Holoholo writer Matthew, soon to enter the 9th grade, has dialed in his fly patterns after putting in a lot of field work.

Matthew: Over the past few months, I started tying flies, got better, and eventually started selling them after extensive testing. Many of the tests were successful, thanks to testers. Thanks to everyone who tested flies out and decided which flies were the best.

Based on the test results, we will be releasing the four colors that have been working best, which are the Vanilla Ice (white with flash), Halalu (dark green top, yellow stripe, white bottom), Golden Blaze (gold, black, red), and the Oama (olive top, yellow stripe, white bottom). All flies are tied with premium 2/0 gamakatsu hooks. Currently, they will be sold on my IG page @hookum_flies and in the HNF Store. They will currently be sold for $8.99 USD.

However, if you’d like to request a custom order, please contact Scott, who will contact me. There are also many other colors that I make that are also proven, and if there is enough demand, we can bring those in too. Here are the pictures of the four flies we will be selling for now:

Many Papio have been caught on the flies, as well as Kaku and an Awa Awa, which was caught by Dino in the last post on the Oama fly. Here are some pictures of fish that have been caught on the flies in the past month:

Note that I have not caught all of those fish, but some are mine. 

A question I get often is, “What time do I use the flies at?” and the answer is that the flies will work at any time as long as there are fish around, but there are times for certain colors that have been proven to do good. The Golden Blaze seems to be a killer in low light conditions, at dawn and dusk, but it can do good at any time of day. The Vanilla Ice seems to do best in high light conditions, AKA midday, where the massive amount of flash can be refracted off the most due to the sun shining. The Oama seems to do best all day, and there is no time it will work better than not. The Halalu also seems to be the same case, but the test subjects bit a little bit after dawn.

Another question I have gotten asked is, “How do I store the flies and is there anything I should know about caring for them?” and the answer is that since they are Gamakatsu hooks they should last for years, so if you rinse the fly with fresh water and dry it before storing, it should last. A general rule is to never store somewhere moist, as that may cause eventual rust. However, the Gamakatsu hooks are exceptionally good, and have a hard time rusting. 

Another question I have got before is,”What setup do you recommend for using your flies?” The answer is that you can use whatever you want. Some people use egg lead setups, same as a grub, but so far all the fish caught have been on bubble floats. For the bubble rig you’ll need a large size bubble, a barrel swivel, monofilament line for leader (I use 30), and the fly. You’ll need to feed your mainline through the bubble and tie it to the barrel swivel, then tie anywhere from 4-7 feet of mono to the other side of the swivel, it is all preference. I prefer around six feet. You’ll need to fill the bubble up with water to make it go far, by pushing down the skinny-push-button-looking thing and letting it fill up with water. You’ll know it is filling up when you see bubbles rising. How high you fill it depends on your pole. Lighter poles may require less water in the bubble to cast effectively, and heavier poles may need the whole bubble filled up. I fill my bubble up either ¾ of the way or all the way. 

Let me know if you want more colors of flies to be brought in, some that I am looking at bringing in are the Hinalea (Hinalea – Blue, Orange, Green, Red, Gold), Akakin (Red, Yellow, White), Big Red (Red, White, Gold), and many more colors, if there is enough demand.