Tying Ice Flys

[wingnut]

Any fly tyers have a certain fly that works for them under the Ice. Have tryed tying craft hair from janns on the shank of a few jigs with mixed results. Picked up some cone heads and cyclops eyes today with plans to thread them on some small hooks and tie some sort of tail on the end. looking for any good suggestion from some experienced fly tyers unlike myself. I think the normal procedure would be to put the cone head on first then lay down a thread base add the tail then work back toward the head. But I need to put a cone head on then cyclops eyes to make a weighted body and add the tail. The problem is not being able to put a long thread base down to keep the tail from sliding. Any advice would be appreciated.

[bassrecord]

Any fly tyers have a certain fly that works for them under the Ice. Have tryed tying craft hair from janns on the shank of a few jigs with mixed results. Picked up some cone heads and cyclops eyes today with plans to thread them on some small hooks and tie some sort of tail on the end. looking for any good suggestion from some experienced fly tyers unlike myself. I think the normal procedure would be to put the cone head on first then lay down a thread base add the tail then work back toward the head. But I need to put a cone head on then cyclops eyes to make a weighted body and add the tail. The problem is not being able to put a long thread base down to keep the tail from sliding. Any advice would be appreciated.

Have no experience tying ice flies, but here are some tying tips that work for steelhead flies: Note that we don't use BOTH Cyclops eyes and Cone heads since either one sinks the fly quickly enough.

1. Cone heads are inserted over the barb and a thread dam is tied or built up behind the cone. To help hold the dam, apply super glue or Sally Hansen on the thread, let it dry a few minutes before continuing.

2. Cyclops eyes are tied on top of the hook shank and can be held by criss-cross wrapping and applying super glue to threads to hold.

3. After the cone and eyes are tied in, wrap a layer of thread toward the tail and cover with a thin layer of Sally Hansen or any solvent head cement.

4. Tie 3-4 half hitch knots or whip-finish to keep tail from twisting.

5. Tie in tail of choice.

6. Tie in hackle, floss, flash or body of choice, winding up to eyes.

7. Whip-finish fly behind (up against) eyes. If you use a body material, the whip finished thread will almost disappear up against the eyes.

I don't know if this will affect your ice fly, but for stream steelhead fishing, Cyclops eyes on top of the hook make the fly sink upside down, which may reduce hang ups. We don't normally use cone heads steelheading (mostly weighted beads), but cone heads bass fishing requires other tools to avoid snags.

Hope this helps.

John

[Bassman82]

Could always try tying what they call eye flies? Know guys that have used them successfully for perch and other panfish.

Materials:

Hook: Short shank nymph or egg hook

Thread: White, 6/0

Body: White rabbit dubbing

Other: One holographic or ,moulded eye

One red permanent marker

Adhesive of choice

Wrap your hook with lead wire, then, start your thread on the hook shank above the point of the hook and wrap an even base of thread to lock down the wire and then wrap your thread back to the tie in point. Form a dubbing loop with your thread and advance it to the eye of the hook. Wax the loop, dub enough of the rabbit so that you can form a nice bushy ball of dubbing on the hook and wrap it forward to the eye. Tie off the loop, do three or four whip finishes, snip off your thread and add a couple coats of head cement.

Take your dubbing brush and brush the dubbing down to the underside of the fly, basically creating a part/bare thread on top. Now using a small drop of glue, glue your eye to the top of the hook shank, above all the dubbing you just brushed down. Once the glue has dried, take your red felt pen and get creative. Don't colour all the white but definitely get some red on there, mark up the tips of some of the fur and maybe some of the fur around the eye itself.

The whole idea is to make the fly look like a dismembered eyeball from another fish which some fish can't seem to resist as a tasty snack. Especially useful in places where using the eyes of your previously caught fish is a no no.

Enjoy,

Sean

[Bassman82]

Could always try tying what they call eye flies? Know guys that have used them successfully for perch and other panfish.

Materials:

Hook: Short shank nymph or egg hook

Thread: White, 6/0

Body: White rabbit dubbing

Other: One holographic or ,moulded eye

One red permanent marker

Adhesive of choice

Wrap your hook with lead wire, then, start your thread on the hook shank above the point of the hook and wrap an even base of thread to lock down the wire and then wrap your thread back to the tie in point. Form a dubbing loop with your thread and advance it to the eye of the hook. Wax the loop, dub enough of the rabbit so that you can form a nice bushy ball of dubbing on the hook and wrap it forward to the eye. Tie off the loop, do three or four whip finishes, snip off your thread and add a couple coats of head cement.

Take your dubbing brush and brush the dubbing down to the underside of the fly, basically creating a part/bare thread on top. Now using a small drop of glue, glue your eye to the top of the hook shank, above all the dubbing you just brushed down. Once the glue has dried, take your red felt pen and get creative. Don't colour all the white but definitely get some red on there, mark up the tips of some of the fur and maybe some of the fur around the eye itself.

The whole idea is to make the fly look like a dismembered eyeball from another fish which some fish can't seem to resist as a tasty snack. Especially useful in places where using the eyes of your previously caught fish is a no no.

Enjoy,

Sean

As an aside i totally went off topic and offered an alternative rather than help with current issues! My appologies!

I totally agree with you John, but another thing you could try would be to pass on the eyes, use your conehead and wrap the hook shank with lead/tungsten wire instead if you really need that much weight.

[wingnut]

As an aside i totally went off topic and offered an alternative rather than help with current issues! My appologies!

I totally agree with you John, but another thing you could try would be to pass on the eyes, use your conehead and wrap the hook shank with lead/tungsten wire instead if you really need that much weight.

As a fly tyer I'm a beginner,but the fly you described sounds like it should work. I'm targeting perch in 3 to 6' of water with a small presentation when they're not aggressive. On the days when they seem too lazy to strike but just swim up to the bait and flair their gills. I've never used dubbing. Could I use a chennile Instead. Also Is there a pic that I could see so I could try to get it close to what it's supposed to look like.

[woodenfeather]

Hey Wingnut,

I used to fish for perch through the ice out in Michigan. Mostly after walleyes though. One thing I liked to do for perch, gills and crappies was to use a teardrop jig tipped with a spike but also tie a fly on a short dropper loop about 8 or 10 inches above the jig. I also tied weighted flies like your talking about with good success. Black with a little red, if I remember right,was killer. It helps when you can watch them eat the fly on your camera, cause without bait they spit it out immediately.