You’ll note that the FOTW is an excerpt taken from Phil’s book…since he may not be on board I’ll give it a shot…taken from one of Rickard’s books…he has more since the excerpt…some is also from personal communication…
Hook=10-12 2x long
as far as I know Denny always weights it…six wraps of .020 lead
he uses other colors but really likes burnt orange
an interesting little aside is that Denny feels that he more successful when he wraps the rib under the wing case then over it …so he does even though it is less durable.
I met Denny Rickards and I thought he was a real jerk. By tying a wooly bugger with seal dubbing are you really being an innovator like Rickards claims to be? He talks about 10 pound trout as if they’re common place and he catches them all the time. I guess that’s true if you’re fishing private water exclusively!
I just now looked at the tying sequence for the fotw. and while I’m not at denny rickard’s level as a tyer or angler, I do question wrapping the rib before the hackle. my suggestion would be to do the opposite, counter-wrapping the hackle w/ wire rib for durability’s sake. furthermore grazzly hackle feathers are easily dyed orange w/ kool aid w/ very vibrant results.
That’s exactly how I tied it. I also took one and applied a little Hard as Nails to the shellback for durability. I’ll let ya know how that looks as soon as it dries.
Official Flyfishing gear tester. Liscense # OUC-I12-JC
mikeytwoshoes, I agree about wrapping the wire rib after and over the hackle.
Benjo, I have never met Denny Rickards, but I do know the area he fishes and 10 lb. trout are not uncommon. Klamath Lake and the rivers that feed it are home to a Redband trout that has a very long life span, almost double that of some trout in other waters. They get very large! I have fished that area many times and I have caught many large trout, up to 10 lb. and have seen larger. That is all in public water. I can see a guy who knows the area and makes his living guiding catching 10 lb. trout often.
True, the seal bugger is just a variation of a wooly bugger but it makes a difference. Those big trout in the Klamath Lake area seem to dramatically favor them over wooly buggers. After using it (seal bugger) there with much success, I would call it an innovative pattern.
I have met Denny Rickards and he didn’t come across as a jerk then. I haven’t met Jay Fair but I sometimes fish near where he lives. Jay is a stillwater fly innovator, too. I caught the biggest trout of my life on a stillwater nymph and Jay’s wiggletails (another wooly bugger ) are very productive as well. The rusty brown color really works.
I have an idea the reason Orange Marabou is used is to the color of the Orange Marabou on the Stillwater Nymph when it is wet and submerged.
Depending on the the clarity of the water that the nymph is fished in, the color orange (which is a mixture of the two primary colors Yellow & Red) will appear to be more of a Brown hue.
Reason for this appearance, is water is more dense than air, and the light pententrating the water slowly loses it total spectrum depending on what depth the light has penetrated. First colors to go are the Reds…last colors to disappear are the Blues.
What we preceive when viewing a tied fly in the vise, is not the same colors that the fish will preceive the fly when it is wet and submerged. ~Parnelli
~ Parnelli
Chartered Member of “Friends of FAOL”!
Down in the meadow in a little bitty pool
Swam three little fishies and a mama fishie too
“Swim” said the mama fishie, “Swim if you can”
And they swam and they swam all over the dam
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 19 July 2005).]
Very good point indeed. I changed that effect with one version I tied. I used Hard as Nails on the shelllback for durability. The problem here is now, when wet, I have two seperate colors from back to tail. Not sure if thats a problem since it hasn't hit the water yet but I believe it will last longer than the bare marabou. Maybe a little colored marker next time before the hard coating. IMHO.......
Re: the ribbing…note I said Rickards does not tie it OVER the shellback…purposely because he thinks he catches more fish that way …doesn’t know why…and puts up with the loss of durability to the shellback…also says if you want you can retie on a shellback on used flies.
As far as counter wrapping the rib I can’t remember what he does [guess I’ll check his video]…I assume the FOTW is Phil Rowley’s sequence…I counterwrap…
Re: the orange…he feels very strongly it should be burnt orange not the brilliant stuff…wish I knew how to get Burnt orange from Kool-aid… and I have heard him say he thinks it matches the brood sack color so even in the olive and other colors he still uses burnt orange grizzly hackle.
Re: the shellback …I’m pretty sure he likes the rougher “buggy” look of the untreated marabou.
Re: the size of trout…he travels all over and admits he selects stillwaters that hold large trout…I’m envious…
Oh, and he doesn’t always use the same color for the shellback as the tail.
Acording to the text with the FOTW, the marabou used is olive, a dark color for the top shell, the burnt orange is the hackle/legs, representing??? egg sac’s maybe? Don’t really matter, if the color works, but egg sac’s mean more protein.
I’ve never used seal fur, so I am not sure about the qualities it possesses vs. other materials. What do I loss by using a substitute for the seal? I could lose the weight and use QD dubbing for a slower sink rate. Gotta love the possiblities.
Not sure if you can see this pic very well, but this one is tied with cream marabou, and hard coated the shellback.
Analizing our differences not only leads to enlightenment, but also to new and interesting ideas that you yourself may never have thought of.
[This message has been edited by countrygent36 (edited 19 July 2005).]
[This message has been edited by countrygent36 (edited 19 July 2005).]
countrygent36, I use angora goat as a substitute for seal. It is readily availible in a variety of colors. It has a spikey texture and a translucency like seal.
OH YEAH!!! I took this one to the lake tonight. Crappie galore!!! Didn’t matter what color I used, they ate it. Let it drop, count to three, start stripping and POW!!! Three hours of solid action. Very impressive.
The one that I hard coated the shellback, showed me a drawback to that option. Too much weight on top, it rolled over at the standstill. Didn’t catch as many fish, but still hooked a few.
I’ve had the privilege to fish with Denny on a number of private and public waters, and I am a much better stillwater fisherman today because of it. Denny is a lot of things, but a “jerk” is certainly not one of them. He is very passionate about stillwater fishing and his passion comes across as enthusiasm. He also tends to always be in the “teach” mode so when you talk to him, be it on the phone or in person, he’s going to talk stillwater fishing.
I for one am sold on his fly designs for stillwater, and consistently take fish when I use them along with the appropriate presentation.
8T
