squarehead
2009-03-14 20:10:19
I have been using twinkle skirts with hoochies in the winter, and have started to make my own with mylar from the fly shop. any of you guys ever dress up your hoochies
yak2you2
2009-03-14 21:07:53
I do all the time. I love twinkle skirts, and Iv'e started using the Mylar your describing. They don't hold up to abuse very well, and have to be replaced regularly, but their worth it IMHO. One trick that I use, I've noticed that if I can slide the hootchie/skirt up the leader a few inches before I go to remove the hook, it adds a little longevity to them, seems like I do more damage than the fish do. Zak's are the best, then there's the Ace Hi fly made by Silver Horde, these are so good they fish all by themselves.
Salty
2009-03-14 21:18:14
The best buy on the best mylar in Sitka is at the Fly Away Fly Shop. Wells also has a lot of material that works well. I have used all kinds of inserts over the years. Some hootchies work much better with a particular insert and some don't seem to work as well.
The secret is on how to get the mylar or whatever on the hook. Good luck!! One of my friends figured out a great way to accomplish this and was kind enough to share. So I will keep it under my hat.
I have a different idea than Yak on the hootchie. I want that hootchie to stay on the hook. I do not want it to slide up after a bite. I want it on the hook for the next bite. To accomplish this I put a sleeve right above the hootchie and crimp it lightly into place. It also makes it much handier to find the right hootchie when I have a bunch of them hanging on the back, over the stove, or wherever.
yak2you2
2009-03-21 17:45:16
Then there's beads and gumpuckys. Certain colored gumpuckys work best with certain hootchies I've found.
Hootchies come in different sizes, sometimes this matters.
I've even experimented some with trying to get a daisy chain to work.
Salty
2009-03-21 20:06:54
Absolutely correct about certain hootchies becoming magic with the right color bead or gumpucky. A certain cuttlefish hootchie we use is way more productive with a red gumpucky. Another really lights up with mylar inserts. A needlefish hootchie I use works way better with a single red bead. A highliner I know used to put red golf tees in front of a certain coho hootchie. Another one puts a glow hootchie inside of a certain color when fishing kings in herring and does not when fishing kings in needlefish.
Then there is the depth range that is effective for different hootchies.
So many hootchies, so little time.