CAPT. DAVE’S BAYMEN UNIVERSAL FLY

If you are a fly fisherman, chances are you have fished my Baymen Universal fly pattern. I designed this fly over twenty years ago, to catch striped bass on Duxbury, Kingston and Plymouth bay, Massachusetts. Since then, fly fisherman around the country have taken a liking to it and today my Baymen Universal fly pattern has been fished all over the world. It has caught everything from trout to tuna.

When I set out to create The Baymen Universal fly, I studied all the primary bait species that come into our bay over the course of the season. Then, I studied the colors of those baits and the sizes. I wanted to use all natural materials, and I have always been a deer hunter, so tying with deer hair was only natural.

The primary colors of the bait in our bay are red, white, olive, and magenta (faint pink). I purchased colored deer tails, used my own natural white deer tails, and hired a company to dye a large batch of deer tails in a color I call Capt. Dave’s Perfect Pink. With all of my bucktails I began to search for the right hook to tie my fly on. I tried a lot of brands and sizes and finally settled on the Eagle Claw 254 SS in size 2/0. From there, I needed to choose a strong thread and settled on Danville Flat-Waxed nylon in solid black. As I began to tie my first Baymen Universal Fly, I realized I needed some “flash” in the body to suggest the reflection of light off a baitfish’s scales. I tested a lot of types of flash and finally went with ORVIS Krystal Flash in Pearl color. As I continued designing my fly, I realized I needed a top dressing for the pattern. Almost all baitfish in our waters have a dark back. I wanted a material that “breathed” as the fly was stripped and paused through the water. I tried a few materials and decided to go with Natural Peacock Herl.

Now the materials for The Baymen Universal Fly pattern were almost complete. The last step was to add a realistic eye. I began tying the eyes with Jungle Cock. I love this natural material.  But then I tried a soft 3D Prism Eye in silver with a black pupil and never went back to Jungle Cock. The 3D eye just looks so natural, like a real baitfish eye. ORVIS makes a good one in 7mm and that is the current one I am using. However, it does add weight to the fly and the fly casts and swims different then the fly with a Jungle Cock eye.

Now that you have all the ingredients, I will share with you my recipe and tying steps for my Baymen Universal Fly Pattern. Assuming you have your tying vice and tools and how to get a hook set in the vice, we will go right to the tying:

1. Tie a small amount of Capt. Dave’s Perfect Pink on the top of the hook shank.
2. Over the pink, tie a medium amount of olive
3. Over the olive, tie in your peacock herl
4. Invert the hool
5. On the belly of the pattern, tie in a medium amount of white bucktail
6. Over the white bucktail, tie in red “gills.” I trim them short to suggest gills.
7. Glue your 3D Prism eyes in place for 24 hours. I use household Goop.

The fly is now complete. A couple tips are to make sure you use the “pinch” technique to keep all the material on the top of the hook shank, especially the peacock herl. Also, when attaching your eyes, make sure you place them perfectly so the balances well and tracks through the water straight up and down. If one eye is off, the fly will lean that way when being stripped. Lastly, one other thing I like to do on The Baymen Universal is to tie a long, bare neck wrapped with the black thread. The reason is, I have a “handle” to grasp when I slide my hand down the leader to lip the fish. I typically grasp the neck of the fly between my right thumb and index finger, and then lip the fish with the thumb and index finger of my left hand. This is just my personal preference.

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Over the years, many people, including myself, have tugged and pulled on my Baymen Universal Fly to try and tweak it to make it better. I have seen some designs that look nothing like my fly! But I have seen others that use different materials in the same colors and tying sequence, and they actually look pretty good. Also, I have tied my Baymen Universal in various sizes on all sizes of hooks to match the bait and fish we are after. For trout, I tie a Baby Baymen. For big striped bass I tie a Giant Baymen.  For a pattern that drops more on the strip, I tie a Baymen Clouser with clouser eyes. This is favorite of many anglers.

Other changes I use from time to time for the Baymen Universal, are tying it in a Lefty’s Deceiver style with white saddle hackle another favorite because the fly has more body to it and the saddles add extra movement to make the fly look alive in the water. I have also tied The Baymen Universal as a very small, sparse Ray’s Fly and it looks and fishes amazing.

One last advancement you will love if you are a light tackle fisherman: I tied the Baymen Universal as a light tackle jig in ¾ oz and 1 oz sizes! I don’t actually do the tying of the jigs myself. Jeck’s Jigs ties the Baymen Universal Jig under my name, and sells them in shops all over the northeast anywhere Jeck’s Jigs are sold. The Baymen Jig absolutely slams striped bass when bounces along the bottom in the 1 oz size. In the ¾ oz size, it can be fished with the Baymen Bounce technique the same way we fish rubber crank baits in the water column. Bass absolutely love the Baymen Jig.

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Well, I have enjoyed sharing with you about how my fly, Capt. Dave’s Baymen Universal, came into being what it is today. Thank you to everyone that has bought it,, tied it, fished it and shared it with other anglers around the world. I am working on a Baymen Universal Stats list that I will publish at some point, that tells who caught what, where and when on my Baymen Universal Fly and Baymen Jig. It will make for a very interesting Part II of the Baymen Universal story.

Tight Lines & good fishing to all!

Capt. David Bitters, F/V BAYMEN, baymenlife.com