At night this is killer for tarpon in Keys – tie big profile to make noise/disturbance. Lenny Moffo ties this fly. Illustration by Frank Zorman.
Looking back or looking ahead, fly tying is just downright fun
[dropcap]R[/dropcap]eminiscing about the flies that I tied between 2005 and 2007 – I convinced myself these shown would catch fish in South Florida’s canal system, Everglades National Park’s northern marshes, Big Cypress National Preserve, and Holey Lands [borders of northwestern Broward County and southwestern Palm Beach County] – my hunting grounds.
Each, according to my notes, was tied in numbers approaching a dozen each and some with different hooks sizes and some with different color combos. There were other flies, of course, but on a files photo cleanout these the only remaining or PhotoShop salvageable.
Three flies caught all the fish: largemouth bass, exotics [peacocks, Cichlidae], redfish, tarpon, jacks [small], mudfish, crappie, and snook – bottom middle, top right, and top left. Worst producer was the shrimp [‘0’], followed by the gurglers [no bites – nibbles]. Bottom left was okay when white palmered into making a head. My flies these day are predominantly tube flies – exception terrestrials and smaller than most 12s.
Seems as though I had a preference for yellow… hmm?
NOTE: These flies were tied either in classes I either held on Sunday’s in the Fly Shop of Ft. Lauderdale [where I worked] or wasting the bosses time on a Sundays tying my stash, or at the Fly Shop of Miami with David Olsen.
