Bend Back Flies on a Bonus Day

[Mark]

At last Saturday's Free State Fly Fishers fly tying session, we tied Bend Back Minnows.

Here's my offering from Saturday:

bendback.jpg

It's essentially a Clouser Minnow without weighted eyes. The trick is to bend the hook shank ever so slightly to cause the hook point to run upright. Hence the name bend back. It's a good fly to use in shallow water since it's unweighted. It's also a good fly to cast into structure since the hook rides up and is less likely to get snagged.

Late last week I started watching the promising weather forecast of temperatures in the 50s for today. The weather folks got it right! So, I headed to the Eastern Shore this morning to chase pond pickerel. But before I did that, I tied three more bend backs last night:

Bend back3.jpg

The picks indeed liked them. I got 26 in the boat. Most were 16 to 18 inches.

P1040501.jpg P1040516.jpg

My largest was 20 inches:

P1040507.jpg

They're hard on flies:

P1040517.jpg

But flies are easy to tie and not expensive.

So today was a bonus day on the water with spring like temperatures in January. The weather forecasters got it right. And the pickerel did their part by agreeably chasing bend back flies.

A very good day all around.

[DanMarino]

Nice going Mark! Healthy looking fish!
The bend back minnows look great. How do you like them compared to a bullet head darter?

[Mark]

Tom,

The bend back is certainly easier (for me) to tie than a bullethead.

I did catch 4 with the bullethead yesterday, the rest on bend backs. But I think that's a rare occurrence. The bullethead is normally pickerel candy.

One thing I didn't mention in my report that I should share is that I took two fly rods yesterday. One had intermediate line and one had floating line. I had the bend backs on the intermediate, the bullethead on floating line. Clearly, the pickerel yesterday wanted to stay an inch or two deeper than on my previous winter outings of late and the intermediate line gave me that depth.

After my first 10 catches on the intermediate line I switched to floating line and began a long dry spell. I switched back to the intermediate and the hook ups continued. Only late in the trip when the wind laid down did the floating line start to produce.

Generally pickerel prefer quieter water surfaces or they like to get well under wind ripples. Perhaps that's why the intermediate was the go-to line yesterday given the day was breezy.

[DanMarino]

Thanks Mark. I'll have to look into an intermediate line.

[baitball]

Mark,
I’ve seen guys in Florida tie bendbacks with lead wire added to the hook shank. This modification adds just enough weight to sink the fly (even with floating line).
-manny


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[Mark]

Thanks Manny.

Bend backs would indeed be easy to weight with a little lead wire wrapped on the shank. However, in my opinion, one of the benefits of unweighted streamers when it comes to winter pickerel is that unweighted flies suspend in the water column during the retrieve. And I firmly believe pickerel are partial to that suspended presentation at this time of year. I say that from observation.

I believe pickerel are looking for their prey to pause in place rather than drop quickly in a jigging motion like a weighted fly would during the retrieve. I've watched many pickerel follow and then slash at my flies in clear cold pond waters this fall and winter. That's one reason fishing for them is so much fun at this time of year. You can often see them stalk and strike. My typical hookup occurs as I pause the stripping motion or immediately after I move the fly from the pause. In other words they are hitting it on a horizontal plane.

I'm not saying a weighted fly will not work because I have caught pickerel with Clousers in year's past. That fly surely has a jigging motion where it may drop quickly depending on the weight of the lead eyes. But this cool weather season I have made a concerted effort to use unweighted streamers (wooly buggers, crystal buggers, bulletheads and bend backs) and my hookups have improved using those flies with no added weight. Again, I believe it's because of how they are moving in the water column; that unweighted, they may more closely approximate the movement of fleeing minnows. But I don't know. No pickerel has ever told me precisely why he hit my fly.

Another factor to consider when fly fishing for pickerel in shallow ponds is that a weighted fly like a Clouser or lead-enhanced bend back may go too deep and quickly get slimed by the rotting vegetation that covers the bottoms of the ponds this time of year.

So, if I don't want the fly to go deep, why did the intermediate line work better than floating line on my last outing? I think it was because the intermediate sinks slowly and it allowed me to run the fly just a few inches below the floating line. The pickerel preferred the added depth that day, perhaps due to the surface disturbance caused by the wind. However, the unweighted fly was still running behind that intermediate line on a horizontal plane under the surface, not in a jigging motion.

All that said, I would add weight to bend backs when fishing for stripers in tidal waters. But that's because they're swimming in a far different environment in terms of depth, waves and current. I think the added weight for that application would be helpful to keep them in the strike zone.

But for those of you who want to try for pickerel on the fly in Eastern Shore ponds this winter, I strongly recommend unweighted streamers. Their tendency to suspend in the water column is clearly very enticing to the pickerel.

[baitball]

That’s a fantastic explanation Mark!

Great observation on your part (how the predator may prefer a suspended, motionless prey) and I appreciate you sharing your insight. Your advice adds one more”tool” to my fly-fishing kit bag of knowledge, which at this point is very sparse.

As you know, I’m new to fly-fishing, but have quickly come to appreciate this new activity as a thinking man’s game - full of subtlety and nuance.


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[kevinfry]

Can you post a pic of a bent hook prior to tying?

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[Mark]

Manny,

Thank you. If you attend HOW this weekend, look me up. I'll tie one for you.

Kevin,

Before and after:

Bend back 4.jpg

[kevinfry]

Gracias buddy

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[baitball]

Manny,

Thank you. If you attend HOW this weekend, look me up. I'll tie one for you.

Kevin,

Before and after:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]24508[/ATTACH]

Thanks Mark. Not sure I can make it to the HOW flea market on Saturday (I’m getting shoulder surgery tomorrow), but these have been my humble attempts at some Bendback patterns
IMG_1431.jpgIMG_1429.jpg

FYI: I used the lead wire on the hook shank technique for the weighted ones.


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[kevinfry]

Ok....I've joined the bend back club

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[baitball]

Ok....I've joined the bend back club

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Very nice!


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[DanMarino]

Is that an "Electric Chicken" bend back?
Nice!

[Mark]

It'll work!