Belive in the diver!

[Krippes]

When it comes to fly fishing, i'm a Diver nut! I have even tied them to a size that lets me catch gills on them (was gunning for crappie on a sinking line, that worked to) I even hace had one get hit right off the bank by a channel cat of twenty inches. When i hit the white river this year i made a articulated version, expecting small fish, but pulled several 20 inchers out and a huge number of 18 inches who would have hooked on a regular diver the same. Bass fishing with them is unreal. I have also used them to catch white bass, hybrid striper, walleye and sauger, and this summer they became the go to Gar fly! Getting short nose on hooked versions and gar on a mega diver that i clip the hook and replace the big fly fiber with nylon rop strands. Here is the edivdence.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a111/ ... antgar.jpg
and this is the fly
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a111/ ... 040268.jpg
the gar was not the largest caught.
I'm wondering what is the craziest thing you have ever caught on a diver, and how well do they work in the keys?

[Questor]

Now that's a cool application for the Diver! I never would have thought of turning it into a rope fly. That's beautiful! I think I'll make up a few of those.

I love the Dahlberg Diver. One of the traits that doesn't get mentioned much is its durability with toothy fish. Some flies get ripped up badly on the first fish. Divers have consistently been durable for me, and I have some that have caught over a dozen northern pike. I wouldn't expect it to be especially durable, but my experience has been very good.

[Questor]

About your Keys question, it depends on where you fish. It's generally pretty windy there and I prefer to use a subsurface bait. But when fishing around mangroves or relatively calm areas where fish are taking on the surface, the Diver is excellent. Snook are the popular favorites, but snappers will hit them too in relatively shallow water. There can be some fine fishing around those mangroves (but if you do it yourself, take a chart, a GPS, and a compass because the lower keys has back waters you can easily get lost in.)

One fly that I like a lot, and which doesn't get much attention, is the bend back fly. These are subsurface flies that excel at fishing on grass flats (and oyster bars for that matter.) I think Larry Dahlberg needs to get busy and develop one with his special touch.

[steelneal]

K Dude!
That is totally bad a$$ catching them gar on your tricked out diver!