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3. Favorite flies, Page 2

Oh, man! Nothing like the big picture...thanks, Gonzo. when i go fishing, i'm struck by how focused you get on the stream, then the fish, then the fly (your own really good one!), then the cast, then watching the fly...when it's time to go home, you raise your head and slowly climb out of the tiny, timeless microcosm you've been in. and if you're lucky, a bird calls and a trout jumps and the whole world celebrates its very existence.

Sundula, I looked up the RS2 to be sure I knew what it looked like, and realized that one of my favorite Baetis emergers is essentially an RS2 pattern. I found the pattern on the Little Lehigh Flyshop website, and have had very good luck with both a thread body and a biot body version of the fly. It uses CDC for the wing and for the tail, which I take to be more like a shuck than anything.

Hi,
as my screen name implies, I am an avid wingless wet fly man. I love these flies for their simplicity and fish catching characteristics. I am constantly tying them and trying to create patterns that will catch fish.

One pattern I tie I call a Lil'Dorothy. It's simple, and I use it when the sulphurs and dorothea are on the water in the end of May. I tied a number of different patterns before I finally arrived upon this one. On my home river, I get both really sulphury looking flies which I believe are Epeorus vitrea and then Ephemerella dorothea which has a disinctive orange cast at the tail end of the abdomen.Here's the pattern tied soft-hackle style. Tie it and try it.

Hook: Mustad 3906 or 3399A or standard wet fly 12-14
Thread: Yellow
Hackle: Very pale ginger or darkisk cream hen
Abdomen: Pale orange embroidery floss/thread color #722
Thorax: Light Cahill Hareline dubbing

I fish it on the swing, using the Leisenring Lift, semi-dry at the surface or just under the surface on a greased leader.

Thanks for these other wonderful patterns,
Mark

For a photo, click this link: http://www.troutnut.com/libstudio/FS&S/html/lil_dorothy.html

Mark,

Thank you so much for the pattern. Having bought several books on soft hackles over the years, I am trying to use these flies more and more. Nemes and Borger have convinced me that there are many ways to fish them and that they can be among the most effective flies one can use. Your use of embrodidery floss is intriguing--I'm copying the pattern to a Word file for future tying help. I have heard that some folks have trouble missing or losing fish when they use wet flies, and others have suggested that a soft rod can reduce this problem. What do you think?

Lou,
a moderate action rod will do nicely for these flies. The rod I use most is a St Croix 9 footer of moderate action. It serves for fishing upstream or down with both dry and wet flies.

I selected embroidery thread because I was looking for something to give me the correct color I needed. While in Wal-Mart one day in the craft section, I spotted the threads. So many colors--WOW! Because softies are mostly wet flies, I new the thread would do nicely. It has worked well for me, and I use it on other soft-hackles to get the colors I want. Almost any color can be matched using it. In addition, it goes a long way. I use one "strand" from the the twist of thread. I'm currently looking into silk "buttonhole twist", if I can match the color. In the meantime, the embroidery thread is cheap and easy to find. I also use it for ribbing some nymphs.

Here's a link:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a222/Soft-hackle/Naut.jpg

Mark

Another link:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a222/Soft-hackle/Naut.jpg

Now that's a deadly looking bug. Can you tell us more about it? How do you fish that little bomb?

Also, have you seen Midge Magic, by Don Holbrook? He uses floss a lot--and Eric Stroup of Spruce Creek Fly Company uses floss in one of his spinner patterns and for ribbing in nymphs. I wonder if Gonzo has considered it for legs on some of his bigger mayfly nymph or stonefly patterns? He seems to be out of town still, but may pick up this thread in a day or so.

All best,

Hi Lou,
I put together this nymph for the early season to get deep. It's made from rabbit fur, not Hare's Ear, but regular rabbit. I'm sure rabbit Zonker strips would work nicely. I use rabbit from an old rabbit fur coat that belonged to one of my daughters. I should have enough to last the rest of my life.

For more info on this fly and the recipe go here:

http://www.danica.com/flytier/mlibertone/mels_nautilus.htm

It works for me when others are fishing with worms!

My best,
Mark

In order:

Sowbug
My variation on a PT
A Comparadun of matching color
BH softhackle HaresEar nymph
Leadwing Coachman

Of course... i carry every pattern known to man. Sometimes wondering why. But you will always find a large stock of sowbugs... living on a spring creek.

With all the softhackle talk going on, I can't keep myself from mentioning a great softhackle pattern. Till about 1998 I'd dismissed softhackles as being too vague. I wanted realism at the time. Then I ran into a real softhackle virtuoso - Dick Walle of Northern Ohio. This guy's softhackles were long and lean...different from what I'd been lead to believe wet flies were supposed to look like.

After some cajoling, Dick joined me for a weekend of fishing and proceded to show me how easy catching fish with soft hackles could be. "If they're actively feeding in the upper 1/3 of the water column, a soft hackle will take them." he said. It wasn't an idle threat. By mid-afternoon we had rising fish to misc midges and a smattering of sulfurs. I'd showed him some bugs from the river earlier - Ephemerella rotunda and E. invaria. He pointed out the body color on the ready-to-hatch Ephemerellid mayflies was that same reddish bronzy brown as we see in pheasant tail fibers. he even had an "emerging sulfur" wet fly with a small ball of yellow fur just behind the hackle. We had such a remarkable day that I don't go anywhere without a few of those softhackles. Here is what I remember of his dressing:

Dick Walle Pheasant Tail
Hook: Mustad 94831 (size 14-16) The hook is a 1x fine, 2x long dry fly hook.
Thread: Rusty Brown 8/0
Body: 4 pheasant tail fibers tied in by the tip and spiralled forward but not overlapping
Rib: Extra fine copper wire
Hackle: Grey-speckled partridge, with the finest speckling you can get.

Dick explained that the x-fine wire reduced the diameter of the hook point, making it easier to get a hookset, plus the lighter hook made for a more active fly in the water. The best part, of course, is that I can usually tie a wet fly within my 3-minute attention span!

My favorite fly of all time is the green weenie anywhere i fish it i catch something, it is also a great bluegill fly.

It's one of my go to flies, though I've taken a lot of ribbing for using it. Folks usually shut up when a fish takes off and put a nice bend in my rod.

We clearly don't fish together enough, Louis - for me, that's when the ribbing would BEGIN. If you're going to bait-fish, at least bestow upon the fish the courtesy of using real bait.

-Shawn

P.S. I hope my sarcasm doesn't scare you off, Levi. Just a little joke intended to be at Louis's expense. If you saw the fly he used in the Donny B water the last time I fished with him, you'd realize just how much he deserves it. Why haven't you posted that pattern on here yet, Louis?

Oh, you mean the dog chow imitation? It's too hard to tie. You have to tie a very big Walt's Worm and really build up the dubbing. Most can't wrap enough fur on to simulate the look of Beaver's fish food. Then drop it in a bag of Purina for a week or two to get the human scent off.

Now, Shawn, while we're picking on each other, and discussing finesse tying, I'm wondering how many of those jointed Iso nymphs you've tied recently? You know the one I caught that first fish on in that fast run above Barree?

OK, I'll desist - you got me. But in my defense, it's not because I COULDN'T tie them, I'm just morally opposed to cutting points off perfectly good hooks. At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

-Shawn

P.S. Based on the obvious amount of research and development you've put into the Dog Chow Deluxe, Louis, am I to assume you're going to spend this winter coming up with a glow-in-the-dark version? Oops, I said I'd desist. It's just so hard to do...

P.P.S. By the way, classy of you not to mention my take that day.

Look Shawn, I did start this thread so folks could post up their unusual creations, but the glow in the dark specials are top secret. Don't even mention them again here!!!

:)

Warning to Central PA flyfishers:

If you ever come upon a man, waist-deep in a still pool, a half-hour after dusk, wearing a breathable radiation suit and tossing what looks like a Maglite to rising trout, just shield your eyes, put a protective hand over your genitals, and move along the path as quickly as you can safely manage.

-Shawn

Do ya know what I think--Your both house bound.:)

john

OK, Shawn's found my true intent with the glow flies. To frighten other anglers away from my secret spot. Yes, by all means pass on. And John, you're not far from the bullseye yourself.

Yes, John - you're quite astute.

-Shawn

I don't want to start a new thread, or Hijack or Low jack this thread BUT-Did you see they make a thread that ------glows in the dark. (Gasp)

Where is Lloyd when I need him( swish) skiing.

john