40 Rivers To Freedom

This is a frog imitation I came up with a couple Summers ago that I based on a Hula Popper-like pattern I saw in Barry Reynolds’ book, “Mastering Pike on the Fly.”  Basically, the only thing “special” about it is that I spin a clump or two of deer hair in, then trim it to the shape of a frog butt before tying in the legs.  This prevents the two rabbit strips from “sticking” together so it swims more like the natural.

Fly Type: Poppers/Sliders
Target Species: Freshwater Bass, Pike
Imitation: Frogs
Material List:

Hook: Bass Bug Hook
Weed Guard: Heavy Mono
Tail: Sparse Marabou. Flash
Butt: Spun Deer Body Hair
Legs: 2 Rabbit Strips
Body: Stacked Deer Body Hair
Head: Spun Deer Body Hair
Eyes: Doll Eyes

Tying Instructions:

1. Tie in weed guard
2. Tie in Flash
3. Spin a couple clumps of deer body hair to form the butt. This will keep the legs from merging on the retrieve.
4. Tie in a rabbit strip on each side of shank
5. Stack deer body hair, yellow on bottom, olive on top
6. Stop when you get to where the head will be
7. Spin olive till you get to the eye
8. Tie off
9. Trim to shape
10. Reattach thread and tie off weed guard
11. Cut out eye sockets, glue on eyes with zap a gap

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