Tungston bead and Arizona simi seal dubbing....tied on #10 jig hook

Has to be a crappie killer under a slip bobber.

got the jig hooks (Eagle Claw 570-8) and the pins. Unfortunately, the pin head is small enough to pass through the bead! Fortunately, I'm able to attach two steel craft beads "bead chain style" by first tying in a 3 inch piece of 25 # mono crossways. Turn the mono up, add the bead which falls to the hook, and light it. It burns down to fill the bead. Flip and repeat. Finished this first fly with a dyed saddle hackle palmered back tip first through some chenille, and it hangs level...maybe a bit head heavy. Want to suspend these off the back of my sailboat...just leave a couple of fly rods in their holders, and kick back. We'll see. I'm pretty sure they will have better action tied with a loop knot.

Balanced Jig #2

Size 2 daiichi 90 degree jig hook, this time I used Simi Seal. I like Simi Seal better than ice dub. Tried the blood red and black one briefly off the dock and the bass loved it.

I've yet to fish one under an indicator. The size 4 ones have been productive with crappie, bass and catfish slow stripped and paused. No real big bass, yet. My fishing partner using scented worms has been getting more big LMB. He doesn't catch nearly as many catfish or crappie as I do, lol. Maybe I should suspend one under a cork to see if the big fish like it that way. I think those big female bass are too lazy to chase down a little leech even if I'm moving it as slow as I dare to.

I did some size 2 balanced leeches on daiichi jig hooks with 7/64" tungsten beads, the lightest beads I've used. I really like the sink rate on those. Lets me slow down my retrieve. plus they cast super well. I dock and bank tried a dark one. Caught some crappie, bass and catfish. Next batch, I think I'm doing all 7/64" beads. The Simi Seal really looks alive, much more than ice dub, in the water and with the extension offered by the pin, the leech turns out to be a pretty good sized offering on the size 2 hooks. The size 2 hooks have yet to catch a sunfish, which is a good thing when I'm not intentionally fishing for them. I wish the Daiichi hooks were a bit harder. They bend out a little too easy. No way do I think they will they survive a big fish caught up in brush. The #20 dressmaker pins ( heavier than #17) do bend a little when caught up in a snag, but have been pretty easy to bend back into place.

I did try one under a cork for a while. Varied up the drop depth, but got no takers. I'm kind of glad it didn't work under an indicator so I wouldn't feel any pressure to fish with one.

My hope is that a couple of big bass will take the balanced leech. So far, they have been great for bass up to about 3 pounds, and good on catfish and crappie. The big bass are still active in the lake. Plastic worms have taken several over the last few days. My buddy lost we both guessed a 9#+ at the boat and landed a 6.5# on a scented worm. My daughters boyfriend caught one about 6#. They still look to be full of eggs.

i've been tying these for a while. i got tired of using a pin for the extender and started using 30lb mono. burn one end into a ball like you do when making shrimp eyes and slide the bead on over it. its alot cheaper and easier imho. may have to drop down to smaller mono depending on the size of the bead your using.

I just bought a pound of #24 bank steel pins, 2,500 or so, for my bigger leeches. The #20 pins I�ve been using are pretty tough but will bend under some conditions (like foul hooking a red eared slider) . I got some size 1 gamakatsu 90 degree hooks and those would be the biggest I�ve done so far. The size 2 and ones are working well on the bass to about 4 pounds and catfish to about 5. I also picked up a lot more Arizona Simi Seal and some other similar dubbing. I�ve got some 1/0 60 degree saltwater jig hooks and may try a few of those. I�ve done a few with color bands to suggest small forage fish.

Anyway, I�ve enjoyed tying and fishing these. I really haven�t tied anything else lately but the leeches. They seem pretty versatile and it�s been fun trying different weighting and color combinations. I�m going to try them out in the salt when I ever make it back out there.

I haven't been fishing the balanced leech much at all lately with the surface action heating up, but yesterday evening the deer hair diver action was slow. I went to a balanced leech as I headed in. This 6# fish got wrapped all around a dock piling and I had to motor over and reach down to lip land the fish from under the dock, but the size one Gamakatsu 90 degree hook held firm and only bent ever so slightly. I think the Gamakatsu hooks have the Daiichi beat for not bending under a lot of pressure. Food for thought for you Balanced Leech tiers.

I like these pins for the size one hooks. I like the #20 pins for smaller hooks.

I tied up several from size one to size 10 in the same color. I want to see if the smaller sizes are any good for bluegill.

I started this thread 10 months ago anticipating using the balanced leech in an upcoming fishing situation. I was looking for someone to tie some but turned out the fly was easy to tie once I obtained the materials.

The results were spectacular. See my report on Jurassic Lake in fly fishing section.

The balanced leech works both in still water and moving water. It is an extremely effective fly providing a presentation that has virtually never been seen by fish....even in 30 to 60 mph sustained winds.


balanced leech

winds that can blow you over literally