A couple of weeks ago I was watching a Fly Fishing the Ozarks video on TikTok. In the video, Brian Wise (from Missouri, just saying) pointed out that laser dub (one of my favorite fly tying materials, was commonly used in larger flies. He then gave some interesting points about how laser dub can be used for smaller flies as well. This got my attention as I have never used laser dub for smaller flies and was fascinated by the idea. I looked at a fly that he tied in the video, made a few changes to fit my applications and my tying “style”.
Some of the bigger flies that I tie are for big largemouth bass. As I start to see myself targeting smallmouth bass more in the future, I see a need for some flies that are smaller in shape and profile. I know smallmouth will still take down big meals but I can see myself missing out on a lot of bites from smallmouth if I was to throw 7 inch gamechanger flies. Would I still catch some? Probably. Would I miss out on some smaller ones? Definitely.
With a goal of a mid-size streamer in mind, I set down at my fly tying desk and got to work using laser dub on a smaller platform. I chose a size 2 Gamakatsu B10S hook and some extra small dumbbell eyes. I like for my streamers to swim with their hook points up and that was my goal. However, my fly design did not work out very well in its first version.
I tried to put the dumbbell eyes on top of the hook but due to the buoyancy of the materials, my flies swam upside down. Rather than fighting the physics, I decided to tie the eyes on the bottom of the hook. I figured that the weight of the hook coupled with the dumbbell would make my fly ride and swim the way I wanted. I had to give into the idea of my streamer riding point down but life is full of tradeoffs.
As far as tails go, I tried to make the tail out of laser dub but it seems to make the tail too sparse in the back section. In other words, my flies looked like they were all head and no tail. I decided to switch to a short rabbit strip tail because they have great action and gave off a larger profile in the water even if they didn’t have more mass or volume. I put some chenille between the rabbit strip tail and the laser dub head to give some flash. This flash is muted by the flowing fibers of the laser dub head which was exactly what I wanted.
After throwing my updated pattern in the tester tank. I liked the profile and the action of what I had created but wanted to try out another option as well. I gave a few flies some frantic tails (precut pieces of fabric in the shape of fish tails). I was hoping for more of a swimming action from them but all they did was create a longer and more realistic profile. I am still holding out hope that they will perform better during field testing. Overall, I think I am on the right track in terms of a good smallmouth fly. I tied my flies in color combinations that resemble baitfish, bluegill, and shad which are all on a smallmouth diet. Up next is field testing. I’ll be sure to post about how things go but for now, I am cautiously optimistic.
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