Stefan Larsson or @wickedtrout on Instagram posted this little 18 fly which caught my attention. Here is what Stefan wrote in his post.
“Yeah, I know. Doesn’t look like much. But I can assure you. That this unruly little guy. Is a kick-ass rock’n’roller.”
Stefan is a fly fishing guide in Sweden. He also runs a fly shop there. His interests include being a fly tyer (obviously), hunting, playing bass guitar and writing articles on fly fishing. He also spends 3 to 4 weeks every year fly fishing in Montana.
He mentioned this fly saved the day more than once while trout fishing. Small, but mighty. This might be a fly to bring out the next time you encounter picky trout. See the materials list below.
Gary does a great job of showing how to tie a beautiful March Brown dry fly. I know there are many aspiring fly tyers out there that would love to learn how to tie a nice dry fly. Gary does a good job of taking you through this one slowly and explaining steps.
Materials: hook – sz. 12 dry fly hook thread – 18/0 nano wings – Mallard lightly dyed wood duck tail – brown spade feathers body – March brown dry fly dub topped with pheasant tail rib – 8/0 veevus hackle – honey dun and brown
Tim Flagler demonstrates how to tie a Chubby Chernobyl in this video. Just a quick note from me. Do not underestimate this pattern. I am speaking from experience. This fly is a fish catcher, no doubt about it. You should have some in your box. Below is an excerpt from Tim which he wrote for the Fly Tyer website on the Chubby Chernobyl.
“The Chubby Chernobyl is a husky descendant of the venerable Chernobyl Ant. There are times, especially on Western rivers during the late summer and early fall, when trout will swim from 20 feet away to inhale a Chubby twitched in the film. This pattern works that well!
Aside from its attractiveness, consider these other two factors when tying and fishing the Chubby Chernobyl. The first is float-ability and how the pattern sits on the water. If the fly lands on the water improperly or sinks more than floats, all the attractiveness in the world isn’t going to make it fun to fish. A good Chubby will land correctly and float high and dry every cast. Sure, a little cleaning, drying, and dressing are necessary now and again, but not constantly.
The second important factor—and this is a biggie—is durability. If the fly gets torn apart or the foam body twists around the hook shank after catching only one fish, how useful is it? Tying on another fly during the heat of battle is extremely frustrating and wastes precious time. A Chubby should last for at least a half-dozen fish, including a couple of big dogs. Construct the Chubby Chernobyl accordingly.”
Materials: Hook: 3X-long nymph hook (here, a Dai-Riki 710), size 8. OR (Daiichi 1720 will work just as well. This is an older video where Tim used Dai-Riki.) Thread: UTC 140 Denier, olive green. Tail: Krystal Flash, pearl. Underbody: Craft Foam, 2mm, olive. Body 1: Rabbit-fur dubbing, yellow olive. Overbody: Fly Foam, 2mm, olive. Legs 1: Round rubber legs. Wing 1: McFlylon, gray. Body 2: Rabbit-fur dubbing, yellow olive. Legs 2: Round rubber legs. Wing 2: McFlylon, gray. Body 3: Rabbit-fur dubbing, yellow olive.
Kelly Galloup shows us how to tie his Zoo Cougar streamer. Kelly always has good tips in his videos, so you definitely could pick up some knowledge watching and listening to him tie. His fly shop, The Slide Inn, posted the following.
“Watch Kelly tie the streamer that put his name on the map: The Zoo Cougar. This fly has no weight and is intended to be fished just below the surface of the water. The flat head, thick collar, and mallard flank wing make the Zoo Cougar incredibly light so that every current that touches it makes it flutter from side to side. It was designed to fish with a jerk-strip retrieve and is the single best producer for all sizes of trout that Kelly has ever produced.”
Materials: Hook: Dai-Riki 710 #2 Tail: Yellow Marabou Body: Pearl Sparkle Braid Under Wing: White Calf Tail Wing: Wood Duck Gold Mallard Flank Collar/Head: Yellow Deer Hair
Shawn Holsinger of Holsinger’s Fly Shop shows us how to tie a Pink Squirrel Nymph originating from Wisconsin. I’ve heard of this one from friends in the Driftless area. It’s a popular fly there. Here is what Shawn mentioned about it.
“The Pink Squirrel Nymph is a pattern that has been around for years now and has been catching fish all that time. This is a simple pattern that’s easy to tie and checks off a lot of the boxes of things I look for in a nymph pattern. I like nymphs that are flashy with a hot spot, buggy, natural colors, and weighted. Fox Squirrel dubbing is one of my favorite materials to use because the guard hair make the flies so buggy. You can definitely change the color of the bead and the pink hot spot collar if you want. Also, don’t be afraid to tie this on a different style of hook. You could also tie this on a jig hook or a regular nymph style hook.”
Recipe: Firehole 316 Size 12 Firehole Tungsten Beads, 3.0mm Sterling Silver 140 Denier UTC Thread Shell Pink Krystal Flash Pearl Ultra Wire Size Brassie Red UV Tracer Squirrel Dub, Natural Fox Squirrel HFS Hair Wing Material Pink
Living Waters Fly Fishing posted this to their social media and I thought it was good informationa about a cool fish. Living Waters is located in central Texas. http://livingwatersflyfishing.com/
“Sometimes referred to as Goggle-eye Perch or Warmouth Bass, Warmouth are actually part of the sunfish family and often confused for Rock Bass or other Sunfish species like the Green and Redear Sunfish.
Adult Warmouth range in size from 4-10 inches, but with time in the right environment, they can get as large as 12 inches and weigh more than two pounds! Noticeable markings include 3-5 radial streaks emanating from the eye, red gill flaps, an elongated bass-like mouth, and a three-spined anal fin. Males will have an orange spot at the base of their dorsal fin and red eyes during spawning season.
Warmouth prefer to settle in deep, slow moving water with plenty of structure and are adapted to survive in low oxygenated and even polluted waters where other fish would not survive.”
Darren at Piscator Flies shows us how to tie the Black Death Tarpon Fly. Below Darren describes this saltwater streamer in more detail. You can find Darren at his website: https://piscatorflies.com/
“The Black Death tarpon fly is a true classic. It’s been around for many decades and has been a goto for anglers and guides targeting tarpon. The color combination is a great attractor for tarpon, particularly on dark days. This saltwater fly is tied in what is known as the Florida Keys styles tarpon fly. The tails of the flies are tied as far back on the hook as possible to prevent the tail materials fowling on the cast. Another distinct feature of the style is the bare shank just behind the eye on the flies. The reason for this was that the bite tippets used for the flies tended to give the flies a poor presentation and so angler began to snell the flies. The front ½” or so of the fly was left bare so that the line could be snelled. This persisted over the years and line technology progressed, the feature remained as an artifact in the fly patterns. Today, many of the shanks are covered with thread and coated with cement or resin.
For such a simple fly, there are an incredible number of variations out in the wild and no real standard. So much so that I feel the “Black Death” is more of a named color variation rather than a fly pattern much like the red and white Daredevil or the light blue and Black Blue Moon seen in steelhead patterns.”
Recipe: Hook: Gamakatsu CS15 #1/0-4/0 Thread: Black 210D FWN Tail: Nyat hair black Flash: Red mylar flash (Flashabou) Collar: Red rabbit zonker Head: Black thread to eye tapered into the collar Eyes: Silver or white with a black pupil Coating: Bone Dry UV coated on head x2
10 years ago or so, John Montana created this fly. It has remained popular among carp enthusiast. John’s old blog is still up, if you want to check that out, you can find it here: https://carponthefly.blogspot.com
If you are fly fishing for carp, this is a good fly to check out. I would also recommend you read John’s old blog to soak in some information about how he fly fishes for carp.
As far as the hook specified in the below recipe. There are many other carp fly hooks available now. Gamakatsu and Fulling Mill come to mind right away.
Recipe: Hook: CarpPro Gaper, size 8 Thread: 70 Denier, rusty brown Eyes: Hareline small black brass eyes Tail: Ultra Chenille, standard wine Body: Peacock chenille Hackle: Pheasant rump, yellow
Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions demonstrates how to tie a Parachute Purple Haze in his favorite way of tying the fly. Andy Carlson of Bitteroot Anglers in Montana came up with the Purple Haze back in 2000. It has remained very popular ever since, especially in the western United States.
Recipe: Hook: Dry-fly hook (here, a Fulling Mill 5050), size 12-20. Thread: White, 8/0 or 70-denier. Tail: Moose body hair. Wing post: White polypropylene floating yarn. Body: Wine rabbit-fur dubbing. Hackle: Brown and grizzly hackle, mixed.
I first noticed James when he entered a fly into the J. Stockard fly tying contest. His flies have a certain wonderful style and it grabbed my attention right away. I asked James if he would write a little about himself and his fly tying. You can read what he wrote below followed by photos of some of his flies. If you want to see many more and follow James’ work, you can follow him on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/onceandaway/
“I am a fly tyer from Sweden who ties almost everything from large articulated streamers to small dry flies. Mostly it’s about trout flies because it’s trout I prefer to fish. But since I live in Stockholm, have a family and work here, I take what I can get when it comes to fishing. There is not enough time to fish as much as I would like so having fly tying on the side is great. At the vise, I can create in peace and dream away. I like to put a little extra love into my flies because it’s at the vise that I have plenty of time.
A perfectly tied fishing fly should be an organized chaos. Chaos might be the wrong word, but I like irregularities that together still form something unified. Of course it hopefully has to attract the fish but I also want it to be a treat for my eyes. It gives me pleasure to tie a, in my eyes, beautiful fly on to the leader. Pleasure and confidence.
Natural materials are what I like best to use. Nature is full of irregularities that nevertheless create the most beautiful shapes. Deer hair, CDC, snowshoe hare, chamois, Coq de Leon and various other feathers are my favorite materials when it comes to dry flies and they are amazing to mix and often marry beautifully. Both in terms of function and appearance. A fly should imitate life and movement, something I learned from the Italian style of tying. For me, a fly with a perfectly wound hackle (stripped on one side) and other sharp edges is often completely uninteresting. I don’t mean it’s necessarily wrong, other people love it and their flies may fish great but it’s not my thing. I find it hard to put my finger on what it is that makes me like the look of a fly. I just know when it feels wrong and when it feels right.
In addition to that, I enjoy photographing my flies and this has given me a burning interest in photography. I love to spend time trying to find interesting ways to do justice to my flies and I like to make it into a narrative if I can. In the beginning, it was a way to stand out from the crowd and a bit to chase “likes” on social media. Nowadays I don’t care so much about flies going viral, I do it for me because I enjoy it and it gives me nice memories to look back at. That’s why it might take a while between my posts on Instagram, the joy has to be there and if I don’t think my pictures or my flies are interesting enough I don’t bother posting. The vast majority of flies that I tie are just for house use and they end up directly in the water (or in a tree) instead of making a stopover on the internet. Other times it’s only for the internet or for a frame or something. Tying display flies is a great way trying to perfect a certain technique or challenging yourself.
I used to sell flies to people who wanted to buy, but I’ve stopped doing that too. Just like the pressure that social media can give you, it made me lose the joy of tying and I need to keep that. Tying flies must be fun for me! Unless it’s panic because you’re going on a fishing trip and realize you need a certain pattern. Then just sit down and tie! It happens every year when the season starts.”
