It's hard to believe that it was way back in November of 2015 that I wrote about a fly called the Neutralizer. I swear that I have had good intentions to ACTUALLY fish this fly but it wasn't until Tuesday night that I actually tied one on the end of a leader for the first time. For more about this fly, feel free to refer to the old post that describes it in a little more detail.
Link: http://showmeflyguy.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-neutralizer.html
To summarize a little, this fly is pretty unique in the sense that it has a combination of dumbbell eyes and foam. It would seem that it is a bit of a contradiction or oxymoron because of the sinking and floating properties. In the end however, the fly doesn't float but doesn't sink incredibly fast either. I guess it is almost...NEUTRAL. Hey, wait a minute. Maybe that's where the name comes from!
They fly also sinks with the hook angled downward. I almost expected it to sink with the hook angled upward because of the dumbbell eyes, but the foam seems to neutralize that. Wow, whoever named this fly was really thinking! Well done sir...or ma'am. I applaud your intellect. Back to the fly.
I would like to state that "I'm not sure why it took me so long to fish this fly" but that would be an outright lie and I can't do that! The truth is, I have a hard time fishing new flies because I don't have a foundation of confidence in them and I like to stick to things that have worked in the past. I also prefer to fish flies that I have personally tied. I was given this fly by Matt Sutton, the owner of Rainbow Fly Shop, and I have been hesitant to use it since it was not my own creation and I had no knowledge of this fly's abilities. However, when I hit a rough patch on the water the other night, I tied it on with the thought of "What the heck!"
I will write about this rough patch at another time. I'm just not ready to describe it yet because the wound is just too fresh and it still turns my stomach to think about it. I'm sorry to leave you hanging here, but I just wanted you to know a little more of the story. The sun was setting at Legacy Lake the other night and obviously things were not going well or there would be a picture of a huge bass and a smiling idiot. I couldn't stand to fish the fly that I had been fishing all evening anymore, and I was grasping at straws. I opened my fly box and was thumbing through the usual suspects and none of them grabbed my attention. Since it was getting darker and the water was pretty calm, I decided to grab a dark colored Neutralizer to match the conditions and to see how it acted in the water.
The first thing that I noticed was that it was pretty easy to throw on an eight weight. The artificial fibers shed water pretty easily and make it fairly light in weight. The next thing that I noticed was that the tail creates a lot of action when it is stripped and looks pretty "fishy". The final thing I noticed was that it put started putting sweet, sweet bucketmouths in the boat!
Approximately 8 bass (and one insanely aggressive green sunfish) were "neutralized" before the sun went down. My confidence needed this and the evening was not a total loss. It is always a good feeling to tie on a new fly and find success, especially when it comes quickly. As with most things that are science related, more questions arise after one is answered. In this case, the original question was, "Does this stupid thing work?" While the answer was yes, I now want to understand how to tie this fly and can I make it better? Until then, I know we can both find them at Rainbow Fly Shop and continue to neutralize largemouths. I hope you give this fly a try and I hope it works for you as well!
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