Our April 21st fly pattern was the Marsh Banger, the third of a three part series presented by long time SIFF member John Mathews. This fly was developed by John for fishing reds in the tidal marsh and is also part of the pack of flies given to attendees of the club’s very popular Marsh Sense Clinic.
The Marsh Banger borrows from Bob Popovic’s Bob’s Banger, as well as from patterns known as the Whistler and Gary’s Popper with variations on all three resulting in 5 different configurations of this fly to fish; a popper, an articulated popper, a popper with a dropper fly, an articulated Whistler, and a Whistler. The Marsh Banger is intended to be used with a “dropper” fly which is attached later with leader material. All the variations were demonstrated and tied at the workshop. Click here for tying instructions.
Materials List:
- Hook 1/0 Eagle Claw 245 O’Shaghenesy
- Weed Guard 3 1/2” of 20#test titanium leader wire or 20# test Mason’s hard mono, tier’s choice
- 1 1/2” Fish Shank
- 1/2” or 5/8” Diameter Foam popper body cut in half to 3/4” length
- White buck tail
- Pearl Crystal flash
- Medium metallic hackle
- Red deer body hair
- Danville 210 denier thread-red, chartreuse or white
- Dropper Materials:
- 30” of 15-20 pound test mono or floro leader.
- Dropper fly pattern- your choice, shrimp, crab, baitfish