Post by reelteacher on Jul 3, 2008 14:11:01 GMT -5
I observed my first Japenese Beetles of the year yesterday on my deck, munching away at my wife's ferns and flowers. Here is a story I wrote 2 years ago. I hope you enjoy it. Unfortunately, the pictures of tying the beetle didn't copy onto this format. If you want the original copy with pictures, e-mail me at:
tabertd@leb.k12.in.us and I will send you the complete article with pictures step by step tying instructions.
There’s something great about July!
July 14, 2006
Last Monday, I went to my parent’s house to cut their grass, since they are both gone to Florida visiting my sister and their 1 year old grandson. As I was mowing, I noticed a particular clump of bushes that had lots of bugs around it. Every time I went by the bugs would hit my face, fly in my hair and generally annoy me. When I finally finished mowing, I made it a point to go over and investigate the pests that had been tormenting me on the mower. I discovered just what I had suspected, thousands of Japanese beetles. This exotic invader is a curse and a blessing. Their appetites are never suppressed as they devour nearly any vegetation that they come across. They can nibble their way through every leaf on a tree or cut the very life from corn and soybeans. A true eating machine that is second only to locusts that sometimes invade parts of the west and Africa. The blessing is that fish are a major predator to these iridescent green beasts. Years ago, my father and I were fishing Lake Freeman for bass and panfish. We kept a few big bluegills and sunfish for the skillet and upon cleaning them, we noticed that there stomachs were completely packed full of Japanese beetles. It was amazing how many were jammed into their little throats and stomachs.
Since then, I’ve tried several times to create an imitation that would effectively fool panfish into thinking I had one of these beetles on the end of my line. A few of these imitations were marginally successful, but didn’t have the kind of characteristics I was looking for. Many of them sank after I hooked a fish or two, some were hard to see after they hit the water, and some just plain didn’t fool anything. So after I saw these beetles munching all over this bush, I collected a few in a Zip-lock bag and went home to work on a better imitation. As soon as I got home, I euthanized my little beauties and watched as they went to sleep in rubbing alcohol. It was a quick death, and I stuck them with a needle to make sure that the job was done. I put the beetle, now with a stake through its thorax, on my fly tying table and began working. In short order, I had three likely imitations that I felt could do a decent job. The next day I went to the local strip pit with my pontoon boat and my bug collection.
I attached the first beetle onto 5 X tippet and began casting to likely locations where Japanese beetles might be found. Primarily under trees and shrubs that lined the edge of this particular strip pit. I didn’t find any visible signs that Japanese beetles were in the area, but I figured that the fish would remember these bugs from years past and key in on my imitation. Well, it only took two casts before a big gill hammered that little beetle. Over the next hour, I had over fifty hits and landed nearly half that many.
I experimented with how far out the gills would travel to come eat my imitation. The strip pit where I was fishing has extremely steep banks. Every one foot from shore the water depth increases by a factor of 2. The average depth of the pond is about 20 feet. This is July, so I figured the fish may be deeper to escape the heat, but recent rains and below normal temperatures proved otherwise. In fact, my casts had to be very close to shore and accurately placed under each piece of vegetation. Sometimes the fish would nail it as soon as it hit the water, others the fish wanted to see it moving or twitching before they would strike. One thing was clear, if I didn’t get my bug within three feet of the bank, the catching ratio plummeted. These wary fish were not willing to leave the security of cover to get an easy meal. Another thing that amazed me was the fact that some trees had lots of fish around them and others, that looked nearly identical to me, were completely void of life. I can’t explain this. That’s why it pays to keep moving and don’t park in one spot too long. Also, the gills learned quickly that my forgery was indeed a fake. They would soon ignore my presentation, no matter how delicate it was, at which point, I’d pack up and move on down the shore to the unmolested.
After one such move, I cast out my fly about 25 feet under a likely bush and as soon as it hit the water, I saw a significant wave rushing at my fly. With a modest slurp the fish took the fly and I set the hook into an absolute hog fish. I knew right away it could only be a large bass. The fish dove hard and amazingly swam out into the open water, where I knew I had a better chance of landing it on my 5X tippet. After its first dive it swam out and up and finally broke the surface in a leap that cleared the water by 2 feet! I then became truly excited as this fish looked to be as big as I had imagined. As fast as I could, I put the fish on the reel and hoped that it would not shake loose or break off. The giant bucket-mouth dove for a second time and began to pull my boat in circles. I was impressed by this fishes determination and fighting ability. If I didn’t see the fish, I would probably guess it was a smallmouth. After 2 or 3 minutes of a tough battle, the tired fish came to hand and I measured it to be a real 20” about 4.5 lbs. This is significant, because it is the largest bass I have ever taken from this particular lake. And, it took the Japanese Beetle! I caught several more bass that were much smaller, but that just proves that this food source is not ignored by larger fish.
Because of my findings, I would like to share with you my technique to tying this pretty cool imitation, which only takes about 15 minutes to tie, if you have all of the materials ready to go. So let’s tie one on!
Materials:
Hook: Mustad R50 # 12
Thread: UItra Thread Burnt orange 140
Body: 2mm Fly Foam, Olive.
Underside: 3 Strands of Peacock hurl
Legs: Silly legs, 3 one inch pieces. Olive or Black
Shell back: 20 strands Krystal flash, mixture of peacock, rootbeer, and brown.
Post: 2mm Fly Foam, Yellow
Instructions:
1. Place the hook in the vise and make a jam knot with the thread.
2. Tie in the clump of Krystal flash near the hook bend and then advance the thread forward toward the hook eye.
3. Trim a rectangular section of olive fly foam about 1 ¼ inches long and ¾ of an inch wide. Trim one end of the foam on both sides down to a point. Tie in this point at the eye of the hook and wrap the foam down as you work your way back to the hook bend.
4. Tie in the three strands of peacock hurl and work forward about a 1/8 of an inch.
5. Tie in four legs by bisecting two, one inch pieces of silly leg material, one on each side. Make two tight wraps so the pieces are forced to splay out and then wrap forward to the hook eye and secure with a half-hitch.
6. Now tie in the front two legs by using a criss-cross method right behind the hook eye. You may need to use you fingers to adjust the front legs so that they are pointing slightly forward. Now wrap the thread just behind the two front legs about 1/8 inch behind the eye of the hook.
7. Wind the three strands of peacock hurl together as one, forward make sure to cover the entire body with the hurl. Work in-between the legs and continue winding in front all the way to the thread. Tie in at this point. You don’t need to go all the way to the eye of the hook.
8. Pull the olive foam piece forward and secure with two tight thread wraps.
9. Now bring the Krystal flash forward and tie in here also. (At this point, you may want to use Zap-a-gap to secure the Krystal flash. I didn’t do this to my originals and the Krystal flash worked its way free and sprang back and trailed the hook bend. This set back didn’t affect the fly’s ability to catch fish. (Be creative.)
10. Finally place a 3/16 inch by 1/16 inch of yellow foam on top of that and secure with two wraps and then whip finish. Add a drop of glue to the bottom to cover the thread, so that your fly stays together for the longest possible time. Also, if you de-barb the hook, it will make it much easier to get the fly out and that will also prolong the life of your fly. The yellow post really allows you to see your fly clearly. I highly recommend this step for optimal enjoyment! GOOD LUCK!
Now get out there and Fish!
tabertd@leb.k12.in.us and I will send you the complete article with pictures step by step tying instructions.
There’s something great about July!
July 14, 2006
Last Monday, I went to my parent’s house to cut their grass, since they are both gone to Florida visiting my sister and their 1 year old grandson. As I was mowing, I noticed a particular clump of bushes that had lots of bugs around it. Every time I went by the bugs would hit my face, fly in my hair and generally annoy me. When I finally finished mowing, I made it a point to go over and investigate the pests that had been tormenting me on the mower. I discovered just what I had suspected, thousands of Japanese beetles. This exotic invader is a curse and a blessing. Their appetites are never suppressed as they devour nearly any vegetation that they come across. They can nibble their way through every leaf on a tree or cut the very life from corn and soybeans. A true eating machine that is second only to locusts that sometimes invade parts of the west and Africa. The blessing is that fish are a major predator to these iridescent green beasts. Years ago, my father and I were fishing Lake Freeman for bass and panfish. We kept a few big bluegills and sunfish for the skillet and upon cleaning them, we noticed that there stomachs were completely packed full of Japanese beetles. It was amazing how many were jammed into their little throats and stomachs.
Since then, I’ve tried several times to create an imitation that would effectively fool panfish into thinking I had one of these beetles on the end of my line. A few of these imitations were marginally successful, but didn’t have the kind of characteristics I was looking for. Many of them sank after I hooked a fish or two, some were hard to see after they hit the water, and some just plain didn’t fool anything. So after I saw these beetles munching all over this bush, I collected a few in a Zip-lock bag and went home to work on a better imitation. As soon as I got home, I euthanized my little beauties and watched as they went to sleep in rubbing alcohol. It was a quick death, and I stuck them with a needle to make sure that the job was done. I put the beetle, now with a stake through its thorax, on my fly tying table and began working. In short order, I had three likely imitations that I felt could do a decent job. The next day I went to the local strip pit with my pontoon boat and my bug collection.
I attached the first beetle onto 5 X tippet and began casting to likely locations where Japanese beetles might be found. Primarily under trees and shrubs that lined the edge of this particular strip pit. I didn’t find any visible signs that Japanese beetles were in the area, but I figured that the fish would remember these bugs from years past and key in on my imitation. Well, it only took two casts before a big gill hammered that little beetle. Over the next hour, I had over fifty hits and landed nearly half that many.
I experimented with how far out the gills would travel to come eat my imitation. The strip pit where I was fishing has extremely steep banks. Every one foot from shore the water depth increases by a factor of 2. The average depth of the pond is about 20 feet. This is July, so I figured the fish may be deeper to escape the heat, but recent rains and below normal temperatures proved otherwise. In fact, my casts had to be very close to shore and accurately placed under each piece of vegetation. Sometimes the fish would nail it as soon as it hit the water, others the fish wanted to see it moving or twitching before they would strike. One thing was clear, if I didn’t get my bug within three feet of the bank, the catching ratio plummeted. These wary fish were not willing to leave the security of cover to get an easy meal. Another thing that amazed me was the fact that some trees had lots of fish around them and others, that looked nearly identical to me, were completely void of life. I can’t explain this. That’s why it pays to keep moving and don’t park in one spot too long. Also, the gills learned quickly that my forgery was indeed a fake. They would soon ignore my presentation, no matter how delicate it was, at which point, I’d pack up and move on down the shore to the unmolested.
After one such move, I cast out my fly about 25 feet under a likely bush and as soon as it hit the water, I saw a significant wave rushing at my fly. With a modest slurp the fish took the fly and I set the hook into an absolute hog fish. I knew right away it could only be a large bass. The fish dove hard and amazingly swam out into the open water, where I knew I had a better chance of landing it on my 5X tippet. After its first dive it swam out and up and finally broke the surface in a leap that cleared the water by 2 feet! I then became truly excited as this fish looked to be as big as I had imagined. As fast as I could, I put the fish on the reel and hoped that it would not shake loose or break off. The giant bucket-mouth dove for a second time and began to pull my boat in circles. I was impressed by this fishes determination and fighting ability. If I didn’t see the fish, I would probably guess it was a smallmouth. After 2 or 3 minutes of a tough battle, the tired fish came to hand and I measured it to be a real 20” about 4.5 lbs. This is significant, because it is the largest bass I have ever taken from this particular lake. And, it took the Japanese Beetle! I caught several more bass that were much smaller, but that just proves that this food source is not ignored by larger fish.
Because of my findings, I would like to share with you my technique to tying this pretty cool imitation, which only takes about 15 minutes to tie, if you have all of the materials ready to go. So let’s tie one on!
Materials:
Hook: Mustad R50 # 12
Thread: UItra Thread Burnt orange 140
Body: 2mm Fly Foam, Olive.
Underside: 3 Strands of Peacock hurl
Legs: Silly legs, 3 one inch pieces. Olive or Black
Shell back: 20 strands Krystal flash, mixture of peacock, rootbeer, and brown.
Post: 2mm Fly Foam, Yellow
Instructions:
1. Place the hook in the vise and make a jam knot with the thread.
2. Tie in the clump of Krystal flash near the hook bend and then advance the thread forward toward the hook eye.
3. Trim a rectangular section of olive fly foam about 1 ¼ inches long and ¾ of an inch wide. Trim one end of the foam on both sides down to a point. Tie in this point at the eye of the hook and wrap the foam down as you work your way back to the hook bend.
4. Tie in the three strands of peacock hurl and work forward about a 1/8 of an inch.
5. Tie in four legs by bisecting two, one inch pieces of silly leg material, one on each side. Make two tight wraps so the pieces are forced to splay out and then wrap forward to the hook eye and secure with a half-hitch.
6. Now tie in the front two legs by using a criss-cross method right behind the hook eye. You may need to use you fingers to adjust the front legs so that they are pointing slightly forward. Now wrap the thread just behind the two front legs about 1/8 inch behind the eye of the hook.
7. Wind the three strands of peacock hurl together as one, forward make sure to cover the entire body with the hurl. Work in-between the legs and continue winding in front all the way to the thread. Tie in at this point. You don’t need to go all the way to the eye of the hook.
8. Pull the olive foam piece forward and secure with two tight thread wraps.
9. Now bring the Krystal flash forward and tie in here also. (At this point, you may want to use Zap-a-gap to secure the Krystal flash. I didn’t do this to my originals and the Krystal flash worked its way free and sprang back and trailed the hook bend. This set back didn’t affect the fly’s ability to catch fish. (Be creative.)
10. Finally place a 3/16 inch by 1/16 inch of yellow foam on top of that and secure with two wraps and then whip finish. Add a drop of glue to the bottom to cover the thread, so that your fly stays together for the longest possible time. Also, if you de-barb the hook, it will make it much easier to get the fly out and that will also prolong the life of your fly. The yellow post really allows you to see your fly clearly. I highly recommend this step for optimal enjoyment! GOOD LUCK!
Now get out there and Fish!