junction wiggle

[fenton]

Over the last few seasons I have persevered more than I used to when the rivers are high and coloured. The result has been that I have sometimes caught fish in conditions that I used to consider hopeless. Granted a number of these fish have been caught spinning, but I have also had some on the fly.

Most of my home tied flies are smaller and sparser than the beautiful templedog / fox fur patterns that often grace the forums.

In an attempt to try something different (for me) and to increase my armoury for fly fishing in big or coloured water I have messed about with the below.

It is tied in two halves, following the ‘wiggle fly’ concept I found on a Canadian website. The front half is tied on a small piece of conehead tubing. The tubing is only long enough to allow the attachment of extension tubing, and to tie on the wing and head of the fly. (I have added a tungsten conehead to this pattern which the canadian wiggle tubes don’t have).

A piece of flexible black extension tubing, about 1.5 inches long, forms the body and the junction between the two halves of the fly. The rear half of the fly is tied on to a double hook. This fly, my first attempt, is about 5 inches long in total.

I hope that the conehead will get the fly down quickly, and the extension tubing body and tail fly provide loads of movement (at least in my aquarium!).


All comments gratefully received. I know that I haven’t got the head right on this fly. On the next one the conehead will sit up tight to the marabou hackle. I know that this fly is pretty big, but I have had success in the past with Ally Shrimps of 4-5 inches total length, and it is a big / coloured water fly.

All constructive criticism welcome before I do any more!

Cheers
Fenton

[Deleted]

Fenton

That is a pure dead beastie of a fly! A good idea too, methinks for big coloured waters.

I would really like to see this fly in its various stages of construction, like the body before the Winging material goes on.

Any chances of some pics of that stage, pl?

tweedbunnet

[kingfisher]

Why would you except criticism, its a fly that works for you and when wet will have a sleeker profile than that shown. When we think about sleek flys we think about warmer summer heights of water in most cases.
When the river is high, and even possibly coloured, IMHO a larger than life fly will do the business i'm sure.

Think about the dimensions of a rapala and other hardware, then this fly is in good company and if its down in the right depth, why should it not catch. May even have more action?

kf

[builnacraig]

Great idea fenton, I have often admired the "wiggle" of a rapalla and have thought about how to try and recreate that action in a fly. Your idea looks like it may work, if it does you are onto a winner!

Can you do a SBS so that we can see the construction of the fly?

BnC

[gr8lakesflyer]

Very nice fly . It would do very well on my home waters here in the greatlakes region for steelhead . Well done !!

For the past three years I have been experimenting with "wiggle" flies tied on waddington shanks with very good results . These shanks have proven themselves on not only steelhead and chinook salmon , but also on pike , bass , walleye and musky .

Here is a hair-wing style that I have dubbed the Ghetto Leech :









And a few feather-wing styles :







The feather-wing versions have a very different "wiggle" than the hair-wing versions . The hair-wings have loads of movement throughout the wing and tail . Where as the feather-wing entire body swings back and forth in the currents . The flat-wing style tends to have a very tight wobble , much like a tiny body bait like a Rapala .





Mike

[Deleted]

Mike

A taking Salmon is such a precious and rare event for me these days I am understandably very hesitant about the detached hook method and yet it clearly works for guys like yourself.

Is there anything additional you can add to give me the confidence to try the method this season?

tweedbunnet

[fenton]

I am glad that this has stimulated some discussion, and Mike's contribution is excellent.
Just to clarify, I got the wiggle idea from a Canadian website, and have simply changed the dressing of the fly.

I have yet to give this fly a swim, so can't comment on its hooking abilities (yet......!). Mikes flies above use monofilament to joint the waddington shank to the trailing hook. This is slightly different to the method I have used. I think that Mike's flies could have more 'wiggle' than the one I have tried. I wonder if using the extension tubing I have used will keep the hook closer to the tail of the fly, although a bit of wiggle may be compromised. In case it is not clear, the junction wiggle is designed to be attached to the leader in the same way as tube flies, with the nylon being threaded thro the middle of the front tube, and tied onto the trailing double. I will do a step by step as soon as I have some time.


Mike, what feathers do you reccomend using as the wings on the tail fly? (Sorry my knowledge is not sufficient to identify them from your excellent photos)
Cheers
F

[gr8lakesflyer]

tb ,

Within the three years of using waddington shanks in the "detached hook method" , I haven't had a failure yet . I use #50 PowerPro braid for attaching the trailer hook . I weave the loop onto the shank and apply super glue to the windings . The trailer doesn't foul around the shank since the PowerPro has the right stiffness , but yet limp enough to allow movement and is tough enough to withstand the teeth of pike and musky . My daughter landed a 52" musky two years ago on that Ghetto Leech !! Also the trailer hook is closer to the "meat" , so short takers are a thing of the past . Also the smaller hook gets better penetration into the fish's mouth . I have increased my hook-ups since using these wadd's .






Mike

[gr8lakesflyer]

fenton ,

I use #50 PowerPro braid to attach the trailer to the waddington shank . I use to leave a loop that could easily swap out the trailer hook if the trailer hook got damaged ..... really haven't had a problem as of yet . I just tied up a bunch of trailers using different colour feathers or wool and swaped out for a different look .

I use either golden pheasant or ringneck pheasant shoulder or flank feathers .... natural or dyed . These feathers are durable and do not separate during use . It is also very inexpensive to aquire and all colours are readily available to the tyer .






Mike