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Cephalopod Project

2K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  Bob Pink 
#1 ·
Or "Do You Know Squiddley?"

Bob Pink and I have been talking about flies for big bass in rips - squid flies. Although a number of patterns exist, Bob is haunted by the images of "big bass crushing squid at Middle Ground" (a pronounced tidal rip off Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts).

I hope to do a little hands-on experimentation of various squid patterns with Bob when the spring run in underway. Two years ago the squid came into Dowses Beach in Craigville with big bass and spring slammer bluefish in pursuit. I rowed my dory across to the spit and caught scary blues in the mid-teens (over fifteen pounds) on a 9wt with squid flies in the farside rip. Didn't happen in 1999, but it might in 2000.

Anyway, if anyone would be interested in sharing learnings over the season re: squid patterns, I'd be happy to coordinate the findings and put up an article on the subject.

Let me know...

 
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#2 ·
Juro,

Any patterns that you have for effective squid imitations would be welcomed. I am especially interested in the pattern that incorporates the EZ Sparkle Body material. I saw Chris tie it a couple years ago, but can't remember how to do it now.

If you want to test out that digital camera a little then a few pictures of your favorite patterns would be nice.

Thanks,

Pete
 
#3 ·
If I remember correctly I have a white and a yellow squid
pattern that was a corker in Woods Hole two years ago. Rick
Weden showed me the pattern and it fishes well with killer
action from the long saddle hackles. If I can figure out
how to post a picture I'll do that over the next few days.
I can come up with the digital image, I just need to get some direction for the posting process.

Regards,

Jay
 
#5 ·
Jay -

Welcome! Thanks for your generous offer for the two-handed blank. I'll talk to you more on that topic via email.

The pics need to be on a web server somewhere. You can then display them by referring to them via the instructions in the help file


If you don't have a site to put them on let me know and I will put them up here.
 
#7 ·
Sorry about the abscence from the forum board but too many logins to keep track of these days. Anyway, the Cephalopod Project (of for those whose Latin is too rusty, the Calamari Caper) is well along. Friday during the Marlboro show I show I was able to show Bob D. the beginnings of the pattern evolution. There were some great tyers manning the tying booths and Chris from E-Z Body was also there to discuss the pattern he has developed. I took some of these ideas back home and Sunday caught up with Juro. BTW, If you've ever seen the fly he's posted a picture of in the introduction to this thread, you'll agree that the photo doesn't do it justice.

My best results so far are with a polarhair body fly, built over a 1/2" corsair spreader and core that goes back to the hook point. Eyes get 'gooped' to the corsair and the polarhair floats over the corsair. Soem flex-lok does a great job of keeping the polarhair in manageable shape and I've tried finishing the head with either a palmered hackle, flaired polarhair and zonker. They all look like they have their good and bad points.

The hackles are built around a core of bucktail and crystal flash to give them some 'diameter'. Keep them short with two extending out 1-1/2 time as long as the other 6.

Colors tried so far, all white, pink/white, orange, orange/white (want to try a red-rust and orange as soon as I can find the right colors)

Guys, there are lots of great ideas out there. If you like to tie, try some ideas out and we'll share them here. I'll be working on some photos to post and we'll get some feedback about where we can go from here.
 
#8 ·
Great to hear from you Bob!

Your swap flies are awesome. Got your calamari too, thanks. They are in test tubes waiting for activation in a saline solution. I took some photos of swap flies and will put them up on s101 as soon as I can get them on my computer.

BTW -

Josko is in on the Project er... caper

I have to show you the squid "fly" my friend Bill made... let's just call it the TROJAN
 
#9 ·
Not much of a tyer myself I bought some decent looking flies from a man introduce to me at the Springfeild show.
Rudy Ciecko, from Granby MA tied some very impressive squid flies for me. White/tan, white/speckled, pink/white, orange. I am going to ask for some aditional colors such as the aforementioned rust red, and dark brown/reds.
I have a phone number if you email me
bruce@sportfishingcapecod.com

Bruce
 
#10 ·
Sounds cool Bruce! I'll write you for that number. I'd love to see those patterns.

BTW - Your descriptions of 20 pound bass breaking out of the rips for squid has been inspiring to say the least. The brick red squid in the image (top of thread) was tied with deference to your descriptions. It's about 5-6 inches long and uses a tube fly body to extend the legs and mantle. I'd love to cast it from Miss.Jillian this year
 
#11 ·
I met a fellow yesterday that had some interesting squid flies in his box. I asked him to go to this site and chaeck it out.
His flies were the usual body types but he had an interesting tailfin setup that seemed to me would work fine. the tailfins were nothing more than duct tape folded over on itself and trimmed to imitate the fins. He described the flies action as sporadically erratic as it was retreived. I know I would try it !

Bruce
 
#12 ·
Sounds good - now that you mention it the fins offer a great opportunity to provide action to the fly. There are drifting lures called spin-n-glo's and birdie drifters out west that acutally use the "fins" to spin rapidly around the leader (they are not fixed but instead threaded on the leader). The extra spin makes them deadly.

There's a lot to the fins, in my humble opinion (IMHO)
 
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