Let's Talk Flesh Flies

[nerka]

I mentioned flesh flies in a different thread and asked if anyone is using flesh flies for brown trout. I didnt get a response but this is something I am curious about and if or how anyone else is using them.

I am using flesh %25-30 of the time and almost exclusively around labor day. The idea is to mimic loose pieces of dead salmon floating downstream.
I dont see why it wouldnt work in many of the western rivers and if anyone has experimented with them elsewhere. Ard said the Salmon River in NY would be a good place.

Does anyone use them? If you do what is your tecnique?
Generally I am literally letting them dead drift through pools and any other habitat. Except you dont really do a strip retrieve like most are using for streamers.

This is not my fly or picture but you get the idea. Most are fish and specifically salmon meat(rotting) colors. Often tied in the same fashion as your zonker bunny type patterns. Personally I wrap the shank in .035 lead. Then take a zonker strip tie in a tail then palmer the strip towards the head.

 

[caseywise]

i love flesh flies. the ginger colors are my fav.

DV on a flesh.


casey

 

[nerka]

Nice one Casey!
I am going to assume that was up here. Does anyone use them in the lower 48 where you are at?

 

[caseywise]

not that i'm aware of.

 

[HuronRiverDan]

I always assumed flesh flies were used in Alaska for the most part. I was at a tying demo at Cabela's this past Saturday, and Kevin Feenstra the tyer for the day demonstrated a flesh pattern he uses for Steelhead on the Muskegon in West Michigan. He said it was one of his better patterns for fall and winter Steelies.

Dan

 

[stl_geoff]

I use them around here, mostly to catch trout in the stocked streams. Although we did find the greenbacks in CO really liked them and started to catch tons of them with that. i use some peach marabou, couple strands of flash, then top it off with white.

 

[nerka]

I always assumed flesh flies were used in Alaska for the most part. I was at a tying demo at Cabela's this past Saturday, and Kevin Feenstra the tyer for the day demonstrated a flesh pattern he uses for Steelhead on the Muskegon in West Michigan. He said it was one of his better patterns for fall and winter Steelies.

Dan

It is a must have up here. I have managed to catch big rainbows, lake trout, dolly varden and grayling all on the same day with the exact same pattern. It is very effective late in the season.

---------- Post added at 12:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 AM ----------

I use them around here, mostly to catch trout in the stocked streams. Although we did find the greenbacks in CO really liked them and started to catch tons of them with that. i use some peach marabou, couple strands of flash, then top it off with white.

Flash on them huh? I generally avoid flash or use very little with the exception of fishing downstream from a heavily used cleaning table where there is quite a bit of fresh "material" already floating downstream.

Generally I am using a ginger or pure white with no flash. When I fish down from the cleaning tables while every other idiot on the river is combat fishing for salmon, I am using more of an orange or red color depending on what is salmon is being caught. If it is sockeye(reds) I use a more red color because it better mimics thier meat. Whereas kings and silvers have a more orange or "salmon" meat color.

 

[Sage & Abel]

I've used flesh flies fishing Wisconsin and Michigan tribs to Lake Michigan. The fly you pictured would be a fair representative of the recent flesh flies I purchased (I don't tie - want to, just haven't been able to find the time - some day). I've had no success here with that specific pattern. However, another flesh fly I purchased was a little different and had a stran of flash through it that actually looked like a brighter skin rather than the flesh. That pattern caught me a number of fish on the Wisconsin side this year. The conclusion I drew from that was that it was more representative of a baitfish to the fish rather than flesh and that the flash drew the strike.

Cheers,
Mike.

 

[lancer09]

I've never really seen the appeal of hooking myself and pulling it loose with a little bitof skin in the name ofcatching fish... But hey, all the more power to ya!

 

[stl_geoff]

Flash on them huh? I generally avoid flash or use very little with the exception of fishing downstream from a heavily used cleaning table where there is quite a bit of fresh "material" already floating downstream.

Im talking 3-5 pieces of pearl flash that almost blends in with the white when dry. Seems in the water though to add just that litttle bit of extra that make the fish take it vs just staring at it.

 

[Guest1]

I assume most fish don't look at the bunny fly at the top as a flesh fly. Even drifting it it looks more minnow to me. I use almost the exact same fly for Smallmouth. I'm stripping it in still water. It is actually a Steelhead pattern but the Smallies love it mucho. In the cases where you don't have tons of dying Salmon and giant friggin Bears dropping tiny Salmon bits in the water, I would bet the fish think it is more minnow than flesh as well.

 

[Frank Whiton]

Hi nerka,

I used flesh flies when I lived in Alaska. The one you pictured is not like the ones that I fished. Your picture with the long tail is more like a steamer fly. The flesh fly I used had no tail and was just a wad of bunny floating in the currant. No action but what the currant introduced and no stripping.

When I was in Alaska the flesh fly wasn't known and I never did see any in stores that I can remember. I caught a few fish but not my go to fly. I never thought about it but a little flash on on side might have been something to try. It might represent a piece of skin with a bit of flesh attached.

Frank

This picture is more like the flesh fly I used.

 

[GeorgeMcFly]

I assume most fish don't look at the bunny fly at the top as a flesh fly. Even drifting it it looks more minnow to me. I use almost the exact same fly for Smallmouth. I'm stripping it in still water. It is actually a Steelhead pattern but the Smallies love it mucho. In the cases where you don't have tons of dying Salmon and giant friggin Bears dropping tiny Salmon bits in the water, I would bet the fish think it is more minnow than flesh as well.

I agree! There are no salmon dying in my rivers but I bet that 1st fly would hammer some steel and bass! I look at flesh flies as also maybe a streamer type pattern if stripped through the water instead of drifted.

 

[caseywise]

this is what i use - salmon flesh colored

one of my fav ak patterns


casey

 

[Frank Whiton]

The flies that Casey shows is what I would call a flesh fly. The fly that Nerka shows is what I would call a flesh colored streamer.

Frank

 

[Tracker12]

Caseywise
What is the material you are using for that flesh fly?

 

[caseywise]

rabbit strips

 

[caseywise]

here's a similar fly in purple

casey

 

[jimw]

Being a saltwater guy I always thought flesh flies were the little black bugs that eat the skin off your ankle while your trying to fish the beach.

 

[nerka]

The flies that Casey shows is what I would call a flesh fly. The fly that Nerka shows is what I would call a flesh colored streamer.

Frank

Yes I would agree. I dont have any picture of my flesh flies up. If you notice on my original post I said niether the fly or the picture were mine. It was the first decent example I could find via a google images search. I dont disagree with the sentiments about it looking more like a leech pattern.

With that being said the big difference in the two is the length of the tail.

---------- Post added at 11:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:11 PM ----------

here's a similar fly in purple

casey

I would call this an egg sucking leech.

---------- Post added at 11:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 PM ----------

I assume most fish don't look at the bunny fly at the top as a flesh fly. Even drifting it it looks more minnow to me. I use almost the exact same fly for Smallmouth. I'm stripping it in still water. It is actually a Steelhead pattern but the Smallies love it mucho. In the cases where you don't have tons of dying Salmon and giant friggin Bears dropping tiny Salmon bits in the water, I would bet the fish think it is more minnow than flesh as well.

If you knock the tail down to a nub, it balances the fly and it causes more of a roll movement down the stream while in a dead drift.

---------- Post added at 11:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 PM ----------

Hi nerka,

I used flesh flies when I lived in Alaska. The one you pictured is not like the ones that I fished. Your picture with the long tail is more like a steamer fly. The flesh fly I used had no tail and was just a wad of bunny floating in the currant. No action but what the currant introduced and no stripping.

When I was in Alaska the flesh fly wasn't known and I never did see any in stores that I can remember. I caught a few fish but not my go to fly. I never thought about it but a little flash on on side might have been something to try. It might represent a piece of skin with a bit of flesh attached.

Frank

This picture is more like the flesh fly I used.

Yes exactly, as I said earlier the picture I posted was conceptual.
I am not sure how long ago you were here, but now in most of the combat fishing road accessible areas they have installed cleaning tables. I use a little flash and a darker color either salmon or red colored example when lots of folks are cleaning salmon about 50 yards downstream. While everyone else is frustrated by close quarters and random hookups, I can be found hammering dollies, bows and grayling on these. Later in the season where there are massive die offs happening I go to either a ginger or white color and no flash.