I have been hand tying my own flies for a few years. I have always used buck tail with a little flash. I bought some marabou last year but never put it to use.

Got a little bored and tied these up and looking for thoughts and opinions. I know you can buy flies and treble hooks w marabou, for those that have used 'emvhow well do they hold up to the sandies and hobbies. I am afraid after 5 fish I will be tossing these in the trash.

These are about 2" long...maybe longer on a 1/0 hook. Thinking I could add a trailer hook but that could be interesting with a hibbie on the line.

a friend ties some of those for me and they hold up better than you think. I bet I get at least 100 fish on each before they are shredded up. Try it and see...you'd be suprised.

Thanks Paul. Wasn't sure if the time was worth it or not. I will definitely give it a shot. Will also see if I can talk Matt into letting me use one for a trip we scheduled in a few weeks.

I hope you have better luck at that than I did . A few weeks back I took a little tackle I had made on a trip with Matt ,I never stoped catchin fish long enough to tie any of my stuff on...

Teaser fly looks great... They probably don't have to be that pretty to work

True. I've had some that only had the binding and less than an inch of hair that still caught fish.

Put them to the test , with some notes and examples , let the pro's decide. If they catch more fish than the others , build some confidence in some users = buyers, go for it .

I showed Paul some one mine a few week back and he asked if he could cut some of the hair off, it was too long. I have found since then the shorter hair works better. I have a jig that I made that I nick named stubby. It held together great and the fish have chewed all the hair off it so that all thats left is the binding. I think it catches more fish now!!! It's just a hook with the red thread on the end. I showed it to the guy's yesterday and still caught more fish than the longer hair jigs.
I'm sure going to miss Stubby when he gone!

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I am not making any for profit just for the family to fish with.

Filletmaker, thanks for the advice. I was thinking the marabou may be to long and produce some short strikes. Do you make any flies marabou? Bucktail is easy to cut to length but these feathers are all new to me.

When fishing lakes with trees and low hybrid/striped pops I prefer a lighter wire hook than what your using. Hooks ups are better and hang ups are easy to get out.

I have made some combo ones but never just feathers. They seam to work well. Pat

I tie as well. The flies look great!! Are you planning to fly fish with them, or hang them with a slab? Cut your tail length down a little, or use a little longer hook and you've got a winner. A good saltwater hook is good as well. I've caught 10 lbs hybrids on my flies, so you need a hook that will hold up. The weighted heads aren't needed when hangin them, but are great for shallow water fly fishing. You'll be supprised at how many you can catch before they'll look beat up. Good luck and tight lines!!

good advice. The will be tied above a slab. I had a respected person who sales tackle on this site tell me and my brother anything you do to make your bait more life like the better...add eyes when possible to slabs. I have pretty much adopted this same philosophy to the flies that I tie.

I think the opinions are correct about being to long and will have to work on that for future ones that I tie. I am encourage to hear how well they stand up...that was the biggest concern. All that is left is to get this glued up and tied on.

Instead of lead eyes use bead chain. These are light and wont effect how the fly reacts when fished over a slab. Silver and Black work best for me, and you can get different sizes. Plus it's cheap. Right now I'm catching about 50% of my fish on a fly. I'd shoot a photo of the pattern I use, but I just took all I had to my boat. Guess I'll have to tie a few tonight. I also use my flys on a sinking fly line when they start to school. Nothing better than getting a 10 pound hybrid on a 6 wt.