1. Troutnut Forum
›
2. Fly Fishing
›
3. Stonefly egg layers.

The thought came to mind when I saw Entoman's picture of the Sqwalla Stone that he said, "just dropped her eggs". Don't most all stones drop their eggs while over the water, and not on the water making the tying of an egg layer with eggs attached not realistic?

Jere - Some species do, some don't. Perhaps some individuals do and some don't as well. I can tell you anecdotally that I have picked Skwala females off the surface in both conditions. I don't believe it is something the fish get selective about, but I tend to incorporate them as they are a good excuse to add a hunk of foam rubber at the end and under the body to aid in flotation. Notice how big they are in relation to the abdomen diameter?

Here's a chewed up fly whose design I came up with several years ago for the Skwala hatch. It landed a half dozen or so the other day before having to be retired (notice the sprung hook). Those Yuba fish are hot and even a 16 incher will take you into your backing. The last fish on this fly came off downstream with about 20 yds. of backing still out (and that's after chasing him for umteen yards stumbling over cobble). He rolled on the fly pretty good so we know he was at least 20". I've noticed this season that this flush floating fly is now very hard for me to see, in spite of it's size.:) Oh, well... On goes a z-lon post and a heavier, smaller gaped hook for the next batch!

R.L. Flush Stone (Skwala)

BTW - a black egg pattern fished on a nymph rig after the flight has ended and the fish are back down often produces some interesting results.

Thanks. Yes, the foam egg ball runs under the body and the splayed hair and hackle keep it floating pretty good. It floats flush though, so it doesn't take much to swamp it. It really fools the fish feeding in the softer margins. The rubber legs are optional. Sometimes they work better that way, sometimes not.

Kurt..I just watched Ken Burkholtz (sp?) a well known, long time guide, commercial fly tier, etc. tie at the shop on Sat. He tied a Sqwalla pattern that took an hour to tie! Said he had several clients willing to pay him $100 bucks a doz. When tying commercially it would not have taken him an hour, but sometime though. He had a slick way to tie in a black egg sac, but not my style. Do you know of Ken? He lives in Boise, and then guides on the SF of the Snake..invented the Club Sandwich, and others. And my mind went blank again, it may be Ken Burkholtzer.

Can't say I've had the pleasure, Jere. I have heard of him, though. $100/doz for dry flies? Wished I had his client list! :) If one could get that kinda dough for midge larvae or Comparaduns a good living could actually be made. LOL

I admit this pattern is complex. Frankly, much more so than is necessary for most western waters. Leave out the tails and rubber legs though (as I do with most of mine) and it's a pretty straight forward tie that can be knocked out fairly quickly with a little material prep. Where I use this Skwala imitation, the fish can get severely hammered, so the extra steps help (at least with my confidence). Unlike the big Salmon Flies that often flop their wings around quite a bit, these guys float along virtually motionless with their wings folded, so a flush floating slimmer profile is usually better medicine...

The sparse hair over-wing is perhaps the most important step. Not only does it make it at least possible to see the fly, it's a great way to simulate the rear slanting hind legs. Viewed from underneath on the water, the look is much more simulating than those designs without. The egg sack (especially extended under the body) is important as well. Besides adding flotation it reduces the amount of dubbing require to obtain the necessary body thickness. Thick dubbing once saturated is virtually impossible to keep afloat. If this fly gets swamped, it will be right up on top with the next cast. Not so the version without. I've experimented with biots on the abdomen for an even better look, but it didn't work out. You have to compress the rubber segmentation to get them to lay smoothly defeating the purpose.

Ken used a brown bear wing. I've seen it once before, and it sure looks good. They cut it close to the hide, and reverse tie it in clipping off the tips. For the eggs sac he had round, black, foam balls that had a hole in the center. Then he threaded a bigger gage thread using a bobbin threader through the hole pulled the loop of thread down near the egg ball foam, brushed some super glue on it, and pulled the loop into the ball. Then the thread was tied down on the hook shank creating a smooth base for his abdomen. Ken flew to Alaska in year 2001, and purchased at auction 5 brown bear hides. You can not buy brown bear in AK anymore.

Yeah, I prefer ungulate hair. It's thicker shafts float better (until water logged) but more importantly, better simulate their stout legs. That egg technique sounds unnecessarily complicated (not to mention requiring yet another type of special foam) and doesn't add flotation under the body. I simply tie in a strip of foam after tying in the rib (and tails, if included), folding it over forming the egg ball and tied down with open wraps to keep from compressing it too much. Apply thin dubbing to cover the foam, wrap the rib, and you're done. Trimming the foam with curved scissors a little to make it rounder is a nice touch to add. Use very light dubbing (see photo) to better match the natural, understanding that the dark foam under-body will influence when the fly is wet.

FWIW:)

I feel your pain brother! Doesn't sound like you have to see it anyway...They find it just fine. ;)

We have some Amber Throated Perlids here that appear from no where and fall from the sky and smack the surface with some force to release their eggs...Sometimes they get airborne again...Sometimes not. And sometimes they get nailed by a waiting trout. :) Fun fishing. Not unlike hoppers out west.

When the Yellow Sally is about they are difficult to see on the water, but the Brooks will hit them all day on the Au Sable.

Spence