Question about “Aqua Flies”

In reading some of the very informative posts put up about fishing Lake Michigan from guys like Joel Ballweg, John Schultz and Grey Beard I keep seeing “Aqua flies” mentioned. I’m completely unfamiliar with this product and seeing as how we’ll be headed to Lake Michigan next week I’m wondering if someone could point me in the right direction?

Here’s the report (awesome report by the way!) that mentions “Aqua Flies.” Ballweg Report – Lake Michigan

Another fly that gets mentioned is the JBB. If anyone has any info, can link me in the right direction or just generally shed some light on their use, favorite colors, etc., that would be greatly appreciated.

I did try googling Aqua fly but I’m pretty sure I got the wrong site >>> http://www.aquaflies.com/

Both are colors. LBB stands for Little Boy Blue- both are most likely the Howie brand.

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Both are colors. LBB stands for Little Boy Blue- both are most likely the Howie brand.

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Thanks for helping to connect the dots. I definitely found the right website. Now I just need to figure out which LBB we’re talking about. Howie offers and entire page of choices.

http://www.howiestackle.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SRCH

2 of each please!!! Usually, anything that’s LBB, Frog, or Mirage puts fish in my boat. But don’t forget the glows for pre-dawn and evening fishing!!! Man I love helping a guy spend his money!!

Which port are you fishing from?

James,

Double Aqua is the one your actually looking for. I have a bad habit of just calling it aqua.

Double Aqua is a fly tied with a combination of Aqua Krinkle & Little Boy Blue mylar fly material

LBB or Little Boy Blue mylar fly material is the only material used to tie a LBB fly.

I was taught how to tie these fly’s by a guy who used to work as a first mate for one of the charter boats in Milwaukee. That was a huge, lucky break for me.

98% of all the fly’s I run are one of the two listed above.

Which fly’s these are exactly on the Howies Tackle website I’m not 100% sure. But it appears the Double Aqua on page 2 is one.

The LBB fly is harder to identify as I’ve never bought a fly from Howie even though he was (I believe) the original maker of these flys.

Possibilities are…..

Blue Pearl on page 1

Glitter 50/50 on page 2

Little Boy Violet on page 3

Little Boy Blue/Aqua on page 3

The fly is only one part of this lure though. The flasher being the other half. And the flasher/fly combination is exactly why you should be putting those riggers & your wire dipsy rods in the boat before coming to Lake Michigan.

Speed and leader length is also critical when running flasher flys. When I say speed, I’m not referring to speed on your gps although that can be helpful. The important speed is the one at the downrigger ball. And unless you’ve seen it with your own eyes, then you just won’t be able to appreciate the difference between the speed at the ball and your gps speed.

This is a subject that really, really good salmon fishermen kind of keep under there hat. Yeah, bits and pieces of info filter out here and there, but there’s a reason the top charters are so good at what they do. And knowing how to properly put out a spread of flasher/fly’s is one of them.

Having the right flasher/fly combo is only part of the equation. Speed & leader length are also critical. Many days, which rods your fishing these baits on seems to make a difference as well.

Rarely do people who just tie on a flasher/fly combo put good numbers of fish in the boat. Usually they don’t catch anything at all as there’s just to many missing pieces for them to actually be successful. Getting some quality info from people who have had success using flasher/fly’s will go a long ways to making your first attempt using them successful.

Any aqua fly combination is good on michigan. LBB/ mistake green is one of the best for me. Was just out of kewanee 2 weeks ago and it was anything but what its usually like out there. 85 percent of our fish came on boards. 10, 7&4 color. Copper was junk. Riggers and dipseys took just a few hits. All but 2 hits came on spoons. Usually I run almost all flasher flys. Best spoon colors were glow bloody nose, pro glow blue ladder back and natural born killer. Landed 18 for about 23 on the weekend with 6 over 15# 2 over 20# biggest was 22#

Little boy blue doesn’t really look blue until it gets wet! Looks more like pearl out of water. Picture is an example of a LBB.

Don’t forget the Pro-king spoons James. Sneaky Pete and Purplehaze in the magnum size have been good the last two years.

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Which port are you fishing from?

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We haven’t made a final decision but based on recent reports it is sounding more and more like we’ll be running out of Milwaukee.

Thanks for all the info, guys. I foresee a rather costly tackle purchase headed my way in the very near future. The photos to the specific colors and the recommendations have been a huge help.

Joel – I look forward to seeing how many beers it takes to get you to spill the “flasher-fly beans!”

James, If theres one thing I could suggest for your trip down here, it would be to step up the tackle a bit. I think Howie flies come with 40lb leader and a size two treble. Not sure what brand they use, but IMO its junk. With the giant fish around this year, I would not trust what comes in the package. I tie mostly my own flies, but I do use some store bought ones as well, but Ive been re-rigging all of them after a few break offs last year, and the fish werent even that big last year. Ive been using 1/0 saltwater trebles and either high quality 40# flouro or my favorite, 50# Ande mono for fly leaders. On the chance that you do hook a 30+ pounder out there, you want to be sure your terminal tackle is top notch. Good luck out there, enjoy your trip down here!

Pic of a 20lbr caught on a flasher with home-made lbb fly. Notice the giant hook pierced right through the jaw. Thats what you want with these big fish. Skin hooking just doesnt cut it sometimes.

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Thanks for all the info, guys. I foresee a rather costly tackle purchase headed my way in the very near future. The photos to the specific colors and the recommendations have been a huge help.

Joel – I look forward to seeing how many beers it takes to get you to spill the “flasher-fly beans!”

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The flies are ridiculously easy and cost effective to make in a very short time. I purchased a few initially but make all of them now. All you need are the components:

http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/tips/making_flys_directions.htm

I use two sizes of tubing rather than the lure heads, and run six beads rather than the 3 depicted and 50lb mono as well but you’ll get the idea.

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Joel – I look forward to seeing how many beers it takes to get you to spill the “flasher-fly beans!”

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Beer isn’t required to accomplish that.
But…it doesn’t hurt either.

Seriously though, if your not going to bring the downriggers and speed/temp sensor, then I certainly wouldn’t waste money buying flys? Flasher/fly setups are very speed dependent lures and if you don’t know what the speed at the ball is, more often than not, you’ll be better off running all spoons.

Spoons are not nearly as speed dependent and without flasher/flys to slow you down, a boat can cover quite a bit more water over the course of a day. Its a great way to search for active fish.

Same goes for the dipsy rods. In my opinion, there is no better rod to run flasher/fly’s on than a dipsy rod.
We definitely use them on any & all rods but they basically never come off the wire dipsy rod unless its the end of the trip or we feel the need to change colors.

By the way, if you’ve never fought a giant king on a good wire dipsy rod, your in for a treat. Honestly, if seems like you can literally feel every twitch the fish makes, even when its 300′ away from the boat. It’s awesome!

One other thing to consider when thinking about bringing riggers & dipsy’s.
If we were to get an east wind for a day or two prior to our arrival, we would be looking at warm water extending a considerable distance offshore and thermoclines down around 70′ deep or more. Nothing targets those deep depths better than downriggers. The 2nd best rig for deep water fishing is a mag dipsy.

I know you guys will be running the new lead core and how well that works out will definitely be interesting.
But not having your 4 best deep water rigs in the boat under those conditions?

I will bring along some extra fly’s and some fly tying material and do a little demonstration just to show how easy it is to tie up a salmon fly.

And if you need a few flys to get you thru a couple days on the water, I’ve got enough for that as well.

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The flies are ridiculously easy and cost effective to make in a very short time. I purchased a few initially but make all of them now. All you need are the components:
http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/tips/making_flys_directions.htm

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Interesting demo.
Can’t say I tie them like that.

I do believe the way we tie them is even easier. We use two side tape. No screwing around gluing your fingers together.

Agreed, I use two sided tape as well, was trying to show the banded mylar mainly.

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I will bring along some extra fly’s and some fly tying material and do a little demonstration just to show how easy it is to tie up a salmon fly.

And if you need a few flys to get you thru a couple days on the water, I’ve got enough for that as well.

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Joel – I really look forward to seeing that fly tying demo. Seeing it done from someone that has gone through the learning curve with the technique will be invaluable and I appreciate the offer. Next week can’t come fast enough.

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Ive been using 1/0 saltwater trebles and either high quality 40# flouro or my favorite, 50# Ande mono for fly leaders.

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Thanks for the terminal tackle tips. I carry a large quantity of 1/0 – 3/0 2X VMC trebles that should work perfectly as upgrades for those smaller stock hooks.

Everyone’s help and advice is getting me amped up for next week. I’m going to go back through this thread, make notes, and hit Marine General this coming weekend when I’m up in Duluth with family. Thanks everyone!