Articulated flies and other abominations

ARTICULATED FLIES  My first encounter with an articulated fly came at a fly fishing show in Somerset, New Jersey.  Mark Sedotti (Scott Rods) was showing how to cast an oversized fly against the wind on an 8 wt rod.  His fly looked like road kill in size and shape and he was casting it 100’ away, just like that. 

After his demo, he told me that his fly was specially designed to catch stripers who fed on big bunker and that he was fond to catch large fish and large fish take large flies…..

Since he knew I was from Patagonia, Argentina, he showed me a couple of his Trout flies.  One fly was particularly large.  It was a Bunny Leech fly tied on two # 2 – 4X long hook connected by a loop of wire leader.  It also had rubber legs, crystal flash accents, lead eyes and what not.  He gave me two to try on my next trip to Patagonia.

After I successfully tried his flies on two large Trout, and lost both to another two large trout, I was convinced that:  Large flies catch large fish and that articulated flies work very well. 

  These are the advantages I found:

  Large fly that looks natural

  Smaller rear hooks are better hooking fish that bite short and stays hooked longer because they lack the leverage of a long shank hook

  On Wooly bugger style flies the marabou tail does not foul as much as with the long shank hooks

  The only disadvantage I found is that it takes longer to tie

  Since I tried this two bunny leeches I started tying some articulated damsels and baitfish imitations and they all seem to work better than regular flies.  I usually connect the front to the rear hook with wire leader or even 20 lb mono.  Both seemed to work well for me.

I have also fished a regular bunny leech with one or two similar tube fly in front making it another version of an articulated fly that also worked well for me.

I fished these flies mostly on the swing on rivers and also on Lakes casting it far and retrieving with some side movement on the rod tip.

I have caught Rainbow, brown and brook trout, Steelhead, Sea Run Browns, Atlantic Salmon, Chinook Salmon, Peacock Bass, Largemouth Bass, Dog fish, Atlantic Landlocked salmon and snook with articulated flies; so, if you are going fishing, no matter where or what for, take along some of these abominations and have fun.