Fishing opportunities have been scarce recently. Leaves a bit more time for sitting at the tying desk pondering what to tie/use for the coming open-water season. Here’s a few items I’ve tied over the past week.
First up is a “Skip’s Anatomical Nymph”:
Next up is a Deer Hair Bass Popper:
My buddy Jay had found some fly-tying materials at a garage sale a year or so ago. He gave it all to me. Included were some size 12 and size 10 cork bodies for making bluegill poppers. I hadn’t used them yet, but for some reason I was compelled this week to pick out a size 12 and “give it a go”:
The dark spot behind the eye is an imperfection in the cork surface. No biggie.
Here’s the same fly under a UV light:
The next one is just a streamer I threw together. Can’t decide if I like it much:
And last…I’m following a blog called “http://missouriflies.com/”. Interesting guy…fly-fishes around the north side of St. Louis, often from his kayak in backwaters off the Missouri River. He catches mostly Grass Carp, Catfish, and some Wipers. I’m fascinated…he doesn’t usually try to imitate plants for his grass carp flies (even when fishing under ripe mulberry trees)…usually he just uses his own design of nymph and swims it back in. So…here’s a couple of his most productive patterns:
The top two with the softhackle legs he calls the “Rabbit Tail Dragon”. The bottom one is basically the same pattern without the softhackle legs. I used rabbit for the tail on this one too, but he uses black turkey feather barbules for the tail. He calls it the “Black Ops”.
John, your pattern helped me catch my first fly-rod STREAM rainbows and browns last year here in Iowa. I then tried that pattern out on the local bluegills. They approved also.
Squirmy Wormies! Just did a batch for my cousin up in VA. He is pretty pumped to fish them. I have fished in NC’s DH streams. Low, clear, over fished water. Still caught fish on them!
I use moose body hair (not moose mane) for the tail on this peacock herl version and add a strip of 2mm foam after tying in the tail; I also tie my tail a little shorter (personal pref). After that, everything else is pretty much the same as in the SBS. Most important thing for me is getting the right calf tail for the Trude/Wulff wing. Since I tie this mostly in a #12 I like hair that’s got a good bit of kink in it; don’t know if it helps with floatation but I do know that straighter hair doesn’t work as well for me. I’ve also tried calf body and some synthetics and have never been happy with the results.
Also, since the foam provides the primary floatation, I can get by with lesser quality hackle (I’ve got some saddles from Charlie Collins that have a bit more web than I’d normally use on a dry fly that work perfectly).
Not a hard fly to tie, but it is a bit putzy and you have to get the proportions right from the start or you’ll get material “creep” and end up crowding the eye (usually takes me 5-6 before I get everything right if I haven’t tied them in a while).
Best thing about the Convertible is that it’s usually the last fly I tie before I leave on a trip; if I’m tying them, it means I’m gonna be fishing real soon.
Sulfur compardun- Charlie Craven style. I used yellow flexi-floss for the abdomen. Not sure if I really like the looks of it though. Guess the fish will decide
I’ve seen basically the same fly called Bob’s, Pat’s, and Bennet’s, and at least two other names. It has been a staple in SE Idaho for years. Can’t say how long it has been in use here in Western Montana, but one version or another has been in the local shop fly bins since I moved here a couple years ago. It’s about the only fly I use this time of year.
Your comment reminded me of a “hot” fly that I have never had any success with - a prince nymph. Typically, I’ve either lost it before catching anything, or after not catching anything. Go figure.
The Pickle is another name I’ve seen for the rubber legs (maybe that’s just the olive colored ones). Put a bead on a prince nymph and drift it where whitefish live; I dare you not to catch one on it.
