weighted flies question

weighted chain/dumbell eyes...

those first ties i saw looked to me like a clouser if they weren't sorry all i can add is if tying a clouser use a popper hook or what is called a kink shank for a clouser is sooooooooo easy to tie the eyes on in the balanced area of the hook. my 2 cents

KJH and Mark -- Thank you very much for your helpful pics and direction. I'm going to have to get better with the digital cam so I can return this kind of good deed.
 
Mark -- Could I just verify one thing on your Muddler tie?
 
>>>With the lead wrapped the hook point will ride down. Anytime you place weight on the up side, it will invert the hook.<<<
 
I understand you to mean that the Muddler as shown would ride hook point up, shank down since the weight is on the shank. Is that right? Do you think a tier should be concerned that a fly will fish upside down? (in comparison to the way it was in the vise) Or is this just an issue that anglers obsess about, but the fish don't care?
 
I appreciate the generous help. Thanks, again,
 
Kevin  

Excellent Muddler tutorial.  Pictures are always a huge help!

If you really wanted a muddler to ride point up, you could try this:  Tie in a thick piece or two or three of lead on top of the shank, the full length of the shank.  Like .30 lead wire or some other large diamerter wire.  Then you'd have to tie the rest of the fly, for lack of a better term, upside down.  Wing and head on the under side of the shank. 
 
I do this on some flies, but not muddlers.

If you want the muddler to ride hook point down, and be weihted, flytierwon's method is tops.  You can use his method and add as much weight as you wissh to add, it will never flip.
 
If you want the muddler to ride hook point up, without using dumbell eyes, my method will "probably" work, if enough lead is used.

Aha! The light bulb went on! I wasn't seeing why the heck dumbbell eyes inverted a fly, but lead wrapped over the shank would not. Makes more sense now.
 
It's more than February indoor curiosity operating here; some places I fish don't allow weight on the leader, but allow weighted flies.
 
I appreciate all your pics, explanations and perseverance. 

ORIGINAL: anchke


I've also seen Zonker recipes that are tied upside down -- weighted shanks, a cut through the rabbit strip, and the hook point protruding through the cut. Theory is that the weight on the shank flips it. 


Thanks, again, all,

Kevin  

 
My zonkers tended to ride inverted. I found that if tied on too long or wide of a strip, the added weight of the strip would invert the fly. I was shown a while back, here on fishereie to tie a couple of length of lead wire perpendicular and underneath the hook shank.
 Also, I found straight eye and up eye hooks along with a loop knot to help with unweighted flies that have a lot of winging and topping.
Anyway, an inverted zonker sound like a nice idea.

Dano -- charliesflybox > flybox > zonker
Step by step on the upside down version of the zonker ... great how-to site, also.
 
 
>>>No prob...what the heck kinda place is that screwy?<<<
 
Cold -- I fish primarily in Corrupticut, I mean, Connecticut and in Maine, though I haven't been Nawth in a couple years.
 
FFO waters in CT forbid weight on the leader and require barbless flies.
 
As your basic, law-abiding fella who dislikes drama, Maine angling makes me a bit nervous, because the regs change from place to place. So rather than carry different flies, I go barbless and, where applicable weighted.
 
To tell the truth, the regs may have changed and I'm just following habit. But I still don't want to tie different flies for each stream.
 
There are also small "wild trout" streams in Connecticut that have their own regs. One is just a couple miles from me. Beautiful little spot, it looks like Maine complete with piney woods. The regs say it's open all year ... except for a spawning period. Many anglers don't read far enough to catch the limitation and run afoul of the law.
 
Funny thing -- first time I learned of the wild trout stream near me, I went off looking for it. Took me a heckuva long time, because the directions seemed to be inaccurate.  So I ignored the directions and went off looking where I thought it should be. Yep, some of the locals had either taken down road signs or switched them. They had also done a great job of blocking entrances to the stream with some of the nastiest briars I've ever seen. One whole bush was cleverly trimmed so you could open it like a door and close it behind you. Connecticut Yankees come by the name honestly.
 
You can't be too careful in Maine, either -- An outastatuh friend was once fishing from a canoe in a Maine pond that forbade "trolling."  He decided to paddle over to a little inlet and try a few casts. But he let his line trail in the water while moving from point A to B.  A warden standing on the shore waved him over, and he was fined for "trolling." Nope, he didn't catch anything. Dragging a line in the water was enough for a violation. Would he have been fined if he were a Mainer? Good question.