Almost certainly an osprey - and I doubt that there is one around that could lift this fish let alone carry it.Originally Posted by ScottP
Almost certainly an osprey - and I doubt that there is one around that could lift this fish let alone carry it.
The fish are always right.
"Step by step" for FEB OC 2.0
This will be a simplified version. For detail on how to form the furled extended body, you can go back to any of several of my FOTWs demonstrating this technique.
Lay down a thread base back to the bend and then bring thread forward to about mid shank. Tie in the FEB.
Tie in the rear legs on top of the FEB thread wraps.
Wrap tying thread forward, binding down FEB material, to about one third shank, and tie in wing. You may have to trim off some of the FEB material.
Wrap tying thread forward to just behind the eye. Tie in deer hair for bullethead, starting just behind the eye and wrapping back to where the wing is tied in.
Form bullethead.
Tie in front legs on top of bullethead thread wraps, whip finish. Trimming the bullethead deer hair behind the tie in point is optional.
This example is definitely not a "presentation" fly. However, if properly presented it will likely catch a fishy.
Late yesterday afternoon on the Lochsa, there were a fair number of October Caddis around. I hooked up with three cutts fishing this OC pattern. I didn't land him, but I think the third one was the same fish shown in an earlier post, the one with the osprey talon wounds on his back.
John
P.S. The only issue I've had with this fly is that the bullethead is a bit fragile. Not sure if that is the deer hair used, my technique, or something else. Applying head cement or flexament or something like that might help. But a few good fish per fly is AOKAY by me.
The fish are always right.
Although I saw very few Octobers on 8 days of Lochsa fishing at the fish-in this year, the fish would still, some days, hit them all day long, from MP 98 to 157. I fished nothing but Octobers one day down low, and did very well, although I think, overall, I caught more fish on ants than Octobers this year.
DG
Here's one that produces not only trout, but Steelhead!!
DSCF3439.jpgDSCF3438.jpg
Born to fish, Forced to Work!
Please deliver me to the weekend!
Feb oc 2.1
Seemed that a solution to the fragile deer hair bullethead might be a foam bullethead. While mulling this possibility over for several days, I happened to catch "Fly Tying - The Angler's Art" with LeRoy Hyatt and Carolyn Sells over the weekend on Spokane Public Television KSPS. Carolyn demonstrated a pattern which used a foam bullethead where you cut a foam strip to width and length and then poke a hole at the center. Slide the hole in the foam over the eye of the hook, pull the ends of the foam toward the rear, tie in to form the bullethead, and trim the excess foam strip."Step by step" for the FEB OC 2.0 ... This will be a simplified version. For detail on how to form the furled extended body, you can go back to any of several of my FOTWs demonstrating this technique.
Lay down a thread base back to the bend and then bring thread forward to about mid shank. Tie in the FEB.
Tie in the rear legs on top of the FEB thread wraps.
Wrap tying thread forward, binding down FEB material, to about one third shank, and tie in wing. You may have to trim off some of the FEB material.
Wrap tying thread forward to just behind the eye. Tie in deer hair for bullethead, starting just behind the eye and wrapping back to where the wing is tied in.
Form bullethead.
Tie in front legs on top of bullethead thread wraps, whip finish. Trimming the bullethead deer hair behind the tie in point is optional.
This example is definitely not a "presentation" fly. However, if properly presented it will likely catch a fishy.
Late yesterday afternoon on the Lochsa, there were a fair number of October Caddis around. I hooked up with three cutts fishing this OC pattern. I didn't land him, but I think the third one was the same fish shown in an earlier post, the one with the osprey talon wounds on his back.
John
P.S. The only issue I've had with this fly is that the bullethead is a bit fragile. Not sure if that is the deer hair used, my technique, or something else. Applying head cement or flexament or something like that might help. But a few good fish per fly is AOKAY by me.
Tied one up this morning. When I got through with it, I really didn't like the look of it. I threw it on a heap of used flies with the intent of salvaging the hook some cold winter day. A while later, I tied a few smaller caddis patterns to use this afternoon. While gathering them up, I decided to take along the foam bullethead OC just to see how it floated.
Guess what ?? This is what it looked like after catching four fish on the first half dozen casts.
It went on to catch another six fish before it came apart, about an hour after I started fishing it.
Still don't like the look of it, but ....
John
The fish are always right.
Now John, you KNOW ugly flies catch more fish! *S* Looks fine to me.
Good thread. Timely too. Streamers Blue Winged Olives and October caddis are happening, right now.
Here's my take on the dry fly....an October variation on the Flat Caddis pattern. This fly has two materials: rooster hackle and bucktail wing. It sits flat and low to the water, somewhat like the real bug. Floats like a champion. And it's easy to see. One good way to fish now is to knot a tippet to the bend of the big Oct Caddis hook, and attach a #20 wet or dry BWO to the tippet. Set the hook for any swirl 24" or so behind the October Caddis. Trying to spot #20 dry flies on cloudy, windy October days is nearly impossible. Even for whipper snappers. But that big flat caddis even I can see. This one is tied on a #16 scud hook. But as you can see from the photo--the fly is bigger than the hook.
Last edited by pittendrigh; 10-14-2011 at 10:45 AM.
Just got back from a week in YNP and on the Missouri; saw a few of the big bugs in the bushes around Holter Dam down to Craig. Tried skating a few dries like this:
but no luck. Really didn't see many on the water although I heard some big slurps after dark around the Craig campground so I'm thinking I wasn't fishing them at the right time. Cool looking bugs; I'm sure John's bulletheads and others would have worked fine.
Regards,
Scott
In the for what it is worth category ...
... I've had some very good days with FEB OCs this fall, while dead drifting the flies.
I have tried "skating" these flies, which seems to be a popular way of presenting them, and haven't had any success with the technique. The closest I've come is the occasional hit when starting to pick the fly up - but intentionally moving it, no.
The whole FEB thing ( salmonflies, golden stones, hoppers, and October Caddis ) is based on a design that rides very low with a lot of stuff ( antenna, legs, the FEB ) going on subsurface, representing a spent bug. Just makes sense to me that fish are more likely to hit the bug that is struggling / dead drifting than one that is moving.
Maybe it is more that I don't have good technique for skating than the skating presentation in and of itself. But as I think about fishing this hatch the past several weeks, it occurs to me that for the good number of OCs I've seen down on the water ovipositing, I've not seen a fish take one doing so. I have watched several spent naturals get taken.
John
The fish are always right.
....Just a few thoughts about October Caddis:
In Montana, if you are not fishing streamers in October you're probably chasing Blue Winged Olives. That's what generally provides the best fishing. There are always a few big October caddis around. But never more than a few scattered individuals.
On big tailwater rivers especially (Big Horn, Missouri, etc) many fishermen use an indicator of some kind, because it's almost always cloudy and windy at that time of year, which makes following tiny flies nearly impossible. That indicator might be an ugly hunk of yarn or foam. Or it might be a Royal Wulff, grasshopper or October caddis. The indicator fly typically takes no more than 2-3 fish all day long (which is 2-3 fish better than an ugly blob of foam). But a big bushy indicator fly in the middle of a Blue Winged Olive hatch seldom produces a lot of fish.
Fishing an October caddis as the primary fly in October probably isn't a high-success strategy.
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