It's my own concoction, part spey wet fly, part streamer and can be fished like either. Basically, you tie a simple spey or marabou spey fly then add a streamer wing and eyes if you wish. It has a number of advantages. Most baitfish have a bulbous whiteish body with a thinner, longer, darker upper body and tail. The Weamer fits this profile. It has far more movement than a standard streamer and if you use a dubbin ball behind a marabou collar, it'll produce a blunt pattern with a sculpin-like profile that'll push a lot of water. If you want a thinner profile, then palmer the marabou over the front half of the hook shank.
The first one was more like a streamer, this one is a little closer to a wet, the Dirty Harry is all wet fly except for the wing - just depends on the effect you want.
They are substantially different in the water, slimming way down. The first one took the chinook in my avatar.
These two pictures were prototypes and the ones I tie now tend to use more marabou and a bit less flash. Browns, steelies and chinook love the Lil' Sucker. I tied up two of them and in the first five minutes on Penns, I hooked a big brown and lost it and the fly. In the first two minutes on the Saugeen, it took that chinook but it messed up the hook. On the Salmon River, NY, in desperation (I was doing an o'fer), I worked on the hook and within a few casts had a JATO equipped steelie that I lost when the &^%$& knot came undone.
I tied up the Dirty Harry as a large, dirty water fly but it seems to work on the Grand in clear conditions as well.
The DH looks like a great surf fly. Would also love to try it in a certain UP river that borders the US and Canada. That bloody river is full of Smelt.
Here's the Dirty Harry, the original Weamer. It's the one that's done the most damage so far. The Credit is often high and dirty so I tied this one to push a lot of water and create a large, solid profile. There's a big, purple dubbin ball just behind the marabou. When it's swung, the marabou forms a tear-drop shape and the widest section can be almost a 1/2" across.
The alewife pattern was tied with the Niagara River in mind as well as the surf or pike. I still haven't come up with a name for it yet.
Don't forget he fishes(and has fished more than most). It also helps having a river in your back yard.
Really suprised you never touched a 20 during the glory Skam runs of the early 80's. Saw a ton of huge Tunas comme off Mich. City pier. Lots of high teens and a goodly number touching 20# mark. We used to carry a scale with us and weighed as guys would allow.
Early 80s lost a few big ones there, but was not into the spinning spoon chucking from the pier and bait, was fly fishing north in Michigan where there were very few skamanias in the rivers. Fly fisher first, big steelhead are a lesser objective unless I can get them on the fly I am not really interested.
Oh well its not over yet, still in the hunt as they say. "never give up".
I landed an 18#er from Salt Creek on a PM wiggler in 1985. No lie,
I also think the current Ind. record was caught from Trail at johnson road on a fly. it was either the current one or the one before it.
Actually was using 4# trilene xt leader on a noodle rod and a Martin 72 reel. This was about my 16th hook up of the day. Both skill and luck were on my side. Think of the big pool at I.G. way before it changed.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Fly Fishing Forum
163.8K posts
38.8K members
Since 2000
A forum community dedicated to fly fishing and sporting enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about safety, licenses, tips, tricks, rivers, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!