# Weedless flies



## Howard Cummings (Apr 8, 2016)

What is your best fly for redfish in flooded grass??


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## duppyzafari (Jul 9, 2015)

Weedless Gurglers are fun for those explosive topwater eats.


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## Pierson (Mar 16, 2016)

Redfish crack that is....


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## bryson (Jun 22, 2015)

Depends on the grass thickness for me.

For very thick grass I like a wiggler fly -- you basically bend a hook to a spoon shape, lay mono down each side to flatten it out, wrap with lead and then flatten that with pliers, then wrap with chenille and trim it fairly flat. It has a spoon-like wobble action, and there are no eyes to get caught on grass and stuff. It's heavy enough to make it into the water through the grass too.

For areas that are slightly more sparse but still grassy enough for a weedguard, I go the other direction and stick with a lightly weighted crab or redfish crack style fly. I've had a crab get stuck just above the water on a piece of grass, and still had a fish try to come out of the water to eat it. Must've looked like a little crab hanging on the blade of spartina trying to stay safe. Anyway, I feel like the lighter weight fly helps the weed guard do its thing a little better.


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## TheAdamsProject (Oct 29, 2007)

Those fish are there to eat and are not usually super picky. Tie something in black/purple with a weedguard and something that is crabby colored. I would add a little orange to some and also a little white hackle piece as some of those fiddlers have a white large claw. Again, its not rocket science just drop it where it needs to be and hang on. Also, as mentioned above do not hesitate to throw a gurgler.


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## Howard Cummings (Apr 8, 2016)

Do you like a particular color of gurgled. All my info is dark flies.


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## LowHydrogen (Dec 31, 2015)

Seaducer in any color as long as it's natural Grizzly.


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## Flood tides (Nov 23, 2016)

I own Timucua Outdoors and we tie for a variety of shops and sell some of my flies on Etsy if your interested in buying not tying flies https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/TimucuaOutdoors?ref=s2-header-shopname
We sell a great fly for the grass called the tarantula crab and a fly that’s only available at black fly right now called the Black Fly crab. If you like gurglers I’ve got one that works great in the grass. My website will be up in the next week with even more patterns.


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## duppyzafari (Jul 9, 2015)

Howard Cummings said:


> Do you like a particular color of gurgled. All my info is dark flies.


Brown, tan, black, or purple always seem to work. I think the fish are more keyed in on the disturbance than color when they’re whacking gurgs.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

I use a piece of a plastic water bottle to make mine weedless
learned about it on here


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

I thought this was a good little video on the subject that featured the boys up at Oyster Creek Outfitters in the St Augustine area. One of them is a microskiff member.






I've used weedless spoon flies before, tho I don't fish the flood grass areas too often. A friend swore by a blue Dupree spoon fly that he claimed did really good there, just never tried it.


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## G McC (May 16, 2018)

Great video, thanks Ted! I've used gold and rootbeer colored Dupree Spoons with good success. They are good because you can kind of just swim them through the grass past the fish, they kind of just skate along the top.

Most people seem to throw black flies but most of the crabs I see up there are more of a brown color like the one in the video. There are a couple of patterns that some local guides developed years ago that use feathers to form a carapace that helps act as a weed forward. Larry Minard's Turkey in the Straw and the Pheasant in the Grass (John Botko I think). Both still work great.


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## Howard Cummings (Apr 8, 2016)

thank for all the great response. Getting busy tying and ready for reds in the grass...BTW I located some #2 SS keel hooks. Anyone have an opinion about these...Howard


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Keel hooks were a solution - long before folks learned to add decent weedguards to their patterns... I still have a few of them somewhere - they're nearly forty years old now and won't be seeing my vise any time soon...


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## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

What do you guys recommend for type of weedgaurd for flooded grass? Single or double post? What pound test?


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## SC on the FLY (Sep 16, 2015)

I prefer single post 40 lb Mason hard mono


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## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

Do you think that 40lb ever effects hookups?


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## SC on the FLY (Sep 16, 2015)

I use 30 mason hard on bead chain eye flys , 40 on weighted , as far as hookups I never noticed lack of, I like it for not getting hung up in the grass


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## duppyzafari (Jul 9, 2015)

GG34 said:


> Do you think that 40lb ever effects hookups?


I don't. As long as you trim it properly, a single 30# or 40# Mason Hard Mono guard works wonders. A double is overkill, in my humble opinion.

When I'm fishing, fish come unbuttoned on non-weedless flies all the time - if I had a weedguard on them, I might blame the thickness of the mono rather than just shrugging my shoulders and saying bad words.

On the average, I believe that weedguards are much more of an asset than a hindrance.


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## duppyzafari (Jul 9, 2015)

SC on the FLY said:


> View attachment 32474
> I prefer single post 40 lb Mason hard mono


I'd eat that.


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## Rayreds (Oct 24, 2016)

I have been using weed guards for a long time and don’t see any problem in hook ups. Single post or loop style guards bothe work well. This is a shrimp that I fish in grass with a bead weight at the eye. It come through the grass most times just fine.


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## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

duppyzafari said:


> I don't. As long as you trim it properly, a single 30# or 40# Mason Hard Mono guard works wonders


Thanks, DZ. You mind sharing your technique for weedguards?


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## duppyzafari (Jul 9, 2015)

GG34 said:


> Thanks, DZ. You mind sharing your technique for weedguards?


I cut a 1.5" piece and use some needlenose pliers to crush the tip of the mono perpendicular to the natural curve of the segment. The ridges of the pliers dig into the mono material and help the thread bite and secure the piece without twisting or slipping.

I position the mono as I'd like it to lay over the finished fly and secure the mono with several tight wraps by the eye of the hook. Here's where the extra length comes in handy - I use my fingernail to pull the mono back away from the fly and use 10-12 very tight wraps at an angle under the mono. This build-up positions the guard and fully secures it. Whip, trim it to the appropriate length and then use Loon or whatever finishing cement you like. BOOM.

You can kiiiiiinda see them in this pic.


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## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

duppyzafari said:


> I cut a 1.5" piece and use some needlenose pliers to crush the tip of the mono perpendicular to the natural curve of the segment. The ridges of the pliers dig into the mono material and help the thread bite and secure the piece without twisting or slipping.
> 
> I position the mono as I'd like it to lay over the finished fly and secure the mono with several tight wraps by the eye of the hook. Here's where the extra length comes in handy - I use my fingernail to pull the mono back away from the fly and use 10-12 very tight wraps at an angle under the mono. This build-up positions the guard and fully secures it. Whip, trim it to the appropriate length and then use Loon or whatever finishing cement you like. BOOM.
> 
> ...


Looks good. Not to beat a dead horse but it looks like they angle to the hook point? What's your technique for how long to trim them. Thanks again.


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## texasag07 (Nov 11, 2014)

The mono will naturally want to have some angle(curve) when it comes off the spool so he is just using that curve as best as possible I believe. You can work it to be 100% straight but it wastes more time and doesn't help you out any from a weedless standpoint from my experiments.

Personally I prefer a single piece of 20-30lb mono tied at the back of the hook bend and then finished off at the hook eye to make a loop as seen in the two pictures I posted. I like the fact that 20lb is quite a bit more supple than 40 so I feel it crushes or moves out of the way a little easier to get a better hookup ratio. Both methods work well though.


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## duppyzafari (Jul 9, 2015)

I push the mono in line with the hook point and trim it juuuuuust shy of touching - that way it cannot obstruct the point from sticking if the fly is crushed in a fish's mouth, but can still (hopefully) prevent hang ups on docks, turtle grass, etc.


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## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

texasag07 said:


> Personally I prefer a single piece of 20-30lb mono tied at the back of the hook bend and then finished off at the hook eye to make a loop as seen in the two pictures I posted. I like the fact that 20lb is quite a bit more supple than 40 so I feel it crushes or moves out of the way a little easier to get a better hookup ratio. Both methods work well though.


I've done these bass style weedguards before but always have trouble tying them off at the hook eye What's your technique?


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