Last Night I started tying up some bunny leeches with the new magnum zonker strips I ordered. I have been toying around with mixing colors. They are looking pretty good so far. I love how the Fish Skulls really bring these flies together. The new vise is working out great. It takes a little getting used to, but I am diggin it so far.
Received a shipment last night of some fresh fly tying goodies. After much contemplation and me being a cheap ass I finally sprung some cash for a new vise. I purchased the Griffin Odyssey Spider. I haven't tied on it as of yet, but did get it put together last night. So far it is looking like it will be a solid investment. I have retired the old hand me down vise that have been using for the past 3 years and I am finally moving up the ladder. The functionality of the vise seems pretty simplistic and all the working parts seem to be of quality. I will post more after I get some use out of it. Also included in my package was some multi-colored Zonker Strips. I am excited to start tying up a few different colors of bunny leaches for smallmouth and pike fishing. I will post some after I get them whipped up on the new vise.
I have been playing with some streamer patterns this week in hopes of hitting some rivers for smallies this weekend. If the rain ever stops. I have been playing with some of the new items I received from J.Stockyard on my last order. This is one of the flies I tied up last night that replicates the recipe for the Barr's Bouface Streamer . It is a simple pattern to tie, but it defiantly transforms the fly when adding a fish skull to the head. Hopefully this one intrigues the fins.
Hook: Size 4 6x long 2x heavy
Thread: Rust Orange denier
Head: Medium Gold Fish Skull
Body and Tail: Orange Barred Rabbit Zonker Strips
Thorax: Orange Marabou
Dubbing: Rust Orange Squirrel Dubbing Behind The Head
After toying around with some zebra midge patterns, I decided I would share this one. It is tour basic red zebra midge but with a red glass bead head. Simple tie and this week I am putting it to the test in Colorado. Hopefully it pans out for the better.
Hook: Size 16-24 (Size 20 pictured at the top and Size 18 with a Bigger bead head below that)
The Wd 40 is a great all around emerger pattern and can be tied in a few different colors, but Olive is the most common. The WD part of the name comes from the Wood Duck fibers used in the tail. Pretty basic and easy fly to tie.
I tied up 2 different sizes with 2 different style heads to throw around. Typically the dubbing behind the head is black, but I substituted for a little more flash. I used a Peacock Ice Dub. The streamer is made up of two of the more popular streamer materials used in fly tying, marabou and rabbit strips.
After doing some research on a stream I plan to fish in Colorado, I came across the Mysis Shrimp pattern. This particular river is loaded with these small freshwater shrimp and the trout just love to eat them. There are many different patterns for this fly so I kind of combined a few of them for the fly I actually tied. I can't wait to get this one wet and hopefully hook into a tank of a trout.
The Brassie is a popular fly but does come in many variations. The typical brassie you see has a copper wrap, peacock herl, and a brass bead. In this particular fly that I tied I used a black bead instead of the traditional copper, which defiantly complemented the peacock herl.
Materials List:
Hook: Size 12- 22 2x short 2-3x wide gap (size 18 shown)
As I am sure you can see a trend forming here this week, I have been busy at the vise filling my boxes for my much anticipated trip to Colorado at the end of the month. This stonefly pattern is supposed to be the bee's knees for early spring fishing on some of the waters I will be venturing out on. There are a few different colors that this can be tied in, but the best part is that it is a heavy fly due to all the lead wire you wrap on it. Due to the weight this should get your fly down on the bottom of those deep holes where the big hungry trout await food.
Materials List:
Hook: size 6-12 2-3x long 2x heavy
Thread: 3/0 Black or Brown
Lead wire: .20 or .15
Body: Variegated Chennile in black,coffee,red,yellow,orange, olive
Legs: Rubber spanflex Brown
This Video on Pat's Rubber Legs is brought to you by The Catch and The Hatch
Well I didn't name this one, and I don't think it is very top secret due to the fact I saw it on a fly fishing website. Yet it looks like it could be a very effective emerger pattern before a hatch or mid day when the fish are looking up. I tied this up as it was a recommendation for Colorado streams, but I could see this being very effective in the driftless area as well.
Materials List:
Hook: size 16-26 2x short 2x wide gap nymph hook (pictured is size 18)
Thread: denier olive color, you could also do red or black
Wire: Small Gold
Wing: White CDC feather
Head: I used an olive squirrel dubbing, but a fine cut antron dubbing is suggested
The Moto's minnow is a very unique yet effective streamer pattern. Although it is very time consuming tying one up, it is well worth the effort after seeing its performance as it moves through the water. I am going to give this a whirl while fishing in Colorado at the end of the month.
Cabela's has an enormous Spring sale going on currently through most of March. If you are in need of some fly tying materials, they have 30% off all fly tying materials including feathers, fur, beads, and hooks. Tools and vises are not part of the 30% off, but it is well worth taking advantage of this sale to stock up. There are plenty of other goodies included in the sale. Here is the link to the sale http://www.cabelas.com/browse.cmd?categoryId=108094680
The fly tying material sale is for all in store in stock merchandise. So pack up the kids and head to your nearest Cabelas store!
This week I received some pretty exciting news. I am going to knock one off the bucket list and head to Colorado the end of March for a fly fishing excursion. In light of these plans I decided I should get to tying some flies for the cool clean Colorado waters. I started doing some research on common and best fly patterns to use out west. I came across an interesting site geared toward the fine Colorado fisheries. I cam across The Catch And The Hatch . This site provides great inside lines on what, where, when, how info, including great fly patterns with recipes and all. So last night I decided to pull up a chair and start getting a head start at filling the boxes with some Colorado fly goodness. The first fly I started to tie was the UV Sparkle Midge Emerger. Pretty simple tie, but very tiny hooks.
I am also going to tie a few up in Green as well, as recommended. It is a basic thread body and head with a fine wire rib, and some rainbow flash as the wings. These are tied on a size 18 2x short 2x wide gap hook. Here is the recipe per The Catch And The Hatch.
Hook Type:
Tiemco 2457 or 2487
Hook Size:
#16-26
Bead:
None
Wing:
Krystal Flash
Thread Type:
8/0 Uni Thread or 70 Denier
Thread Color:
Any
Wire:
Extra Small-Small Any Color
Dubbing:
Ultra Fine – Match to Thread or Just Use Thread Color
Here is a quick how to video by The Catch And The Hatch. UV Midge how to tie
I have a feeling this pattern would work well in any trout waters, and I know I will be giving it a shot in the Driftless this year.
Last Spring I saw this pattern over at Trouterspace . I was interested in it to say the least, as we all know that scuds are excellent in the early trout season of the driftless area. I purchased the materials needed to tie this one, but was consumed in fishing and never got around to tying them up. This past Sunday I awoke to my cup of joe and decided it was time to put some time in on the vise.
After sitting down and going through some materials I found the ostrich herl that I purchased for tying up the ray charles pattern. I figured why not, Scuds are key during the early season, so I got to tying a few up. Here is a photo of one of twelve that I tied yesterday.
They came out great! You can actually vary the color of the herl to get a few different colors in the box. Yesterday I only had white. Here is the recipe for the Ray Charles.
Hook: 16-20 nymph
Thread: Red 6/0 or 8/0
Wire: Small or Med. Silver, I substituted for green
Body: Ostrich Herl
Shell Back: One Strand Flashabou
Here is a short time lapse video that Trouterspace threw together on tying this pattern.
As I mentioned in yesterdays post I have been detained with Ice Fishing, and haven't put much thought into fly fishing as of recently. After realizing how close the early season opener was and how unprepared I am at this current point, I figured it was time to kick my ass into high gear. Last night I dusted off the tying vice and decided to start restocking the fly boxes. I was low on my favorite early season fly, the Pink Squirrel. So I decided I should start tying up an army to restock. I got about a dozen or so tied up, and still have some more to go. I only had size 14 hooks so I got those tied up in a couple small variations, and in the meantime ordered up some much needed size 12 hooks and 1/8" gold beads. Here are a few photo shots from last nights bench visit.
