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As Weedless As It Gets, And No Mono

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Txredraider:
About a year ago, I posted a tutorial for a pattern that I've been working on called the Upside Down Frog (UDF).  The tutorial is here: http://www.warmfly.com/smf/index.php?topic=5033.msg43813#msg43813  Unfortunately, not too long after that post, the drought set in on us in Texas in earnest causing my fishing time and motivation to be severely curtailed.

This spring moisture once again descended from the heavens and the itch was more than I could resist, so I picked up where I had left off with the UDF.  Since pictures say a thousand words, I'll save your eyes and my fingers and show off some results.

The deerhair protecting the hookpoint works better than I ever could have imagined.  It's "springy" enough to keep the weeds off, but has enough give to move out of the way when the fish strikes.  I have yet to have a bass throw the hook with this pattern.  I've actually tied a few variations of these on size 8 hooks for bream and seen similar weedlessness and hook setting ability.  That tells me that we need to be looking harder at hookpoint up flies with deerhair weedguards for all the species we chase.

When the water was cooler, I played with fishing the UDF on a sink tip line.  The buoyancy of the deerhair causes it to swim up after a few strips.  Bass HATE that. :)


Some bass get pretty enthusiastic about eating this pattern.  There's a reason people call them "hawgs".


This is the corner of the mouth hookset that I see the great majority of the time with this bug.  Oddly enough, it's usually on the opposite side of the mouth than is shown here.  I wonder if that is because I'm right handed?


Same fish.


Can you spot the clue that this bass was in heavy vegetation when he struck?


Another dark stockpond bass...and some folks wonder why they're called "black" bass. :)


Here's some proof from Lake Athens that it works in bigger water.  Of course, they aren't always big.


Last week, this larger one came out to play.  This photo was taken by my 5 year old daughter, who is also a great hand at running the trolling motor. :)


This big girl is my masterpiece so far.


These are not nearly all the fish I've caught with the UDF this year, but it's a good sample.  So there you have it: proof that your flybox just won't be complete without a couple of these tucked away inside. 

As I said above, even if you don't fish for bass, the deerhair weedguard has a lot of applications for any species that holds tight to cover.  Get tyin' and get catchin'!

Allen:
Thats great! Nice bass!
Also nice fly pattern.
I've tied up a few of them and caught several bass from a farm pond.
I really like this pattern!!

Txredraider:
Thanks, Allen.  I'm really glad to hear that you've given them a try and I'm THRILLED to know they've worked for you.

Did you have any issues with understanding the steps in the tutorial or in tying them?

If you get a chance, I'd love to see how your bugs turned out.

I've had the few folks that have tried the pattern tell me that they've never fished anything quite so weedless on a fly rod.  It's great to have the confidence in a bug to be able to cast it into just about any cover and know that you can strip it back in without spending half your valuable fishing time removing several pounds of moss and weeds.  Of course, I don't advocate casting into cover that you don't have a rod and leader up to the task of extricating the fish from.

Thanks again for your response.

Cliff Huntington:
Pretty neat fly.  Looks like it fishes well.  :)

SWMO:
Nice idea, I intend to try some.

How do you like your Mini Mag?

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