I wanted to tie a big, floating weedless fly to fish the slop for largemouths. A deer hair bug would be the obvious choice, but I can't seem to spin deer hair tight enough to make it as bouyant as I want. I decided to try a foam popper body, mounted backwards, with deer hair behind it to bulk it up a little. Here's what I came up with:
Hook: 3/0 bass bug hook
Thread: heavy white monocord
Tail (legs): olive hackles (I'll tie on rubber legs when these break off)
Body: deer hair, olive over white
Weed Guard: white super hair, tied near hook eye and angled back toward hook point.
Head: white styrofoam popper (Orvis #2), reversed, with top half colored olive
Eyes: stick-on (or paint/marker)
I tied all the materials onto the hook and then superglued the popper in place. I had to widen and deepen the slot to make it fit properly. The weedguard fits inside the slot. After the glue dried, I trimmed the deer hair a little (I may trim it some more), colored the top half of the popper, stuck on the eyes and gave the popper a coat of Softex. I also put softex on the weedguard to make it stiffer but still flexible.
It casts easily on the 9wt, floats well and makes a nice "sploosh" and wake on the retrieve. It hasn't fooled any fish yet but I only gave it a brief test.
Hook: 3/0 bass bug hook
Thread: heavy white monocord
Tail (legs): olive hackles (I'll tie on rubber legs when these break off)
Body: deer hair, olive over white
Weed Guard: white super hair, tied near hook eye and angled back toward hook point.
Head: white styrofoam popper (Orvis #2), reversed, with top half colored olive
Eyes: stick-on (or paint/marker)
I tied all the materials onto the hook and then superglued the popper in place. I had to widen and deepen the slot to make it fit properly. The weedguard fits inside the slot. After the glue dried, I trimmed the deer hair a little (I may trim it some more), colored the top half of the popper, stuck on the eyes and gave the popper a coat of Softex. I also put softex on the weedguard to make it stiffer but still flexible.
It casts easily on the 9wt, floats well and makes a nice "sploosh" and wake on the retrieve. It hasn't fooled any fish yet but I only gave it a brief test.