Trying new ways to entice the fish. I have a few of my favorite set up for steelheads and salmon but I am always experimenting new way to get their attention. I noticed that buying jigs and aeroflys and puffs were getting expensive so I wanted to make my own like the rags. Went to a local tackle shop to get some supplies and was checking out the fly materials and I think I found a way to get some great float gear. I spent about $30 dollars on flys. These wet and dry flys that the fly fishermen use are great under a float. They come in variety of color and sizes. Some of the wet flies are perfect for the rivers I fish(and the dry flys 2) Costing only a buck to $1.50 I am getting enough supplies for a months worth of drifting. Aeoflys were $3.50 a pack of 2 and the steelhead flys that looked identical were $1.18 a piece. Any one else use flys on their drift gear? and how has that been?
Tight lines all...........................

I've had some success tying a black or purple wooly bugger on a 2 ft leader and bouncing it along the bottom with pencil lead. It's just a kind of a variation on the corkies and yarn setup, and you could probably use traditional steelhead flies or nymphs too.
The problem with using a fly under a float is that you have to weigh it heavily to get it to sink unless you're fishing pretty froggy water. With store bought flies you don't always know how much lead is wrapped around the hook. You could put some split-shot on the leader but that creates another hinge in your line that can reduce control. Seems better to use jigs or to tie your own jigs or to tie flies onto jig hooks.

Maybe you need to go out and spend a couple hundred bucks on a vice, lead mold, feathers, bobbins, scissors, etc and tie your own jigs. This, of course, will lead to an interest in fly fishing and you'll soon need to arm yourself with top quality graphite rods in various weights and lengths, along with reels, spare spools, lines, etc.
You can imagine the financial drain you are about to experience. You can save yourself by giving up fishing now. And if you have any Loomis rods I'll be glad to take them off your hands...

Yes, flies work on drift gear. Most of the guys in the Midwest use flies on mono with about 18 inches to 3 feet of leader between the fly and the lead. Not too many of the fatliners around on the smaller rivers. It works awesome. We use wooly boogers, stoneflies, nymphs, streamers, skunks, wigglers, flash flies, egg patterns, etc. If the water is clear, lenghten the leader. Don't tell anyone that this works, or they might try it too. Oh shucks, I spilled the beans. You can tie any of these in the configuration of a jig, using a jig hook and dumbell eyes. I would not run a fly under a float, as the straight or downturned eye will have the fly look like it was lynched at a town hanging. Good luck, it will work.

Many drift fisherman use them up at Reiter and other summer run rivers

I used to fish flies at Reiter when the summer runs got "stale" and quit hitting standard drift fishing tackle. In the ultra-clear conditions due to late summer low water, I found it necessary to run a leader as long as six feet. The black and brown wooly buggers, Teeny nymphs, and stoneflies were the hot ticket.

Life is short....Fish hard!!!

Flies work well with drift gear and bobber/floats. The guy from MN can cure the problem by using salmon hooks. The eye is upturned, giving an almost jiglike presentation. I tie up wooly buggers, spey type flies, and almost anything that works in the fly fishing world on fly hooks with either barbell eyes or chain eyes. They work really well and in right conditions can take some nice fish. Don't worry, you can get into tying for $100. Just don't buy a kit, buy a vice, some chenille and maribou, some thread, eyes, and tie away. Those kits will give you mostly useless stuff you won't need. Take care and it does get ADDICTING. First you tie some egg patterns, some jigs. Then it goes up to buggers, fancy salmon flies. Then, you start your own creations. Hell, I was off on disibility and tied over 1000 different flies, sheesh, I'm well stocked and still tying....YIKES. You're doomed, but in a GOOD way.

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