"Bass-fishing history has more to do with the development of suitable artificials than it does with anything else. The flies and bugs typical of bass fishing are about the only things, save the environs where they are sought, that set off bass fishing as an endeavor separate from other types of fly fishing. This however, is not insignificant.
At the time that anglers first began casting flies to bass, trout patterns were used. The favored artificial flies were big, and Henshall (James Henshall author of Book of Black Bass in 1881) said the flies’ patterns were not critical. In fact, the gaudier and more colorful the flies the better they were perceived to work. Most popular bass patterns were copies of trout flies. The fancy flies for trout grew more and more popular under this prevailing attitude and the size and materials in the bass version developed rather naturally into what would be known as ‘bass bugs.’
Largemouth caught on the Black E. H. Bucktail Fly.
The development of the hair-bug, the spun deer-hair style body, is a mystery. Schullery says Henshall is often acknowledged as creator of the trimmed-hair bass bug, but he fails to give a date for this.
William Bayard Sturgis claims the hair-spinning technique came to Chicago about 1912, brought by Emerson Hough a famed outdoors author, who found a fly tied in this way on a fishing trip in the "far North." Originally, a Sturgis report, the body was spun with bucktail. Hough and Fred Peet worked with the tying technique through that winter, developing a fly named after Hough. Later, according to Sturgis, tyers switched to deer body hair for spinning."
Credits: Quoted text from A Concise History of Fly Fishing by Glenn Law, published by the Lyons Press.
Here at JJ’s Jigs we celebrate the originality of American Smallmouth bass fly fishing and fly tying by offering the original pattern of the Emerson Hough Bucktail Fly using natural spun deer body hair and brown bucktail in the traditional dressing of the fly.
Also, we like to update patterns to fit the needs of the progression in smallmouth bass and trout flyfishing by offering a variants of the traditional dressed Emerson Hough Bucktail Fly using more modern dyed natural bucktail, lead-wrapped weighted hook shanks for the mid water column presentation, and synthetic body hackling materials. All of the Emerson Hough Bucktail Streamer Flies are tied on strong Tiemco 300 Streamer hooks. My varient has more natural coloration of the shiners and chubs that live in our local streams. The followg pictures is what my varient E.H. Bucktail pattern in Creek Chub colors looks like when wet.
The bucktail flows in the water and dances with the current. The ice chenille flashes even in stained water and the dumbell eyes gets this fly down into the water column.
High streams present a problem in getting our flies deeply where the large bass or trout are holding. This is especially a problem if you don’t have a Sinking Head or a Sink Tip line and you must use a floating line.
Real fat flies compound this problem because they just don’t sink well. This was part of the challenge I considered when I designed my E. H. Bucktail Chub. I tie these sparse so they sink well and cast very smoothly. It's a great fly, some of my local stream denizens think so too!
This Smallmouth Bass loved it! I caught this pig on May 23, 2011 on Sugar Creek.
This chunky rainbow had to eat it too! I caught this fine trout on the South Branch of Towanda Creek on May 23, 2011.
I also tie this pattern in black for those dirty water situations. The black E.H. Bucktail Fly was the only fly to hammer the bass and trout when the rivers and tributaries were excessively stained and high. During muddy water conditions the fish will be able to not only key into a forage food profile but will be able to see constrast of this black fly in the brown water!
Just look at the results!
A nice smallmouth bass on the Wyalusing Creek, July 11, 2011
At least a 10 pound carp/koi hybrid... that was a long battle to land him!
Even in the 95+F degree heat of July 2011, the E. H. Bucktail Fly gets the lethargic smallies to bite!
On September 19, 2011, I had a record breaking day of trout fishing on one of my local freestoners. With a fistfull of #2 Black E. H. Bucktails I landed over 50+ trout in less than five hours of fishing. I had an East Coast Mega-Slam: Browns, Brookies, Golden Rainbows, Rainbows, and the elusive Tiger Trout. All trout were released. (I practice 100% catch and release - whenever and wherever I fish.)
As you can see in these pictures above, water conditions were still extremely swollen and very muddy from the flooding of Tropical Storm Lee that struck North East Pennsylvania from September 8-10, 2011. But the pictures dont lie... it's positive proof that the E. H. Bucktail produced a banner day!! It is truly one of the best dirty water flies you can fish with. No fly box should be without a couple of Emerson Hough Bucktail Streamers!
NEW! - Wounded E. H. Bucktail Streamer
Wounded and dying minnows are easy prey for bass and trout. At dusk and dawn, many gamefish move onto the shallow edges and tails of the pools and run. They do this to feed on any struggling minnows that are funneled down from the head of the pool from the riffle above it. I'll often catch more than a dozen fish in an short time using the Wounded E. H. Bucktail Streamer. This pattern is non-weighted so that it flutters and sometimes flops over in the top four to six inches of the water column. Akin to the agonal last moments of a bloodied and dying minnow. The red Krystal Flash mimics the bloody gill plates of a injured baitfish. This tell-tale sign screams "Free Lunch" to any awaiting predator looking to ambush stunnded and mortally wounded minnows.
Hucking my casts upstream over the whole pool tail is my favorite way to fish this fly. Wade carefully here because the large fish are frequently very wary when entering and feeding in the shallow areas. They will spook more easily since they don't feel as secure without a few more feet of water over them. When using this minnow, one must keep a tight line on this upstream presentation in order to detect strikes. Swim your Wounded E. H. Bucktail downstream using a line-hand stripping action just slightly faster than the speed of the current.
Dressing the whole streamer and leader with silicone fly floatant is a very exciting alternative to useing this pattern. When the fly lands on the water, impart a slow strip-pause-strip retrieve. This often excites the trout or bass so much that you will see its wake coming from ten feet away! If you get excited and set the hook before he gets there... just cast again and you will probably will get him on the second try!
We suggest
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Lock and door and call 911... or grab your rod and go fishing!$2.50
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My original design. A pattern that should be in every smallmouth fly fisher's fly box.$3.25
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A supersized streamer fly that is as close to a "sure thing" as it gets.$2.50
