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Steve Farrar Squid Flies

8K views 29 replies 12 participants last post by  SteveF 
#1 ·
I e-mail Steve and asked if I could put some incredible squid flies on our forum. He agreed and sent me the photo's of these two. You should note that, apart from the bueatiful work and the use of DNA material, the body proportions of the fly are perfect , that is, the tenticles and mantal are the proper lengths...
 

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#8 ·
John -

Good web images only take 20-40k max as an industry avg.

If you have win XP go to this link and get "Image Resizer". It's a no-brainer program to reduce your images to working size.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

If you don't have XP search google.com for image resizers and download one of many free ones out there. I can't recommend one because I use Adobe Photoshop or the XP resizer for my jpegs.

Big year for squid down in the Newport area I've heard. I think Rhody is holding a lot more of our Cape Cod stripers hostage this year :lildevl:
 
#11 ·
squid photos

Hi guys. I had some time tonight so figured I'd see if I could help post the squid fly photos I sent John. I've surfed the forum several times since I met some of you at the Marlborough fly fishing show a couple years ago. I enjoy the passion/conversation focused on fly tying and fly fishing.

Steve Farrar
 

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#17 ·
Is there someplace a guy could buy a few of these gems?
 
#18 ·
Step by step instructions with photos are here:

http://www.aswf.org/saltwater_flies_for_web/steve_farrar/squid_fly/squid_fly.html

Steve, the mantle of the lighter squid is DNA flash and DNA powder blended with DNA flash. The orange one is a blend of angel hair, slinky fibre, and DNA powder. In addition, I've tried bucktail, unique hair and a blend of angel hair/slinky fibre. They all look and perform well so you should experiment with different naturals and synthetics. Anyone wanting larger squid or simply wanting the hook placement exactly at the eye should construct it on a tube.

Moose, they are not for sale but I'd be glad to walk you through any questions you may have after you've viewed the instructions.

SteveF
 
#19 ·
Steve,

That is a great looking tie and thanks for the link too. Here in the Pacific Northwest, some of us were goofing around with patterns like this trying to raise a strike out of Steelhead. Our thinking was that they were still conditioned to at least strike even in fresh water. There are also a lot of patterns for Salmon, but I have to tell you, the dimensions on your fly are perfect. Form and shape are exactly what they are supposed to be like as in the squid pic I've attached.

One question about hook placement and really this is for anyone. It looks like strippers will bite into the body and not the tentacles. Is this typical of most fish? I had thought that Salmon and Steelhead were tail biters and so some of my attempts at Squid placed a trailing hook in the tentacle section.

Will most fish nail the body?
 

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#20 ·
Nice squid pic! Ditto on the proportions of Steve's calimaris, spot on.

Stripers bite the head of any fly. You could tie a 12" long fly with a 1" long hook at the head and the fish will be on when you set the hook.

Like you I am pretty familiar with flyfishing for ocean coho (since the mid-80's) and agree completely that the hook needs to be in the mid-to-rear half of the fly for consistent hookups because of the way they hit the flanks of the prey.

Here is a similar squid pattern I posted a few years ago in the archives. It uses a tube fly tube instead of the stiff nylon. The pic is low res but you can see the big SW hook at the head of the squid, maybe 1/6 - 1/8 the length of the fly. There are a few variations in the image including one that is veiled over the body ironically as Steve does, it's a great effect.

http://www.flyfishingforum.com/flytalk4/showthread.php?t=3856&highlight=squid+juro

The fish still get hooked with these short hooks even though these squid flies are 5-6 inches long.

I am now developing a series of VERY large flies to cast on 600+ grain heads which feel comfortable to cast all day with the Atlantis Surf-tamer, including a large squid. Should be 'deployed' by the fall migration.

Steve, I will definitely have some of your squid flies tied to about 6" in this selection, thanks for posting!
 
#21 ·
Matt,

I don't know about salmon or steelhead as I have never fished for them. I believe placement does matter as bass consistently take "head shots" whereas bluefish snap at the tail and munch their way up or at least it seems that way much of the time. I havn't fished tuna but guys I know say they go right for the eye on squid.

That is a great squid photo Matt.

Here's a photo of the squid prototypes done as a tube fly just for reference. The last section of tube(just plain tubing) let's you either snug the hook to the eye or put it outboard in the tentacle area. The pink one is just over 7 inches and the white on just over 14 inches but not yet rigged with a hook. The large one is done as a bucktail hollow fleye on two tube sections with the eyes/tentacles on a third.

Juro, your squid look super and must have a lot of movement. The Atlantis sounds like a real launcher. Good luck with the big flies and thanks for the welcome.

Steve
 

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#22 ·
Thanks for the info Steve. The squid pic is not mine. It was taken by Chris West who runs a great site out here called pugetsoundflyfishing. This is what is so great about fly fishing online, the collaboration of ideas that span the globe.
 
#23 ·
Steve..........that is a great loking fly! Thanks for the directions. Tied up four this morning and for a first attmept they look pretty good. Great link as well. Thanks for sharing the recipe! Will try them on an upcoming Rip Trip at South Monomoy Island on Tuesday. Didn't know what length to use there but settled on 4 to 5 inches.
Ron
 
#26 ·
Juro,

I do agree, I'm just not sure off the beach. Seems like it would be ideal for Chinook in the 30 foot arena as we discussed in another thread. So many flies I have to tie. Skaters, low water, lead assed and now a new squid version. Going to have to quit fishing just to get something done on the bench....yeah right.
 
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