[SpecialEd]

I used to tie my own hair jigs for river fishing.

Recently I tore apart (mentally) a 4" salmon trolling fly. You know, the ones with the shiny mylar skirts, long leaders, and big treble hooks...

Anyway, after seeing what they cost in stores ($5 to $8 each), I set out to build a better and cheaper version suited to my needs.

I found a pack of 25 VMC #1 trebles for $10 on ebay, 4 bags of mylar tinsel at the dollar store for $1/ea. and 20ft. of automatic icemaker tubing for $2 at Home Depot. I had a 100yd. spool of 30lb. fluoro leader on hand (cost me $15 new) and found some old beads from kids craft projects laying around the house.

So if I only make 25 flies being limited by hooks only, that makes each fly come out to roughly $1.25 each. Score! Plus I have enough tubing and mylar left over to make about 200 more flies.

I'll post some pics when I get a chance. I just didn't think to document these flies until they were field tested.

Well, here are the results:

Fish eat them!

Like I said, I will get some pics of the flies and the process when I get a chance...

 

[Navyfisher]

Coho killer!
I like using that stuff to make unique spinnerbaits.

 

[SpecialEd]

Those are sweet Dan!

I have been looking for a place to buy bulk mylar from, but most places want $3 to $4 for a 36" band which only gets you half a dozen flies.

The bags of loose mylar will make 100 flies easy, and it only costs $1. :shock:

It's more time consuming making them from loose tinsel, but ten minutes per fly is average, and I can tie them while I catch up on old episodes of "You Can't Do That On T.V."

 

[Navyfisher]

The loose stuff is too big of a mess, plus my cats always seem to get into it and string it all over the basement. I will let you know if I find the bulk mylar if you let me know It also makes layering colors easier and a more secure tie.