In my never ending search to find something to throw into the nastiest vegetation I can find and have it emerge without bringing the entire weedline back to the boat with it, I came across a pattern called the KDR Rat. It was developed by California Delta guide Kevin Doran to fish the thick mats of vegetation there. If you saw Bass The Movie, you saw his bug at work.

The pattern calls for tying an upside down deerhair bug and finishing it by gluing or epoxying a piece of lead tape to the bottom of the bug, which should make it land with authority and with its hook point up.

I've been intrigued by this pattern for a while now, but just haven't taken the time to lash one together. Here's what I came up with:




For those of you wondering where to get some lead tape, you might want to look in your junk drawer. Have you put in a ceiling fan in the last few years. It wobbles doesn't it? If so, you didn't balance it, so you should have some lead tape that came with it. What's a little wobble in a fan when you can be pounding bass in the weeds?

As soft as the lead is, I think I can do some trimming on the water if necessary to get the right combination of semi-castable and action, Action, ACTION!!!

As you can see, I'm still being subsidized by the American Rubber Skirt Manufacturer's Association, so I used the appropriate material for the legs. Some of you are probably thinking that it's going to sink. I kind of hope it does sink, nice and slow. Think about dragging that thing through some good heavy salad, crawling it up on a lily pad, and letting the legs dangle in the water. A quick twitch and it hops off the pad and into the water for a little diving action. How could that not catch a bass?!?

Even though these usually get tied as frogs, I'd think that it could also be a pretty interesting mouse bug (as the name might suggest).

I actually stacked the deerhair on top of the chenille body, which I hadn't tried before. It really worked well. In fact, I had much less trouble with the hair trying to spin instead of stack in place than I usually do. You never know until you try.

Considering the things that bass really like, that looks like a killer fly. I'm thinking of adding a single loop weed guard and casting it on a 9 wt. or 10 wt. line with a nice heavy leader would really get the job done; maybe help to get a pig out of the salad too. Thoughts?

Well, the whole appeal to me of a bug like this is that it rides hook point up, which reduces the amount of salad you hang on the hook. If you'll look at how I trimmed the head, that is also supposed to reduce the amount of vegetative fouling we would experience. I'm sure it won't be perfect, but I don't know that adding a weedguard will do much more than cost you some hooked fish. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

I really like your legs idea. Wonder if you looped chenille around two halves too split them just a little so that in the water, when still they would gather, and when stripped give a kick like motion

That's an excellent idea, Gib. I'll have to try that and see what it does.

cant wait!

Thanks for the inspiration, I'm gonna have to play with this concept some now. I'm thinking the lead stip may not be needed if a hair bug was just tied "upside down." I can't tell from the pic, is the hook point clear enough to get a good hook set? It almost looks like it's buried in the hair.

Well, JA, that's one of those only time will tell deals. I do think it will benefit from some trimming, but I need to ruminate on that a bit before I attack it with the scissors. Most of what you're seeing is the long hairs covering the hook, but there are a few shorter, stiffer hairs there too.

I think if you just tied it upside down with no weight you'd have a slightly better than 50:50 shot of it landing hook point up, but I also wanted something that would make a good splat when it hit. The ultimate compromise would probably be some epoxy or that Clear Goo stuff to add a bit less weight, but keep a nice smooth keel on it. This also must be pondered further.

That is some darned fine deer hair work and a very cool concept, the skidplate idea looks very practical!

Thanks, Robin, just remember that, like most of my "ideas", these were adapted or just flat-out stolen from somewhere else. There is another design I found on the Fly Tying Forum but I didn't want to get my birthday taken away for posting it.

LOL! Sharing the goodness is a positive thing!

This is where I stole the idea from: http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=41114&st=15&start=15

This is another I need to try: Hells Bay Popper (basically a Gartside Gurgler with a rattle tied on "top" of the hook shank to make it ride hook point up. This is what I was trying to puzzle out when I was working on the one above. Maybe a bit of deer hair as a weed guard is just what this needs? Or maybe a lighter version of what the bass jig makers use?
http://www.orlandooutfitters.com/online-store/product.asp?P_ID=845&strPageHistory=related

That's a great-looking fly. Where do you get the lead tape? It's sticky on one side?

That's where he makes his money on this deal, a bovine-based adhesive that he sells out of the back of his car....

WB, welcome back to the forum. Your contributions have been missed.

The lead tape I had laying around was from a ceiling fan balancing kit and does have adhesive on one side, however I helped it along with a bit of super glue to make sure it stayed put. The gluing is also why I wrapped the whole hook shank with chenille. I figured that I would have better success with the lead tape sticking to it than just deer hair to give it a bit more durability.

Robin, don't be turnin' over my rice bowl, man.