Thursday, March 12, 2020

Leisenring’s black gnat tying tutorial.


Being that I love wet flies, soft hackles, flymphs, and spiders, I thought why not have a tutorial on tying the black gnat.  The recipe I followed is the one the famous James Leisenring wrote and tied.  With the addition of a thread rib for extra protection. This fly is proven effective time and time again. The fly shows what the famous north country spiders of the u.k. show.  Simplicity for imitation is best.
MATERIALS 
HOOK: Wet fly hook 14-20
THREAD: Claret 
BODY- 2-3 black turkey tail fibers from the top of the tail
HACKLE: purple iridescent starling
RIB: tag end of tying thread. 
 Start the thread and advance down to the point.
Be sure to wax the thread and don’t remove the thread tag. 
This will be the rib. 
This is the section of tail used for the body. 

Tie in the turkey tail by the tip at the back of the fly. 
Bring the thread forward. Leave a hook eye space. 

Wrap the turkey towards you on the way up.
Catch it in, tie it down and cut the excess. 

Wrap the the tag rib the same way you wrap
the thread. 

Select a starling feather. (Purple is green! Depending on the angle)

Strip away the fluff. 
Leave a bit at the base for a handle. 

Hold the very tip and pull back the fibers

Tie in the tip of hackle on your side with the front of the hackle facing you. 

Wrap the hackle. Touching turns. 

Tuck the stem back and wind back over it. Cut or break it away. 

Whip finish, varnish and the fly is complete.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Tying a cow dung wetfly

The cow dung pattern comes from a time long ago. When people fished for food and survival not for sport.  That alone should tell you how affective it can be.  This one can be extra fun to tie because you get to whip up your own dubbin blend. The colors called for are orange, yellow, olive,and tan.  I mixed all those colors and through some tan U.V. Ice dub.  So let’s tie one up for that trout of a life time!
    Materials. 
 Hook: Your favorite wetfly hook 10-16
Tag: Flat gold tinsel
Thread: Orange
Dubbing: Cow dung blend(orange,yellow,olive,tan)
Wings: Cinnamon hen saddle tips
Hackle: Brown hen neck hackle. 

Start your tying thread 1 hook eye back from the hook eye
Wind back to the point of the hook. 
         
Tie in the flat gold tinsel. Tie it back to the bend.
Then advance the tread, touching turns, back to the point. 
Wind the tinsel back to to the point. 
Touching turns and tie it off to secure the tag. 

This substance is called cobblers wax. 
I know veniards sells it. But you can make it yourself as well. 
Just take some bees wax and resin and mix it together. 
This is the wax I use to make sparse dubbed bodies and dubbing loops! 
Wax the thread and then just use dubbin very sparsely. 
Just touch the dubbin to the thread and what sticks is good. 
Make a dubbing loop by placing your finger on the tying thread,
And bring the thread over the hook shank to form the loop. 


Now you can spin the thread to make a dubbing brush. 
You can do this with certain bobbin holders like Marc petijean bobbin. 
Or you can use the numerous spinners that are out there. 
Leave a comment with your favorite! 
Now it’s time to wind your dubbing loop forward.  If you use a dubbing tool. 
You will need to advance the thread back to where we started the thread.
Then wind your dubbing brush up touching turns and tie off once you’ve made to the front. 



Prepare your hen saddle tips. Cut off the fluffy part.
Place the good side of the feather away from on another in your fingers. 
Then while pinching the tips, pull back the fibers to get the size of your wing. 
I like a wing the same length as the hook shank for these flies. 
Then hold them on top, points facing the rear of the fly. 
Pinch and loop them on top.  This can be tricky, just take your time. 

Now tie in the hackle. Have the shiny side up. 

Wind the hackle, stroking the fibers back as you wind. 
Depending on how your hackle is will determine the amount turns. 
A good rule of thumb with hen neck, is two-three turns. 

Whip finish and cut the thread. Head cement if you like too.  

And this concludes the tying of the cow dung hackle wing. The original calls for turkey for the wing.
Have a wet fly you wanna see tied here on the fly corner? Just leave a comment!  Feel free to share this info.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Spiders... love to tie and fly them

So I’ve been cranking out spiders the last few days and more days to go till I have all the patterns I like to fish. Lots of fun and very relaxing to tie.


Thursday, February 20, 2020

Back tying again!

Hey everyone.  Took a break from fly tying and fishing.  Had been doing lots of concerts. Small local as well as well known bands.  But good news! I’m back at the vice and tying up a storm.
This is what I’ve done so far.  Still have more spiders to tie.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

question?..... sneak peak


Took a break from posting and taking pics of ties and flying. I've been thinking about getting back at it.  I've still been tying and flying, just the camera has not been in the picture.... lol   I need to reboot the blog here, since photo bucket decided to steal my images for some of the post and I know links are down on some topics on the side bar.  Ill have all these problems done soon. 

 So my question to my subscribers is, which flies or techniques would you like to see here? Leave me a comment and let me know! maybe the infamous golden oldie?




Tight ties
Johnny Utah



Thursday, July 9, 2015

Best u.v. Resin on the block.


Deer creeks uv resins are bar none my favorite.  Been using it for a while now and I'm sold big time.  No tack no haze and diamond hard.  
  Nymphed with it on my golden oldie and high test hairs ears along with the diamond scuds and many other nymphs.  The resin didn't crack, scratch or even fog and held on to the patterns after many outings.  
   I highly recommend you pick some up. You can get it with free shipping from www.castersonlineflyshop.com. Be sure tell them Johnny sent ya!  

Tight ties! 
Johnny. 

Thursday, April 2, 2015

A nice day to be out.

 
Well got for a spell this afternoon. Hit a favorite stretch of limestone. The flow was excellent and the water clear.  The stoneflies were out and the occasional olive. Didn't take long before I saw a rise. 
 I tied on the hackle hammer and first cast got a nice wild brown. I then tied on a black wonder wing stone. 
 The wonder wing was the ticket. As I walked the stream slowly I watch for rises and picked them of with the wonder wing. The rises and stones stopped as early evening rolled in.  So with more than 2 I headed on out.  Beautiful day to be outside. 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

A splinter mouse

Tied it small for smaller trout.  I also tapered the foam to give it a mouse profile for day time fishing on some local streams. I cut the rabbit fur on angle as well to give it more of taper. 

Hook- #4 stinger 
Thread- 6/0 uni black
Tail- zonker strip. 
Body- wound zonker strip
Top- evazote foam black. 

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Winter storm fishing

   I love to fly fish in the snow. I have no idea why though as i am not a fan of snow or cold weather. So I got out this afternoon in Cato. Which is a snow storm that hit the northeast today.  The snow was very heavy at times and with lots of huge snow clumps falling from trees while i fished. Bombarding the stream.
    I fished the afternoon away, with little results till i switched out my nymphs for an infamous pink worm. Then it was on like donkey kong. I hooked and landed a really nice rainbow, that was a blast on my 2wt. As well as several wild browns. 
  It took awhile but eventually my hands got numb to the point of pain and  I was getting tired of getting beaten by the falling chunks of snow from the trees. It was as if i was getting hit by snow balls.  So with frozen limbs and more than four, I headed on home.


Infamous's first victim






Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Out before the storm

  Well I got out to fly in the late afternoon. Hit my local limestoner. The weather was mild with a slit chill to the air, with the impending cold front approaching.  Thanks to recent rain, the flow was very nice. Which was good since no bugs were active. So I tied on a pair of small nymphs, a high test hares ear and a rubber diamond ducky, both in a size #16.
  Didnt take long to find some wild browns in a nice run. The pair of nymphs caught equally but it seemed the ducky got some more aggressive takes.  The high test hairs ear was tied on a scud hook with a small black tungsten bead. The ducky was beadless with black legs.
 As the sun dipped behind the ridgeline, the breeze got even colder and it just felt like snow was on the way. So with no coat on, I headed on home.





 

Monday, November 24, 2014

New U.V. resin review and general news

U.v resin review coming soon!!! Ive been putting the new competitor to the test. The result are almost compiled. 

  Just got done with international fly tying symposium. Had a great time and it was nice meeting, fellow tiers who watch my videos and follow along with the site here.  Looking forward to possibly be at the January show and even landcaster (unconfirmed as of now).

Got some plans for some new videos and write ups. 

Tight Ties and Lines
Johnny
 

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Summer morning on a local stream



Well got out the other morning before the real heat kicked in. Went and hit a local limestone stream that was not effected by the heavy thunderstorms from the night before.  Got on the water around 9, a little later than I intended but it was okay.  It was already well into the mid 80s, so i decided to wet wade.  The water was a nice 61 degrees and felt wonderful.
Picked a stretch that has been good to me threw the years.


 I saw several trout rising all around in the flat. Couldnt see anything flying, hatching, or even in the film.  With past experiences like that, I knew to try something black.  Black is only easy to see in bright glare, next to impossible to see in the shade. Well for me at least.  Also with the water being flat glass, I opted for a soft hackle.





Thursday, July 3, 2014

Small rusty hackle wing spinner video



Materials
Hook- Daiichi 1110 #20
Thread- Uni 8/0
Tail- Light dun rooster hackle
Abdomen- Tying thread
Thorax- Rust or rusty brown dry fly dub
Wing- light dun hackle. 

*** I forgot to mention in the video that I only use neck hackle on these. I find the saddle hackle barbs too large width wise.  Neck hackle is just a lot more supple and that's a great thing for a spinner. 

Monday, June 30, 2014

A great little fly



The hackle wing rusty spinner is a staple in my box.  Tied large to small. Pictured is a size 20. The small sizes with a simple thread body have served me well on many streams.  From the tough limestones to tail waters and everywhere in between. 
 The hackle wing spinner is an old spinner pattern that is hands down one of the most effective and durable ways to tie a spinner.  Quick, easy and few materials make this fly a no brainer.  
  
I'll be instructing how to tie this pattern at our up coming ridge and valley tying night on July 1st at the Musconetcong water shed association blg in asbury nj.   @ 730pm.  Come on out and learn to tie this deadly fly.   Also Utah's fly corners next video in the works is for the #20 rusty hackle wing spinner.  So stay tuned. 

Johnny