Raccoon Loud Mouth

[Paul Arden]

Hi Piffen,

I was thinking a long shank 10, which is my most used muddler size, although perhaps switching to a size 8 hook would be better in this case. Sometimes when the hair doesn't flare or muddler well then the problem is with the deer hair itself. I personally don't normally spin it; instead I place it on top, 120 degrees and 240 degrees, and tighten to flare without spinning, stacking it tight with a ball point pen tube.

Cheers, Paul

[piffilus]

Thanks Paul!
I have tied some Diving Caddis by taking the bunch all around the shank and tying it but I want to get proficient at spinning too, just for the sake of it. I'll try your way too.

Which size foam cutter would you use then? I've got the kit so that's all good.

Cheers, Piffen

[Paul Arden]

Either 5 or 6mm, probably 6. We have a bit of flexibility here because the thickness of the sheets varies. I'll tie a few this week. I've caught Jungle Perch on Muddlers before so it will be a nice addition to the box!

Cheers, Paul

[piffilus]

The muddlers I've made are with black and orange deer hair with black marabou tail and orange with orange zonker in dubbing loop and hair tail, without the skin. Just experimenting. I'll try the loudmouth popper style too.

[Paul Arden]

That’s cool. For trout I used to use the standard Muddler Minnow with Turkey wing and gold body. That’s caught I don’t know how many fish. That was a real go-to fly for me. And muddlers were way out of popularity and probably still are. I also had a hot yellow/orange/pink one for near surface daphnia feeders. Both of those on long shank 10 4X hooks. It was only in the last few years of serious trout fishing did I realise the effectiveness of the night time muddler. There I don’t think colours would matter much but I never experimented.

I also have them in smaller sizes size 10 wetfly hook tied up with a Grenadier body. This was awesome on wet days on the reservoirs in August.

Cheers, Paul

[piffilus]

I've got some muddlers in the box you gave me. One with fluo yellow head and a pair of normal ones. One seems to be the Grenadier style with orange seal fur. I made a couple of small loudmouth poppers. I'll post some pics so you can see if it's any good to use.

Cheers, Piffen

[Paul Arden]

Ah great! Of course; I’d forgotten about that. Yep those are the ones. Nice to know some of my flies live! I lost my main box over the side of the boat in the tropical storm I wish I had given you that now

Looking forward to rebuilding it actually. I’ve bought the boxes in preparation!

Cheers, Paul

[piffilus]

Have you got a tip for cheap but good boxes? I seem to need some more of them all of a sudden.

Cheers, Piffen

[piffilus]

Actually I would like some tips on how to sort my flies. How are you others sort yours? Wets, nymphs, dries and so on, together or in their own boxes, by season or any other way?

Cheers, Piffen

[Paul Arden]

I try to go with one box, totally waterproof and then I add the foam sheets myself. I’m not very impressed with actual flyboxes because they either break or leak.

I organise dries on one side. Wets the other. Small streamers go with wets. Nymphs have their own layer. I tend to lump Stillwater stuff together. And a separate spot of River flies. The most organised box I had was the result of the members’ section. I tied those by working through the time of year. And then someone broke into my truck in Christchurch and stole it

Anyway this time I actually have a small fly box from Nick’s shop. I’ll add Gourami and Mahseer flies over the next months.

Cheers, Paul