Earlier this winter, I saw Brian Wise of Fly Fishing the Ozarks, tie a baitfish completely out of laser dubbing. It got me thinking that I wanted to take what he tied, add a few tweaks, and make a pattern that was a little better suited for smallmouth bass. To make a long story short, I wasn’t thrilled by what I had made. My first version seemed to be all head and no tail when it was in the water. Version 2.0 had more body and tail and a smaller profile for the head, but the head gave an odd appearance in the water that resembled a mohawk. I was going for a teardrop profile and that was not what I was getting. Don’t get me wrong. Both versions were serviceable, but I was looking for perfection.
What was supposed to be a laser dub only fly eventually morphed into a thinner variant of a Smallmouth Bass Streamer that I watched my buddy Ryan Walker tie on YouTube a few years ago. While it seems like a lesson in futility on the surface, I learned what did and did not work through my experimentation or trial/error process. I also learned that trying to invent a fly is harder than just learning an existing pattern. In other words, creating a new, original fly pattern, in the age we live in with so many fly tyers and so many folks sharing their patterns, creating something original is challenging.
So here is what I wound up with. It’s an SBS that I believe will serve me well when I pursue smallmouth bass. I tied it on a size 2 hook which, in my opinion, makes it not too big and not too small. I didn’t want to make it so big that medium sized smallmouth couldn’t fit it in their mouths. I also didn’t want to make it so small that bluegill would be taking it down. I plan on throwing this fly in farm ponds that hold smaller largemouth as well as for targeting bigger trout on Lake Taneycomo. I’m excited to do some field testing with it and see how it works on the water.
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