The idea for the "Snakehead Terror" came from the fact that many conventional Bass fishermen were catching Snakeheads (incidentally) on buzzbaits. I used to be quite the fan of fishing buzzbaits back in the day, and I knew of nothing in a fly box that could make the same kind of racket. For that matter, most of the commercially available Bass Bugs and poppers are ridiculously small when compared to most of the topwater lures conventional Bass anglers use. So, I set out to create a surface fly that would make a similar disturbance of a buzzbait but with the added benefit of being able to pause the retrieve, or move the fly through small holes in the vegetation (buzzbaits need a bit of a running start to work their magic and can't be stopped mid retrieve).
The original prototypes in the above post used a wire bite guard passed through a synthetic wine cork then haywire twisted to a large 3/0 hook I dressed with saddle hackle, marabou, and flash. I've since made some significant improvements and have settled on a pretty decent design, thought there are still a few bugs to work out. The fly now consists of a 6/0 Gamakatsu SL12S hook dressed with Saddle Hackles, Krystal Flash, Estaz Body, Flashabou, and Marabou wound on the shank. Rubber can be added behind the marabou if desired. Instead of a wire bite guard, I now use a 55mm straight shank from "flymen". I use 3/8" stick on eyes and have added rubber legs protruding through the cork head
Basic Instructions:
- Pull cork from wine bottle and consume contents
- Tie in 6-8 Saddle Hackles at the rear of the hook. I prefer them to splay out (opposing each other) similar to tarpon flies
- Add several strands of Krystal Flash to each side
- Tie in Estaz and wind a dense, tight body leaving room for the Marabou (the Estaz helps "flare out" the Marabou skirt giving it some good body when wet)
- Add a few strands (sparse) of fine Flashabou, or more Krystal Flash in front of the Estaz Body
- Tie in a well formed Marabou feather by the tip and wind it forward (popsicle style). It will take several feathers and you can alternate colors to get the desired effect/appearance
- Tie off the thread and glue
- Add the articulated shank to the hook eye, tie off with thread and glue
- Prepare the cork by boring a straight hole through the center with a sharp bodkin or with a very fine drill bit
- Use the same bodkin or drill bit to bore holes through the cork body and use a bobbin threader to pull the rubber legs through the holes
- Add eyes and slide the cork onto the shank. Do not glue the cork on, it will stay put. By not permanently affixing the cork head, you can interchange different heads on different bodies to alternate color schemes.
- Tie it to your favorite 10-weight and go fish!
About the corks, I have found through lots of geeky research that the type of synthetic corks that have a dense foam center and a rubberized coating are best suited for the fly. I suppose one could paint them, but I kind of like leaving the original logos and art alone. Besides, it takes a sophisticated Bass to know that marabou pairs nicely with a good Malbec. In the photos below, I have included a bunch of identifiable corks that fit the bill. Nothing worse then peeling the foil from a bottle only to find it doesn't have the right cork in it. OK, there are a few worse things, but I done the work and weeded out some of the brands so you don't have to. I particularly like the cheetah pattern on the Sebeka wines from South Africa. Now, if I could only invent a pattern incorporating screw caps from Evan Williams bottles!
To Dalton's comment, no Snakeheads have ever been landed on the "Snakehead Terror", which suggests it is aptly named since it does in fact terrorize them! It has proven to be an incredibly deadly Bass fly though (no droppers necessary Carl). Fish absolutely explode on it since it obviously needs a good killin' first! I even took a pretty big Blue Catfish on it at 2:30AM during the 2013 Snakehead Tournament.
Oh, and the name of course is in homage to the ridonkulous movie, "Snakehead Terror", that came out in the peak of the Chicken Little media hysteria that accompanied the first several years of the fish's introduction. Pretty sure it was shot entirely on location at the Duck Pond:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2S7zB6OoeI
Attached are a few pictures to make some sense of the above.
Happy Halloween everyone!
Dan Davala
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