The Bling is the thing

Lure modification. From taping and painting to manufacturing your own fishing lures.
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voyager
Posts: 174
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:37 pm
Species: whatever's biting
Location: Colchester

The Bling is the thing

Post by voyager »

Ok, so here it is February. In between this year’s taping sessions. Time to do some lure crafting in preparation of this spring’s fishing season. Over the past couple of season’s I’ve been experimenting with beaded tandem bucktails. With some fine tuning, several patterns have proven themselves as fish catchers. This whole thing got started by a brainstorming session with Pat (aka 4CS) where he suggested that I try to develop a tandem streamer version of one of his favorite Atomik flies. The result became the “Green Bling”. It turns out that not only women and rappers like bling, but salmon do too!

At past taping sessions I’ve been asked for the recipes and I’ve finally gotten around to writing them down. In general, I like a trolling fly to have some flash, color contrast, and a little fluorescent material somewhere. The beauty of this type of fly is that you can get creative and add or change a few things here and there. Feel free to improvise should you try to tie one and be sure to post pic’s of any fish you catch. Enjoy...


Image

Some basics:
Hooks – Mustad 3906, size 4 in front, size 6 in the rear
Wire –Berkley Steelon nylon coated wire, 20lb test
Thread – Black Danville 210 denier to attach the hooks to the wire, 140 denier for the head; 210 in fluorescent colors for the rear head on some patterns
Bodies – either flat or braided tinsel
Beads – 6mm or 8mm craft beads, transparent but as dark as possible. This is critical, pale colors do not work as well.
Eyes - 1/32 fluorescent chartreuse WTP tape eyes

Bling Patterns:
Green:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – white bucktail, gold crystal flash, green crystal flash, black crystal flash
Body – silver or gold tinsel
Tag – fluorescent chartreuse floss

Purple:
Overwing – tan portion of natural bucktail, copper crystal flash, fluorescent purple crystal flash, black crystal flash
Body – copper tinsel
Tag – fluorescent purple floss

Pink:
Overwing – tan portion of natural bucktail, copper crystal flash, fluorescent pink crystal flash, black crystal flash
Body – copper tinsel
Beads - unlike the other patterns these are glow pink rather than transparent

Blue:
Overwing – white bucktail, light blue crystal flash, fluorescent yellow crystal flash, dark blue bucktail
Body – silver or gold tinsel

Blue (CI variant):
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – pearl flashabou, wine crystal flash, blue flashabou
Body – silver tinsel
Thread - white

Orange:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – orange bucktail, gold crystal flash, orange bucktail
Body –gold tinsel
Thread – fluorescent orange on rear

Yellow:
Throat – red calf tail
Overwing – fluorescent yellow crystal flash, tan portion from a yellow bucktail
Body –gold tinsel
Thread- red thread on rear hook

Red:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – white bucktail, red flashabou, black crystal flash
Body – silver tinsel

Pearl (Grey smelt variant):
Underwing – white hackle
Overwing – white bucktail, fluorescent blue herring crystal flash, grey bucktail
Body – silver tinsel
Thread – red thread on rear hook
Tag – fluorescent red floss

Pearl (Rainbow Trout variant):
Overwing – white bucktail, pink fluorescent crystal flash, green crystal flash
Body – silver tinsel
Thread – Flourescent pink on rear hook
Tag – fluorescent pink thread

Teal:
Underwing – white bucktail
Overwing – white bucktail, fluorescent yellow crystal flash, flourescent teal bucktail, black bucktail
Body – silver tinsel
Tag – fluorescent yellow floss
Gecha (Gerry)
Posts: 4448
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 12:26 pm
Species: whatever crazy enough to bite

Re: The Bling is the thing

Post by Gecha (Gerry) »

Thanks Voyager. These are beautiful montages. Thanks for providing detailed information. I might try to do a few if winter tends to hang out too long.
Last edited by Gecha (Gerry) on Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gecha (Gerry North of the Border)
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Shake-n-Bake
Posts: 362
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 1:52 pm
Species: coldwater
Location: Lake Luzerne, NY

Re: The Bling is the thing

Post by Shake-n-Bake »

Beautiful craftsmanship... Thanks for sharing and providing the recipes.
See you on the pond!
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jusgrinnin
Posts: 511
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 12:53 pm
Species: warm&cold
Location: canaan nh

Re: The Bling is the thing

Post by jusgrinnin »

Man those look good I will have to add them to my tying list thanks for the look :D :D :D
BARRY
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4cs
Posts: 166
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 2:21 pm
Species: Salmon, Trout
Location: Fairfax, VT

Re: The Bling is the thing

Post by 4cs »

Hey Paul

Nice to see the "Bling" library and I with you in that the salmon definitely like them. You really do tie up some very nice flies and when we get together I'm always drooling when I see them. LOL

You going to make it over for some spring fishing ???

Pat
Crazy Ivan Lures

http://www.crazyivanlures.com/

Eat, Sleep, Fish and then a Crown Royal
voyager
Posts: 174
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:37 pm
Species: whatever's biting
Location: Colchester

Re: The Bling is the thing

Post by voyager »

Thanks for the kind words guys...

Hey Pat, you can count me in for spring fishing. If the weather cooperates I'll be at the next taping session too!
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drachma
Posts: 574
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 3:42 pm
Species: Salmon, Lake Trout

Re: The Bling is the thing

Post by drachma »

Paul,

Great looking flies. Ain't "old school" that's for sure.

Michael
Dockside
Posts: 316
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 10:01 pm

Re: The Bling is the thing

Post by Dockside »

Looking good swing by so I can see a few.
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