Tying the MONSTER Bugger

Here's one of my early season patterns for high water and/or turbid water conditions.  Its the rare occurance when I go to streamers or woolly buggers, but sometimes you have to adapt if you want to catch fish.  I carry only a few streamer patterns when I'm on the water, not because they are ineffective, but becasue I prefer to fish nymphs or dries and only go to streamers when I feel I have no choice.  I'll have 4 or 6 of these, and maybe a couple of standard buggers or SLF buggers, and that's it for streamers.  I don't even have a box for them, I just keep them in a small pocket of my vest and dig one out when there's a need.  You can tie them in just about any color you prefer.

As you can see, its just a variation on a common theme and its nothing new, but its definitely worth knowing how to tie.

Come to think of it, I carry very few different nymph patterns, too, when I fish.  I carry a lot in terms of the number of flies, but maybe only a dozen different patterns, all in one box.    But that's fodder for another day.

No matter what kind of fly you fish, sharpen your hooks, and you will hook and land more fish.

A Few Flies for February

The trout fishing has been good in recent weeks despite the erratic weather.  We'll have a couple of days of warm, early spring like temps, and then a few that are much colder and windy.  The one constant has been the river levels and clarity, which have been great for this time of the year.  It also helps that there is almost no snow on the ground or ice on the waters.  The lack of ice or snow allows river temps to rise a little during the day, which compels the bugs to become active, and in turn, the fish to feed.

The hot fly right now has been a chimarra caddis larva (see our recent post/video on my pattern).  There are also lots of little black stones moving about the water column, and on bright sunny days on the banks and in the air.  And finally, on some waters we have been seeing some good hatches of blue-winged olives - Baetis sp. - mostly in the afternoon.  All of the aforementioned will continue to be active for the next several weeks or more.  And don't forget midges, they will hatch even on the coldest days and will at times bring the trout up to the surface to feed on them.

Here are a few of my little black stone fly subsurface patterns.  One is a simple black pheasant tail and starling soft hackle, the other is a variation of my pumpkin head - here we use a black bead head and black pheasant tail, other wise the pattern is the same.
  

Here is one of my favorite blue-winged olive dries - a no-hackle style pattern that sits low in the surface film much like the naturals.

And I received this photo of a nice rainbow that Mr. Q took yesterday on a hare's ear nymph - so much for matching the hatch!

Sharpen your hooks!

Tying a Single Wing Flatwing Fly

Today we have a saltwater pattern tied by our friend Joe Cordiero, the flatwing king, showing all the details to get the perfect silhouette.  As usual, Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions, knocks this one out of the park. 

Mr. Zug Made a Bug.......a Zug Bug it Was

Here's another fly tying video we made with Tightline Productions, of a very popular nymph that you all should be familiar with.  I tie it a little differently than you may have seen in the past, but I do so because it makes for a very durable fly. 

With this being Little-black Stonefly season, now is a great time to fish this ubiquitous imitation.  As for the deep, dark secrets Tim refers to in order to consistently obtain a thick peacock herl body, like most fly tying methods, they're really quite simple in practice. The issue really, is that it is very hard to translate the techniques clearly through video due to the subtleties that make that difference.  Keeping in mind that this is just fly tying, our perspective may be just a tad overstated, and our tongue in cheek is not to be ignored.  We'll figure it out, make a kick-ass video, and we'll send it along when we do.
    

Materials:

Thread: 6/0 Danville Black

Tail: Peacock sword

Body: Peacock herl

Rib: Medium silver flat or round tinsel

Hackle: Dark mottled hen

Wingpad: Mallard or Woodduck flank

The original Bug tied by Mr. Zug, was tied with brown hackle fibers for the throat/hackle, and mallard flank for the wing.

  

Tie some up and fish them with confidence. 

Sharpen those hooks! 

Tying the Chimarra Caddis Larva

Here you go folks, the Chimarra caddis larva pattern.  I tied a heck of a lot of these the last three days at the show, as part of my presentation included this February/March "must have" subsurface pattern.  Unfortunately, none of the fly shops that were at the show brought the essential ingredient - yellow flexx floss.

Materials:

Hook: #18 Scud

Underbody: 6/0 Danville orange thread

Overbody: Yellow flexx floss

Head: 6/0 Danville tobacco brown thread

Tie some up and fish them behind a heavier nymph.   

The Big Show and other good news!

We'll be at the Fly Fishing Show all weekend doing tying demos, presentations and book signings.  So please stop by my tying table and check the program for my presentation times.  I'll be doing a power point presentation on common hatches, their imitations and techniques on fishing them.  I've changed it up quite a bit from last year, and  will be spending more time talking about techniques and making the most of your time on the water.  As usual, it will cover the full spectrum from January to December. Hope to see you there.  For all the details, times and programs ckick on the link to the right under "Whereabouts".

The good news?  I'm in the process of finishing up my second book, and sure enough my editor called and said they are going to do a second printing of my first book - Fly Fishing New Jersey Trout Streams.  That's exciting for a lot of reasons; it means it sold very well in the first 3 years it has been out, and I get to edit/fix the miscues in the first edition.  The cover will be the same, but the photo in the trout silhouette is going to be changed to a photo by the photographer that is doing the pics for the book I'm working on now - JB McCollum.

Se you at the show!  And if you go, buy a bloody hook sharpener and use it.  I'll be happy to show you how.

Doubling Up

Generally, I prefer to fish only one fly at a time, as I enjoy getting lost in concentrating on that one fly and how and where it is drifting.  There is something about trying to remain in "touch" with that one fly as it drifts through an underwater lie, or maybe along the surface over a feeding fish.   That's not to say that I don't fish a two-fly rig when I think it is the best option, and that typically for me is most often in the wintertime.

With nymphs, the usual way to do this is to tie the larger, heavier fly to the end of your leader (this is the point fly).  To this fly, a length of tippet, 15-20" or so long, is tied either to the bend or to the hook eye, and a smaller fly is tied to the end of this (this is the dropper fly).   Depending on the weight of the point fly and the depth and speed of the water you are fishing, you can place one or more split shot either above the point fly, or below it.  When fishing fairly thin, clear water, I will often go with two small flies, my point fly being what I think is the heavier of the two.  For instance, I'll use a pumpkin head midge or weighted scud for my point fly, and the dropper fly will be a smaller zebra midge or caddis larva.

The key to fishing this or any other nymph set up, is getting the the proper amount of weight (flies and/or split shot together) to maintain a drag-free, down near the bottom, drift.  My goal when fishing nymphs is to keep as close contact as possible with the flies without imparting any unnatural movement.  I don't use a strike indicator to do this, but if that's how you normally fish nymphs, by all means fish the rig that way.  Do what works for you.   

Here's a couple of larger point flies - a weighted Vinnie's Isonychia nymph, and a Bead head Bird's Nest.

Here's a few smaller nymphs I like to use in the winter months, along with a favorite midge dry - the three nymphs clockwise from top: #18 Bead head Bird's Nest; #18 Chimarra caddis larva; and a Pumpkin Head Midge.  The two dries are #18 Mathew's Zelon Midge.

     

The Zelon midge is a great winter midge pattern that also works at other times of the year when small flies are the ticket to catching trout.  Sometimes a double rig using a Griffith's Gnat and a Zelon midge covers a midge hatch with great results.

And sharpen those hooks, you never know when the big one is going to take your fly.