Friday, August 31, 2012

The Jassid fly, Tutorial

  I really like this pattern. It has proven itself to me time and time again.  Vince sure put together a winner here. Although I only tie it his way when i go really small. Otherwise I like it and feel it is more effective with a peacock body. I also hackle them with hen hackle, from whiting bronze necks.  This help it sit lower in the film. I tie the heads larger than normal as well. I feel this is important for the beetle profile.
   It is a great beetle imitation that as far as i see it, has no rival. Don't fuss with a non-split nail. The fish don't care one bit about that, and to me it looks a lot more beetle like when it split apart. Kinda like a beetle drowned with its shell open and wings out.   Spent terrestrials put up a struggle to free themselves from there water grave, so it is important to carry imitations that represent this. 
     Lets twist one up.







Wednesday, August 29, 2012

H.T.P. Trout Bane tutorial

 As I have said and shown in the past with the trout banes, it is a tying technique, and that means many patterns can be spawned from it.  Here is one of my favorites and best producers. I call it the H.T.P. Trout bane, which is short for high test peacock.  Yup peacock and high test, how could it not be a trout favorite or a bane.
  I like this one tied on a Daiichi 1140 for small sizes and I also tie a 16 with a 1150. I dont have a real reason other than i like the way it looks and well the trout do as well.   I also hit the top with a very light coat of bug bond light. This keeps the peacock from blowing out and when applied lightly doesnt really take away much from the peacock.

  I like to fish this one with a twitch and short stripe. It works on the dead drift as well.

  So lets twist one up. If your on my home page you will need to click see the rest to view the tutorial.











Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Trout Bane tutorial



I have posted about this pattern in the past but the pics were sub par. So I redid the tutorial.  The trout bane is basically a tying technique I put together several years ago. It is a quick way to tie a two-toned buggy looking nymph, that the trout love.  I use the same technique to tie other T.B.s. All you need to do is to change the feather, thread color, and dub.  
  I usually will tie and fish these guy small. I like size 16-24 for all my banes. The technique allows for a nice slim profile which is great for small flies.  The fly is on the light side so it can be fished in the film with a little help from your floatant. Tied on light wire it will stay in the film, but i like to also have some tied on 1x heavy wire as well.  Dont shy away from other hooks on this one, they look great on scud hooks and emerger hooks.
  I like to finish all my T.B.s off with a light top coating of Bug Bond Light. This will protect the fly for many fish.  Now enough blabbering, Lets twist one up!  Click see the rest


















Sunday, August 26, 2012

Saterday morning session

A low pa limestoner early in the am.
  Got out yesterday morning with the one of Spain.  We hit a pa limestoner, and worked our way down through a stretch, swinging wet flies.  The trics were hatching pretty well but hardly any fish cared about them. There were also caddis hatching and it sure seemed like the fish were more interested in them.  The large browns were in hiding on this morning, with the water low and gin.  So of spain and I had a good time with the dinks.   I fished a double Saucan Secret rig and of spain fished a bwo soft hackle and a Marauder.    We swung'em, hung'em, and lifted'em.  All methods were effective with some skying strikes.  We fished till around 10 when the tric were down spent.  With "more than four" we headed on back home.

I didnt take any fish pics but this one. This little wild brown was practically golden.

This male trico  fell on my arm as i was watching Fredy of Spain work a run.


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Hi-vis Parachute flying ant tutorial and video

  Ants are great trout flies. Trout just love them, and if you have ever been on stream when flying ants start hitting the water. Then you know how the trout will ignore aquatic insects and go for these guys.   I was out on the heritage section of the Little Lehigh and the sacaun for some afternoons recently and this flying ant was the ticket.  Some times a little twitch to the fly did the trick.
  I like to put bright colored poly yarn for the posts on ant flies for the reason of usually i am working thin water during ant season. This calls for a long light leader, staying low, and back away from the trout. So the hi-vis post makes it easy to see the flies drift. 










Materials
Hook- Daiichi 1180 #12-18
Thread- Black Uni 8/0
Body balls- Black superfine dry fly dub
Wing- Midge crystal flash
Mid section- Black holographic tinsel
Post- Hi-vis poly yarn  chartreuse, yellow, orange and red are all pretty easy to spot
Hackle- Brown saddle hackle.

Lets twist one up!
Click see the rest for tutorials and video

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Royal Utah

  I know the name sounds boastful, but it is just my name for my version of the royal coachman dry fly. It is as simple as any coachman, I just use other materials than the norm.  I also tie it odd ball style, but with poly wings. Split poly wings have become a favorite of mine for dun style dries.  I just dont think you can beat the visibility, float, lightness, and durability.  Well anyways, enjoy the video.  Flying ant video is next.

Materials list. aka recipe
Hook- Daiichi 1180 #12-18
Thread- Black uni 8/0
Tail- Brown hackle barbs
Butt- Peacock hurl
mid section- Red holographic tinel
Rib- x-small silver wire
Wings- Poly yarn split
Thorax- peacock hurl (under hackle)
Hackle- Brown saddle hackle, wound over the peacock

Monday, August 20, 2012

The Davie spider technique and beyond.

  I have been hooked lately on tying using Davie Mcphails spider technique as a base model.  It makes some really nice ties such as the jungle spider, but I have been doing it with all sorts of feathers and different bodies, tags, ribs, you name it.   You can see Jungle spider tutorial here for an understanding on how to do this. You can also check out Davie's video here.   Ok so here are some patterns I have put together and some I have fished with some good catches.

Hook- Alec Jackson soft hackle hook #9
Thread- Uni 8/0 black
Body- Sparse otter dub
Rib- montana fly co, midge body thread, rust.
Tag- Red holographic tinsel
Wing- India grizzly hen
Hackle- India grizzly hen

I gave the rusty indian a go on my local spring, I picked up a couple of browns, but the trout quickly became in tuned to a bwo spinner fall. So i swapped out for a rusty spinner. I will be fishing this fly a lot more.  If your unsure where to score india hen capes try here and get free shipping to boot.  Be sure tell Dave Johnny sent ya.


Hook- Alec Jackson soft hackle #11
Thread- Uni black 8/0
Tag- Utc sparkle braid midge, peacock
Rib- fine silver wire
Body- Sparse beaver dub
Wing- Badger 
Hackle- Badger


Hook- Alec Jackson Soft hackle- #9
Thread- Uni 8/0 black
Tag- Small lagartun gold tinsel
Rib- Small Lagartun gold tinel(same piece as tag)
Body- *india bronze* peacock  This hurl has no green to it, only copper and bronze tones. 
Wing- pale furnace(greenwells) hen
Hackle- pale furnace(greenwells) hen

I have used this fly several times on the Saucan creek in Pa. It is a limestone spring creek, with gin clear water and finicky brown trout. I will just say it got me "more than four" each time. I was gonna keep a secret but what fun is that?  I fished it in the film and got some really nice browns with it.  I have been fishing quite a bit, but just havnt been posting reports or taking many pictures.  But what is a post without fish porn. 




 Just a couple of browns taken with the saucan secret. The gelatinous one in the middle missed it on its first strike and chased it down and slammed it. That one and the others put up a great fight on my 2wt.   If you like the alec jackson hooks contact j.w.trout and you can score them for a good price.  Be sure to tell'em Johnny sent ya.

Monday, August 13, 2012

R.v. Tu tying night 8/7/12

This past Thursday was my t.u chapters fly tying night, at which I taught how to to a parachute ant and my soft beetle. Everyone did great an had a great time like we always do. Thank to everyone that came out. I hope you all can make it next month. I also encourage anyone to come. It is open to all, and all are welcome.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Duck, Duck, Badger spey fly



Here is a spey fly I put together, i am hoping to get up north this season at some point. 

Hook- Mustad 36890 #6
 Thread- Amber pearsals
Tag- Mirage tinsel
2nd Tag- Medium gold oval tinsel
Body- Very sparse dubbed muskrat
Body hackle- silver badger
Rib- Medium gold oval tinsel
Hackle- Yellow mallard flank
Throat- Gadwall flank small
Wing- Bronze mallard
Eyes- Jungle Cock

Thursday, August 9, 2012

The Jungle spider tutorial

 Here is a wetfly that I put together after watching Davie Mcphail do his spider pattern.  It is simply a variation of Davie's creation.  The pattern is an easy and simple tie, but just take it slow with the wings. The Davie spider consists of starling and you can see my version the Jungle spider consists of jungle cock.  



The tutorial can be vied by clicking the see the rest link to the right






Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Utah's Marauder tying video

Well here is the marauder video. I hope you enjoy it and can learn a thing a or two.  Any questions, feel free to leave to a comment.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

A quick evening marauder attack

Well got out for a very short session yesterday evening with a friend. We hit my local tail water. We stirred up a couple of brookies. I was fishing the marauder and my friend was using a dry fly. The darkness closed in fast in the woods as suspected. It was a fun brief session and the fifty degree water felt great.









Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The marauder and its trout booty

  Well I started late this afternoon at my local spring creek. I hit one spot and got two browns with the marauder and decided to go hit my local tail water.  I decided to continue wet wading as I was doing on my local spring creek. The spring creek was running a touch warmer than usual do to last night rain. It was at 62 degrees and a little cloudy. The tail water was much colder since I was fishing pretty close to the dam it is unaffected by rain. Man oh man was that was chilly. I couldnt hack it on my bare skin for to long. It was at 50 degrees and with the water that cold it made for some fog on this warm day.
   The tail water is beautiful small stream gem. It flows through woods and then farm fields before dumping into a tribe of the big D.  It holds brook trout or char to be correct. They can be tough at time to catch, believe it or not. They are very spooky and have plenty places in this stream to hide.



 I fished a two fly team on a very short line. I used a royal coachman wet fly, and the marauder. I only got one char on the royal and all the rest took the marauder. Or should that be the other way around?  I fished up a stretch and decided to call it quits when my stomach was growling and my feet started getting numb. So with "more than four" I head back to the car.









This photo isnt out of focus, That is the fog.





Fresh wild raspberries and wild native brookies, just some of my favorite things