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3. Favorite flies, Page 3

I think that they do make a glow in the dark I want to say that Danville makes it but im not 100% sure

Alright I'll put one out there.
JAD has a few of these to use in his quest to master Czech Nymphing.

Hook: Curved nymph model of your choice although I really like TMC 2457 in #10-14

Bead: blak or gold tungsten sized to hook


Underbody: .020 lead wire wrapped with a single stip of .015 lead on either side of the shank. (you can omit the side strips and simply crush the wrapped lead and then coat with flecement or similar)

Body: Black DMC floss (#310) woven with caddis/insect green spooled antron. I use both the floss and antron at full thickness to really beef up the body. I use the paraless weave with the black on the dorsal surface and the greaan on the abdomen.

Legs(optional): dark brown mottled hen fibers tied in beard style

Head: Two choices here eithe a fuzzy black dubbing or black ostrich herl twisted in a dubbing loop.

This thing is designed to sink like a rock and stay down so the stream bottom eats lots of them. I have found it very effective on rivers with good numbers of green caddis larva. You can play with the colors to approximate other naturals if you so choose.
JW

The following dry flies are standards for me:

Elkhair caddis
Adams
Light Cahill
White Wulff
Royal Wulff

I love the Royal Wulff! It makes an excellent attractor pattern when nothing else is happening. A parachute Royal Coachman has produced for me as well. But that damned elkhair caddis just seems to work almost anywhere for me, so long as there are at least a few caddisflies inhabiting the water.

No favorites as far as nymphs and wets - I must confess that I prefer dry-fly fishing over nymphs, though I have had some nice catches on the classic soft-hackle wet flies that SoftHackle loves so much. Try brown partridge with a chartreuse floss body!

Woolly Buggers - this goes without saying! And my Killer Bass Fly, which has been just about the deadliest warm-water fly I have ever used (OK, maybe second to woolly buggers). I have been waiting for a digital camera to take step-by-step tying illustrations of this fly to post here. In the meantime, a recipe:

Hook: standard 3-x long streamer hook (Mustad 9672 or equivalent), size 4 - 10;

Thread: gray 6/0 or equivalent;

Tail: 4 natural grizzly marabou feathers, tied in one hook shank length past the bend of the hook, topped with 10-15 strands of silver Krystal Flash;

Body: silver tinsel chenille (this seems to be getting hard to find);

Collar: soft webby saddle or hen hackle in natural grizzly, flared back;

Eyes: large silver bead chain, tied on top of the hook.

I have tied variants of this fly in gold, copper, and chartreuese.

Significant fish caught on this pattern:

20", 5.5-lb. largemouth in Texas (silver/natural grizzly);
16", 2.5-lb. smallmouth in Intermediate Lake, MI (copper/tan-dyed grizzly);
28", 10-lb. carp in the Huron River, MI (chartreuse with gold eyes).

Folks, take it out for steelhead and trout and let me know how you do - I've only fished this in warm waters.

Jonathon

P.S. I like Marabou Muddlers and deer-hair poppers, too!

That sounds like a nice fly, Jonathon. I used to use a fly that probably looks pretty similar to yours for warm water, and it was a good fly. Since I rarely fish for bass anymore, and since, after all, they're only bass, I won't hesitate to post the pattern here. Here it is:

Hook: Short enough so the collar makes it somewhat weedless.
Underbody (if more weight than the eyes is desired): Weighted near the front and on top of hook so the fly fishes upside-down.
Eyes: Heavy chain, mounted on top of hook (if extra weight was tied in, then the eyes should go on top of the weight).
Tail: One black saddle hackle, as long as you like. Add a few long strands of pearl krystal flash or flashabou.
Collar: Pearl krystal flash or flashabou underneath, black maribou over it, making as seemless a transition to the tail as possible. Tie some maribou behind and some maribou ahead of the eyes to give the head a little definition.

My best warm-water fly, though, is nothing of my own invention, really - just a maribou and chenille version of the black rubber worm. I remember my brother telling me when I was going to start flyfishing for bass that the best bass lure he'd ever used when spinning was the black rubber worm, so I just tried to tie something that would look and act like one in the water, and it was deadly. The first summer I bass-fished, it was the only fly I needed. Here it is:

Hook: Yes.
Underbody: Two or three layers of flat weighting wire, tied at the front of the hook and on top. Taper the layers so the fly doesn't have too awkward a bump sticking out where the weight is.
Tail: Black maribou with a few strands of krystal flash in it, as long as possible.
Body: Dull black chenille, tied into roughly a cigar shape.

That's it. Bass fishing isn't rocket science. Keep the flies simple enough that you can toss them anywhere you want and not worry about snapping them off.

-Shawn

Shawn, your pattern sounds like a "wooless" woolly bugger. Good leach/dragonfly nymph imitation, or crayfish in the right colors. Here's another:

Hook: wide-gap bass hook, size 6 - 10;

Tail: four long Schlappen (or long saddle) hackles, your choice of color (black, grizzly, olive, purple, etc.), tied about 3-4" long, with a Krystal Flash/Flashabou topping of 10-15 strands, either to match or to brighten (silver, gold, etc.);

Ribbing: fine gold or silver wire, or tinsel, etc. for counter-wrapping palmered hackle;

Body: chenille to match tail color, wound neatly up the hook shank;

Hackle: long, webby saddle hackle (or Schlappen) to match, tied in at the front and palmered back to make a nice tapered silhouette, then counter-wrapped by ribbing, which is tied down at head of fly;

Eyes: large bead-chain (for shallower waters) or 1/32-1/16-oz. dumbells (for deeper waters), color of your choice, tied on top of the hook.

This will strongly resemble a plastic worm under water! Fish it the same ways - twitch it, jerk it, swim it, undulate it, etc. The point will ride upward so it can be (carefully) crawled over obstacles - or make it weedless by tying in a loop of 30-lb. monofilament!

Yes, bass may not be as selective as trout, but they can be selective at times, and the right combination of color and movement can set them off. My question is, since northern MI is crawling with brown trout that love to come out after dark, especially the big ones, has anyone here thrown any bass flies at them? The guys at the Alphorn Sports Shop in Gaylord, MI used to tell me to take big Marabou Muddlers out in the wee hours, throw them upstream as "dries", and when they drift downstream bring them bakc in a streamers. Then, false-cast enough to shake off most of the water, and repeat the above. I never did do this, but since Marabou Muddlers make great bass flies, it seems that other large morsels might be attacked by the multi-pound big dudes that cruise in the dead of night. This coming summer I'll have to check it out. And maybe for steelhead? I got a 9-10 weight...

Jonathon

Shawn,
haven't noticed the web site in your signature before, but i just checked it out and those flies are incredible, i'm looking forward to seeing more.
jeff

Thank you, Jonathon, for correcting me on my bass comments. What I said sounded derogatory, and I certainly shouldn't be disparaging a gamefish as awesome as the bass. When I lived in Carolina for 5 years, 2+ hours from the nearest trout, I learned to relish bass fishing. And, yes, they can be a challenge in their own way, even if they will never be as refined in their appearance and demeanor as trout are. The difference between fishing for trout and fishing for bass is a little like the difference between driving a Lexus and driving a 4-wheeler - the 4-wheeler may not be the epitome of class and style, but it sure can be a heck of a lot of fun to drive.

-Shawn

Thanks, Jeff, for your kind words. My salmon fly project has taken a long time and a lot of work, and I'm happy to finally be able to show my work to the public. I just opened my site last week, and so far the response has been quite positive.

I'll post a teaser in the photo section (Jason has told me he doesn't mind). If you like my work, please don't hesitate to mention my site to anyone you think might like it as well.

-Shawn

Dick, perhaps you'll find something of interest here. My first East Branch brown took one of my upside down CDC caddis flies (first page of this thread, I think). They work just fine right side up also.

I just ran across this thread, guess this is a late entry-

I've taken to tying a bastardized dun of sorts; a combination of Harrop's hair-wing, the One-Wing Dun illustrated by Scheck in the 9-10/95 issue of AA (a GREAT style, IMHO- easy, fast, simple, basic, can't go wrong with it), along some classic Catskill traits with the exception of the hackle-tip divided wings. Today I tied a Hendrickson series, a dozen male and female, sz 12 and 14 to match the locals. They were coming off pretty consistently this past Sunday and I can't wait for the weekend to be back on the water.

This is a most fulfilling part for me, the ever-present 'what if' of tying a fly that's possibly a personal tweak on the usual.

Tight lines, all!

Roguerat

'less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

Happy opener Rogue!

Just a few more days and its official...the traditional opener will be here again. At my age, its funny, how it just seems nice to still be here to enjoy another one. :) Nice to sit and wrap a few hopefuls at the vise.

Good luck out there!

Spence

Spence, you doing the opener this year? I am always a bit hesitant up here since there will be a flood of...well, you people. ;oD

Then again, living up here I guess I can pick my days, and wait for the hordes to go home, or try to find someplace that maybe I can be alone...[REDACTED] Pond is always an option for a less heavily pounded place.

Our weather has been getting colder and rainier, highs in the upper forties F, so I'm not anticipating a particularly spectacular opener, might take a little while longer to get things going around here. Hit Reid lake in the kayak for three hours last Monday and got no hits from either perch or trout...trout lilies are starting to poke up in the woods though, we should have some wildflowers within a few weeks and morels shortly thereafter! So I can't complain about the rain too much...

Jonathon

Spence-

Thanks for the encouragement, and the mention of The Opener leads to a somewhat ethical topic...I fish for Steelhead during the traditional closed season and sometimes for Rainbows, since MDNR doesn't have a closed season for them on certain classes of streams, only Browns and Brookies (I'm checking their website- again- just as soon as I finish this post). Since Browns are considered incidental catch and must be released immediately in the closed season I'm technically not fishing for them- nor do I intentionally. This whole Rainbows/Steelhead are the same fish thing is somewhat puzzling. I guess my point is should I be fishing for Rainbows at all and stick to the big water for migratory fish. Like I said, puzzling.

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

Rogue, there will be steelhead in the Pine River when I hit it starting next week, as well as the resident rainbows. Since I usually fish it with a 3-weight, the steelhead question is a moot point, but yes, you would think rainbows would still be spawning even after the opener...well, if you just throw them all back in like I do then there's not much worry, just look out for the redds and don't step on them! Good luck with your opener, like I said ours is looking a bit chilly...

Jonathon

Jonathon-

Steelies on a 3-wt...yeah, I guess maybe a 3 or 4 second 'fight' on that!

C & R is the rule, right on that one.

I had some alarm work done on one of my buildings the other day, started talking to the tech and turns out he's a fly-fisher; so we stood on the roof and shot the breeze for the better part of the afternoon (he got paid by the job, not the hour!). Turns out he's fished pretty much every place I've been and a lot I want to- small world, sometimes. I was headed north today, scout some spots on the Muskegon he tipped me off to but a flat tire then rain crapped that search.

Good luck back, and below normal temps all over MI are the rule for the next couple weeks.

Roguerat

Rogue...I hope he gets a vid of that one...I'd pay to see that poor, misused, and abused 3wt explode, and be put out of its misery! ;)

Your conundrum over the "incidental" fish you may catch while fishing for the steelhead is interesting...If you ever run into any problems with the DNR, I'll vouch for you. :)

"Officer...Honest...The poor guy has struggled with this problem on a moral and ethical level. Lost sleep over it even...He can't help it, sir, that his crafted flies are so sweet there isn't a fish that can resist them! Someone should explain to these fish something about the fishing season, and to leave well enough alone until it's their turn!" ;)

Spence

PS: I've noticed that I'm 30 posts away from 2,500...I think I'll have to stop there...I am surprised how verbose I've been over the last few years and have basically unloaded all the BS I have...All I have left is the good top-secret stuff and I'm afraid I may spill the beans and piss off all those guys who have mentored me over the decades and led me by the hand to their honey holes...

"I'd pay to see that poor, misused, and abused 3wt explode, and be put out of its misery! ;)"

Too late, Spence. I broke off the tip at the Marsh last week, so I ordered a new one and got it already (on sale even). I'm sure it will be catching many outsized fish this season, and of course I will be gloating about it on here (with photos) just to annoy you.

And you still never answered my question, are you doing the opener?

;oD

Jonathon

Spence,

I'd strongly suggest that you maintain the BS output regardless of post statistics...what with the election brouhaha and all the other crap in the world we need some relief and humor. I wonder if members on this site would go so far as to take up a collection to compensate you for your BS!

And yeah, I'm heading out for some Class 4 streams this week, weather permitting; open year round, Steelies/Rainbows the intended quarry.

Roguerat

Oldredbarn, Ya know, how it goes, it is what is, your not a sugar coating kind a guy. So side cast it out there and they'll all get over it. Why? Ah!,they all love ya, anyway. What's a poor child ta do anyway.?
So stir the pot, ya know your good at it.
Milt.