The Starship Jig

A Galactic Jig Modification 
David Hutton
Palmetto Fly n Fish
Jan 8, 2021 (update 2025)

I have always done poorly with jigs and soft plastics. Supposedly they are the number one artificial bait, ever, at least according to Field and Stream:

Curly Tail Grub Is #1

But, the jig-and-soft plastic lure has left me in the lurch, never producing all that well.
Well-meaning people have said, “Just add a piece of worm to the thing – that'll fix it.”
This practice of adding live bait to an artificial lure is called, "tipping," by the way. 

Now, to be fair, the jig itself aids in casting, and the combination of baited hook and weighted head form a compact presentation. I have used them a lot that way - jigs are effective with live bait. Add a worm, and it's on!

But the soft plastic portion creates a new thing... a lure.
My thinking has always been that live bait should NOT be needed with lures.
As the jig/soft plastic combo is a lure, and is reputedly #1 among all lures, well, I reckon it shouldn't need "tipping."
I mean, if you are tipping the lure, you can't say the lure did the job.
Really, all you have done is create a more elaborate way to present a cricket.
In the end, I wondered what all the hoopla is about.

"Jigs? I dunno...."

Which started me analyzing what might be wrong with these things – or what might be wrong with me. 

This could go either way.

What's With The Jig Anyway?

So after studying the jig and grub for awhile, I came to an obvious conclusion:

They don't really do all that much but fall to the bottom.

You can hop them.
You can bounce them.
You can drag them.
You can retrieve them

But in the end, their main trick is to go back to the bottom. They may have a wiggly tail, but they're made of lead, after all.

“So what if they didn't sink so fast”? I wondered.
This lead me to try lightweight versions. These took longer to get to the bottom, but you sacrifice good contact with the lure. Its hard to tell what's happening with them.
“Lets go the other way,” I mused, “...lets make them really heavy.”
Yeah, that's no good either. Too heavy and you may as well be fishing with a millstone.

I ended up with a lot of different jig heads over time, in several styles, colors, shapes, etc.
But that darned plummeting action just stuck out like sore thumb.

The Spark
Prior to that time, I had been using a totally different kind of lure to catch fish.
It was a micro-size Johnson Silver Minnow, with a soft plastic trailer on the rear.
It was nothing more than the old spoon-and-pork lure, but downsized.
Now that was something.
The old Johnson Silver Minnow doesn't weigh all that much compared to it's large surface area, so it wobbles... it's really a weedless, wobble spoon.
Add a soft plastic curly tail to this lightweight, wobbling lure and it changes the game.

Now it becomes a slow falling, twisting, spiraling, swimming kind of lure. I caught as many fish on that seductive, slow swimming drop-action as on any retrieve.
That's when I realized I wanted THAT from a jig.

Experiments
I first tried squashing regular ball head jigs into a flattened profile, using a specially made punch.

It produced a wide, flat bottom surface that showed some promise. It was kind of like the Space Shuttle entering orbit. But it wasn't quite there, and it still tended to just drop.
I wanted my brainchild to swim, and to fly.

Which is where I suppose the idea finally struck me.
“If something is to fly, it needs a wing,” I muttered.

Well, I guess I muttered. 

Okay...I probably muttered.

It was one of those times, just before the brainstorm hits, that one mutters.
So I'm pretty sure I muttered.

The Starship Jig

The Starship Jig Is Not Original
What I did then is just what I said – I added a "wing," in the form of a clear plastic disc.

In earlier years, I was an aviation electronics technician in US Navy rotary wing squadrons – helicopters, in other words. Those who know something about aerodynamics will immediately recognize the connection between a rotary wing and a disc wing.

Basically, that's what I came up with.

As often happens, though, I learned I am late to this party.
"Jig Discs" have, in fact, been around before I dreamed them up.

The things come in packs of 15, in fact, with nice logo lettering, even.

Here's what they look like:

Here's a link: Jig Disks

You'll notice there that I said, “they come in packs of 15....”
But I found that you can't go anywhere on the linked website to actually PAY for them. The pay links are dead-ends.

Everything else on the site seems to work, and there are some innovative ideas there. But if you can't actually purchase the stuff, well.... it might be a good idea to know how to make them yourself.

So I made my own.

I also changed them up a bit, in the form of a tight fitting attachment point.

The commercial Jig Disks have a large hole that slips over the eye, necessitating the use of a snap clip or something like it to hold the whole affair together. This does make it so they might fit on any jig, so that's good.

With, mine I used a press fit over the eye of the jig, i.e, the hole is smaller than the eye, so no extra hardware is needed.
That seems to be pretty good, too.

You could make these as big as you want, of course. Mine are are about 1/2" in diameter, sized for bluegill jigs - 1/32 and 1/64.
If you have a magnifier, you could go smaller.
Obviously, you could also go larger if you want.
The one thing you have to watch out for is that the disc doesn't interfere with the hookup, by getting in the way of the point.

So lets be clear: I broke no new ground with my panfish-size discs. Someone beat me to it, and I'm not taking credit for the idea.
However, I can make them, where I can't BUY the others.

So, I did something special in my mind.
Don't stop me, I'm on a roll!

Making the Starship Jig
The first Starship Jigs I made were cut from clear plastic, heavy stuff taken from product packaging. I just traced a circle and used scissors. 
From there I tried punches. This is a bit neater and delivers a more consistent result. My homemade punches are thin walled tubing, stainless mostly, ground to a cutting edge.
But you can also buy punch sets to help ease the job.
Here's a set of hollow punches from Harbor Freight:

Hollow Punch Set

You don't need machinists grade stuff for punching discs from plastic, so these would do fine at $8.99
For five times as much, you can get punch and die sets on ebay. A little more precision, and a very cool tool.
Whether the cost is justified is your call.

Once cut out, I then poke a teeny hole in the center with an awl or embroidery needle. This hole is then forced over the jigs eye; I just use my thumb to do this.
The idea is to have the disc grip the wire shaft below the eye. NOTE: the hole must be fit to the hooks wire diameter, and not to the width of the eye.

Now you have a jig head with a "flying disc" attached on top. And they're so cheap, you can have them for all your jig heads.

So How About That Name?
The genesis of the idea was the rotary wing of helicopters.

But they really look a Federation starship from the hit sci-fi franchise, “Star Trek.”
Kinda geeky, I know.

Starfleet Saladin-class interceptor

But I'm sure you see the resemblance, and that is how they got their name, “Starship Jigs.”
Like the discs themselves, this isn't original, either. But they have the desired effect, and they do go where no jig has gone before.

The jig is slowed and even has some rudimentary "flight" characteristics on the fall. It spirals and seems to float a little as it falls through the water. Its something of a swim-glide action.

I should stress that most of this "flying" action depends on hydrodynamic drag induced by the trailer. In other words, you need something dragging behind to help the disc "hang" in the water. Jig bodies with curly tails work well, and a large tuft of marabou or buck tail may also work, too.

I came to preferring shad dart jigs for this, because of their elongated shape, but you can do it with any jig.

Where Are They Now?
I must confess that I never really wrung out the concept; I tried them, they worked, I moved on.
I got into fly fishing around that time and that ruined me. I haven't really revisited them until recently. I'm currently working on another lure project, so I have to get that sorted out first. But I'll make some more Starship Jigs for this season and do some updates.

In the meantime, you might want to tinker around with it and see what happens.

Thanks for reading, and Tight Lines


David
Palmetto Fly n Fish

Comments? Opinions? Gripes? Feel free to leave your comments and visit us at: Palmetto Fly N Fish

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, 2025 Reproduction, all or in part, is forbidden without express permission from the author

Worm Farming... Again!

Today, I'd like to show you my start on a, "worm farm," in anticipation of next year's fishing season.

For this job, I've selected three junky, 5-gallon buckets picked up on the side of the road, with 1/4" holes evenly drilled in the bottom of two buckets. 

You can scale this to any size you want, and you may have seen plastic tote bins used for this. But, I had the buckets handy and they have been a go-to before, so they get the nod. 

This project has been in operation for about a week and a half, as of publishing this article.

The Buckets Three

Bucket #1.

This is the first of 2 worm containment buckets; it starts the process.

As mentioned earlier, the bottom of the bucket is drilled with 1/4" holes, spaced about 2 inches apart.
It is then filled with shredded newspaper, dampened but not sopping wet. I shred the stuff by hand, and just wet it before adding it to the bucket. It isn't packed in tight, either, but is placed in loosely.
This will be the bedding media for the worms.

On top of the dampened newsprint, I've placed a large handful of composted native soil, and the worm bedding that comes in a tub of bait shop worms.
This bedding media is then capped with a piece of carpet, cut 1-1/2" smaller than the interior diameter of the bucket.

Cap It Off

This smaller-diameter carpet cap is important. It creates an air-and-light gap between its edge and the side of the bucket. In effect, this makes an "exclusion zone" which the worms tend to avoid.... which, in turn, deters them from crawling up the side of the bucket.
The worms are given vegetable kitchen scraps and a few bits of dry cat food once a week, and only enough water to keep the bedding and carpet cap moist. They worms now have a happy little home in which to grow.

Plantain and sweet potato peels, apple slices....yum!

All this has one main purpose - I want the worms to prefer living in the top layer of bedding, under the carpet cap, and near the food.
They can move throughout the bedding media as they feed and grow, but the top is to be their main living area.
Why? Because it makes it easier to find them when they're needed for fishing!

Bucket #2
After several months, the worms will have bred and multiplied in bucket #1, thoroughly infiltrating the media in the bucket.
In the process, they deplete the food and convert the bedding into mulch.
For these reasons, they eventually need to be moved to a fresh supply of bedding in a new bucket. That is where bucket #2 comes in to the picture. This bucket is essentially the same as bucket #1 - filled with dampened newspaper strips and drilled through the bottom with evenly spaced 1/4"holes.
To achieve the move to a new bucket, the carpet cap is taken off the first bucket, and # 2 is simply set on top of bucket number #1.
Then, since the worms are mostly in the upper level of bucket #1, they volunteer to crawl up into bucket #2 through the holes in its bottom, where they find new food and bedding into which their little "colony" can expand.
After about a week, nearly all the crawlers will be in bucket #2, and the media in bucket #1 can be processed.
To do that, you turn it out onto a plastic sheet, and examine it for any worms that didn't migrate to bucket #2. Any stragglers are collected and moved to their new home.
Lastly, the spent bedding - which is now mostly worm "poop" (aka castings) - is gathered up and put into the garden or compost pile.

Bucket #3
This is the liquid catch basin, into which the buckets drain. A large rock is in the bottom to keep the buckets from "sticking" together.
This catch basin exists because the working buckets continuously drain off small amounts of excess waste liquid; this is water that isnt directly utilized in the life and maintenance of the, "worm farm."
This liquid, called, "worm tea," is collected in the catch bucket and, like the composted bedding, can also be used as fertilizer for plants.
In the picture, you can see an adventurous worm has made it's way all the way down into the catch bucket, after only 1 week. So they do move around in the bedding, as they explore and grow.

Catch Bucket and Friend

NOTES

- The worms are sold as, "wigglers," but are identified as eusenia hortensis, aka, European night-crawlers.

I got them about 2 months ago at a bait shop, and they've been in my refrigerator or utility room ever since! I fed them a little oatmeal and water through that period, but nothing else. They're very resilient in that way.
In fact, these worms are an important part of this project, because they are different than the common leaf worm found in the garden. I learned the hard way that those don't work for this, as they are not composting worms. 

I tried farming them in the past, since I could get them easy enough in the woods. But they are a bit fragile for this job, they don't cooperate like the wigglers do, and they readily get wanderlust and tend to escape. This is probably due to their natural foraging habits, but overall, they are unsuitable for worm farming.
The wigglers, by contrast, are pretty hardy and they tend to stay put near the food. They are composting worms, which is crucial. They do well at temperatures between about 45 and 80 degrees, and are not very demanding. They also grow fast and are fatter and juicier than true, "red wigglers."

That's why they predominate in the commercial bait industry.

- This worm farm will be kept in an exterior utility room that is around 50 degrees in winter. This is to ensure my wifes peace of mind, more than anything. Worms in the house are definitely not her thing!
However, the worms reproduce better at temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees, so I will be adding a heat mat below their buckets to assist with that.

- For now there is only the single bucket, #1, and it will be a few months until the worms chow through it and bucket #2 is needed.
In case I forgot to mention it, worm farming is a slow process. You need patience....

- As I said in the beginning, you can scale your worm farm to any size.
In the past, I've used scavenged house-plant pots, thrown away coolers, plastic bins, even crisper drawers from an old refrigerator.
My preference is to scavenge and recycle the containers I use, going for the sort of thing that has been tossed on the trash heap.
By contrast, you can also spend as much money as you want and go super deluxe with it. If that's your style, have at it!
But the point is, most any type of container will work, with plastic being the hands-down choice for ease of drilling, etc.
Some people, by their nature, will want to go gigantic with this, and it adapts to that. I know one guy who does this in an old bath tub in his shed. Others use old refrigerators as a worm farm.
However, you'd be surprised how many worms will grow and live in a well-maintained bucket arrangement like this. Historically, I haven't needed a lot of worms, so a bucket worm farm has been about right.

But now that I'm remarried and have a fishing partner, I might need more. If that happens, the whole operation can just move into larger plastic tote bins.  

- I will also look at doing this with Aftrican nightcrawlers before long. These worms are big, 6-12" long, but unlike their European and Canadian cousins, these African versions can tolerate the higher temperatures one finds here in the South. It seems prudent to have these available, as the smaller ones can be used for panfish, much like the red wigglers. But the big whoppers appeal to fish like catfish and bass. So they present a sort of two-fer deal for the worm farmer.

For now, thats it. Worms aren't very exciting, and there isnt much to do once they are settled in. Once or twice a week you feed them, give them some water - and then go do something else. 

------------<~~>-----------

I hope you found value in this article. 
Do you have questions, gripes, or suggestions?

If so, email me at...dahutist@gmail.com

Thanks so much for reading, and...

Tight Lines,

Dave Hutton

Trolling Motor Batteries...How Long WIll They Last?

Since the inception of electric trolling motors decades ago, the sealed lead-acid battery has been the go-to for anglers. In time, batteries evolved and the AGM (absorbent glass mat) lead-acid battery became the hands-down choice.
Today, those with big budgets have become enamored of the newer LiPo batteries - aka "lithium" - but thats a different technology and it has its own problems. So, for a long time to come, the sealed, lead-acid AGM battery will remain the choice for a great many anglers.

For those who dont know the difference, or the advantages and disadvantages of either one, I put together an in-depth, two-part feature on them. You can find that here:

Batteries For Trolling Motors

As a follow up to that, I offer the following, because the bad news is that anyone who claims to know how long a trolling motor battery will last is guessing... at best. 

==========

So...How Long DOES a Sealed Lead Acid Battery Last? adapted from an article by Douglas Krantz

Sealed lead/acid batteries - including the common AGM batteries used with trolling motors - are generally rated to last 5 years. But that's the best case scenario. The actual lifetime of a battery is shortened by shelf life, gradual loss of capacity, the temperature that the battery is stored at and used at, and how the actual current is used from the battery.

However, several factors combine to shorten that lifetime. Purchase Date Between the time that the battery was manufactured and the time the battery was available for sale, you can expect AT LEAST one to three months to have passed. Then, the battery will sit on the shelves of distributors and retailers for-who-knows-how long. A year is not uncommon. So that "sitting time" has to be added to this delay. Therefore, right from the start, the time between manufacture and installation of a battery has to be subtracted from that 5 years of life. Gradual Capacity Loss Unless something catastrophic happens to cause the battery to suddenly die, the capacity of a battery fades, or declines over time. That is the function of several factors, but ultimately, that is just the nature of batteries. For the manufacturer to list the average lifetime for a battery, because the battery's capacity fades over time, the manufacturer draws an arbitrary line in the decreasing capacity, and its a line that favors their predictions. When the battery crosses that line, and no longer has enough capacity, the manufacturer will say the battery has exceeded its lifetime. Half Shorter; Half Longer On the positive side, half of the batteries last a greater time than the "average" lifetime. But, on the negative side, half of the batteries last a lesser time than the average lifetime. When the manufacturer says that the average battery lasts 5 years, that means that half of the batteries don't last that long. You may be lucky and have one of the batteries that lasts longer than 5 years, but don't count on it. When you buy a battery, you can expect that it may not last 5 years. Storage Temperature and In-Use Temperature The temperature that the battery is exposed to affects the capacity lifetime of the battery. If the battery is stored or used at a temperature that is higher than normal room temperature, the battery's lifetime decreases. If the temperature is high enough, that decreased life can be drastically shorter. Cold temperature extremes can affect the lifetime of a battery, too. Remember that batteries are chemical-based storage systems. As the temperature goes below room temperature, the chemical reactions that produce the electricity are reduced. These slowed chemical reactions reduce the immediate capacity of the battery. To make matters worse, sometimes the low temperatures can also reduce the long-term capacity of the battery. Amp/Hour Rating versus Rate of Use Batteries are rated in Amps of Current per Hour (Amp/Hours or AH). How fast you're using the current also affects the capacity of the battery. For instance: one amp of current used from an 8 AH battery might last the full 8 hours of use, but 8 amps of current used from the same 8 AH battery won't last anywhere near 1 hour. The higher current draw cuts the delivery capacity of the battery. If this high current use is repeated over and over again, as it is in trolling motors, the long-term lifetime of the battery will also be reduced. Often, when testing batteries, the manufacturer measures the capacity of a battery over 24 hours. For an 8 AH battery, the current that the manufacturer uses for the measurements is more like 1/3 of an amp. Unless you are planning on keeping the current down so the battery might last, say, 24 hours...., don't plan on the battery having the full Amp/Hour capacity stamped on the side. The manufacturer simply doesn't know how the battery will be used, so he can only provide what amounts to a general capacity rating for the battery. POINT TO REMEMBER: Repeated fast-draining of a battery shortens the lifetime of a battery. Imprecise Science In summary... The lifetime of a battery is affected by - The remaining shelf life. - Gradual loss of inherent capacity - The temperature that the battery is both stored and used at  - The way the actual current is used from the battery. Still other less common factors, like lack of maintenance, connector issues and more are also involved, so the Amp/Hour Rating on a battery is not a hard and precise science. What does all this mean? You must do all you can to extend the useable life of your batteries. You must monitor them, and, you must understand them and their needs. For all that, I encourage you to read the feature article linked in the introduction. ------------<~~>----------- I hope you found value in this article.  Do you have questions, gripes, or suggestions? If so, email me at...dahutist@gmail.com Thanks so much for reading, and... Tight Lines, Dave Hutton PS Many thanks to Douglas Krantz

Douglas Krantz helps those who install, service, and test fire alarm systems. He has worked in the electronics and fire alarm industries for more than 40 years....and he knows what he's talking about on the subject of batteries.  www.douglaskrantz.com

The Long Dragon - Unique Panfish Fly

    The subject of this article, "The Long Dragon,"  is a fly I used about 12 years ago, during my first seasons with the float tube.

    I call this pattern, "The Long Dragon," because it has the general look and "vibe" of a large dragon fly nymph..., and, it is a lengthy fly, thanks to the unique hook.
So, "Long Dragon," is both catchy and logical... and as good a name as any. 

    But, what I remember was the big bluegill I caught with the Long Dragon.

Luck Or Something More?
    There is a pocket water near my home that I had been fishing for several seasons, mostly with flies, so I knew it pretty well. I always caught fish there, mostly common panfish - and I was happy. So, I was a little surprised when the Long Dragon started catching some hefty sized bluegill. 

    Naturally I had to ask myself... "Why was I catching these in that same area, when I had not before?" 

    Maybe it was just dumb luck.... with me, that's always a possibility.

    But I am also reminded of something Terry Wilson has espoused: big bluegill tend to cautiously move in behind a potential meal, eyeball it for a bit, then snatch it from the rear.
    Since the featured hook on this pattern is long, the actual hooking portion of the fly is right at the tail, so the Long Dragon plays to this habit of theirs. "Maybe thats it," I thought. 

Deeper Water is Key
    The other thing that possibly contributes to big fish appeal is that this fly is good at getting deeper in the water.
    Once I got into fly fishing for bluegill, I soon discovered that surface trout flies, poppers, and all those nifty foam patterns are good at catching panfish... until they aren't.
    The main strike against them is that they are primarily a shallow, surface water game....and eventually the surface bite dies.
   That's when a certain reality steps in: bigger bluegill mostly live close to the bottom, in deeper water.
    The surface bite dies because the big bulls and hens prefer the bottom layer of water. This is especially so as the season warms, and the sun climbs higher. 

    The light entering the water becomes brighter, the surface water gets warm, or maybe even hot, and there is less oxygen in the upper layers.

    But its cool and dark nearer the bottom, and more and more food items become available to them down below. So they go deeper, and come to the surface less often. And as the old saying goes, "...you can't catch 'em where they aint."

    Thus, to increase your odds of catching bigger bluegill, you should arm yourself to fish deeper.  

What Is Deep?

    You might now be asking what I mean by, "deeper water?"
The answer is simple: "the deepest water within the given area where you are fishing."
    It might be a hundred feet deep a mile down the lake, but the deepest water in the vicinity where you are right now may be only be 10 feet... so THAT is the deepest water in the area, and that's where the better, mature fish choose to spend most of their time.
    The goal, then, is to either catch them down in this deeper water, or more likely, to intercept them where it leads directly to feeding areas. 
    This means you'll need flies that will get down in the water, and they will need to resemble something a fish would
want to eat - enter the NYMPH pattern.

Make Mine Nymphs
    The main idea here is to present something that looks like what the fish I'm is already eating, down where they move from the deeper water. For bigger bluegill, that is probably going to be something like a large nymph, or perhaps a small fish. 

    And while it is true that these guys will take a baitfish when they can, their mouths are still small, and they feed primarily on invertebrates...like nymphs.
    If I was to name a single fly for bluegill, it wouldn't be a popper or foam bug - it would be a nymph pattern. 

FLY NOTES
    Okay, enough gabbing; lets get into this.
    For this pattern I chose to go with a modified Briminator, because it closely resembles a large nymph, I already had success with the type, and it was one I was good at tying.
    But it is the hook that makes the difference.
 
Unique Hook For A Fly

    I was sitting at my tying desk one evening and was struck with a thought: "Why not use a radically different kind of hook? How about a cricket hook? That's definitely different."

 

    Its also a proven hook for panfish; many of us have probably soaked a cricket or two on one of these hooks. 

    If you aren't familiar with the cricket hook, it is technically a round bend, Aberdeen hook with a 4x or 5x long wire shank. A similar style is known as the, "Carlisle" hook.
    But it is that long shank that is the difference; it lets you create a "stretched" version of your favorite fly.

    A few other features of the cricket hook make it a good choice.
1. It is needle sharp and penetrates a fish's jaw easily. Keep it sharp and it nearly sets itself.
2. It is readily available at any tackle shop or Walmart under the Eagle Claw name.
3. It is not too expensive...just under $2 for 10, as of this writing.
4. It can be pulled free from snags.

    That last one, #4, deserves a special note. 

    Sometimes our flies snag on wood and other obstructions; it happens to all of us.
    When that happens, just point your rod tip at the fly, apply steady tension on the line, and pull straight towards you.
    If you tied a good knot, and your tippet can take the strain, the hook will actually begin to straighten... and voila! It very often pulls free from the snag.
    Then, using your forceps or needle- nose pliers, you bend it back into shape and you're back in the game. Easy-peasy.
    If these hooks have a drawback, it is that they are heat treated steel wire and not forged steel. This means they are not rhino-strong. But in my experience, they are adequate for most any bass and bluegill you'll encounter with this fly, when coupled with the naturally springy, shock-absorbing qualities of the rod and line plays.  

Long Dragon - Details
    The basic Briminator that is the foundation of the Long Dragon probably needs little introduction; it has become quite popular over the last 40 years. It is easy to tie, and requires nothing but basic, common materials. But in case you're not familiar, I wrote an article about it, here: 

THE BRIMINATOR

    And that is really all we have in the Long Dragon - a Briminator with an extended-body. So, I won't go deep into the tying sequence, here. For THAT, see the above link.

    However, to help the bigger Long Dragons get down in the water (sizes #6 and #4), I do change one thing: THE EYES.

    They may not look special, but they are rather unique. Unlike the usual bead-chain eyes normally seen on the Briminator, I use hematite/magnetite craft beads on the bigger ones.
    These beads come in the same sizes as most craft beads, and they are shiny black, which is good in my opinion. But, they are quite a bit heavier than any glass bead, or bead chain, without being gargantuan.
    For the same size, they approach lead eyes in weight, and are significantly heavier than bead-chain.

    Lastly, they are slightly magnetic. I don't think this adds any mysterious fish catching properties but, who knows - maybe it does? 

    
    To use these beads, I employ the melted-monofilament technique to make a pair of eyes on a central stem, which I then mount on the hook in the usual way.
    See the pics below to see what I mean...

Beads stuck together by magnetism

Mono core to be melted with a cigarette lighter.

Mono core melted on both ends

Finished eyes

 

Eyes mounted on hook; dab of nail polish

to finish off.

Complete fly with eyes

    So, why not just use lead eyes? Go ahead if you have them. But I use the hematite beads because they are inexpensive AND readily available at craft and hobby outlets. I also like the self-sufficiency of crafting my own eyes.

    

Fishing The Long Dragon

    The first rule of catching fish is fishing where they are, and we've covered that already.
    The second rule is you must give them something that looks like their usual food, and we've addressed that by mimicking a large aquatic nymph pattern.

    And here's why I go big with these.     My area lakes are full of large dragonfly nymphs. I've found these nymphs over 2" long, so I know the fish will recognize them as tasty food. With 350 species of dragonflies in North America alone, odds are quite good you have big nymphs in YOUR waters, too.     Another possibility is that down in the dim light of deeper water, the Long Dragon may appear like a small crayfish. So without duplicating any one thing, we are covering at least two options with one fly.  

    The nymphs discussed here are either free swimming, or wholly bottom dwelling, and crayfish tend to be down among the rocks. So there's your hint on using the Long Dragon: fish it down near the bottom where deeper water comes right up to shallower feeding areas.

    The beads are pretty heavy so they get down fairly well, and if needed, some extra weight can be added to the leader in the form of tungsten putty, Twist-On weights, or the old-school trick of a small split-shot on a loop at the hook eye.

    With this in mind, two ways to fish the Long Dragon are obvious... 1. First, always look for places where deep water abuts shallow feeding areas. 2. Fish the Long dragon as a slow-ish sinking pattern, tight around the deep side of cover - docks, wood, rocks, weeds.     Count them down, then keep them moving along with small strips and the occasional sharp snap to jig them upwards, like a nymph "jetting" along..., then let them glide back down. 3. Fish them weighted, or on a sinking line, right near the bottom, as crawling/swimming imitations of dragonfly nymphs or crayfish. Again, work them along the edge line between deep water and feeding cover.     The combination of light wire hook and heavy eyes makes the hook point ride up, so they tend to snag a bit less than conventional, hook-down patterns.     I mentioned the split-shot, eye loop method above - here's how to do that.     Tie the fly onto the tippet or line with a large 1" loop at the hook eye, and attach a small split shot to the bottom of the loop. This is less bother than fiddling with a shot dropper

    Then, just use a slow retrieve and keep them moving like they're creeping along near the bottom.

    Bass love a large morsel, too, so I suppose the big Long Dragons will appeal to these gamey fish. I've never targeted bass this way, so I can't honestly say this is a, "bass fly."
But knowing how they love to crash any party, I can't imagine a Long Dragon would fail to get their attention. 

Hematite eyes

Bead chain eyes

Long Dragons, front to back:
small, bead chain eye

Larger, hematite eyes 

    The Long Dragon doesn’t duplicate anything in particular, but in the immortal words of Polly Rosborough, ...”it looks like something a fish would want to eat.”
    And that's really what it's all about.

===== 🐟 =====

Writers should always strive for a job well done... even half-baked ones like me. So if you found value in this article, please like, comment, and share it. 

Do you want to add the catching flies seen here to your own fly or tackle box?
Do you have questions, compliments, or suggestions?
If so, email me at...dahutist@gmail.com

If you appreciate a no-drama, no-hype Facebook group, follow this link and come join us at: 

Palmetto Fly n Fish

Thanks so much for reading, and...

Tight Lines,

Dave Hutton

© All rights reserved, David Hutton/Palmetto Fly N Fish 2024 

Hair Nymphs

April 18, 2024
If you like to write, and you know I do 😁, it is interesting to see something you did from years past. The first reaction is, "Did I write that? That 'aint half bad!"
Then, you're like..."Well, I'm still a hack..., but I like it anyway."
Today, I stumbled over an old post someone revived on the interwebs. I know all that stuff is still out there - somewhere - but it's a kick to see one dredged up.
This one was resurrected today at Panfish on the Fly, where I shared it in 2017.

===== < > =====

       The recent Hair Nymph Crusade here at the salt mines of Palmetto Fly n Fish has yielded this quirky hodgepodge of Franken-flies.

Hair Nymphs

    These are a mix of grey fox, squirrel, a bit of rabbit... and the orange-ish ones are dyed Australian possum, courtesy of Michael Butts.

    Even more interesting, the Aussie possum used was once part of Fran Betters' personal stash. Mike generously parted with a few pieces earlier this year.

    To add still another twist, these are tied mostly in the style of Polly Rosborough's, "Casual Dress."
    So, added up: they are Rosbourough-inspired flies, using fur that was once in Fran Betters' own horde.

    If you don't know who those guys were - shame on you. Get to googlin'!

Hackle Tricks

    Now for a confession: I pretty much suck at the proper, spun hair-loop called for on the collars. That technique has eluded me, mostly because I lack a wax with enough tack and a single hook loop spinner.

The wax is a key part of holding the hair to the thread while the spinning is accomplished. Someday, I'll get the knack for it, Someday.

    But, all is not lost, because I found a workaround that I like better - the reverse hackle method. This has provided the means to make a very nice hackle on these flies, as you can see in the pic. The one at the front, right, is a clear example of that style for attaching the hackle hair.

    It's feels odd to talk of hackle and hair in the same breath, but that's the whole point of this exercise. There isn't a feather in sight with these flies - everything is hair or fur cut from a single skin source.
    This helps making the flies rugged.

    The weird part is that the reverse-hackling method has been on my radar for years, yet, it has always been associated with feathers. But here I have crossed-over the method and adapted it to use hair.

    Learn a technique...then apply it in a new way.
Check. ✅

Tough Flies

    Each fly was also reinforced on the body with a wire rib, either gold or red. This adds a little extra weight to what is intended as a subsurface fly, but mostly it keeps the body's underfur dubbing from getting all raggedy.
    That's another layer of toughness.

    Lastly, these flies are reinforced with head cement at crucial points during the construction -

1. Underbody/hook shank

2. Tail - to - body

3. Hackle attachment

4. Thread wraps at head.

    This glue reinforcement is an old-school tying technique, which seems to have fallen from use. This is a bit of  mystery to me, because everyone seems to want rugged flies that hold together - but they don't use this trick. Maybe they think it's too time consuming; I dunno.

    But for slick, wiry hair, it keeps the stuff from pulling out, and adds the last bit of sturdiness.

FISHING

    Over the few years I've been doing this, I've found that hairy flies with lots of furry busy-ness are magnetic to fish.
- I once tied a wad of hair thrown up by my cat onto a hook - and the panfish went crazy for it. I called it the, "Cat Yak Fly."
- I also did that with a single hackle - just a hook and a hackle. And the result was the same.
    This makes me wonder why we go to the fuss over these flies, when a cat's hairball will do the job.  

    I've also noticed that hairy-fuzzy has become trademark of mine. Everyone has a "style" of their own, and looking in my Fly Box, 7 out 10 flies have this feature. 

    So I just roll with it.

    I have likewise found that "nymphy" flies are also fish magnets. Reviewing my notes, I see that most of by best fish in the last 2 years were caught on something resembling a nymph, or within that class of patterns.

    Today, I'm inclined to call these, "Hair Flymphs."
But whether 'Hair Nymph,' 'Hair Flymph,' or even, 'Hair Ball,' I know these flies will attract and catch the fish. Also, because of the hair-and-glue construction, I can expect they will meet my personal, "5 Fish Caught," Standard of Toughness.

Tight lines, amigos!

===== < > =====

All writers should strive for a job well done, even half baked ones like me. So, if you found value in this article, please like, comment, and share it. 

Do you want to add the catching flies seen here to your own fly, or tackle box?
Do you have questions, compliments, or suggestions?
If yes, I'm as close your email me at... dahutist@gmail.com

If you appreciate a no-drama, no-hype Facebook group, follow this link and come join us at: 

Palmetto Fly n Fish

Thanks so much for reading, and...

Tight Lines,

David Hutton

© All rights reserved, David Hutton/Palmetto Fly N Fish 2017/2024