samsonboi

@Landon P A little constructive criticism- use a lighter background for dark toned flies. White is usually a good bet for dark flies but not so much for light ones. I like chartreuse or a medium tan. your tying is getting better! here are some I tied today, the Uni-Cord I just got is great for deer hair spinning!

Pull the long hair off in bunches rather than cutting it. Then, when you’ve finished all the long hair, use the underfur for dry fly dubbing. Dye it orange and use it for the Au Sable Wulff- apparently Fran Betters had a big piece of polar bear that he only tied flies for himself with. He loved the stuff and supposedly it’s got the same fiber structure as Australian Possum.

Does anyone miss hits on a Piggyback? They’re so easy to follow. I don’t think it’s hubris, it’s just true. I have literally never missed a solid hit on a Piggyback. I am not saying I’m the best fly fisher, nympher, or anything else. I am an amateur with a lot to learn about fly fishing. I am just making a statement of fact. Take it or leave it, it’s true. My posts about indicators? Those are opinions based on observation on my home waters. It’s perfectly fine if you don’t accept them. To me, they are true. To you, maybe not. Keep in mind that your fishing is very technical fishing to selective trout. I believe you’re in Pennsylvania? My fishing is a lot less technical. I don’t think I’ve ever tied on a dry fly under size 22- and that’s rare. I usually fish dries between 6 and 16. My most common size range for dries is 10-14. Nymphs, yes, smaller sizes sometimes, but the smallest nymphs I commonly use are around 18. If conditions dictate I will go smaller but I rarely need to. Trout on the Au Sable can get somewhat selective, but general size give or take a hook size or two and general shape and color are about as selective as they get besides during the Sulfur, Green Drake, and Iso hatches. Got black caddis in #16 hatching? They’ll take a very dark brown or olive caddis in 14 or 16. Anyway, our fish usually hit more solidly and are less selective. On spring creeks fish can afford to be picky. On a freestone creek refusing a meal could mean starvation- because if the trout misses a couple meals, the other fish might crowd him out cause he’s weak, meaning he’ll most likely miss more. And as for this “I only wish I was that good a fisherman to never miss hits with an indy. ” I miss a lot of hits with regular indy’s.

I’ve got several bobbins so I could certainly dedicate one to GSP. I have a few cheapies I keep above my bench in case I need one and don’t want to bother changing thread on my Ekich if I’m only gonna tie a couple flies with that color and put it away, so I can use one of those for the GSP.

On the tag. ON THE TAG. That’s basically an emerger. I don’t miss hits on those with trout, ever, as long as they solidly hit the fly. If they just splash at it, yeah I miss them, or if they overshoot it, but that is not a hit. Although when striking from upstream, that is, I’m setting the hook from a point upstream of the fish, I miss a lot of hits on the dries and wets I fish downstream. But that doesn’t apply to Piggybacks because I only fish them upstream. They just don’t work right downstream- line control is a lot harder. So I just use a skittered dry or a wet pupa or soft hackle on a Leisenring lift when I fish downstream. Oh and streamers too.

I never miss hits with an indy on the tag or a Piggyback. The fish are sucking the pupa or emergent nymph in confidently and hit hard especially on a caddis pupa. With a Piggyback or indy on the tag you don’t need to adjust for depth- the depth you want is just below the surface. I use Airlocks most simply because the river I fish most, the Au Sable, is usually quite rough and there is often wind. With small creeks and smooth waters (including the few smooth water sections of the West Branch and most of the east branch) I go to a Dorsey as wind is less of a problem and they don’t impede casting and splash down on those smooth waters. When on very, very small creeks I go back to an Airlock as they have some weight, so when I’m dapping wets they can give some swing to the line and when I’m drifting wets or nymphs I can swing the line upstream, put it down, drift, and repeat and the less air-resistant, slightly denser tiny Airlock indicator again helps me swing the fly upstream. But I sometimes use a Dorsey in this situation. It just depends on the situation for me. Thank you for your comments. They are correct for the most part on sensitivity except on rough waters, where it is easier to detect the obvious “tick” of a bobber-style indicator and easily tell the difference between a strike and when it just gets splashed by water or blown by wind, versus a Dorsey style. On rough water the Airlock is the best tool for the job. But on smooth water and low wind or small creeks, the Dorsey is the best.

UNI GSP is called UNI-Cord so maybe it is corded. I have ordered some in 12/0 for making deer hair puffballs for Piggyback emergers.

Soft hackles, some beadhead nymphs, some nice hoppers and caddis and mayfly dries, I guess. Just send him a little assortment of flies and he'll catch fish on all of them.

Sandan- I'm talking big plastic Thingamabobbers and the big Airlocks for splashdown and a less natural drift. and as for less movement- movement in a drift is natural. I like bounce. A steady drifting fly isn't natural. With this you can give your hanging fly a twitch without disturbing the surface too much and even if the trout hits the deer hair ball, it's close enough to the fly that it'll still suck the fly in and get hooked. Yeah Dorsey indicators are great, but I prefer the new biodegradeable AirLocks if I'm gonna use a traditional indicator. Another thing that works really well in this same concept is leaving a long (anywhere from 3-8" works fine and I prefer 3-5") tag of 5X, 6X, or 7X off the eye of a small emergent-looking nymph or caddis pupa when you tie it on instead of clipping the tag. Then you take one of those small pinch-on foam indicators or that floating indicator putty (but the putty comes off easier) and pinch it on to the tag.

So... the piggyback concept is an emergent nymph pattern. The deer hair ball is a lot easier to cast (lighter) and unlike a traditional indicator does not impede the drift in the slightest. It also doesn’t splash down and spook fish. Basically the nymph or caddis pupa just floats 2-4” under the surface. It’s tied on a piece of thread or VERY limp and fine mono (I ordered some UNI-Cord GSP thread as a much thinner alternative to heavy nylon thread.) You can use a deer hair or yarn indicator for traditional indicator nymphing but I am partial to those screw on AirLock biodegradable indicators in hot orange and for smooth water white. I only use the smaller ones except when fishing massive weighted nymphs in spring.

16 sir! Au Sable Hunchback/Humpy duo Some soft hackles

The piggybacks I’ve been tying: the three best ones: some mixed Fran Betters dry patterns:

I use a vintage tin of Thompson fly tying wax, which is mostly pine resin and wax. It smells quite nice but it’s impossible to get it off your fingers so that’s why I recommended beeswax.

Most dubbing was is good quality Paraffin wax or beeswax. That is just fine for silk.

Morus is essentially Pearsalls. It’s made on the same equipment and dye recipes.

Idk, never used it. Worst comes to worst, you’re out $5 or so. Uni Big Fly is corded and VERY strong. Just a lot thicker.

Did you like the Perrine box? (for you of course) I hope it came in!

Uni makes a great GSP thread. They also make Uni-Kevlar. Try theirs, if you like their thread.

Do you still have the JC Mark sent you? If so this is a great fly to use it on. Make sure to tie your Hornbergs with a nice low density yarn such as Polypro or something. That way you can use them as a dry fly for longer before they sink. Use nice stiff grizzly dry fly hackle.

Would add one thing to respect fish- specific guidelines. Barbless (or crushed barbs) or at the very least micro barbed hooks on any fish you intend to release. @TIER If you're going to release them, keep them IN THE WATER and don't use a coarse-holed knotted net either. Don't lift them out of the water and don't squeeze them. Even if you're keeping fish, you don't want to cause unnecessary pain. Respect them and dispatch them humanely with a clean, well-placed blow from a "priest" or well-directed force instantly breaking their neck, just like you would want to do with an accurate bullet (or shotgun blast) if you were hunting. Remember that even if you don't care about the fishes' suffering (!) a lot of stress (from suffocation and/or extreme or continuous pain, of course) will build up toxins in the flesh. They won't hurt you, but they will make the fish taste bad.

Au Sable Wulff? Very attractive fly and you're decent at calf wings. Or a Royal Wulff if you like that better. Or you may want to go with a Hornberg (I recommend this one especially, as it is a traditional Wisconsin pattern.) You can tie it with or without Jungle Cock, but it is traditional to use it.

Most small sets can be repaired easily, but if mishandled and a very major set put in it, it is almost impossible to straighten without severely compromising the bamboo unless a thermoplastic but very heat resistant glue is used so you can heat and straighten it VERY carefully and slowly.

Hehe, VERY surprised. Although I've never fished grayling, I do fish for trout... and have been chasing a 30"er for a couple months (!) It holds in the same place usually so it is easy to find. I've had it on as it thrashed at the surface, and while I was fishing for it with a 9', 3-5 weight Leonard bamboo rod, it would snap an 8 weight instantly if mishandled the way you do it. So be prepared for that thirty inch grayling or rainbow, and don't mishandle your rod!

And if you ever do that with a bamboo rod, if it does not break it it will probably put a severe set in in (a curve) and in some cases it can weaken the bamboo or cause some splintering.

Try some colorful wet flies. Look in the Bergman collection at the Hatches web site.