Fly designs for saltwater and freshwater
Surfboard Slider (underwater view)
Fishing is an escape and mind release for Kevin. When he's on the water, he doesn't think about anything else -- it consumes and relaxes him. It's always been that way -- truly for as long as he can remember -- fishing has been like a religious experience.
It's a similar feeling when tying flies. He started tying flies in 1995. The thought of tying his own fly and catching a fish intrigued him. So, he bought a trout fly tying kit from a local shop and taught himself the basics of how to tie a fly using the included instruction book. His first fly was a gold ribbed hare's ear nymph; the second was a black wooly bugger.
He remembers the first time he caught a fish on his own fly. It was mid-morning on a warm spring Saturday at Settles Bridge on the Chattahoochee River in Georgia. He was using one of his gold ribbed hare's ear nymphs and on the fifth drift he hooked and landed a 12-inch rainbow trout. Kevin said it was an amazing feeling of accomplishment. It was all down hill from that day, fly tying became an obsession.
Arculeo's Floating Rattle Crab
Fly tying and design is contagious passion. It's the pursuit of the next great pattern that makes tying as much of a sport as fishing. Kevin spends way to much time and money shopping in craft, hardware stores, online, etc. trying to find that undiscovered material or glue that will make his patterns unique and have action that will drive fish crazy. Kevin's designs are created to give his flies action and/or sound that mimic live prey. Most of his creations rattle, wiggle, dart or may create disturbance on the waters surface to entice predator fish.
And now, you've discovered why this site is called actionflies.com. He hopes you'll join him in the pursuit!
About the flies pictured
Surfboard Slider
This Slider type fly was designed to create a Big "V" Wake on the surface (like a Cotton Cordell Redfin Lure) to entice Stripers and Bluefish that would not strike a loud sounding popper. This Slider type fly acts like a wounded baitfish on the surface. The Surfboard was created during a wade fishing trip to Chatum, Mass. in June 2001. This fly should be fished by using a one-handed continuous strip.
Note: Remember to pause 1/2 second after strike occurs or you will pull fly from fish.
Arculeo's Floating Rattle Crab
The Floating Rattle Crab gives the underwater silhouette of a struggling helpless crustacean suspended on the surface. When stripped it gives the illusion of a live swimming crab with the attracting sound of the rattle. The fly can be fished in several situations. When fishing in a current cast into the moving water and dead drift down current as you would fishing a nymph in for trout in a river. This gives the fly the look of a pass crab -- a crab swept up by the current. While drifting the crab you can also give it a few short strips to make it look like it is struggling in the current. When throwing at surface feeding, schooling and tailing fish you should alternate short strips with pauses. This fly can also be fished as a subsurface suspending crab by using intermediate or sink tip lines to get the fly under the water's surface. The top shell foam will keep the fly suspended or slowly sinking depending on the sink rate of the line.
This fly was featured in the May/June 2006 issue of Saltwater Fly Fishing Magazine.