I've been very impressed with these woolhead flies catching ability over the last 2 months. This Pike version has accounted for numerous fish and its still looking in good nick. Over the winter I'm going to be adding a set of these flies in a range of different colours to my Baltic pike flies shop as well as 5 new models which I have tested over this past season.
Out of the 49 pike I've caught this week so far, this fly has accounted for 27 of them. In the water it looks and swims like an injured pike would. It darts from side to side and rolls during that all important 2 second hangtime. Conditions have been mixed here on the island but Its generally been free of any major wind but mainly overcast when I've been out in the mornings and evenings. Darker coloured flies have faired much better than their brighter brethren!
I've used Olive and yellow grizzly schlappen for the tail. Olive,white and yellow bucktail for the body and threw in several strands of green FFF Flash for good measure. Then gave it an olive and brown artificial wool for the head. 
Every now and then get a feeling about a fly and this is one of them. I'm just finishing off the tutorial for those bendback hightie flies and I'll do one for this fly.Have a great weekend all.
I've fished with this fly a lot over the last 3 weeks for one simple reason purely because of its action and ability to attract fish. I've really been surprised with the longevity of the reindeer fur as well considering I average around 170 cast per morning and evening session. This fly has a far more erratic action than all the other woolheads I've fished with which put down to the shape of the head.
Using large eyes and crimping them together flattens its profile drastically and I've noticed the fly dart all over the place through a retrieve far mor than the others in the set. Whether the reindeer fur and microbarb saddles have something to do with it I'm not sure, but I'm going to try this same head with maybe feathers or even synthetics as a main body feature to see what action they produce.
I've had 12 fish with this fly in the last week and It still looks in good nick. Total length 150mm
So I've taken the woolheads a step further in their construction by adding a tandem trailing rig to the fly. I started by tying on five yellow/olive grizzly schlappen feathers facing inwards to an up turned Tiemco 811s 3/0 hook. Then added a clump of long reindeer fur. Tied on several strands of peacock FFF Flash then a small clump of yellow then olive bucktail.
Attached that to the main hook and then added a single yellow/olive schlappen splayed outwards followed by a clump of yellow then olive then cream bucktail.
For the head I first added a tapered clump of two inch olive artificial wool followed by some brown. Added several more strands of the peacock FFF Flash follwed by alternate inch clumps of Olive & brown A/Wool up to the hook eye. Trimmed the head into the shape of a pikes.Stuck a couple of eyes on and then Bugbonded the whole area.
I've been very pleased with how this looks and swims in the water. Total length 180mm
With this woolhead version I started by tying on 6 grizzly yellow/olive schlappen to the back of the hook.Then added two clumps of reindeer hollow fleye. Then a clump of olive bucktail then a clump of cream bucktail.
Then added fifteen or so strands of pearl fine tinsel and one last clump of Olive bucktail. Then tapered a decent 2 inch clump of artificial olive wool,combed out the excess and tied on three quarters around the hook shaft. As I mentioned yesterday if your going to be trimming the head like I've done with this one, there's no need to taper the clumps of wool.Just tie them on as tightly packed as you can until the hook eye.
I'm stoked with the overall shape & colour of this fly as it looks very much like a small pike imitation in the water. The reindeer and feather combo has unbelievable movement under the surface and it darts erratically from side to side. Super light to cast and has a total length 160mm.
Another variation of baitfish using reindeer fur,bucktail and artificial wool. I started by tying on a couple of clumps reindeer & white bucktail hollow fleye stylie. Then added three grizzly microbarb saddles. then a couple more clumps of reindeer fur. Then twenty or so strands of super fine pearl tinsel followed by three white microbarb saddles. Then added a couple more clumps of bucktail.
For the head on this one, I alternated overlapping one & a half inch clumps of olive & brown artificial wool. If your not going to trim the head with a razor blade, you need to taper each clumps end, then spread out and slide over the hook point allowing it to butt up against the last tie off point. tapering the clumps allows complementing colours to blend together once you've combed it through.
The eyes were salvaged from an old teddy bear and have been epoxied together. Crimping the eyes onto Wool or artificial wool heads like this gives a much thinner profiled head which inturn gives the fly a more side to side jerk bait action.
Been playing around with some clumps of artificial wool the last week or so given to me by my mate. I prefer this material over real wool for a number of reasons. It costs a 5th of the price, retains less water thus making the fly lighter to cast and is surprisingly easier to work with when moulding the material around the hook shaft as well as trimming with a razor blade. There is nothing wrong with wool, I just like to find alternative materials that aint going to burn a hole in my pocket. I started with tying on 6 or 7 clumps of reindeer hair hollow fleye along the hook shaft. added ten or so strands of pearl fine tinsel.
Then added different thickness sized inch and a half clumps of olive & brown around the hook shaft and folded back over itself until the hook eye. Trimmed with a razor blade then stuck a couple of eyes on with some zap n gap glue.
Total length 150mm.
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