FlyLipps

Last week, before the cold front, I had some fly fishing friends in from Belgium, Glenn and his new bride Sandy. Glenn was lamenting about the poor quality of fishing in Belgium, so my friend Mike and I thought we would put them on some redfish. To insure that they catch a decent fish to brag about back home we took them to three mile bridge and let them get their fill of bull reds. It was a hoot watching them catch white trout and then telling them that was only the bait, we ran down the trout and hooked them up on some nice bull reds. Was an awesome time for all of us, but Glenn was wanting to get into some fly action so we pulled the boat out and headed for the Bayous hit some dock lights and hopefully catch a few specks. Well over the next few nights we caught more than just a few specks, we loaded up on both specks and reds.We must have caught 15-20 specks ranging from 15-22 inches and 6 or more reds from 17-22 inches. All fish were caught on my Spoon Rat in either gold, copper, or silver chrome. And as you can see in some of the photos, these flies took a beating, but never quit producing. We were working them slow and deep on some lights and fast and near the surface on others. These fish were hammering this fly. Was a great time, with some good friends. Here are some photos of just some of the fish we caught.



Glenn with his first real fly caught speck.



And then his first red on the fly



And of course Mike had to get in on the act with this nice red, that is a two tone Spoon Rat in the corner of Mr. Red's mouth.



This is me with the largest trout of the trip a 22 incher.



And this is a really nice multi-spot red



And another purdy red



And finally I have included this photo of one of the numerous ribbon, or cutlass fish, that we caught on the fly. I have chosen it to show how all of the Spoon Rats looked after many many attacks by reds, specks, and ribbon fish alike.

true-king

Awesome, thanks for the report. :clap

KPL

Looks like a great time had by all. I'm gonna have to try that fly fishing in the salt water. Thanks for the post and pictures. :bowdown

Stuart H. Brown

Looks like ya'll had a great time.Thanks for sharing. SHB

captken

Tell me about the "Spoon Rat." Looks good from what I can see in the photos. Evidently the fish like them.

__________________
Captken
http://www.panhandlefishingbooks.com/

FlyLipps

Capt. Ken

The Spoon Rat is the culmination of about a year or more of experimental work to combine the flash of a gold spoon with the vibration of a crankbait, but in a fly size and weight. I never liked throwing a Dupre Spoon, seemed hard to throw and sank like an epoxy stone, so I designed my fly out of foam and covered it with lure tape. By tying the fly with 1mm Razor foam I have a fly that swims downward but actually suspends off the bottom. If I tie the same pattern in .5mm Razor foam I have a fly that sinks but does so slowly. Depending on the depth I wish to fish I can use either a floating, intermediate, or even a full sinking line and vary the thickness of the Spoon Rat to cover the entire water column. I also have the option of working this fly very fast or slow it down to a crawl, fast produces a strong swimming vibration. While slow with short, sudden strips will produce a sudden burst of flash. I usually tie this about an inch and three quarters long, but also tie it in a larger version that is about two and a half inches long. And the color combinations are endless. One of the keys to the success of the fly is the swimming/flash combination and part of that is due to the shape as well as the short size of the #2 live bait hook, allowing for a more pronounced swing to the fly. As with many of my flies, it is not hard to tie but does involve some unorthodox tying techniques. I am sure this is probably more info than you really wanted, here is a photo of some recent color combinations:





the ones on the left are the smaller ones and the ones on right are the larger, all use the same #2 live bait hook. You will notice that I changed the hook eye to a more bend back style, this allows the weight to shift downward and reduces any spin.



Capt. Ken I just wanted to say I appreciate the posts you have made, they are really informative and we all benefit from honest input and good solid information. Hope this helps, call if I can be of any further service,

Greg Saunders

850 554 0878



PS The name comes from the fact that they originated as a spoon but look like a small rat.

bigpopper

Great report! I really like those fly rats, are you selling them anywhere? Great fishing to ya!

Capt. Bob Quarles

Greg,

That's a cool looking fly... why don'yt you talk to Steve at Dizzy Lizzy and put a bunch of your flies (including the scapin shrimp) in there.. so I and otherscan buy some....keep up the good work on the flies and the fishing reports.

FlyLipps

Thanks Bob, I have been getting some materials together to do some commercial tying. However, what I really need is some lessons from the master! Sorry I didn't know about your seminar until it was too late. I would really like to have gone. I have done several fly tying demos for the fly fishing club over there. They are a great bunch of guys.If you do another please post it early, I'd really like to go.

broglin

Greg,

Nice fish....I sent post to guys in the club to show off your flies and your fish....Merry xmas and Happy New Year....

Don

Panhandle Flyfishers

Destin,Fl