As a
fly fisherman, I've always been more excited by the take
of a fish than the actual fight. To me there is no bigger
rush than seeing a big fish come up and wallop a top water
fly - especially one that I tied myself. Being partial to
the strike, I am also drawn to shallower waters where any
movement of a large fish towards my fly sends dramatic push
of waves that forebodes the carnage and challenges me to
keep my cool until the hook up.
But
fishing top water in extremely shallow water can be problematic.
Fish tend to be much spookier and less tolerant of out of
place sounds like a hard bodied popper hitting the water.
I've also noticed that they seem less willing to chase something
down. Especially when fishing baby tarpon, there seems to
be an ambush zone that the fly must enter quietly, yet still
make its presence known. Furthermore, the longer it is in
the zone, the better my chance of a hook up.
So where
does that leave us in terms of fly selection? A traditional
popper is often too loud and a slider or diver doesn't stay
in the strike zone very long if you want it to have an enticing
action. For years I delegated this fishing scenario to a
bushy Seaducer, which isn't exactly top water, but landed
softly and could be twitched through the strike zone at
a much slower pace. It worked well, but I wanted a fly that
would really turn these fish on.
I
don't do a lot of spin fishing, but when I do, I usually
start out with a dog-walking lure like a Mirrolure Top Dog,
Rapala Skitterwalk, or Zara Spook. With their side-to-side
motion and audible rattle, these lures draw ferocious strikes
and I knew that this was the action I wanted out of a fly.
These qualities combined with a fly's stealth and accuracy
would make for one amazing fish catching tool. So I took
a good long look at the aforementioned lures to see what
made them tick and then set to work at the vice.
All
these lures sit in a nose up position in the water, have
a rounded bottom, and seem almost anchored in the back by
their length and the weight of the rattles. After a few
years of tinkering with various patterns and materials,
I finally found that right combination: a saucer-shaped,
deer hair head; a dumbbell rattle in the back; and a magnum
bunny strip for a tail which not only anchors the back end,
but has a snakey action in the water as a result of the
wobbling deer hair head. Because of its broad head, this
fly lands on the water with an unassuming "splack", much
like a tasty baitfish or small mullet. As the fly is striped,
the broad buoyant deer hair fights to climb onto the surface
of the water but is held back by the bunny strip and falls
to one side making the rattle tick. As the fly continues
forward the deer hair once again fights for the surface
now falling to the other side and again making the rattle
tick. This is the action that makes the bunny fur snake
through the water. So what to call my piscatorial weapon?
Between the rattle and the snakey tail, the fly practically
named itself.
After
a few seasons of hard fishing, the rattlesnake has become
my workhorse backcountry fly. For top water tarpon and snook
it can't be beat - especially tied in pink, but it has also
proven to be very effective on many other species including
redfish, peacock bass, and largemouth bass, just to name
a few. It is also an easy fly to fish as it provides all
the action as long as it is moving and seems to come alive
with even the slowest, most relaxed strip. Furthermore,
you can make the fly suspend or sink by trimming down the
dear hair head. For those of you who are fanatic about catching
tarpon on the fly, you should be able to appreciate the
Rattlesnake's many qualities.
Lately,
the Rattlesnake has spawned a new progeny and anglers are
now substituting foam for the deer hair in areas where they
want a more aggressive action out of the fly. With a sloshing
side-to-side action and ticking rattle, on a fast retrieve
the foam-headed Rattlesnake is probably the closest thing
to a true "dog-walking" fly yet.
