crab: The Defense Crab is intended to imitate a juvenile rock crab
(carapace less than 1 inch long) agitated into a defensive posture against a
foraging predator, claws up, tail down. In the Northeast, crabs this size
are a staple for striped bass and other game species during the months of
high summer when forage fish population movement is at a minimum.
Exorcist: This thing
is a piece of cake to tie and has a really clean look.....Give the Exorcist a try.
Flounder
Around: I was determined to place a flounder fly in my box to have it
available if I thought necessary or as that extra "go to" fly when
nothing else worked.
Gong
Show: A versatile fly for a variety of fishing
situations
Gurgler:
The Gurgler is a simple fly designed to imitate
surface bait. It is neither a popper nor slider but a very effective in-between
type of fly. The Gurgler is surprisingly easy to tie and is a great
fly to stock your boxes with due to the relative ease in which it is tied and it’s
effectiveness.
Maineyak: The Maineyak
is designed to be an eel fly that gets down and dirty in weedy boulder
fields and along grassy banks. With a double weed guard the fly rarely
snags.
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Narrow
River Floating SilverSide: It
will float up on a fast retrieve and on the slow retrieve for the
intermediate sink. Wes Wyatt originated this fly in a series of Narrow River
flies that have worked over the years in the Rhode Island area.
Pamet
Special: My intent then was to develop a large sand eel
imitation I could use to capitalize on the striped bass blitzes that are
routine during the fall months at the mouth of the Pamet River when,
during the ebb of the tide, literally tons of sand eels are flushed into
Massachusetts Bay.... by Rich Murphy
Plates:
Its
pretty hard to find a flyfisherman on the New England coast or any other coastal waters
for that matter than dont have an arsenal of these two style of flies. They are my
*meat and potato* flies and I use them probably more than any other patterns for striped
bass.
Rays Menhaden:
After seeing Mike Figliolis post in Reel-Time about "effective flies", I emailed
him and got this recipe. This is basically a Ray Bondorew pattern with an added
"flash tail" and a little accent flash added.
Rhody
Flat Wing: The Rhody Flat Wing is a pattern that was
originated by the late Bill Peabody. Bill stated that he combined the flat wing
hackle concept, popularized by Ken Abrames and the proven color scheme of the
Ray’s Fly developed by Ray Bondorew. The result being a very effective
pattern. This fly is tied in a very sparse manner. In addition to being very
effective at catching fish, it casts extremely well.
RM
Soft Short: The RM Soft Short is an impressionistic imitation of a
molting juvenile American Lobster (Homarus Americanus). This crustacean is
prolific in rocky coastal waters of the Northeast (particularly north of
Cape Cod). They can grow to over thirty pounds. They range in color from
Olive Green to Blue to Albino. Immature specimens (carapace less than two
inches) in molt are much favored by Striped Bass.
Snake
Fly: It is rather easy
to tie, as you will see. The only thing that requires any tying skill is the
spun deer hair head. Lou Tabory must have put a lot of thought into this guy for
the end result has striped bass written all over it!
RM
Steep Hill Special: I developed the
pattern in response to structure inaccessibility, specifically, to fish the
rock headlands that define the southerly end of Steep Hill beach at the
mouth of Plum Island Sound in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
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Slyder: by Chad Skinner
Surf Bandit: The
season is just about to get underway so I will start with a pattern that produced
consistently for me last season when the fish first showed up..
Tinker Mackeral:
This pattern is tied the same way that "Buffy" is tied except I opted for a 6/0
Trey Combs big game hook instead of a 4/0.
Toupee:
This fly is less of a specific
pattern, and more of a style that I’ve found to produce some
very nice results. The design is basically along the lines of a
Flashy Profile Fly, or a "Blue Chew" but differs
somewhat in materials and construction.
Well
Digger's Arse: This fly has been such a good producer for me that it has
taken over the space in my fly box previously reserved for traditionally
tied Clousers! Given the numbers and quality of the fish that the
traditional Clousers have produced for me in the past, it was not an easy
task for a fly to earn this honor.
Yak Attack: The
"Yak Attack" is another attempt at a large fly that will imitate the herring
that are here in big numbers right now.