Perfect Popper

For anyone who hasn't already figured this out, buy the perfect poppers! They are super easy to tie and its 5 bucks for a pack of 10 bodies and hooks unlike the poppers in the store that are 3.95 or more for a single fly. They are effective and cheap which is a great combination.

Hook: Size 2 popper hook
Thread: Any color streamer thread
Materials: Rubber legs, arctic fox, hackle, Popper body, googly eyes, aqua seal.
Tools: Vise bobbin scissors whip finish tool

Step 1: put the body on the hook

Step 2: tie in a feather so the natural bend of the feather goes out.

Step 3:tie in Rubber legs on the top of the hook shank

Step 4: repeat step 2 but on the opposite side as the first feather

Step 5: tie in a pinch of arctic fox tail and a hackle feather. Palmer the hackle feather to form a collar behind the body. Remove the body and whip finish the fly. Once whip finished put the body back on. 

Step 6: Put aqua seal in the crack of the body and glue on eyes. Aqua seal is rubbery so it wont crack and it wont break down in the water.

Deerhair Baitfish

This is a good pattern to throw in lakes or ponds with an intermediate or full sinking line. The feathers that form the tail have a lot of movement and the ability to trim the deer hair body into any shape makes it a good way to get creative with tying. This is not the only deer hair streamer out there so look around to find one that works for you.

Hook: 1/0 Saltwater hook
Thread: Flat gel spun thread. It is really important to have strong thread.
Materials: Deer hair, Hackle feathers, Glue on eyes, aqua seal, buck tail.
Tools: scissors single razor blade, vise, bobbin, whip finish tool.

Step 1: start a thread base. 

Step 2: Turn the vise over and tie in a pinch of light colored buck tail. This will be the belly of the fly

Step 3: Turn the vise back over and tie in saddle hackles on each side of the fly. 

Step 4: on top of the saddle hackles tie in wider feathers

Step 5: Tie in grizzly saddle hackle on each side of the fly

Step 6: Start to stack the deer hair.

Step 7: Stack the lighter colored deer hair on the underside of the fly.

Step 8: Continue steps 6 and 7 until you reach the eye of the hook.

Step 9: Whip finish. Start to trim the fly. Trim the sides of the fly flat.

Front view from step 9

Step 10: Trim the top and bottom of the fly. Trim according to how tall you want the fly to be.

Step 11: using aqua seal glue on the eyes. You can use sharpie and put gils in but it is not necessary.

Late Winter Float

 Sweet float the fish just weren't biting. Full day with four people fishing and only one fish was brought to the two boats. It was a slow day but you need a slow day once in a while just to show how great a good day is. Although it was slow it was a sweet float. These past few winter floats have been among the best fishing experiences I've ever had and they are all thanks to the Dan and Tom Harrison at Harrison Anglers (harrisonanglers.com).

The Need for a Second Noah's Ark

Being out here on the Deerfield River in western Massachusetts, we have a flood. It is a predictable flood though. Every year the Deerfield River floods when the melt off occurs. It can have harsh consequences but it is predictable. Back in Cleveland on my home waters of the Chagrin River, there is flooding but it is pretty much controlled. That is not the case this year. Here on Fly Bible, the saying is "For those who fish religiously," and right now someone needs to build a recreation of Noah's Ark because the damn on the chagrin broke and it is the second great flood. For pictures check out http://dudewater.blogspot.com/  but all I'm saying is we got a big ass flood. Here are the USGS charts.

Yea the river is flowing at almost 19,000 cfs and has a height close to 17 feet deep. Wow I guess you can say that the chagrin is a little blown out...

Swift River

This Saturday, Dan Harrison, from Harrison Anglers, and I ventured out to the Swift River. The previous days had been relatively warm compared to the rest of the harsh Massachusetts winter, but Saturday was different, being 13 degrees with 15-25 mph winds. When we got to the river, the lack of plowing and people driving down the small road, which was more like a path, resulted in us not having a take out spot on the river. Essentially we couldn't float the river. So plan B was to just wade the Swift river. For those who have never been, it's all sight fishing and is one of the most frequented places in New England, meaning some of the most fished to fish in New England. Not only have the fish we saw been peppered with every fly known to man, there weren't that many there on Saturday. For some unknown reason, the fish had moved somewhere els. Two nice bows were caught, and it was a great day on the water. Look for future posts, and tight lines.

Merkin Crab

This is not my pattern, I have been tying a bunch of these for my trip to florida so I thought I would share. I have never fished this pattern but everyone else seems to love this pattern as a crab pattern. This can be tied in any color the crabs are.

Hook: any size saltwater hook (this is size 1)
Thread: flat waxed ultra thread.
Materials: marabou, grizzly marabou, EP fibers, sili legs, mono eyes.
Tools: vise, scissors, bobbin, whip finish tool.

Step 1: make a base layer of thread and wrap the thread t the rear of the fly.

Step 2: on one side of the fly tie in a grizzly marabou feather. Once it's tied in,  tie in a marabou feather on top of the hook shank. (for this feather, use what ever color you are going to tie the body in).

Step 3: on the other side of the fly tie in another grizzly marabou feather.

Step 4: tie in  pair of mono eyes in the front of the fly. wrap the thread to the rear of the hook shank and by making figure-8's tie in a pinch of EP fibers that are about 2" long. 

Step 5: after the first pinch of EP fibers are tied in, tie in 4 sili legs and then tie in another pinch of EP fibers farther up the hook shank in front of the first pinch.

Step 6: Tie in a third pinch and after the third pinch is secured, tie in4 more sili legs and then continue to tie in pinches of EP fibers farther up the hook shank until you reach the mono eyes.

Step 7: once at the mono eyes, whip finish. (this is what the fly should look like at this point from above).

Step 8: using scissors clip one side into a half circle like above.

Step 9: repeat step 8 on the other side. apply head cement down the entire middle of the fly where the thread is showing.

Crystal Tail Nymph

Haven't fished it yet, but it looks promising. This one is tied in green but brown, black or yellow would work too.

hook: size 20 curved nymph hook.
thread: 8/0 thread
materials: crystal flash, natural rabbit fur dubbing, scud backing, scud dubbing, copper wire, bead head.
tools: vise, scissors, bobbin, whip finish tool.

Step 1: slide bead head onto the hook. make a base layer of thread. wrap thread to the rear of the hook shank.

Step 2: tie in a pinch of crystal flash to make a tail. clip extra flash.

Step 3: tie in a piece of copper wire in the rear of the fly.

Step 4: tie in a piece of scud back. spin natural rabbit fur dubbing around the thread.

Step 5: wrap thread with dubbing around the rear half of the fly. 

Step 6: fold the scud back down and wrap the copper wire overtop the scud back until it reaches the mid point of the fly.

Step 7: wrap scud dubbing around the thread and wrap the thread with dubbing around the front half of the fly.

Step 8: Pull the scud back overtop the front half of the fly. Clip any extra scud back.

Step 9: whip finish and apply head cement. To make the fly more durable apply head cement to the entire back/top of the fly.