Pond Stalker
Fly of the Month 04.24 Pond Stalker
A fly pattern for streams or stillwater that is designed for both coldwater and warmwater is the Stealth Bomber. One specific stream that requires such a fly pattern is the North and South Forks of the New River in Ashe and Allegheny counties. For that matter, any marginal trout stream that also has smallmouth bass comes to mind as well. Almost every delayed harvest trout stream in North Carolina is a marginal trout stream that harbors smallmouth bass making this an interesting, highly productive and universal fly pattern to carry.
Dessert for the largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and larger trout! The Pond Stalker is an unsinkable fly pattern much like the Stealth Bomber but has eyes that make it more suggestive of aquatic creatures . If you practice your fly casting on a bass pond, this is the perfect fly pattern. If you fly fish a mountain pond that contains trout, this is the perfect fly pattern. If you fish for smallmouth bass in the slow waters in a delayed harvest stream, this is the perfect fly pattern. If you fish for trout in a delayed harvest streams, this is the perfect pattern.
Alen’s Pond Stalker
The Pond Stalker is a foam fly pattern designed by me, Alen Baker. The fly pattern pushes water with an aggressiveness of the retrieve like a popper yet looks like an aquatic creature with the protruding eyes. It was ideally designed and tied for largemouth bass and bluegill sunfish in a farm pond, for smallmouth bass and rock bass in the New River as well as larger trout anywhere will strike this fly pattern aggressively.
The position and shape of the foam allows the fly pattern to be a noise maker by pushing water.. The generation of air bubbles creates a noisy disturbance on the surface that fish can not resist territorially. Keeping the foam on the top of the hook shank helps this fly pattern sit lower and increases the amount of hook ups.
Although the foam is best prepared with a form cutter, the template for the fly pattern may be copied and sized instead. Black, chartreuse, orange, white and yellow are favorite colors that are well proven to be highly effective depending on water clarity. The larger sizes make it difficult to also catch sunfish, thus, use smaller size for a variety catch and larger size to limit your catch to bass and trout.
[Alen’s] Pond Stalker
Hook: 2xL Heavy Wet
Size: 4, 6
Thread: 3/0 White
Underbody: <color> Estaz
Body: 2 mm foam, Pond Stalker template
Wing: Bucktail & Krystal Flash, delta-style
(optional) downwing addition
Eyes: 1/4" to 5/16" foam cylinder, doll eyes
Legs: Sili-Legs
Color: Black Chartreuse, Yellow, White
Originated by Alen D Baker
Foam Cutting Instructions (Pond Stalker template):
There are three foam components to the Pond Stalker. The eye cylinder may be 3/4” to 1” long, then trimmed once the triangular head piece of foam is in place and glued to the cylinder on each side. The cylinder is tied forming a forward triangle where the back/head foam is glued in place with the hook eye in the middle and under the head. The back/head foam piece is cut with an oval shape slightly longer than the hook shank with a tie-down extended tab on the tail end and a triangular head that separates the eye cylinder eyes on the front end. A second piece of foam of a different color is cut as a simple, same sized oval that fits under the back/head foam piece, glued into place before being tied to the shank. The eye cylinder and triangular head are trimmed last, then the doll eyes are added.
Directions:
Pond Stalker
[Alen’s] Pond Stalker
Hook: 2xL Heavy Wet
Size: 4, 6
Thread: 3/0 White or Chartreuse
Underbody: Chartreuse Estaz
Body: 2 mm foam, Pond Stalker template
Wing: Bucktail & Krystal Flash, delta-style (optional) downwing addition
Eyes: 1/4" to 5/16" foam cylinder, doll eyes
- Debarb and mount the hook. Add thread one third back of the eye and advance to the hook bend. Let the bobbin hang.
- Select a section of trimmed to the hook gap white 2mm foam and trim one end to a small point to tie in. Invert the hook and tie in the white foam at the hook bend. Pierce the foam with the hook point to aid in the next step.
- Put the hook back into the normal positioning and tie in the Chartreuse 2mm foam that has been trimmed in the same size and manner as the white in the same position as the white at the hook bend.
- Select a three inch piece of estaz and tie in on top of the hook at the spot where the thread was started and tie with tight loops to the hook bend. Advance the thread to the spot where it began and let the bobbin hang. Advance the estaz in tight turns covering the hook shank to the thread and tie in with thread wraps and trim the waste. Let the bobbin hang.
- Bring the white foam forward and tie in with several wraps where the bobbin is waiting. Trim any extra foam flush with the tie in. Cover any foam with a very few thread wraps and let the bobbin hang.
- Select the 3/16 foam cylinder and trim two ⅜ inch sections. Using a razor blade cut one end of the cylinder at a 60 degree angle about one third of the cylinder length. Tie one in at a time on each side of the hook shank, slightly overlapping the white foam, allowing room for the chartreuse foam at the hook eye. The cylinders should be facing the eye at an approximate 45 degree angle.
- Select white bucktail and remove from the tail, align the tips and tie in on top of the hook shank behind the foam cylinder with the length extending to the hook bend. Trim the waste and add a drop of Zap-a-Gap.
- Select three or four pearl krystal flash strands and tie in on top of the bucktail with an x to start and then bind on the far side of the hook shank bringing the remainder to the side closest and bind in. Trim to about the length of the bucktail. Add a drop of Zap-a-Gap.
- Bring the chartreuse foam forward and tie in immediately in front of the cylinder eye stalks. When bringing the foam forward, split the bucktail and krystal flash into a vee on either side of the hook shank with the foam holding the position. Trim the chartreuse foam to make a forward facing wedge ( to push water when fishing). Whip finish and trim the thread.
- Select the eyes and attach to eye stalk.
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- Tom Adams, Alen Baker