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Burbling for Smallmouth Bass (Guest Article)
by Dave Duffy

In June of 2000, during the Southeastern Council Federation of Fly Fishers annual Conclave and Fly Fishing Show, I had the pleasure of meeting and fishing with John Likakis, the editor of the now defunct Warmwater Fly Fishing magazine. I met John at the Conclave, where he was one of the keynote speakers. As usual, the Conclave was hectic, a lot of fun and had many things to be learned from the fly tiers, the programs and just plain old talking with other fly fishers.

When it was all over, on Sunday, Fred Stevenson, John, and I headed out of Gatlinburg toward the French Broad River. The DaddyCat was inflated and launched for a day of floating on one of my favorite rivers. Biologists have said that the French Broad has some of the highest growth rates of any river in the Southeast. So, I was looking forward to a successful day with lots of big fish. With that said, the trip was cursed.

For the first mile of the float, John placed flies in all the likely places that he and I thought the fish would be found. In the previous weeks, I had fished this section several times and caught good numbers of fish, some approaching the magic 18-inch mark. Today none of the fish were home.

After two hours of using my favorite flies and some not so favorite, John showed me the Burbler. It is a simple fly, not much to look at and I would have probably walked by it in a fly shop. The fly fit the perfect description of a great fly, one that will not catch fishermen but will catch fish.

I wish I could say that the fly caught loads of fish and many large ones that day, but I can't. We did do better, but it seemed that nearly an hour later after again casting to all the likely places we had not caught squat. Then we went over a ledge and into the eddy of a huge hole, probably 30 yards in size and a water depth of nearly fifteen feet. John threw the fly to the middle of the river, popped, I mean burbled the fly once and the prettiest 18-inch plus Smallmouth absolutely clobbered the fly. The fish really put a bend in the five weight Sage John was fishing.

During the float, the Damselflies were hatching in numbers that I have not seen since catching the Damsel hatch on Georgetown Lake in Montana. The rest of the float John and I resisted the urge to cast to the likely smallie haunts along the bank and kept to the middle of the river where the Damsels were. We ended the day with nice numbers of fish, Fred got some good pictures and I got a new fly to try, the Burbler.

In the time since my introduction to this fly, it has proven correct the earlier statement of being a simple fly and not much to look at. The fly does fit the description of a great fly in that it will catch fish before it catches the fisherman. This Burbler does catch fish.

The fly has become my go to topwater fly, and has rarely disappointed me. There have been days when the fly has accounted for nearly forty fish and other days like the one on the Toe River last summer, when I got two bass, one 18 inches and another 22 inches. During the past fishing season, this fly accounted for eight Smallmouth bass over 18 inches, and two fish at 22 inches. Smallmouth of this size are trophies anywhere. They were released to be caught again.

Tied correctly the fly is nearly indestructible. The key is to really pack the hair tight. When the fly is built correctly, it will last a long time. One of them even survived the wife's laundry day. It went through the washer and dryer and was none worse for wear. I merely steamed the fly and let it dry out and fished it the next week. I will not tell here what I had to do for Jyl when she found the fly in the pocket of my shirt with her finger. Good thing I tie ALL my flies barbless!

Tying the Burbler Fly
Originator: I received fly from John Likakis and will credit him with originating the fly.

• Colors: Olive, White, Black, Chartreuse, and Yellow or any other color that suits you and the fish
• Hook: Mustad 3366 size 4 – 1/0. Tiemco 8089 6 – 2
• Thread: Flymaster 6/0 color to match the body of the fly, and Danville flat waxed for spinning deer hair. Flymaster plus will work.

Step 1:
Tail: 2 – 4 strands of Crystal Flash the length of the hook. Tie the marabou in by the tip and palmer the marabou from the bend of the hook to the point of the hook, taking care to not tie down the marabou.

Step 2:
Body: Spun deer hair packed tightly. The following steps are used to pack the hair tightly.

1. Spin a clump of hair the size of a pencil on the hook.
2. Use a hair-packing tool to pack the hair tightly, twisting the hair packer as you pack it.
3. Keeping the thread tight and the bobbin tip right on the hook shank, place 2 wraps in front of the hair.
4. Keeping the thread tight, place two ½ hitches in front of the hair.
5. Put a drop of glue in the ½ hitches and use a pair of lobed tweezers to push the knots into the hair. Be careful not to cut the thread with the tweezers.

Continue spinning hair until the hook shank is covered.

Step 3:
The body of the fly is trimmed in a bowling pin shape. A double-edged razor is used to shape and trim the spun deer hair.

1. The first cut is to flatten the bottom of the hair.
2. The next trimming step is to rough in the bowling pin shape on both sides of the fly, fat toward the eye and narrow toward the barb of the hook.
3. The next trimming step is to take the top of the fly down, again fat toward the eye and narrow toward the barb. BE CAREFUL TO NOT CUT OFF THE MARABOU AT THE BACK OF THE FLY. Keep in mind that the final shape of the fly should resemble a bowling pin that has been cut in half lengthwise and the narrow end of the pin at the barb and the fat end at the eye of the hook.
4. Final cuts with the razor will round the edges and put the final touches on the bowling pin appearance of the fly.

It is a simple fly that is very effective for Smallmouth bass.

For a # 23366 Mustad hook, it should take 12 - 14 bundles of hair to complete the body. Different colors of hair can be spun individually or the main clump can be mixed with a small amount of complimentary color. The most effective color to date is Chartreuse.

Simplified Recipe
Originator: I received fly from John Likakis and will credit him with originating the fly.

• Colors: Olive, White, Black, Chartreuse, and Yellow or any other color that suits you and the fish
• Hook: Mustad 3366 size 4 – 1/0. Tiemco 8089 6 – 2
• Thread: Flymaster 6/0 color to match the body of the fly, and Danville flat waxed for spinning deer hair.
• Tail: Marabou palmered over 4 strands of crystal flash. The tail should be about the length of the hook with the crystal flash a little longer and cover from the bend of the hook to the point.
• Body: Deer hair spun and packed from the barb point to the eye of the hook and trimmed flat on the bottom and shaped like a bowling pin cut lengthwise.