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Crease Fly Thread - Share Photos, Answer How To Questions & Explain How You Fish Your Crease Flies

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CaryGreene

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The Crease Fly was invented by Captain Joe Blados & is a relatively new & very under-utilized surface pattern. Many Fly-Fishermen completely ignore Crease Flies because tying them is kind of like cracking the enigma code. There isn't a ton of tying-how-to information out there to help provide clear tying instructions and there seems to be many different methods for making Crease Flies.

In fact, the whole subject of Crease Flies is all over the board! A glance into most Fly-Fisherman's Fly-Boxes might reveal commercially purchased/store bought versions of the Crease Fly.

They might also tell you that it's a neat fly for imitating certain bait fish like Peanut Bunker, but that they like Gurgler-style flies better because of X, Y, & Z. I'm hoping that if we share info on Crease Flies we can better understand how to make them and how to use them.

I thought it would be cool to dedicate a thread to all things Crease Fly related. Before we get going, let's first state what we aren't looking for.

1. "Gurgler-style flies are better because they. ..etc." - I love Gurglers also and everyone knows they are light, versatile enough to be tied for a wide range of bait fish imitations, and are deadly to the point where most fly fisherman have several Gurglers on them at all times! What we are not looking for here is a diatribe on Gurglers! Please, keep your Gurgler comments to a minimum -ok?? Deal??? Hahaha We know this is absolutely not happening. As soon as we get into the second page of this thread all of the know it alls (and Casting Snobs, huh-huh) will come out of the wood-work and explain to us all why Gurglers are so much better than their store bought Crease Flies! LOL

2. Bob's Bangers in any other style popper that you can even think of or imagine! These types of flies inevitably will also make their way into this thread on the 2nd third fourth and later pages and we will probably get to learn why many fly fishermen like these types of flies so much better also!

The Crease Fly deserves its own thread in this thread hopefully will get us focused because the entire subject is very complex. I felt it was necessary to say all of this because if I didn't this thread would wind up where all the other threads on Crease Flies eventually go! Am I right or am I wrong? Now that we have that settled let's get on with the topic: ALL THINGS CREASE FLY!

I'm not sure where the Crease Fly made its first appearance! I first became aware of the fly in 199? 7? 8? The Salty Fly-Rodder's Club on Long Island, which by the way is a fabulous, wonderful, fun, amazing club made up of a group of exceptionally talented individuals - was all about Crease Flies and they were eating some pretty cool patterns and using them all season long!

The gentleman by the name of Bill Timmerman tied the sexiest ones I have ever seen - and so my love of the fly began! He used to supply them for the Orvis Long Island store and I would purchase them 300 at a time from him and throw them in a few bins. They would last about a week.

Sadly, I don't have any of his beautiful crease flies to post pictures of. My last one was clobbered by in 18 pound Bluefish at Cornfield Point in Old Saybrook, Connecticut about 10 years ago! In fact, I was forced to start tying Crease Flies because I ran out of my "store-bought" supply!! LOL

Where and when did the Crease Fly make its first appearance? I don't know the answer to this question. Certainly they did appear in the book Innovative Saltwater Flies, by Bob Veverka. If you have never seen this book it was one of the first real breakaways from trout fly pattern type books that I can remember seeing. For a while, before Bob Popovicks released his first book Innovative Saltwater Flies was one of the cooler books if you liked to tie saltwater flies.

What is neat about the book is that it is set up not by the fly, but by the Captain who makes the fly. Joe Blados has his own "Chapter."

Unfortunately a big drawback to the book is that tying instructions were not clearly given as the book was more of a showcase for cool looking flies.

I can also remember taking a Crease Fly to the Orvis company, back when I worked for them, and giving it to the executive team and showing them a video of me catching 50 Stripers in 2 hours with nothing but Crease Flies during an all-out Montauk blitz.

Orvis immediately begin production tying and the much anticipated (to me at the time) commercially produced Crease Flies came in to the shop. I ripped the box open and almost started crying the flies were so bad. Funny thing, they have never change them and they are tied the exact same way to this day. A decade later when I was working for Cabela's, I stared into the bins that held their Crease Flies and they looked very very similar to the Orvis versions. - Atrocious!

Could it be that a good many fly fisherman have been exposed to these poorly commercially imitated versions of a Crease Fly and perhaps have drawn hasty conclusions based on how bad they are?

This may have a lot to do with why the Crease Fly is hastily dismissed by many guys who would probably really like a real Crease Fly.

If you happen to have a copy of Innovative Saltwater Flies, open it up to the page containing the color plate of the crease flies tied by Captain Blados & prepare to FAINT - they are THAT cool looking. Imagine holding one of these flies next to the ones that are in most fly shop bins. Suffice it to say that the Umpqua Feather Merchants of the world have a lot to do with why people kind of dismiss the Crease Fly.

One glance at the color plate in the book should completely dismiss the notion that these flies can't be used for a wide range of imitations covering all sorts of different bait fish.

There! I feel like I have told my own unique story and I've come clean for the part I played in how the Crease Fly became popular - it kind of feels good to get that off my chest too! LOL

Now let's talk a little bit about basic methodology in terms of how to make a simple Crease-Fly. I'm hoping that somewhere down the line in this thread we will see some beautiful works of art and learn how to take simple Crease Fly making to new levels.

I want to assure each of you that tying Crease Flies is so easy that even a beginner Fly Tyer can crank one out at the end of a one night class. I've probably taught more than 3 thousand fly tying courses over the years and I always did a separate night for the Crease Fly.

When you really start getting into saltwater fly tying you start to realize that there is a basic set of accouterments that you will need to get into in order to produce some of the more uniquely created flies. With the crease fly many of the materials used are just not commonly available especially when you get into some of the many different ways you can make a Crease Fly.

The thing about a basic Crease Fly being effective is that it matters very much how you tye it and to make it right you just really need the right materials.

To tie a basic Crease Fly you will need 3mm to 5mm White Sheet Foam, a heavier thread like 3/0 Flat Waxed Nylon, tail material and flash of your choice (Bucktail & Kystal Flash perhaps), stick on eyes, some thin coat such as 30 minute epoxy, a very fast curing glue such as clear cure UV or perhaps 5 minute epoxy, nice saltwater grade tying scissors, a fly drying wheel and some basic Primsicolor or Sharpie markers, in Red & Black and other assorted shades including fluorescent s & a nice long shank hook like a Mustad 34011 or a Gammy SC15 3/0.

The biggest trick to making a Crease Fly is too pre-cut a template on some nice heavy cardboard. You are going to fold this cardboard over on itself so that you have a right side and a left side to your minnow body. Once you get the basic template cut you then put it on a piece of foam and draw the outline of the template shape on the foam, then simply cut it out. Once you have your body cut out the rest of the fly goes together very easily.

The easy part is to simply tie a tail on the back end of a hook and wrap the rest of the hook in thread & whip finish.

Then you lay your pre cut body onto the hook and bend it a few times to see right where you're going to want to position the foam.

Next you trace one side of the body edges with whatever fast-drying glue you are going to use such as 5 minute epoxy. Then you coat the hook shank then smoosh it together. A nice trick here is to use two postcard sized sheet metal rectangular pieces to press the fly together with once you've got it glued. Then you use a couple clothes pins to hold it lightly while it dries.

Once the fly is dry you then come back and attach the eyes decorate it with a marker and then apply a very thin top coat such as the 30 minute epoxy & finish on the drying wheel. I'm huge fan of nice thick foam because of the way it fishes. I also like to cut a very thin strip of foam and place it inside the Crease Fly body just before bending it over on itself and gluing to the shank of the hook. If you do this step you don't need to try to open the head of the fly and jam pieces of foam down into the mouth like many Internet videos will show you. It is even possible to pre-make the entire body with this method and then once dry & come back later and attach it to the hook & in fact this is my production method one I am doing a dozen Crease Flies or so. As this thread evolves I will post some photos of each step in the process to help anyone who wants to make their own Crease Flies.

The materials above will produce a fly that actually fishes well because it will be durable and most importantly it will really stay up nice and float & stay together instead of ripping apart. The other cool thing about the method above is it you will get a nice popping or water moving mouth if you tie the fly correctly.

I can already see people's eyebrows raising - "did he say to use 3, 4 AND EVEN 5mm foam?? Yes I sure did! Remember the key to this pattern is how it fish is not just how it looks. The problem with commercially tied patterns is that they use very cheap thin foam and they tied the mouth all wrong.

Most good fly shops will have a set of cutters used to make aid in making Crease Fly bodies. Beside of these babies will cost about 70 bucks but the problem with them is that now you're kind of locking yourself into one basic body profile in a few different sizes. Ultimately you'll probably want to make your own cardboard cutouts and here's a cool trick. This may sound cruel to do but give it a try sometime: bring a piece of cardboard with you the next time you go fishing. Also bring a very small can of spray paint. When you happen to catch a big fish impaled on your hook, carefully take it off lay it on the cardboard and then spray paint it then dump it on the beach. Now you have a perfect outline for a crease fly. Before you spray paint it take lots of pictures of it in your hand. Then you will be able to replicate the eye size, unique markings and colors.

Once you learn to make the basic white crease fly then you can move into some other types of body decoration. Intermediate level Crease Flies can be made with sticky foam. This material comes in to millimeter and 3 millimeter thicknesses. Finding it thicker is not something I have spent much time doing it may be possible I don't really know.

Once you cut the shape you want into the single sided sticky foam, you peel off the adhesive backing and slap it on a piece of foil. Then you simply cut around the foil and you come up with a much slicker looking prismatic body.

More advanced methods include using standard white 3mm to 5mm foam as mentioned above and harder to find transfer boil in combination with spray adhesive specially designed to make the colorful foils stick. Once the body is attached hit it with the spray then simply press the transfer foil against each side of the body and voila!

In both methods mentioned above you will still need to top coat the foil body.

Alright fellas, enough blabber!! Let's get this Crease Fly party started! I'm going to lead things off with a Rhode Island Peanut Bunker Crease Fly made to match actual naturals of different sizes. Trust me when I tell you that if you splash these little suckers along the surface when conditions are right and Naturals are present the Bass will hammer this fly even under the most frustrating conditions. 2 years ago I hooked approximatel 25 fish in front of three fly fisherman & a few surf-casters who combined to catch one (on a large plug fished on the edge of the blitz). I gave the fly fisherman a few flies each and they all proceeded to hammer Bass as well! I am looking forward to seeing photos of Crease Flies guys are using and also learning and sharing as much information as we can while this thread percolates.

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Edited by CaryGreene
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Get Jack (saltyh2ofly) on this thread including his crabs and shrimp! Search for crease flies by saltyh2ofly in advanced search to get a head start 

(you may want to post this thread in flytying section).

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I used to leave mine hollow but discovered they had some wind resistance so I filled the mouths with a small piece of foam and sealed them.

The trick with crease flies is to use wide gap hooks and/or shape the belly so that when glued to the hook shank it doesn't restrict or constrain the gap.

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Edited by sidelock
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My understanding of the fly when it started to get popular was that it was meant to actually sink. Then I had a guide tell me the flies I was using were no good because they sank

and didn't pop enough, so I started stuffing them with more foam. I've used them both ways for albies and both seem to get fish. What's your prefered action, sink or float? 

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This is a timely thread...  I caught my first fly-albie on a Crease Fly back in 2003'ish off Naushon Is., on the BuzzBay side, and I have been crazy about albies ever since.  Last Sept. a friend and I caught albies on crease flies in the rips off Monomoy.  Casting parallel to the front of the rip, we'd let the fly swing into waves and retrieve it slowly back against the current--when the rip was really running you could pause the crease fly in each wave line and just let it wake and wave in the current.  If the albies were there, they hammered them.  With the current and the moving fly we would have two or three misses for every hook up, but we did not care--the misses were almost more spectacular than the hits--albies are so fast and explosive.

 

Generally speaking, though, I have not fished crease flies much at all over the years.  I just have not been very good about keeping a rod rigged up with a floating line on the boat and ready to go.  But for 2016 I have dedicated one of my rods just for casting a floating line and I plan to fish more poppers, Slim Jims and Crease Flies for bass, blues and albies.

 

I cheat and use the commercially made cutters and tie them in size  #4 (on a supply of Tiemco 911's I have stashed :) ), or in size 2/0-3/0, and usually on Mustad spinner bait hooks.  But they did not cost $70, Carey!  When I bought them they were $15 or $20 each.  I have left the mouths open on mine, but will try some closed mouth ones this season too.

 

Here's a pic from Sept., 2015 and a couple pics of my Crease Flies (with some other flies).  I do like the traditional Red Heads

 

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I used to leave mine hollow but discovered they had some wind resistance so I filled the mouths with a small piece of foam and sealed them.

The trick with crease flies is to use wide gap hooks and/or shape the belly so that when glued to the hook shank it doesn't restrict or constrain the gap.

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Hi Sidelock,

 

What is the "skin" or material used on the top three flies? Can you go into decorating a little bit. Are they coated with anything (they don't look glossy)

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My understanding of the fly when it started to get popular was that it was meant to actually sink. Then I had a guide tell me the flies I was using were no good because they sank

and didn't pop enough, so I started stuffing them with more foam. I've used them both ways for albies and both seem to get fish. What's your prefered action, sink or float? 

 

Hi Pete, Floating all the way because of the fun & action. A sinking version would be a whole different animal .I have made a sinking version but really prefer a fly with more undulating movement when sub-surface so I really only see value in floating Crease Flies. 

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Cary some of the crease flies in the pictures are made with sticky foam and transfers foil supplied in Joe Blados kit but when I first came across pictures of crease flies, I wasn't aware of the kits so I made my own. The once made with the materials included in the kit are simply decorated with variuos permanent markers. The others are made with non sticky regular foam and adheisive backed prismatic lure tape, some of which have a second layer of contrasting color tape that I cut in a pattern and adhere to the top of the body. Sometimes the adhesive prismatic tape doesn't adhere well to the non sticky foam so as you may have noticed, the yellow fly in second picture is wrapped with mono tying thread to help keep the tape in place and prevent it from peeling off and then coated with epoxy. Some also have a sprinkling of sparkle over the wet epoxy before it sets. The flies were tied before the discovery of UV resign and were a pinta to mix and coat them with epoxy and rotating them in a roticery.

Edited by sidelock
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When I fished the Crease Fly it was always on an intermediate line and felt the fly itself did best when suspended about a foot under the surface.  I believe the original Blados kit had a couple sheets of JonesTones foil which is no longer made.  There is another maker of the monocote transfer foil for those that are creative.  I always felt the eye of the hook should be recessed to the face edge of the foam.  Shove a rattle into the face before finishing.  They are fun to make and fish.

 

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Anyone ever tie a crease fly with the body at right angles (90°) as per the conventional ties shown above to simulate an injured or stunned bait fish?    Don't Albies and Stripers like easy pickin's like injured prey ?

 

HT

Currently have aphasia.    Aphasia is a result of my head stroke causing a bleed.   Happened in my Maine vacation in July (2021).   Lucky me less than 1% of people get stroke aphasia.  :(      I'm making project but have been told this is easily 5 months to 1 year for this to improve.   Until then hope you don't mind making sense with what I text.   HT

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I have been casting the fly for a few years now, mostly for spring smallmouth bass, summer largemouth bass. I have used the fly in the salt as a top water fly. It sits face up in the water, half submerged. Good success with Jacks when they are on a baitball. My ties are much better now that I have a good template. I have used prism tape, with a coating of 5min, epoxy, or I just hand color them. Also use the bass stinger style hooks. I will be heading down to Fla for a trip, I have several coming with me.

I believe the same guy who created the fly also did a Crease Crab and a Crease Squid,  Flies for Salt Water, Stewart & Allen

Edited by Fly Time

FLY TIME

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Anyone ever tie a crease fly with the body at right angles (90°) as per the conventional ties shown above to simulate an injured or stunned bait fish?    Don't Albies and Stripers like easy pickin's like injured prey ?

 

HT

 

HT, interesting you hit on the injured bait thing, I read all the reply's and did not see that mentioned but entirely possible I missed that or more likely I simple forgot I read it before I got to where I am now. Anyway I was told a long time ago that the crease fly was invented to imitate a wounded bait fish and that is the way I always fished it, to do just that as best I could..

 

Tying one sideways would be a first I think, I know I have never seen one and more importanly it would totally eliminate the hook gap being an issue for sure so with that being said I would not be surprised if we see a few pictures get posted.

The Tug Is The Drug

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What first caught my eye regarding the Crease was that to me it looked like the flyfish version of the Rapala. I think like a lot of people, I started fishing with a spinning rod, casting rod. Rapalas were and still are a mainstay with those guys/gals who fish with conventional gear, fresh or salt. I fish the Crease the same way I fished the floating Rapala minnow. Equal success I might add.

FLY TIME

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