I would like to give a tribute to Dave Skok the designer of this fly"The Mushmouth". Dave was born in Bridgeport Connecticut 1974. A guy who loves fishing like all of us do, he's a Boston-based fly-tier,shore guide and casting instructor a 2x winner of the Martha's Vineyard Derby. He currently reside in Winthrop,Massachusetts a suburb near Boston.
With "The Mushmouth" fly, you can catch any tuna from bluefin,skipjack,bonito to big sea bass"stripers",tarpon etc.
What you need is just the right material like unique hair,slinky fibre, mega mushy flash,flashabou,Softex or any soft body glue. Other things are angel hair/lite N Brite/Wing'N Flash.
If you not familiar with flyfishing, than you can fish it with a spinning gear & a Texas rig, just put the weight appr.1 m (fluoro carbon),from the fly!
Rgds,
Victor.

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Some picture of myself and others with bluefin, sea bass"Striper", caught on this fly!!!

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Victor:

That looks like some serious size of fish. If that works on Blue Fin Tuna, I guess it will work with Yellowfin too?

__________________
adrianus

What does not kill me, makes me stronger - Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

To my feelings!! It will works, itu ada perasaan kuat, cuman besarnya tergantung baitnya? Lihat contoh yang kukirim, ada yang fly yang kecil ijau, itulah yang dia mau makan kadang2, depends their appetite!
Ask Jim! He comes from Connecticut!
Regards,
Victor.
PS. Have a nice ngobrol2 day tomorrow!!!

Victor,
Great post.....are those flies you tied? Nice work. I have used the Mushmouth (gray and white) fishing for speckled trout (caught in the bays of the gulf coast in the U.S.) and I used the pattern with success recently in Australia. The great thing about it is that the fly is very versitle.
For tuna I know people who fish it on a sinking line with good results, and I was using it for sightcasting to barramundi and golden trevally (kuwe mas?) The buoyancy of the fly and "soft landing" when cast made it perfect to sightcast to the barramundi with and aviod spooking them. The guide (Nat Bromhead from Australia, based out of Hervey Bay Nat Bromhead's Saltwater Fly Fishing Adventures ) I was with liked the pattern so much I left him with one so he could copy it. He is going to tie some up to use on Marlin in Australia!

Do you know a source (internet) where you can buy the materials? Which is the best material you have used for the fly....the ones I have are very shiny and I think are unique hair or slinky fiber....?

Jim:

I really want to see you try it on YFT when they appear at Palabuhan Ratu. Hopefully the return this December or next year. The season were not so good these past two years. Last year they almost didn't appear, and this year the season was very short. I caught two this year, not big though, only about 20 kg. On 2005 the season was very good, almost 7 months long and the size reach 70 kg!

It will be very interesting to see YFT caught on fly.

__________________
adrianus

What does not kill me, makes me stronger - Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Do you know a source (internet) where you can buy the materials? Which is the best material you have used for the fly....the ones I have are very shiny and I think are unique hair or slinky fiber....?[/quote]
Hello,Jim!
Most of my tying materials I bought at Saltwater Flies! SALTWATERFLIES.COM -- The finest in saltwater fly fishing. The owner is Chris Windram a nice honest person and a profesional tier, whom we met in Martha's Vineyard, the last couple of years he used to fish with my two fishing budds Rene & Ton 'cause they run also a tying website here in Holland.The best thing is look at dwskok.com - Fly Tying and Photography by Dave Skok - HOME fly tying!! Here you can see the material he used, it is a little difficult in the beginning so watch his tips!!!
Unique hair & slinky fiber are just the material for holding the much softer Wing'n Flash,Lite Brite,flashabou or Angel hair.See also ASWF.org and see Steve Farrar blending the materials into small tapered bundles. Don't make it to thick in the beginning, just small bundles!! You know the more you do it, the better the fly! Hope you can make the proper fly for YF Tuna!
I think Adrianus going nuts!! and we have another flyfisher with us.
Good luck & take care
PS. Don't forget the Softex, the collors is your choice!!
Victor.

Adrianus,
I would love to go down to P. Ratu in the YFT season. I think if we can find the fish, we should be able to manage one on a fly.....in Australia on my recent trip we fished for Longfin tuna (small 10-20 kg) but we did not have any luck...the weather had turned and the big bait balls had not come back yet, the guide showed me the method of how to catch them on fly gear though.
Let me know when/if it comes and in the next few months I will make sure I have the right gear and tie some flies. Need to order a new fast- sinking line for my 10 wt., but other than that I think we can get the job done...if the fish cooperate. What colors are good for these YFT on regular lures? What depth in the water column are the YFT at P. Ratu caught? Let me know and I will get busy tying..... I am looking forward to it already.
Tight Lines,
Jim

Victor,
Thanks for the additional info, I need to get my hands on some softex but have enough material I brought with me to get some mushmouths started. Appreciate those links, lots of great info and instructions there.
Cheers,
Jim

Victor:

Ihave no plan to get into flyfishing yet, but who knows? May be if I have the chance to see Jim fight a YFT on fly I will rush to the nearest flyfishing shop (that will be CoHo in Singapore I think, not exactly very near)

Jim:
Look at this section for YFT on popper report, find one with YFT or Tuna in the subject:
http://www.fishyforum.com/f52/

This one is my last trip there, there is also a picture of their stomach content so you can get some idea on what their diets are
yft ngamuk lagi di palabuhan ratu!

When they're in feeding frenzy, they will hit anything that moves on the water, as long as it's small. The depth of of the water column is only about 40 meters, but sometimes they're in deeper area too (about 150 meters)

__________________
adrianus

What does not kill me, makes me stronger - Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Wow,
those are some great fish! I had no idea there was a good YFT fishery in P.Ratu. Let's hope they show up this year. Those would be quite the battle on my 10wt.....may have to go to a 12 wt but I have one in the states I can bring back before Decemeber.
Also great shot of the stomach contents....many flies can imitate that size of bait.

Here are a few shots of Longtail tuna caught in Australia on the fly (borrowed this pics from Nat Bromhead's Saltwater Fly Fishing Adventures, thanks Nat!). The first two are from the Weipa area last month....one caught on a clouser type fly, the other on a popper called a bob's banger, the third shot is from the Gold coast.....tuna on a fly can be done! For those big YFT in P.Ratu will just need to make sure we have the right gear.

The last pic is one of me with a nice barramundi on a fly caught in Weipa....on a black clouser.

What weight line/leader is used on those fish?

tightlines,
Jim

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Thanks Adrianus for the nice pictures!
I think Jim have to use his 12 weight line! It is better for handling 400 or 500 grains lines! I have good results with Rio deep sea lines; Powerflex core in 300,400,500 etc.Their Leviathan line seems also very good, strong Powerflex core 60lb/75lb, available in sinking tip intermediate running line 400,500 and intermediate 10ft clear tip translucent green head 500gr.this is the one they used a lot for bluefin in New England! I hope you're keen on your knots Jim! They are powerful pound for pound and you need a lot of backing, I use power pro line 50 pnd for my big reels. I don't know which hooks you are using? I like the Owner AKI and Varivas hooks, good penetration and reliable.I am looking forward for you guys!
PS. Nice pics Jim! Who is that 6 foot 6 guy on the right ?
Rgds,
Victor.

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