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"People say that there is a fly for every situation, but when you are flyfishing long enough you know that sometimes it's just not that simple. Particularly when you are flyfishing for pike, I can say that Bob's fly is the good choice. Nice, big, strong and shiny enough to get any pike's attention."
Tomaz Modic
Ljubljana, Slovenia
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On the surface the job was simple, come up with some pike flies for my friend's teenage son's trip to Canada, something small enough that a teenager can handle and still tempt a pike. Never seen one
Yeah, right! When it comes to pike my only experience was in books.
Sheesh! I have never even seen a pike let alone catch one but
I did have the basic idea: "Think big, lots of teeth and aggressive.
Can't be that difficult for someone of my vast talents"...
or so I thought.
I take off to the library (bathroom) loaded down with a good supply
of catalogs to ponder the fate of the free World and try to come
up with a solution to his problems. He was right, pike flies were
certainly big and since I've never really tried pike flies on
a tube this could be a fun change of pace.
The Criteria
After a few more library sessions I sort of laid out the criteria
for such a fly:
- It had to appear big without actually being big.
- It shouldn't absorb water nor be difficult to lift out of the
water to cast.
- It should be colorful.
- It must be tough enough to resist a mouthful on chompers (teeth,
lots of teeth)
- It should create a big fuss on the water.
And finally since pike are reported to be head bangers so the
hook should be next to the head.
Airhead amok
By this time I lost count of my trips to the library loaded
down with my priceless catalogs (damn lucky I have two such places
in my house) but I envisioned a sort of slider constructed almost
entirely of synthetic materials. For the head I'd go to a new
concept I've been playing around, Airheads, a hollow affair made
with braid and epoxy, sort of a popper turned around backwards.
Off to my tying room, congratulating myself on my brilliance I
started to whip one together and ended up with one giant glued
up mess (no, if I go to the library this time it'll be to throw
up). Clearly somewhere between conception and final product something
went amok.
While reading about "airheads" I must have missed something important
but being hardheaded I again tried again till I finally fumbled
my way to a workable process to construct this fly.
Happy camper
Finishing the flies I gave them to my friend's son and off he
went to Ontario, Canada catching some nice pike on them and was
a happy camper, my friend thought me a genius not knowing the
pile of stuff which filled my trash can from failed attempts.
I also have a friend from Slovenia who begged and pleaded for
some in red and white so to keep him happy I did him some too.
Same results, so maybe what they say about all those trips to
the library is true, "The best ideas are hatched in solitude".
OK, OK, enough of this jocularity, here's how you make a "Sabot".
Oh yeah, why the name "Sabot"? A sabot is a solid projectile used
to punch it's way through the side of tanks, you'll understand
the reasoning behind the name if this thing wacks you on the head.
Tying a Sabot
Stuff you're going to need:
(1) Some plastic tubing, I use Kennebec River's "Freshwater Tubes"
(2) Clear Nylon sewing thread, the only thread to use under epoxy
(3) Some sort of artificial winging material for the tail, choice
of color is yours but I've found Gordon Griffiths "Pearly" works
best, comes in many colors with highlights of sparkles, and can
be brushed out to create a hair like appearance.
(4) Some hackle, Chinese necks in a color of your choice
(5) Some hollow braided body material about ¼ inch diameter. Now
this part can be tricky as not all body material is suitable for
making "airheads". What I've found best is a flexible, expandable
material with some metal component to the braid, I wouldn't worry
about color too much but it's best to stay with silver or pearl.
Those braids made entirely of heavy plastic are worthless as they
totally unravel when you are trying to turn the braid inside out.
(6) Epoxy, slow and fast drying, Devcon again is my choice but
remember this, use only metal tools and do not mix on colored
paper as the epoxy will darken, plastic, glass or aluminum foil
is best.
(7) And finally something to color the head, my choice and only
choice is acrylic artists paint.
Step 1
Picture 1: Tube and hook holder.
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(picture 1) Cut a piece of tubing about 2-1/2 inches long, heat the end to form a knot and tie on a hook holder, since you'll be using a big hook you may have to double up the big holder with a small one underneath . Wrap the holder with the clear nylon sewing thread and epoxy the windings and let dry.
Picture 2: Winging
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Step2
(picture 2) Tie in a nice clump of
winging material evenly around the tube and right next to the
hook holder.
Picture 3: Hackle
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Step 3
(picture 3) Add the hackle, use two
pieces of a long flued feather, tie in by the tips and fold the
feather while winding to produce a nice thick collar. Tie off
and epoxy the windings.
Picture 4: Controlling the wing
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Step 4
(picture 4) With thread tie down
the collar and make several ties along the wing. This is an important
step as the feather and wing seems to find its way into the epoxy
while drying.
Ok, let's take a break, time for some coffee... So far this fly
is really nothing special, a common pike pattern used everywhere.
You actually could make any style head either solid epoxy, wood
or foam but what separates mine from others is the fact my head
is hollow epoxy so if your break is done it's time to make the
head.
Picture 5: Braided tubing
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Step 5
(picture 5) Take some of the braided
material and push it up the tube so the braid covers the collar,
push it along the tube and tie it down right next to the previous
windings. Don't be afraid to use too long a piece of braid as
this stuff has a nasty habit of unraveling some. The more stiff
plastic in the braid the worse the unraveling. Epoxy the windings
to form a water seal between the braid and tube, let dry thoroughly.
Picture 6: Turning braid inside out
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Step 6
(picture 6) Right! Now the tricky
stuff, basically we're going to turn the braid inside out and
form the head, easier said than done. Take your fingers and gently
grasp around the braid and pull forward on the fly, rolling the
braid inside out. It'll probably take a couple of times to completely
get the material completely turned around.
Picture 7: Tying down the braid
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Step 7
(picture 7) Push the braid to the
rear and it'll form a cup which will cover all the windings (sort
of a backwards popper) , tie down the nose of the head and whip
finish, trim off the excess braid material.
Congratulations! You've made an "Airhead"
Picture 8: Ready for epoxy
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Step 8
(picture 8) Since the braid is secured
now you can move it without fear of unraveling which is exactly
what we're going to do and fill in the braid gaps to make it waterproof.
Push the braid forward gently to expose the area in the cupped portion of the head, generally
it'll stay that way until pushed back. You're only going to get
one shot at this so be careful. Mix some 5-minute epoxy and apply
it to the cup area filling all the holes in the braid. This is
tricky because some of the holes will reappear so you'll have
to keep at it before the epoxy becomes too stiff to apply. Once
you think you have it push the head back into shape till it looks
like Picture 7.
Mix some more epoxy and cover the rest of the
head, let dry.
Coloring the head
I really like to use acrylic artists
paints here but certainly you could use other mediums but some
of these have a nasty smell and I'm not too sure they're not all
that good for the lungs.
Painting directly on the head is one option, this giving sort
of a translucent look but my favorite method is blending the acrylic
paint directly with a slow drying epoxy. First mix your colors
to obtain the desired shade, on a separate piece of aluminum foil
mix up some epoxy.
Slowly mix the acrylic paint in small amounts into the epoxy until
you have the amount you think is the proper shade, apply to the
head while turning the fly in the vise and quickly place in a
dryer so it turns slowly. Note: If the epoxy doesn't completely
dry cover it with a layer of "Sally Hensons Hard As Nails". Glue
on some dolls eyes and cover the head with another coat of epoxy,
let dry and trim off the excess tube.
Different it is
That's it, you have one very tough
slider, as far as original, it's not, but different it is. You
can make the whole thing bigger, use a rabbit strip or some hair
for the wing. I'm sure someone else will come up with some other
"Airhead" patterns but I hope you got some inspiration from my
efforts. Poppers are also fun and really not that much different
than a slider, actually a lot easier.
Good Luck.
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