Curly Tail Clouser

Here is a variation of a Clouser that adds a lot of a action to the fly. By using a soft plastic grub it creates lots of fish attracting action. My buddy Scott Bridges, who is a well know striper guide on Lake Texoma turned me on to this pattern. I changed it up a bit to incorporate a rattle and make the fly a little bigger over all. You can mix and match colors. I have one that is solid chartreuse with a glow in the dark tail. The best thing about tying flies is your the creator so you can make it your way.

The materials needed. Notice the ball point pen.

 Take the pen apart and take the spring out.

Take a brass worm rattle and slide the 

pen spring over it.

Next secure it with thread wraps.

Next you'll use a bucktail teaser 

and some mylar tubing. 

Slide the rattle into the mylar tubing 

and tie off the end.

Take some amnesia or other strong mono 

and thread it through the bucktail teaser 

to pull the mylar tubing through.

It will look like this.

Continue pulling it all the way to the top and 

grab your plastic grub.

You will want to cut the grub down to size. 

You only need about 1/3rd of an inch of body. 

Now screw the grub onto the pen springso it looks
like this. The cork screw design of the spring will
hold the grub during casting and fish strikes. 

I'm using a 2/0 EC 60 degree jig hook, tie in

the mylar tubing and cut off the excess.

Attach your eyes and the rest is just

like tying any Clouser.

And your done. If the curly tail gets bitten off or you want
 to change colors all you have to do is unscrew
 it off the pen spring and put a new one on.

More Ultimate Mods

I've seen a lot of yaks come onto the market in the past few years. Kayak fishing has sky rocketed and it seems every time you turn around there is a new name coming to the industry or an existing name coming out with the latest and greatest. I've looked hard at a lot of these new kayaks and the marketing/advertising departments do a great job putting promo videos together of their yaks and making one infatuated with their new yak. I've almost bit the bullet several times and put my Ultimate up for sale to get the new flavor of the year. But at the end of the day I'm glad I never have because the Ultimate has been the ultimate kayak for me. There hasn't been a situation it has let me down or a situation it couldn't handle. I'm always thinking of ways I can customize or mod it out to my particular needs. I wanted to have a little console or platform to mount the fish finder, rod holders, GoPro or just throw some flies on to dry out. Here is the new mod I finished up for about $30 and an hour worth of time. The only thing I bought was a 1'x2' piece or diamond plate aluminum from Home Depot. The rest I had left over from other projects. 

Ready to Fish

This is what the 14.5' Ultimate tandem looks

like rigged as a single.

Take a straight edge and draw a line.

Do this on both sides.

Take a Sawsall or other saw tool and cut along

 the straight edge you just drew.

(Both sides as well).

 Take a file and clear off all the burs. 

Then put the support bar back in.

Test fit the piece of aluminum. Its going to fit

into the slots you just cut.

We will use the other support bar that comes with the yak

for the next step. It is a 1" diameter bar so drill out

a hole on each side just above the foot rest.

You will have to cut a few inch's off the bar 

to make it fit properly.

Now put the aluminum plate pack in place.

Next I put some hydroturf over the aluminum.

This stuff is awesome! 3m backing you just

peel and stick.

I finished it off with a couple flush

 Scotty rod mounts for the fish finder, 

rod holder and other plug 

and play accessories. 

Next mod will be a anchor trolley. 

Electric Chicken SBS

I'm no Brian Wise when it comes to tying videos. Did this little Step By Step on a pattern using Blane Chocklett Big Game Shanks. Its basically a articulated Deceiver. Electric chicken is a color combo of pink over chartreuse and is a popular saltwater color at varies times. Its a very easy and simple pattern to tie. Hope yall like it.  

The Electric Chicken

A few color combos

I start off with a 6mm worm rattle and some mylar tubing. 

Place the rattle inside the tubing and wrap up one end. 

I'm using a 3/0 EC O'Shaughnessy hook for this pattern. 

Tie in the mylar tubing and cut off the excess. 

Wrap the shank with lead wire.

 (optional)

Cover lead securely with thread wraps. 

Tie in you saddle hackle or schlappen. 

Add some grizzly if you'd like. 

Use one of Blane Chockletts 28mm big game shanks.

Secure articulated shank in vise. 

Tie in some flashabou.

Add some bucktail.  

Reverse tie some more bucktail. 

Add some krstal flash the length of the bucktail. 

 Fold back buctail and secure with wraps. 

Add the eyes, and your finished. 

Chartreuse over white.

Tan over white. 

Sabine River Sandbass'n

Had a great time down on the Sabine river this past weekend. Caught plenty of fish and had a great time with with everyone that was able to make the trip. For yall that didn't we will probably make this a yearly trip so mark your calendars for next spring. I'll let the pics do the talking, hope you enjoy the white bass porn. 

Not bad for the first fish of the trip.

An average fish for the Sabine.

One of the better fish at 17"

Lots of fat females.

Camp over looking the river.

Big fish on little rods.

Robert fighting a fish off one of many sandy beaches.

James hooked up.

Did I say these fish were fat.