Last week, I took a shad colored Low Fat Minnow to a local homeowner association pond with the hopes of catching some fish. I wanted to make sure that this patterns is effective prior to putting some in my online store. After catching some largemouth and a white bass, I feel confident that this fly will catch fish.
The first fish that was caught on this fly wasn't even caught by me. I gave a couple of flies to a couple of guys on the James River and they caught a couple of smallmouth on this pattern. The fishing was pretty slow and this was the only fly that caught fish on that particular day. At the homeowner association pond, I caught the biggest bass I have ever caught on that water with this fly. Oddly enough, he at it in open water towards the middle of the lake. A couple of days later, I caught two more bass in the shallows around cover with this fly. I then caught a white bass in deeper water as well. Since this fly has caught smallmouth, white, and largemouth bass, I'm going to call it an effective pattern. And since it is effective, I am going to put a few in the online store.
The following was taken from the description about the Low Fat Minnow in my online store. I hope it helps.
This fly does not have any added weight which gives it a very slow sink rate. While it is not neutrally buoyant, it is close. As a result, this fly can be fished on floating line, sinking line, or sink tip line. It can be fished in the shallows, around cover, and around structure on floating line and should not easily get snagged due to its slow sink rate. On sinking or sink tip line, it can fished in the middle of the water column as well as in holes and pools in a river. The best part about this fly is its profile. It has the majority of its mass in the upper half of the fly. The mass tapers to a point at the tail which makes it very realistic.
This fly's color and action are also impressive. The color is extremely close to a young shad/minnow and the flash in the head, eyes, and body get a lot of attention in the water. You can see it well from the bank which means fish can see it even better. When stripped, it has a great flutter and kick to it. It looks like a young shad swimming through the water that is begging to be eaten. This fly can be stripped on erratic strips or on a slow, steady retrieve. I wouldn't sell this fly if I didn't have the utmost confidence in it!
This fly can be fished for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white bass, hybrid striped bass, crappie, rainbow trout, and brown trout. This fly is tied on a Gamakatsu size 2 hook and is approximately 2 inches long. I fish this fly on 6-8 weight rods and is easily cast. It doesn't overwhelm a rod because it sheds so much water and has very little weight.
Here are a couple more final thoughts on this fly. This fly is an outstanding imitation of a small shad. Do you know what eats small shad? Almost every predatory freshwater fish in North America would eat a small shad. Also, I feel like this fly could fill a void in a fly box. I have a lot of big streamers like Braves, Captain Quints, and Lunch Moneys. I also have smaller streamers for trout and bluegill like Taneycomo Tiger Tails and Wooly Buggers. What I was missing was a mid-size streamer that could be fished for almost any species. Also, this fly is two-toned with counter shading as well, which you don't find in all flies. It is characteristic that I am partial to because of it's realism which makes it close to "matching the hatch".
So if you find yourself in need of a streamer with a slow sink rate that can be fished for multiple species on multiple types of lines, this might be the fly for you. I wouldn't sell it if I didn't feel confident in it. I feel confident in it because it has caught fish for me! So if you want to check it out for yourself, go ahead and click the link at the bottom or top of this post. It would be a pleasure to send you some Low Fat Minnows. Regardless of whether you buy some flies or not, thank you for reading and thank you for your support!
