Wyoming Chronicles

Waking up to snow and ice on the ground today, clearly indicated to me that it is now winter. The horrible weather sparked memories of the summer, and the countless hours spent by the water without the worry or need to stay warm. The highlight for fishing this past summer was a NOLs back packing trip in Wyoming. By spending close to a month in the back country, everyone on the trip was able to spend plenty of time on the water. Here are some highlights of the trip:

Back Country Fly tying (Materials were very limited)

Brook Trout 

Tight Lines!

Another Big Brookie

Big Bugs On The Green

18" Golden High In The Mountains

Boulder Field On The Way To The Next Lake

On The Move Again

The Cutties Loved Fly Bible Patterns
(Pattern tutorials coming soon)

Special Thanks to Jack, Dinesh, and Ryan for taking pictures

Flash Head Leech

This can be a really good pattern with murky water for steelhead or for small mouth during the spring run. The rabbit fur and articulated body has great movement in the water and the flash head allows for awesome visibility. This is definitely a pattern that you should always have a few in your box if your swinging in the fall with heavy rains or in the spring with a big melt off. Other color combos could be: olive-silver, black-purple, black-orange, black-blue (any color combo is possible, but I prefer these ones).

*I tied this pattern with pink thread to help you see the thread wraps in the pictures. As always, use color coordinated thread when you tie this pattern regularly.*

Materials: Krystal flash, rabbit fur strip, flashabou, bead chain eyes, dubbing, 50 lb. braid, cross cut rabbit fur strip.
Tools: Vise, scissors, bobbin, dubbing loop spinner.
Hook: Articulated hook shank (main body), tube fly or egg hook (any shorter shank hook. You could use an octopus hook but I don't like using them for this pattern).

Step 1: Make a thread base on back hook and tie in krystal flash

Step 2: Tie in the rabbit strip with enough off the back to cover the flash. Tie it in in the back and then wrap the thread to a little behind the hook eye and tie down the rabbit strip again (tie it down in two different spots). Leave enough of the rabbit strip off the front so that it can be tied in on the main hook shank. Whip finish and apply head cement.

Step 3: Tie the bead chain eyes on the underside of the hook shank.

Step 4: make a loop using Braid (this is one of the rare cases that you want to use braid instead of original fire line. The braid is more limp in the water and will allow for greater movement), and connect the back hook to the loop the way you would attach an octopus hook or stinger hook. Tie the loop down to the main hook shank and secure. Apply super-glue to make certain that it will stay secure.

Step 5: Tie in the end of the rabbit strip that was tied in on the rear hook.

Step 6: Tie in a cross cut rabbit strip.

Step 7: Wrap the cross cut rabbit strip up the hook shank creating the body of the fly. Tie off the rabbit strip behind the bead chain eyes and clip any extra.

Step 8: Tie in a clump of flashabou on the top of the fly behind the bead chain eyes.

Step 9: Spin a dubbing loop with flash dubbing

Step 10: Wrap the dubbing loop behind, over, under and in front of the bead chain eyes. Whip finish and apply head cement.

Fly Fishermen Fight Cancer

I want to apologize to all my readers for the lack of posts in the past two weeks, I have been very busy tying and setting up a fundraiser. That is what that post is for; to introduce the start of a new project I have been working on. Fly Fishermen Fight Cancer is an idea that came this summer with the help of friends and family. This summer while in the back country of the wind river mountain range in Wyoming, I had a realization that I have been blessed by having the opportunity to enjoy a healthy life and all of the benefits that come from it, and I wanted to help those who have suffered, so I came up with the idea of Fly Fishermen Fight Cancer. I have friends that cycle to raise funds for LLS (Leukemia Lymphoma Society), and I wanted to do the same, but I don't cycle as a sport so I decided that I could help through my passion.

Now the same flies you see on this blog, and more that aren't posted yet, are available to purchase with all the proceeds going to fight cancer. Check it out and help support the Leukemia Lymphoma Society!

http://flyfishermenfight.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the support!

Articulated Leech

This is a relatively new leech pattern and I haven't gotten time to fish it much, but its been in the water and it looks good. It has three segments that make up the body of the fly and it moves super well. It keeps its tapered profile in the water. You can use a sharpie to color the thread used black or you could just use black thread, but to make it easier to see the placement of the thread wraps I used a brighter color.

Materials: Cross-Cut Rabbit Fur, Rabbit Strip, Marabou, Dumbbell Eyes, Tube-Fly Tube.
Tools: Vise, Scissors, Bobbin, Tube-Fly Tube Holder.
Hook: Size 2 daiichi, Articulated Shank from the fisherman co. (if you don't have articulated shanks, use a hook shank that is roughly 2" long).

If you don't have a tube fly holder for your vise you can use another hook shank or make two segments. If you don't have tubes used for tube flies, you can use the tube on a plastic Q-Tip that are available at any convenience store.

Step 1: tie in the rabbit strip on the back hook. Tie in so that it is tied down in the back and the front (two places) of the hook shank.

Step 2: Do a loop connection with braid on the back hook. Attach the tube fly tube holder with a tube on it. Start a thread base and tie down the the rabbit strip to the back of the tube. Leave about 1/8" of space between the tube and hook.

Step 3: Dub the body of the tube.

Step 4: Tie down the rabbit strip in front of the dubbing. Whip finish and apply head cement.

Step 5: Feed the two ends of the braid through the tube.

Step 6: Tie in dumbbell eyes on the underside of a hook shank. Tie down the braid securely just as you would a stinger hook. Tie down the end of the rabbit strip on the back of the front hook shank.

Step 7: Tie in a piece of cross cut rabbit fur. Wrap the rabbit fur up the body and tie off just under 1/2" behind the dumbbell eyes. Tie in a marabou feather.

Step 8: Palmer the marabou around the hook shank in front of the rabbit fur creating a collar. Spin a dubbing loop in front of the marabou collar using rabbit fur.

Step 9: wrap the dubbing loop with rabbit fur behind, over top, and in front of the dumbbell eyes. Once the desired profile of the head is reached tie off the dubbing loop and clip any extra thread that was left over from the dubbing loop. Whip finish and apply head cement.

Small Stone

This is a small stonefly pattern that I use for steelhead. It is tied on a size 8 hook, so it is not really a small stonefly, but it is small in terms of other steelhead flies. It is a pretty standard nymph pattern and there aren't too many unique features about it, but it works. Here are the step-by-step directions. 

Materials: Goose Biots, Ice Dubbing, Bead Head, Copper Wire, Flash.

Tools: Scissors, Vise, Bobbin.

Step 1: Slide bead head on the hook and make a thread base behind it.

Step 2: Tie in two biots in the rear off the back of the hook shank so that they form a "V"

Step 3: Tie in a piece of wire in the rear of the fly. Dub the body leaving space behind the bead head to tie off the wire.

Step 4: wrap the wire up the body and tie it off. Tie in flash. Dub the rest of the body up to behind the bead head.

Step 5: Fold the flash overtop the dubbing to form a wing-case.

Step 6: Dub a small collar in front of the flash and behind the bead.

Step 7: Tie in biots; one on either side of the bead facing forward. Whip finish and apply head cement.

Mylar Foam Baitfish

This baitfish pattern can be fished in a number of ways. If fished on a floating line it can be fished on the surface when the bass are targeting baitfish in the higher water column. If fished on a sinking or intermediate line, the fly will sink slower than a normal streamer, which is a great technique if you are using a tandem rig with this fly as a back fly. It is a fairly simple pattern and can be extremely useful as a baitfish imitation.

Materials: Foam, Mylar Tubing, Marabou, Eyes, Hot Glue.
Tools: Vise, Bobbin, Scissors, Hot Glue Gun.
Hook: Any streamer hook will work.

***(Change the color of the mylar to match the baitfish or use a sharpie before applying glue)***

Step 1: Tie in a marabou tail.

Step 2: Right behind the hook eye, tie down mylar tubing so that the hook eye is in the center part of the tubing.

Step 3: Tie a sheet of foam on the top of the hook shank and securely rap it with thread.

Step 4: Whip finish the thread.

Step 5: gently pull the tubing back from the from of the fly towards the rear. Once folded back, Apply hot glue, epoxy or silicone to the tubing in a small amount and spread it smoothly around the body.

Step 6: Glue on eyes.

Finished

Sexy Legs

While out in Wyoming, I fished this pattern and it worked well. I was surprised because I had originally tied this pattern for Bass and carp, but the trout loved it too. It is another good all around pattern that works. It is a really simple and quick fly to tie.

Materials: Craft Fur, Dumbbell Eyes, Hackle Flash, Rubber Legs, Marabou (optional).
Tools: Bobbin, Vise, Scissors.
Hook: Any streamer hook will work.

Step 1: Tie down led dumbbell eyes.

Step 2: Tie rubber legs off the back. tie down a piece of hackle flash roughly 3" long and rap it up the hook shank keeping the gaps constant.

Step 3: Tie down craft fur on the top and bottom and secure with raps of threads in front of the craft fur.

Step 4: Whip finish and clip the ends of the craft fur.