It's a before an after photo for my new fly fishing weight loss program. Not available in stores. As (not) seen on TV.

If you wrap lead wire around the hook shank, you're really not changing the balance of the fly any. The barb side is still the heaviest side, so it will want to flip over and ride hook down.

You might try laying lead wire lengthwise on top of the hook shank, and then wrapping it and gluing it in place before going any further with the fly. If you can get enough weight on the top of the hook shank, you can offset the weight of the hook point and get the hook to balance point up.

A poofy ball of deer hair on the bottom of the hook shank (actually the top when you turn it hook point up) can provide enough buoyancy to keep the hook up if you trim the deer hair REALLY close on the other side. But when it gets wet, it'll flip over.

The best performing fly like this I ever tied had a piece of mono sticking down from the nose hanging down under the belly of the fly. I melted a ball on the end of the mono and crimped on a split shot. It wasn't incredibly pretty, but the fish didn't seem to mind. It would float hook up all day long. It would also kinda suspend when it dove. The rise back to the surface was really slow and wiggly. BAM!!!!!

The main reason I quit using it was that the puff of hair in front of the hook point seemed to cost me a few hook sets here and there. Thinking about it now, it was probably a good tradeoff though. I sure got a LOT of strikes on it with that semi-suspending action.

http://www.idylwilde.com/html/hotness_inline.php?fly_id=4418
New concept, try some patterns like this. That should be weedless, should ride upside down, and looks like an awesome bass fly.

That describes the action I had with this one to a tee. It was the perfect upside down frog for the first 10 - 15 minutes, then it was just a frog that looked funny.



I may have to add a little drop line and split shot and see if that fixes the issue. I'm a little concerned with missed strikes, but I'm thinking I'll connect on some of the strikes I wouldn't be able to get with a normal popper that I can't put in the thicker stuff without hanging up.

i pretty much gave up on topwaters with hook riding point up, like you said, they would get soggy and the balance was gone, but its fun to experiment some, the best I found was a long hook with a bend in it like Pearow's pic

That's the main problem i'm having too. I think foam is the answer but I really don't know how to solve the flipping over in the water problem. I've tied several with deer hair and they definitely don't stay upright for that long.

Gentlemen, I greatly respect all of your opinions with regard to tying flies, however my recent experience with this specific deerhair bug has been different than yours.

I've fished the first all green frog that I posted as well as the bluegill colored one for multiple hours at a time over the last two weeks. No matter how wet or waterlogged they have become, I just haven't seen them turn hook point down.

There is no lead wire wrapped around the hookshank on the green frog and the lead tape on the bottom fell off the first day I fished it. It does have quite a bit more skirt material than the bluegill version.

The bluegill version does have some lead wire around the hookshank (less than 10 wraps) with slightly less skirt material.

I don't know if it is the skirt alone, or the skirt along with how I trimmed those bugs, but they have really been working well for me. I'm not here to sell y'all anything, but I'd urge you to give this idea another try.

which direction a fly points has more to do with the shape and makeup of the fly than what direction the point was going when you put it in your vice.

I did a tutorial for how I've been tying these.

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ep_#Post6241037