Boo Ya! Pregnant Sow cleans up!

[kingfisher]

Read a post here a while back that said putting orange in sow patterns is really effective. So I tied up a #18 sow with some orange dubbing in the center and some mylar on the back. Went to the Lower yesterday and absolutely smoked em!! Then I lost that fly and put on the same sow pattern but without the orange egg sac. It was like night and day, the fish would not respond. I could not believe the orange spot made that much of a difference to the fish.

[Jason B]

I fish sows year round. Sows will turn a light orange color when they die. The also tend to get lighter the larger they are. I tie mine with wine colored thread and use small vinyl as the back. I use red and orange for the back. Pull the dubbing out to the sides. I sent jason some flys to put up but i still havent seen them up

[RAW]

And it is a known fact that fish like gold and orange coloring anyway especially in the west in the fall.

[kingfisher]

I thought pregnant sow bugs might have an orange egg sac, but the sow bugs turning orange when they die sounds more likely. I also tried a solid orange sow bug that day, and that produced nothing. It had to have the orange spot.

[Fred]

Maybe you should have tied two!

Just kidding. Sow bugs and scuds seem to be a good bet this time of year.

I just hate fishing crustaceans? Is it just me, or do scuds and sow bugs fall in the same category as San Juans and glow bugs? There's just something not "fly fishing" about them.

But I guess that's kind of hyprocitical coming from someone that trolls around dragging a bugger, eating nachos, and drinking beer. That's not very "fly fishy" either.

Sorry, having an identity crisis here.

I think I'll go tie some scuds.

[Jason B]

I think that because there is not a "hatch" that comes off that we don't give them much credit. They make a good part of the fishes diet. I really don't think much about tossing some sows, but i must say that sows are great.

[MOKE]

I definetely don't have a problem with fishing sows.....effective insects to imitate.
I do a considerable amount of surf fly fishing, and I have created a bunny pattern to imitate the sand crabs. I know its my pattern, because I created it decades before anyone bothered to try FF in the surf. Now entirely popular.
The keying feature on the sand crab is the egg sac that is evident on the bottom of the crab. As a kid I saw the effectiveness of this egg sac and would bury my hook point so that the hook was in the eggs.
The fish were so fond of the egg sac that they would pick the egg sac clean and not disturb the rest of the bait.
Here is a picture of the sand crab and egg sac.....fyi.
http://www.farallones.org/sandcrabs/history.asp
(Page Down to find photo.)

Anyways.....rambling here.

MOKE

[Jason B]

Fshfanatic, they have done well with me all year. I have a few more patterns that i have made that have just work awsome during hatches of BWO, PMD, and any other mayfly. Should make it down this way and hit the river. It is begining to pick up since the moss has started to break lose.

[Neals]

Could you send me a photo of this fly? I'm new to fly tying and would like to tie one those sow bugs. email is jasonneal@iwon.com or

[Jason B]

be hard because i don't own a digital camera. You can e-mail jason the adminstrator. I sent him some so he could take pictures and put them in the tying section. Or if your ever down this way am always on the the water. We could meet up and i could give you a few,
Jason b