OK, So this week we are back on our series of my favorite Smallmouth patterns and this one may be my favorite. The O'Neill's Controlled Chaos is a pattern developed over the past few years. This fly is a direct decedent of Mike Schultz's Swinging D and Eric Snyder's Twisted Swinger. The Swinging D is a fantastic fly, one of the best Smallmouth flies out there. It takes a long time to tie. Mike himself offers a stripped down version to combat this issue. My buddy Eric Snyder stripped it down a little more with his pattern the Twisted Swinger. The Controlled Chaos is stripped down even more giving what I feel is good balance between a fly with the action that I want and time spent at the bench. More of a platform really, the possibilities are endless. When fishing this fly you want to throw it on an intermediate or a type 1 sink tip on a shore leader. The idea here is the foam head will try and float the fly and the line will try to sink it. The result is a battle of wills that give this fly incredible action. Originally designed as a Smallmouth pattern, we have successfully landed Smallmouth, Largemouth, Trout (Rainbow, Brown and Brook) Chain Pickerel and Striper to name a few. Size can be adjusted by modifying the hook, shank and head size. This one is about 3.5 / 4 inches and will throw nicely on a 7 weight. This one is in "Bleeding Shad" color. We also use Black / Chartreuse and Fire Tiger. Recipe; Hook; Partridge Attitude Extra #1 Tail; one white and one Pearl Grey Marabou Blood Quill Flash; 2 or 3 strands of silver Flashabou Body; Complex twist of Schlappen and Polar Chenille UV silver. Shank; Flymen 35 mm (1 3/8 inch) shank Body; Complex twist of Schlappen and Polar Chenille UV silver. Collar; Senyos Laser Dub red / white Head; Rainey's foam diver head size small Norvise products used; Rotary Norvise, Magnum Hub, Auto Bobbin, Saltwater Jaw ![]() Tie the tip of both feathers and palmer forward until all of the fibers are on the hook. Take care not to trap any of the fibers as you are wrapping. Use your bodkin or a brush to pick or brush out the tail as you are wrapping forward. Remember, if you are using a Norvise you can just spin the vise. To see a video of how to make the Complex Twist with the Norvise click HERE ![]() Palmer the complex twist forward to the eye of the hook. Take care to stroke the brush reward after each turn so the fibers are not trapped. Tie off and clip the brush at the eye of the hook. Use your bodkin and a brush to pick / brush out the body of the fly. This is the completed tail section of the pattern. ![]() Coat the thread base and the front of the collar with a heavy dose of Zap-A-Gap and slide the head on over the shank. You have about 5 seconds before the glue takes hold so get it on and positioned quickly. You will only get one shot! Build a nice thread dam in front of the foam and head cement this to finish off the fly. The last three pics show the finished fly. As mentioned this Bleeding Shad color combo is a favorite of mine followed closely by Fire Tiger.
When fishing be sure to mix up your retrieves and most importantly pause between strips. You will be surprised to see, even when you are not moving the fly it is always in motion. Often the strikes will come during the pause. I hope you enjoy tying and fishing this pattern. It has become one of my favorites over the past few years. Till next time... Tight lines - Tim Our buddy and Team Norvise member Braden Miller attended ICAST a few weeks ago in Orlando, Florida. We kept seeing posts on Facebook and the pictures He and his mom Casey were texting us. I asked him to write a Blog post for Norvise about his experience. He just sent it to me today, so here id "ICAST / IFTD through the eyse of a 12 year old" By Braden Miller.
Hi, my name is Braden Miller and I was lucky to attend my very first ICAST/IFTD in Orlando, Florida this July with Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO). In this post I want to talk about my three days at the show, my Facebook live interviews with TFO, what booths I visited and some of the famous fisherman and youtubers I meet. My mom and I arrived in Orlando Tuesday, July 10th and we stayed at the Hilton Orlando with everyone from TFO. There were many people/companies that stayed here too. As soon we walked in the doors the first people we ran into in the lobby was Mr. Duke Davis and Mr. David Folkerts with Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing (for those of you who are not familiar with PHWFF, they are a non-profit organization that has volunteers and partners that work with veterans to teach them classes in fly tying, rod building, casting and they have fishing trips/tournaments, with over 200 programs throughout the country). You can check out all the exciting things PHWFF has going on by visiting their site at http://projecthealingwaters.org/ Tuesday was a very relaxed day, we checked in, mom unpacked, while I tied a Blake Chocklett feather game changer with a spawn fly head, and then we spent the rest of the day at the pool. |
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