„Der Loppo“ Step By Step Tutorial

Der Loppo (1)

I was asked so often in the last time for a step by step tutorial for the Sea Trout fly „Der Loppo“, that I finally made one.

Der Loppo (2)

This fly isn’t something „brand new“, „the next revolution“, „the game changer“ or anything like this. It’s just a mix of some ingredients of good flies mixed together to a fly, which I personally like and in which I put my faith when fishing. I made flies for my fishing in the past, which looked quite similar, but this is the final outcome.

Der Loppo (2-1)

Its got a nice semi translucency, it’s not too bright and not too unimpressive.  You can tie it in different colors. I also like tan/white and orange as a color combination very much.

Der Loppo (3)

This example fly is tied on a hook size 4, but you can also tie it in size 6 with shorter fibres, when you want to fish it slower and the Sea Trouts just nibble on the longer fibres.

Der Loppo (4)

I even got a variation with black hackles and hot orange trigger points for murky water… looks very cool, too!

Der Loppo (5)

 

Ok, let’s start the step by step with a list of the materials:

  • Hook: Gamakatsu F314 #4
  • Weight: Lead Wire or substitute
  • Dubbing: Ice Dub Pearl, SLF Saltwater Dub White/Pearl
  • Mouth Part: Mallard and SLF Dub Pink
  • Hackles: Whiting Spey Hackle and a Grizzly Hackle stripped on one side
  • Horn: Senyos Laser Dub Gray
  • Antennas: Fluoro Fibre Pink
  • Eyes: Mono Eyes selfmade
  • Ribbing: Mono
  • Thread: 50D GSP white and 70D Uni Fluo Pink

Der Loppo SBS (1) Der Loppo SBS (2)

Put the hook into the vise and wind the lead wire arounf the shank. To secure the lead, you could use a little drop of super glue. Attach the thread and form with the Ice Dub a little tight dubbing ball at the end of the shank.

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Tie in the Mallard and the pink SLF as „mouth parts“.

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The first spey hackle should be tied in like shown. It’s easier to wind it around this way. Go back with your tying thread to the little bump and secure so the thin fragile stem of the spey hackle. For a little extra color, tie in some Fluoro Fibres in pink.

Der Loppo SBS (7)

I like to tie in some extra long hackle fibres for the extra movement. If you think they are too long, just skip this tying step.

Der Loppo SBS (8) Der Loppo SBS (9) Der Loppo SBS (10)

Split the thread and put some Ice Dub in the gap, then twist the bobbin and wind the dubbing around. After that, give the dubbing a brush with your velcro.

Der Loppo SBS (11)

Now the eyes and the mono for ribbing should be tied in.

Der Loppo SBS (12)

For the horn section, tie in the Laser dub and do a first turn with the white/pearl SLF Saltwater Dub.

Der Loppo SBS (13) Der Loppo SBS (14) Der Loppo SBS (15) Der Loppo SBS (16)

Tie in the grizzly hackle which was stripped on one side and dub the body using the SLF Saltwater Dub. Wind the grizzly hackle to the eye and leave enough space for the final hackle. Secure the hackle by ribbing the body incl. the hackle with the mono and catch it with the tying thread. Don’t forget the ribbing! ;) At the end, give the body and the hackle a strong brush with your velcro. The mix of hackle and SLF looks really cool in the water.

Der Loppo SBS (17)

Der Loppo SBS (18)

Wind around the second spey hackle and again secure the stem with your thread. It doesn’t matter, when in looks a bit bulky.

Der Loppo SBS (19)

Take some extra spey fibres and tie them on top as a back. Looks in the water like the shrimp shell and makes sure the fly will always swim straight.

Der Loppo SBS (20) Der Loppo SBS (21)

Do a whip finish with the GSP thread and cut it of. Then do a nice head using the fluo pink thread as a trigger point. Varnish the head or use Bug Bond uv resin to get a nice, shiny head.

That’s it!

Der Loppo ist fertig! :)  I wish you a lot of fun tying and fishing this fly!

Worm Fly Step By Step

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Every spring, the bristle worms (kind of a annelid) swarming in the Baltic Sea and the sea trouts are feeding like crazy on these worms and you really should have a worm pattern in your fly box, because you’ll never now, when the swarming will start. This worm pattern moves fantastic in the water and it’s worth the effort, even if a normal wooly bugger will catch fish. If you have tied one or two, you’ll see, that it’s really easy and fast to tie once you know how.

The first one who showed me this awesome technique to tie these worms was the master fly tyer Andy Weiß, one of the most creative fly tiers in the world and I’m glad to call him my good friend! He showed me a lot of tips and tricks over the years and I had some really cool and funny moments together with him in the last years. Andy, if you read this…what can I say…. cheers my friend!

Ok, back to business!

Here are the materials I’ve used:

  • Hook: Gamakatsu SC 15 #2 and #4 in the back
  • Thread: Dyneema thread white and UTC Ultra thread 70 fl. shell pink
  • UV-Resin: Bug Bond
  • Coloration: Marker Pen pink
  • Tail: Marabou brown
  • Body: Dyneema fishing line, UV Polar Chenille olive brown, Worm Wool brown (knitting wool)
  • Weight: Tungsten bead

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Put the hook into the vise and tie in a bunch of marabou. Build a kind of bubble on the hook shank. It’s easier to do it with a thicker thread instead of your normal tying thread.

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Tie over the white bubble with your tying thread in the color of your choise. Coat it with Bug Bond uv-resin. If you like it a bit fancy, do some small dots with your marker pen on the bubble and secure it with a second thin coating of Bug Bond to get the 3D effect. The bubble should imitate an egg ball and gives the worm a nice bite point.

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Put the tungsten bead onto the front hook. Do a simple over hand knot in the dyneema fishing line and tie it onto the shank. Secure it with two drops of super glue and keep on tying and fold the dyneema back and forth like shown. No fish will ever destroy this connection!

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Tie in the polar chenille and the worm wool.

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Put the egg hook on the dyneema. That’s how you define the length of the fly. Grab the dyneema, polar chenille and the worm wool and twist it hard.

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Grab the egg hook and bring the string to the hook eye and let the strings twist into each other.

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Catch the strings with your thread and cut the polar chenille and the worm wool, but NOT the dyneema fishing line!

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Wind the dyneema fishing line around the hook shank , put a drop of super glue on it and secure it with your tying thread very tight!

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Tie in two another strings of polar chenille and worm wool and twist both strings. Give it a good brush with your velcro. Stroke all fibres to one side.

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Cut in an angle with your scissors, so the fibres don’t got all the same length. Wind the twisted strands around the shank to the front and catch it with your thread. Cut the strands closely to the bead, do a whip finish and let some thin varnish soak into the front to secure everything.

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Give the worm a complete brush with your velcro and you’re done! A superb worm fly with a great action in the water and some nice translucency, because of the polar chenille. It’s also a very durable pattern and you can tie it in all colors and sizes you like. If you don’t like flies with two hooks, just cut the hook bend of the front or the back hook close to the body.

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..that’s what they are made for!

Do you remember this pike streamer I’ve posted some time ago?

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When I was tying at the „Niederrheinischer Fliegenfischer Tag“ some weeks ago, Frank Steinmann from Scale-Magazine came along and bought some pike streamers I’ve showed on the table at the show.

Today, I saw what happend to my little buddy from the above picture.

_J1A1006 (Medium)

It was eaten by an greedy pike!

It’s always cool to see such shots of a fish with a fly in its mouth that I’ve tied and a fishermen with a big smile on his face! That’s how it should be!

Hope you’ll catch some more Frank!

Btw: Go and visit www.scale-magazine.com it’s a really cool magazine!

A closer look at: Hedron Grizzly Barred Flashabou, Snow Runner (Nayat) and Hedron Curled Big Fly Fiber Flash

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My Buddy Alex from ADH-Fishing sent me some cool new stuff for testing! Here are my thoughts about it:

Grizzly Barred Flashabou

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Everybody knows Flashabou , it’s THE flash material since many, many years. It moves fantastic in the water, reflects a lot of light and is available in many colors. Just great stuff. Now, there is something really new in the family of Flashabous:

Grizzly Barred Flashabou

This stuff is really awesome! It’s not flashy as you might think, when you hear the name. It got a very discreet shimmer and for that reason, you can use it in streamers and flies, which should look natural and stealthy and you can use it in bright, flashy flies. It gives the fly more contrast and it’s also an alternative for the long, thin grizzly feathers. We all like these feathers in our big streamers and predator flies, but they are unfortunately very expansive nowadays.

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Snow Runner (Nayat)

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I love it! Awesome to use in pike flies and other types of big streamers for mean predators. Moves great in the water and it doesn’t absorb a lot of water like other natural materials like arctic fox. It’s also very durable.

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It is very easy to tie with. You will create a superb shape to your fly due to its high volume because of a minimal krinkle. It pumps like hell in the water.

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I used it mainly for pike flies, but it’s also very useful for long winged salmon patterns such as Sunray Shadows, Collie Dogs and other skandinavien big salmon flies.
The average length is about 13 to 15cm, partly up to 20cm.

If you like to tie and fish pike flies, it’s really a must have in your fly tying box!

Hedron Curled Big Fly Fiber Flash

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Big Fly Fibre is well known since some years for using it in very big flies, which are still super easy to cast, because it’s synthetic and it doesn’t absorb any water. Now there are some new cool color blends and Hedron put also some flash into it. In the pictures, you can see two examples: „Sunset“ on the left, which is a mix of orange/red and yellow with pearl flash and on the right „Golden Olive“ with green, olive and brownish fibres (one of my favourites!) mixed with green holographic flash. It also much longer than the normal big fly fibre! So cool!

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Here’s a short example how you can combine those materials to create a really easy and great moving/looking pike fly.

IMG_6848-1-3First, do a collar with Bucktail

IMG_6855-1Take a bunch of Nayat and tie it around the Bucktail collar.

IMG_6857-1Some fibres of Curled Big Fly Fibre Flash over the Nayat

IMG_6868-1And some Grizzly Barred Flashabou to give some contrast. Super easy and it looks awesome!

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You can find the materials by clicking onto the following links (choose between german and english language):

Hedron Grizzly Barred Flashabou

Snow Runner Nayat

Hedron Curled Big Fly Fibre Flash

Articulated Pike Streamer

These streamers for pike are articulated, so the move very nice. The length is between 17-20 cm. Even if the look quite bulky, they are easy to cast, because the materials are tied in sparsely . Really flies that everyone can cast.

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Crazy Pike/Musky Fly Tying Video By Ulf Hagström

Ulf Hagström from Sweden is a master fly tier with great skills. First I’ve noticed his work many many years ago as he was tying super realistic flies. Absolutely stunning creatures. Nowadays, he’s addicted to pike fishing and pike flies. He started a Youtube channel called 700 teeth (don’t forget to subscribe!) and his first video is out. It’s really cool. He got to improve some things with the sound, but don’t get me wrong, it’s high quality and you should watch it! There is just some point, that I should mention….

It’s different… different to all the other fly tying videos out there in the whole wide world! You will find out, what i mean…..

I like it very much because it’s different. You don’t know what will happen next. I’m sure you’ll like it, too! So, get yourself a drink and popcorn and enjoy the show!

[youtube width=“600″ height=“400″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KPDBvRIMoU[/youtube]