… for a change of pace at the vise and looking not too far down the road.
This is a scaled down version of the FEB OC 2.2 ( October Caddis ) that did so well for me for about six weeks this past fall, with the appropriate color change for the skwalas I’ve observed around here.
It’s tied on a TMC 2312 size 14, with two strands of furled antron, one olive and one stone brown, olive dun 6/0 thread, and dark brown deer hair, with Montana Fly Company size small speckled brown centipede legs. The bullethead is deer hair spun just behind the eye, swept back, and trimmed on the underside behind the tie in.
And from the underside.
Hope to be doing the initial field tests in not much more than a month. If it is as successful as its FEB salmonfly, golden stone, hopper, and October Caddis predecessors, it’s going to be a lot of fun fishing it.
John
P.S. This fly was originally posted on Dave’s “late January” thread, but I had a PM from a BB member suggesting that it have it’s own thread, so here it is.
Nice fly; you gonna go without a foam indicator strip? I remember the first batch of bullethead skwalas I sent you were a bit tough to see on the water; the beta versions had the foam.
This fly should ride quite low like the other FEBs. That is a good thing, probably why they have all been so successful.
However, the wing is always visible either by color and / or profile on the others ( tied with natural deer hair vs. the dyed brown deer hair on this one ) and I think the darker wing on the skwala will be as visible in most circumstances and more visible in some lighting conditions.
I started fishing the FEB OC 2.0 and 2.2 ( October Caddis ) in late September and fished them through mid November.
This year I pretty much stayed on the Lochsa system, although I’m confident those flies would work anywhere where there is a decent OC hatch - e.g. the Bitterroot, Rock Creek, and the Blackfoot, and perhaps sections of the Clark Fork.
… that there is a “down and dirty” step by step of the FEB OC 2.0 on an earlier thread that can be used for the FEB Skwala.
This is 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.
The only significant change for the skwala, other than size and color, is having three sets of legs vs. two sets on the OC.
(Someday) it would be nice to have a free online photo library of all the real bugs, crustaceans and minnows–as a tying reference. I’ll have to work on it.
I’ve got some decent pix of most of the stoneflies around here ( salmonfly, golden stone, skwala, neumora, and yellow sally ) as adults and a few good nymph pix also that you are welcome to. PM your email address and I’ll send them along.
This is a view I snipped from a video and shows what I would think was a more important view of the live bug. I was trying to figure out if we have skwalas here in the SE USA.
… emphasize the egg sack, often with a rather pronounced black foam rear end. And there is a reason …
For some situations, the egg sack might prove a valuable “trigger.” In faster water, I doubt that it makes much difference to the fishies. And, this fly rides very low, like a spent, post ovipositing natural ( as I imagine it ).
The very end of the furled extended body tends to be bulbous, compared to the length of the extended body. And with the darker colors used for this pattern, I don’t think finding a way to incorporate an obvious egg sack is worth the effort. If this pattern doesn’t produce, that might well be the next step at the drawing board / tying vise.
