Tuna Flys

[SilverFly]

Starting tying a few for the fly charter later next month, but I'm new to tuna and just guessing at this point. I'd also like to see some proven tuna flies, or even some of the better swimbaits, feathers, jigs, plugs, etc... just for reference when tying.

Whaddya think:

[Jsail]

They look great! I have no experience with tuna flies but here are a couple ideas to ponder.

The length between the end of the tail and the hook looks like a set up to get short bit. I would think a fatter body of maribou or something and a tail about as long as the gap on the hook.

The little live bait fish that I'm aware of are a needle fish.
I would tie one about 2 1/2 to 3" long with a long hackle head.

I think more feathers will give you more bulk.

Dunk them in water and see what they look like.

Thanks for the pics, show us your next batch.

[wthr4d]

Those are looking good, try a purple/white and purple/black combos. also zuchini (green/yellow/orange, i think) and Duck colors (neongreen/yellow).

Look at first bite jigs website, they are a sponsor and did some TUNA! flys a couple of years ago that were great looking. they had worked in mylar and some translucent shiny stuff.

paul

[O Tshawytcha]

Be sure to take some poppers!

[wthr4d]

heres a pic of some tried and true

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthrea...skein+tuna+fly

[skein]

Nice ties, Slilverfly. I think they will ALL catch fish. When I looked at your picture I thought to myself, "That rootbeer model on top looks hot, but so do the blue and silver ones, and the green...." In other words, I had a hard time picking a favorite. I think you could close your eyes, grab one, and catch fish.

What size hook did you end up using? And as Jsail mentioned, how do they look in the water?

Skein

[SilverFly]

Originally Posted by skein

Nice ties, Slilverfly. I think they will ALL catch fish. When I looked at your picture I thought to myself, "That rootbeer model on top looks hot, but so do the blue and silver ones, and the green...." In other words, I had a hard time picking a favorite. I think you could close your eyes, grab one, and catch fish.

What size hook did you end up using? And as Jsail mentioned, how do they look in the water?

Skein

Thanks. Hopefully the hooks I've used so far are big enough, - Mustad saltwater fly hooks in 1/0 and 2/0. Haven't gotten them wet yet but I think they will look good underwater. I couldn't find the yak hair that the flys on the other thread were tied with. I did find some stuff called "Fish Hair" that Kauffmann's carries that looks like really straight polar bear hair. I was able to get a nice effect with the blue/white fly at upper left by tying in hanks of Lite Brite between along the fly body between sections of FishHair. I also tied some up with glo-in-the-dark flashabou in case we start real early.

I'll post more as I get 'em done.

[GaryB]

Nice flies!

The fish we caught this weekend were spitting up little silvery minnow looking fish about 2" -3" in length. Somthing tied to resembled those fish might be a good one to have in the box!

GaryB

Bay City

[SilverFly]

Thanks. Here's a few more I tied up for my trip to Belize next week with tarpon/cuda/jacks in mind. Hmm, maybe I should take a day to fish the blue stuff outside the reef .

[Deeman]

If short bites become a problem (Probably not) tie a second hook on like a fixed hook mooching rig and let it trail back near the tail

[skein]

Those are really cool! I'll take six of each.

You WILL catch fish with those, and don't worry about short strikes. Most saltwater fish don't sip flies like the finicky fish inland; they attack 'em with a take-no-prisoners approach.

And I don't want to hear a bunch of stories about your tarpon/cuda/jacks down in Belize.

(I'm lying. )

Skein

[BrianMaguire]

We were smacking them on blue jigs last weekend. Orange and red, nada, blue "fish on".