NohackleHS

I enjoy fly tying, but flyfishing is definitely more important. Most of the waters that I fish are heavily pounded so I try to use my fly tying to give the fish something a little different. Occasionally I will develop an original fly, but most often I just "tweak" existing patterns to see if I can make them more productive. For example, on my home stream I use a lot of PT nymphs. However, my favorite color is orange and I have more recently tried purple. I doubt if many anglers have used these colors on this stream. I truly believe that using these colors (with other slight modifications) has greatly improved my fishing success, especially for the bigger fish on this stream.

Singletrack, I had a problem similar to yours with one of the old Fishcat float tubes. I took it out to use on a local pond and I found a very small leak at one of the seams. I contacted Outcast and they asked me to send them the bladder. I'm guessing they wanted to document where the leak developed. It cost me a few bucks to return the bladder, but I was just glad that they would replace it. That was a whole lot better than having to buy a new float tube.

Since I don't tie large quantities of flies at one time, I do all my blending by hand. I take portions of the two or three dubbings that I want to blend and put them on top of each other. I then pull the lump of dubbing in two. I take the two halves and place them on top of each other and pull them apart again. I keep repeating this process until the dubbings are fully blended. If the color is wrong I add more of the dubbing I think is needed and repeat the process. I've been tying for 30 years and have always used this procedure. It's very simple and it takes only a few minutes to blend the right color.

My most consistent midge has been the Zebra Midge. Most anglers who fish my home stream (Putah Creek) suggest flies in sizes 20 and 22. However, for me, these flies have not had enough hooking power. A local guide suggested that I tie my flies on a TMC 3769 size 16 hook. The resultant fly is about a size 18 but has the hooking power of a size 16. The larger hook gap has really seemed to help me land more big fish. I also tie the fly with a 2.3 mm tungsten bead (either black or nickel). My home stream has a lot of deep water and the tungsten bead helps get the fly down to the level of the fish.

I don't normally like to fish if the wind is more than 15-20 mph. However, this one time the wind actually helped me out. My brother and I wanted to fish the Henrys Fork of the Snake at Last Chance, Idaho. However, the wind was blowing about 30 mph. It was blowing so hard that my brother and I were the only two guys dumb enough to be out on the river. We walked downstream a couple of hundred yards and, naturally, there weren't any rising fish. However, when I was walking back upstream I spotted the snout of a nice fish rising right next to the bank. I realized that the wind was blowing a lot of insects into the foam line within inches of the bank. I backtracked and entered the water carefully. By waiting and watching I finally spotted the fish again. I cast a beetle to it and landed a 17 inch rainbow. By repeating this approach I landed another 17 incher and a capped off the day by landing a beautiful 21 inch bow, my biggest fish from the Fork. It took a lot of patience to find the few rising fish, but it turned out to be well worth the effort. And these fish were there all because of the 30 mph wind.

Whatfly, I don't tie legs on my Pyramid lake chironomid flies either, just the mayfly nymphs.

flytyerinpa, If you want to see an excellent video on tying with CDC, watch "The Lifecycle of the Mayfly". It features Rene Harrop tying flies that represent different stages of the hatching mayfly. I believe he uses CDC for every fly in the video. He my all time favorite fly tier and his flies are very creative. A couple of them have produced very well for me. You can purchase the video at www.bennett-watt.com (I'm assuming they are still in business; I bought my video many years ago).

1hook, I thought about posting this same question myself. Thus, I have thought a lot about this question. I must admit that I now tie legs on almost all of my mayfly nymphs. But, in thinking about it, I came up with different reasons why I add legs. For my home stream I tie on legs even though the mayfly nymphs I use are about size 18. My home stream has a very small gradient and, thus, most of the good fish are found in slow, deep channels and slow-moving pond-like sections. Thus, for this stream, I believe that the fish have plenty of time to examine the flies drifting by. I add legs to make the nymphs look more realistic. And, I must say that I have been very happy with my success on this stream. One of my favorite lakes is a very clear, heavily fished lake. Since the lake is clear, I prefer to tie my Callibaetis nymphs with legs. Again, I think the legs add realism and since the lake is very clear, the fish have plenty of time to examine the fly. One of my other favorite lakes is not as clear. However, the fish tend to be of good size. These bigger fish seem to be more selective than smaller fish. In fact, this lake is known for it's finicky fish. Thus, I add legs to the nymphs I use there. The third lake I fish quite a bit is a huge, windy lake (Pyramid lake in Nevada). Although the fish are not known as being very selective, all of the mayfly nymphs that are sold by local fly shops have legs. Thus, by adding legs I'm just doing what the locals do. I might note that one of the more popular old patterns that has produced well at this lake is a rubber legs Prince nymph. Obviously, the rubber legs are not to make the nymph more realistic, but the movement of the legs may help trigger strikes. For this reason I tie my nymphs for Pyramid with legs that are a little longer than normal.

Adding the rigid foam is a very good idea as long as the stability of your float tube is not affected. Because less of your body is in the water, you'll keep warmer. Also, even adding a few inches to the height you sit in the water can improve your ability to see what's going on around you. Many years ago when I had my first float tube (which sat VERY low in the water), I could hardly see any of the rising fish the boaters near me kept talking about. The riffled surface of the water almost completely blocked the rises from my vision. A year later I bought a Tote-n-Flote (basically like a raft with a seat that sat about 3 inches above the water) and I never again had the problem of spotting rising fish.

Danville Spiderweb. It looks like very fine monofiliament, but is white. It's also pretty strong considering how fragile it appears.

Bruce, The tail it tied in first and then cut off. I move the thread forward and then tie in the wing. The hair I use for the wing is used for the shell back. After dubbing the rabbit toward the back of the fly, I pull the hair down and tie it in in front of the tail, move the thread forward, and then fold the hair back to where the hackle will be and tie it down. I then tie in the hackle. I think you'll find that it's a very productive pattern. It has been for me.

See attached thumbnails. These are my two most productive midge patterns. They are basically Bob Quigley's elk hair spider patterns with some minor modifications. Recipe for the Grey Elk Hair Spider: hook: TMC 100 or 101, size 22 or 24 tail: grey deer hair body dubbing: grey rabbit body: grey deer hair hackle: dark blue dun thread: spiderweb Note: Tying the tail a bit long (the length of the body) represents the trailing shuck of the hatching midge. Recipe for the Olive Elk Hair Spider hook: TMC 100 or 101, size 22 or 24 tail: olive elk hair body dubbing: olive rabbit body: olive elk hair hackle: grizzly thread: spiderweb The Grey seems to work more consistently, but sometimes the fish prefer the Olive over the Grey

A floating line that doesn't float has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time. As Silvercreek has said, clean your line and treat it. And as McGnat has said, it's possible that the tip of your flyline is nicked and water is being absorbed into your flyline. One other thing to try if you are using a leader with a butt section is to grease the butt section with a paste-type floatant. Greasing the butt will help keep it afloat and reduce the downward pull of the leader on the flyline; this will help keep the tip from getting water-logged. Try to remember to do this before your first cast and repeat the treatment during the day.

I have been quite fortunate to have fished the spring creeks of Montana (Armstrong, Nelsons, Depuys) for 3-5 days for around 20 years. On these creeks the standard midge is a size 24 or 22. I have tied some 26's and have caught a few fish on them, but mostly used the size 24. I can related to your comment about a size 22 looking too large; I can remember seeing one fish on Armstrong feeding literally every second or two, but I couldn't see the flies he was taking because they were so small. He ignored my size 24 midge so I tried for easier fish.

I have used two "distance" lines, Scientific Angler Expert Distance and Airflo 40+ Distance (the names may have changed since I bought them a few years ago). I found that the SA line had a problem with the tip sinking after a few hours even with a new line. I got annoyed enough that I switched to a Rio Gold line after a few months. I found I could cast it just as far and the tip didn't sink. I use the Airflo line at Pyramid lake. Pyramid is a huge lake with lots of wind and usually a heavy chop on the water; the flies used are heavily weighted and the indicators are quite large. The Airflo distance line works well there since making long casts into the wind are required at times and line splash isn't an issue. The front end of the Airflo line is REALLY oversized. A 7 weight line has a front end that probably belongs to a 9 or 10 weight and the running line is of small diameter. Thus, it is very easy to make long casts. The Airflo line would not be appropriate at a lake where delicacy of presentation is important, but it does work very well at Pyramid.

Here is Charlie Craven's approach (see Craven's Mole Fly in Feb-Mar 2013 Fly Fisherman magazine): - apply a light coat of Tiemco Dry Magic to the CDC wing (this application seems to keep the feather a bit more waterproof and for a longer period of time) - after you catch a fish, hold the fly in a pair of forceps and swish it back and forth to rinse off as much fish slime as possible - dry the fly with an Umpqua Wonder Cloth DryFly Patch. Simply buffing the wing back and forth with the Wonder Cloth restores its fluff and buoyancy in seconds

Thanks for the replies. There's an online forum for Putah Creek and one of the guys on the forum posted pictures of the stream. It appears that most of the burnt areas are in the hills surrounding the stream. Some of the pictures showed some burnt out paths along the stream. In all honesty, the fire damage didn't appear to be as bad as I was envisioning. However, the west side of the stream was the most severely affected and I don't think the pictures included that side of the stream. In any case, I guess only time will tell what the effects of the fire will be. The creek is only an hour from my house and for a stream so close to the bay area and to Sacramento, it has a surprising number of large rainbows. Thanks again for the replies.

I live between San Francisco and Sacramento. The stream closest to my house, Putah Creek, is in the hill country not too far from Napa and is currently engulfed in flames. One fellow who was able to see some of the damage said that much of the fire had burned right down to the waters edge. At other locations the fire was hit or miss. Of course, many local anglers have asked what effect the ash will be when the Winter rains deposit it in the stream. Does anyone have any thoughts about what effect this fire might have on the stream?

Remington, I don't know if you are already doing this, but putting a piece of cardboard behind the fly as a background will aid you in seeing what you are doing. For most of your tying you can place a piece of white cardboard directly behind your fly. If I am tying a light colored fly, I put a black background behind the fly. Using some sort of background makes your fly more distinct and it's easier to focus on your work. You don't have to use anything fancy. I just use a white envelop and prop it up vertically.

Idaho tiers: Rene Harrop (tying videos on the life cycle of the mayfly and the life cycle of the caddis), Mike Lawson. Rene Harrop's videos includes different flies that represent different stages of the mayfly and caddis. Canadian tiers: Brian Chan, Phil Rowley. Both are stillwater specialists.

The heaviest hatch I have ever encountered was on Fall River in Northern California. Several hundred yards below the lodge there is a sharp left turn in the river. Adjacent to the turn there is a very large pond-like section. When my brother and I were drifting downstream in a canoe we entered the pond and found the water covered with PMD's. There bugs were so thick on the water that the water looked like it was covered with debris, not flies. The fish in the pond were in a feeding frenzy. If you have ever seen hatchery fish respond to food pellets being tossed into the water, this is how the fish were reacting. Large pods of fish would feed in "waves". When these "waves" of fish came within casting distance, all you had to do was cast your fly into the "wave" and the fish would almost always hit your fly, even if you weren't using a PMD pattern. The only problem was that most of the "waves" were out of casting distance and our canoe seemed to spook them and keep them at a distance. In any case, both my brother and I were able to land a half dozen fish each and most of the fish were of good size (14 and 15 inchers). I've been flyfishing for over 40 years and have never experienced another hatch anywhere near as thick as the one that day.

At my local stream (Putah creek) I attach my bottom fly to the hook bend of the upper fly. The few times I have tried attaching the upper fly to the tag end of a knot, it didn't seem to produce more strikes. At Putah I would say that 3/4 of my hookups are on the bottom fly. At Pyramid lake (Nevada) I attach my upper fly to the tag end of a double uni knot. I typically use a dropper from 7 to 9 inches in length. The Cutthroats at Pyramid are large, typically 20 inches or more, so the tippets being used are 2X and 3X. These heavy tippets permit the use of long droppers and decrease the chance of tangles (although I still get my share of them). Pyramid usually has a heavy chop on the water and the use of a dropper gives the upper fly a lot of more freedom of movement.

When my brother and I were going to fish the Wood River in Oregon, we were advised by a local fly shop to use a black beadhead leech. When I ran out of the leech patterns that I had bought, I tried a brown Hal Janssen marabou leech. I only caught two fish on it, but one was a beautiful 20-inch, four pound brown; the other was a 15 inch brown. We were told to use sinking lines and to fish undercut banks. Both fish came from undercut banks.

Hal Janssen, a California Outdoor Hall of Fame member, states in one of his videos that he never uses a hook longer than 3X on his leech patterns. The reason is the same as what others have said. Longer hook shanks give the fish leverage to dislodge the fly.

Here's the general approach that I have used on my favorite trout lake. It's a crystal clear lake with very selective trout. If the water is calm, I tend to leave my fly sitting there for a long time since each cast disturbs the water and can alarm any fish in the area. Under these conditions I try to use longer and lighter tippets. If there is a chop on the water and only a few rising fish, I tend to leave the fly out there until the next rise within casting distance or my line starts to belly. If there is a chop on the water and rising fish, I try to cast to the fish that are downwind. I will make the cast roughly 3 or 4 feet above the rise and let the fly drift into the fish. If there is a fish upwind from where I am standing, I will make a cast to it, but I will pick up the fly quickly once it passes the fish. Fish that are upwind are generally tougher to fool since your tippet very often is lining the fish and your cast may have already disturbed it. I guess as a general rule, the more fish are rising within casting distance, the less time I allow my fly to sit.