River running striped bass angling is still is full swing on the nearby Saluda River and as the season approached, I asked Jacob Braxton of Steelie Bros Fly Company if he'd mind sharing his take on the every deadly Crease Fly for a step by step tutorial.
If you don't have a few of these in your warmwater or saltwater fly boxes, why not?
CREASE FLY RECIPE:
HOOK - Mustad 2/0-3/0 Hook
THREAD - 6/0 Uni-Thread
TAIL - Bucktail/Crystal Flash
BODY - 2 mm Craft Foam
FOAM CUTTER - River Road Creations
EYES - Flymen Fishing Co. Eyes
Do you have your vise and fly supplies ready? Let's go...
STEP 1 - Using Crease Fly Cutter, cut out foam body piece from craft foam.
STEP 2 - Start thread and wrap back to hook point.
STEP 3 - Tie in your first color of bucktail, about one pencil thickness worth. This first color should be your lightest color as most fish have their lightest color on their stomachs. In this case we are using white.
STEP 4 - Tie in a 5-6” length of crystal flash midway on the flash. Then fold the tag end side of the flash back towards the bend of the hook and wrap back to tie in point to secure.
STEP 5 - Tie in your top color of bucktail. This color usually is darker than the bottom color. In this case we tied in a small ½ pencil thickness clump of orange then a pencil thick clump of camel colored bucktail.
STEP 6 - With your right hand pull up the buck tail clump that you have tied in. Using your left hand take your thread bobbin starting at the base and wrap up the buck tail ¼ of an inch or so and then back down to the base.
STEP 7 - Wrap the hook shank forward in thread make sure to cover any exposed areas of the hook shank as this gives something for the foam body to stick to. Then fold foam body in half and trim off the narrow back section of the cut out at an angle
STEP 8 - Using a red Copic Marker color the front edge of the foam body. It’s better to do this step now and gives you a cleaner result than coloring it afterwards and possibly coloring the hook its self or slipping on to the side of the body.
STEP 9 - Cover the wrapped hook shank in liquid super glue. Don’t go crazy with the glue as it does not need to be dripping off the hook. The less glue you use the faster it cures making it much easier to get the foam set in the proper position
STEP 10 - Pinch the bottom front edges together just below the bottom of the hook shank.
STEP 11 - While the fly is inverted pull the buck tail down and out of the way, lay a thin line of the super glue on the back bottom edge of the foam body and press together matching up the edges best you can.
STEP 12 - Not really a step but the foam body should sit high off the hook shank with a majority of the hook bend sit below the body. This will insure that the fly sits vertically in the water and will also help in the actually hook up with a fish. Sitting the foam body lower on the hook is another option, this will cause the fly to float more on its side when still which can give the action of an injured baitfish.
STEP 13 - Using a tan/brown Copic Marker color the top ¼ of the foam body.
STEP 14 - Using an orange Copic Marker color down the the half way mark blending back up into the tan.
STEP 15 - Using a black Copic Marker space out your stripes on the top of the foam body
STEP 16 - Continue the stripes down the side of the foam body. Use some artistic freedom at this step. Here I did a tiger stripe type look by lightly feathering out the lines at the bottom. Straight vertical lines can be used too.
STEP 17 - This step is optional but I think it adds another dimension of detail to the fly. Using both black and gray Copic Markers, add small spots to the foam body. I put larger spots towards the top of the fly and finer towards the bottom. Change the size of the spot by either using harder or lighter pressure on the marker tip.
STEP 18 - Using a very small drop of super glue press on a Flymen 3-D eye on both sides of the fly. Pinch on for 10-12 seconds or until glue has cured.
STEP 19 - Go try your work out either offshore or pond fishing as this fly is sure to entice some predators to the surface.
Want some of your own? Well, you've got options.
Tying your own stash? You can purchase pre-cut foam pieces HERE or you can buy your own cutter(s) HERE. Or, if you don't get a chance to sit behind the vise and just want some of these flies, you can order them HERE.
Visit the Steelie Bros Fly Company website to check out what other patterns they offer and follow the latest shop news on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
If you don't have a few of these in your warmwater or saltwater fly boxes, why not?
CREASE FLY RECIPE:
HOOK - Mustad 2/0-3/0 Hook
THREAD - 6/0 Uni-Thread
TAIL - Bucktail/Crystal Flash
BODY - 2 mm Craft Foam
FOAM CUTTER - River Road Creations
EYES - Flymen Fishing Co. Eyes
Do you have your vise and fly supplies ready? Let's go...
STEP 1 - Using Crease Fly Cutter, cut out foam body piece from craft foam.
STEP 2 - Start thread and wrap back to hook point.
STEP 3 - Tie in your first color of bucktail, about one pencil thickness worth. This first color should be your lightest color as most fish have their lightest color on their stomachs. In this case we are using white.
STEP 5 - Tie in your top color of bucktail. This color usually is darker than the bottom color. In this case we tied in a small ½ pencil thickness clump of orange then a pencil thick clump of camel colored bucktail.
STEP 6 - With your right hand pull up the buck tail clump that you have tied in. Using your left hand take your thread bobbin starting at the base and wrap up the buck tail ¼ of an inch or so and then back down to the base.
STEP 7 - Wrap the hook shank forward in thread make sure to cover any exposed areas of the hook shank as this gives something for the foam body to stick to. Then fold foam body in half and trim off the narrow back section of the cut out at an angle
STEP 8 - Using a red Copic Marker color the front edge of the foam body. It’s better to do this step now and gives you a cleaner result than coloring it afterwards and possibly coloring the hook its self or slipping on to the side of the body.
STEP 9 - Cover the wrapped hook shank in liquid super glue. Don’t go crazy with the glue as it does not need to be dripping off the hook. The less glue you use the faster it cures making it much easier to get the foam set in the proper position
STEP 10 - Pinch the bottom front edges together just below the bottom of the hook shank.
STEP 11 - While the fly is inverted pull the buck tail down and out of the way, lay a thin line of the super glue on the back bottom edge of the foam body and press together matching up the edges best you can.
STEP 12 - Not really a step but the foam body should sit high off the hook shank with a majority of the hook bend sit below the body. This will insure that the fly sits vertically in the water and will also help in the actually hook up with a fish. Sitting the foam body lower on the hook is another option, this will cause the fly to float more on its side when still which can give the action of an injured baitfish.
STEP 13 - Using a tan/brown Copic Marker color the top ¼ of the foam body.
STEP 14 - Using an orange Copic Marker color down the the half way mark blending back up into the tan.
STEP 15 - Using a black Copic Marker space out your stripes on the top of the foam body
STEP 16 - Continue the stripes down the side of the foam body. Use some artistic freedom at this step. Here I did a tiger stripe type look by lightly feathering out the lines at the bottom. Straight vertical lines can be used too.
STEP 17 - This step is optional but I think it adds another dimension of detail to the fly. Using both black and gray Copic Markers, add small spots to the foam body. I put larger spots towards the top of the fly and finer towards the bottom. Change the size of the spot by either using harder or lighter pressure on the marker tip.
STEP 18 - Using a very small drop of super glue press on a Flymen 3-D eye on both sides of the fly. Pinch on for 10-12 seconds or until glue has cured.
STEP 19 - Go try your work out either offshore or pond fishing as this fly is sure to entice some predators to the surface.
Want some of your own? Well, you've got options.
Tying your own stash? You can purchase pre-cut foam pieces HERE or you can buy your own cutter(s) HERE. Or, if you don't get a chance to sit behind the vise and just want some of these flies, you can order them HERE.
Visit the Steelie Bros Fly Company website to check out what other patterns they offer and follow the latest shop news on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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