Revamping My Squidies

After trial and error I think I finally have these things dialed in. I found that the waddingtons that I thought I had stocked up were pretty heavy shanks and let's just say they went fast on trial and error. Also when adding the the rubber legs them squidies sink pretty fast! I toyed with the standard .031 spinner shafts and found that they are to flexible and limber. So after cutting the shafts to length and had extra to have the now shank doubled all the way.



Don't forget your braided loop! 80lb. Works with #2 gamakatsu's


Dubbing and the tail legs


Diamond braid and grizzly hackle


Add more legs


Add the collar, eyes and more dubbing




The Pink Stinker

Nice lookin' bait there Luis!

Great....now I have to tie more stuff.
Lookin good!

Pretty mean looking dude. I could see some steelhead getting pretty pissed off about having that thing in it's zone. Well done!

Hey thanks there fellers! I'm looking to trade for some drys? Or some gnarly winter bugs...
Here's the Skunk! Just wrapped this one up today... not bad had to add some maribou to fill in the head a bit but not much difference from the upper two.

Those look very tasty. Nice work.

Sweet ties. That black and purple squid fly is something I would cast any day.

I would be worried you stinger hook loop could get ripped out though. I tried using shafts like that for a while and had too many pull out even with crazy wrapping and super glue and whatever. I feel that the stinger loop must go through the eye and back down the shank to be sufficiently strong so since those shafts haven't got an eye they don't work.

I double the tag end of the stinger loop back onto the shank and wrap it in before trimming and have yet to have one tied in that fashion fail. The added bonus is that it helps bulk out the body if you are looking for that as well. The 180 degree turn near the head and subsequent wrapping increases the holding power exponentially.

I highly doubt the braid will slip out the way I tied it in, I also wrapped it up to the eye, threaded the braid through the eye and wrapped it all the way back to the tail so I had even thickness on the shank.

Bomb proof.

Sorta a cross between the sqidro and morrish madussa. Played around with both. Bad ass ties bantam. Where are you getting your rubber legs? None to be found in my local shops. I have been using stranded jewelry wire for my stingers, no dangle of the hook. Are you casting those with your 7 wt?

The 7/8wt. I recently just picked up from a buddy rocks! The rod bombs these squidies effortlessly and recently found that 12' sections were just right with the Skagit short 540 and the rod, I can fish most runs with a T-6! and rarely have to use the T-10

MA, give me a call tonight or in the morning before 9, don't know what your schedule is.

Those look great.
I agree with running the stinger loop through the eye and then back down under the body. It should never pull out tying them that way.

A friend of mine wraps 30# Maxima along the shank without running it through the eye of the hook. He applies super glue after the first thread wrap layer, makes a second wrap layer and adds more glue. He hasn't had any pull out using 15# Maxima leader. This surprised me, as I figured going through the eye and back down the shank was mandatory to avoid pull out.

Good-lookin' calamari, Bantam! Much better than I've done. Pretty sure they'll catch fish, whether they think they're squid or not. Stuff like that is just plain fishy.

I'm talking about problems with this style after days of repeated use. Gets wet, than dries out et cetera. I am not saying it can't be done. I am just saying I tried all these methods and had loops pull out unless there was a true metal eye that the loop was run through and around. It was unnerving. I have been tying flies for 20 years and keep the thread and wraps all tight as [Bleeeeep!].

It looks like this is what you do Bantam please let me know if this is correct:

1. You close the shank and create an eye with a bunch of wraps.

2. You put your loop through the created eye and back down the other side and wrap the [Bleeeeep!] out of it.

Is that correct?

I tried this and had some fail after they were heavily fished and it scared me. I even used super glue. However, I was not using kevlar thread or some super thread like that. If I could trust these type of shanks I would be stoked, I bought a ton of them! I sometimes think super glue can actually weaken some thread by it too rigid. Maybe a super thread would be the ticket. Please let me know what brand you like.

Cheers, Jason

Jason
Another option you might want to consider besides Kevlar is GSP thread.
SF

Working graves this week. Done Tuesday am, then its off to the op for me weather permitting. Looks like you might be working graves from your post times also.

I agree. I've had more fly heads, connection loops, etc. fall apart with super glue than without. I think it forms a brittle bond with thread, and when the glue cracks, it takes the thread with it. I can't decide whether it's that experience or my general laziness that makes me choose not to use that stuff on my gear.

I always run the trailing loop material through the hook or shank eye when using loops, but most of the stuff I tie is on traditional salmon hooks or streamer hooks (laziness again). I've yet to have a loop fail on a fish, but then, I've only hooked a few fish on articulated/stinger patterns, so my sample set is small.