She Got Legs!

This is a Pat's Rubber Leg fly that I tie. Putting it up against the Squirmy Worm today, there were noticeable differences.

While extremely effective, the Squirmy Worm missed a lot of bluegill or red ear. Note where each species is hooked in the mouth.

Meanwhile, in one instance I was a little distracted while fishing a Rubber Leg and a large bluegill just about took the fly rod out of my hand. Note where the Rubber Leg is hooked in the mouth of a bluegill and a red ear. Don't see the Pat's? That's because it's in their throat. A downside to the upside of few missed fish on any fly...with legs. Kind of a "this time of year thing", as well.

This is nothing new. In fact, my fly tying card is in jeopardy of being revoked because I don't have an entire fly box filled with rubber legged critters.

About perfection in fly tying. Seldom is any one of my flies..."perfect". Perfection is reserved more for the competition tiers, and the somewhat obsessive of which I actually am about my flies and lot of other things. I routinely go through my fly box and examine yesteryear's flies, removing them to a "in a pinch box" in favor of the now more perfected fly of the same.

What's not perfect about this Pat's that I tied? The two front legs aren't in perfect symmetry and one could argue, maybe they should be raised to imitate more, antenna's. The back legs should be pointing downward. True, some of the out of balance was caused by the fly constantly being hammered by bluegill and red ear, today. But that's another imperfection. The "perfect" fly should hold it's shape and symmetry through days of fish beatings. Did you catch the elephant in the room, here? "...the fly constantly being hammered by bluegill and red ear, today."

Fish don't care. Trout can be a little more discriminating. But generally, the fish don't care if the fly doesn't have the figure of a Victoria's Secret's model strutting the runway. In fact, if a legged insect has made it into the water...and is sinking...it's probably the end of an unfortunate incident that caused it to wind up as fish food. Don't obsess over perfection when tying your flies. When you overcome that obsession, message me here and tell me how you did it. Because I haven't overcome it. My "seconds box" is quickly growing to house more flies than my "confidence pack".