JC's Salmonfly

[JohnScott]

You can find this one in the FOTW archives, but the August 10, 2009 FOTW FEB Hopper is a better presentation on how to tie it.

The salmonfly is usually tied with orange thread, orange and dark brown antron for the FEB, medium brown foam for the forward body, orange speckled Montana Fly Company centipede legs, and deer or elk hair for the wing.

A couple days ago, I went for a change of pace with the colors and tied it on a size 8 3x long hopper hook, with bright red tying thread, bright red and olive brown antron for the FEB, red foam for the forward body, yellow with red speckle MFC centipede legs, and light blond elk rump hair for the wing.

Fished it on my home water yesterday, and several fishies thought the color combination was just fine.

Speaking of color .... as in 18" plus Westslope cutthroat ....




The whole series of flies ( skwala, salmonfly, golden stone, hopper, and October caddis ) tied on the FEB platform have served me well going on nine years. I fish these flies practically year round, somewhere around eighty days a year, and they have caught fish every month of the year, winter weather conditions permitting, in Northern Idaho.

John

P. S. Yesterday I had a very unusual experience. Saw a wolverine at very close range. First one ever for me, hopefully not the last.

[Rick Z]

Nice fish.

Rick

[Byron haugh]

Nice Fish John! Sure looks upset!

[dr korn]

Very nice Scott - the FEB is a great fly.

[Ed_D]

[JohnScott]

Sure looks upset!

... by a bright red salmonfly look-alike. How upsetting would that be to any self respecting cutthroat ??

Anyway, the fly was unusual since I mostly stick to natural colors, and the fish is unusual only for the depth of its color and the particularly heavy spotting.

But the real story last Wednesday was the wolverine. It has been my hope for years that I would someday see one in the wild, and in a matter of seconds it finally happened.

John

P.S. Doug - I'm not sure what makes a great fly, but I do know that oftentimes I cut the hook off the FEB platform flies and just go "hunting." It gets to be a such bother to spend so much time landing and releasing fishies instead of moving and fishing.

[JohnScott]

... to a yellow version today - bright yellow antron extended body, bright yellow foam forward body, with red barred yellow leggy stuff, one tied with the elk rump hair and one tied with deer hair for the wing.

Second cast this afternoon brought up a really big cutt, which proceeded to take the fly and then quickly break off and take half of my supply of yellow flies for a ride.

The second fly, the one with a deer hair wing, got lots of action the next couple hours in several different spots. It accounted for close to two dozen fishies before it was broken off when the tippet got wrapped around a small log that protruded out over the bank.

So much for the importance of color - at least for the cutts in the river I've been fishing.

After losing the second yellow fly, I went with a regular salmonfly colored version for an hour or so and it also did quite well.

John

[John Rhoades]

Good to see you back, John, and know that you are still fishin.

John

[Bruce Norikane]

You can find this one in the FOTW archives, but the August 10, 2009 FOTW FEB Hopper is a better presentation on how to tie it.

...
The whole series of flies ( skwala, salmonfly, golden stone, hopper, and October caddis ) tied on the FEB platform have served me well going on nine years. I fish these flies practically year round, somewhere around eighty days a year, and they have caught fish every month of the year, winter weather conditions permitting, in Northern Idaho.

John

Hi John,

The FEB style is new to me, and I like it a lot. I'm not sure how I missed it, as I've been reading this forum and FOTW for many years. Since I have a box of Antron in many colors thanks to Jim Ternent's generous gift many years ago.

For some reason, I had a hard time finding the FOTW August 10, 2009 FEB Hopper page using the FOTW index. Here is a direct link:

FOTW FEB Hopper (bnn edit - fixed link)

Thanks,

Bruce

[JohnScott]

John -

If you are going to be in Montana during the stonefly ( salmon or golden ) hatches or the hopper season, the FEB patterns might be an interesting experiment on the cricks you fish ??

If your offer from a few years ago to ride along still stands, I might be able to bring along a supply of flies for you and your friend to work out.

Bruce -

Thanks for the link to the FEB Hopper. Also, I got your PM regarding the "remember me" thing. Glad to hear that it works for you.


One of my priorities in fly tying, especially since I don't much like fly tying and I'm not very good at it, is DURABILITY.

The FEB is a really solid platform for durable flies. Last Wednesday, I tied on my standard salmonfly with the elk rump hair wing. Three hours and a couple dozen fish later, I put it back in the fly box for my next outing. On Sunday, after another three hours and about twenty more fish, I lost it while in the process of retying the tippet to continue fishing with it. Yeah, it was kind of beat up, but the fishies were still going after it regularly and with gusto.

John