First dry flies I have tied in about 10 years

[bowmike 0]

I don't fish them so I haven't been tying them. My brookie trip the other day made me want to get back into them a little bit. I gave all of my dry fly hackle to my uncle this spring as well as hooks and such. So these "Works of art" LOL consisted of scud hooks, hares ear dubbing, some smaller saddle hackle from my musky fly material, and prong horn antelope fur. LOL talk about quite the creations.

 

I snuck out this morning before work and caught a bunch of native brookies on them so at least I know they work on low pressure, immature native brookies. LOL

 

I may get back into tying and fishing dry flies, but I am pretty much a nymph fisherman. I am going to get into rod building and my first rod is going to be a brookie rod. I just love these little guys.

 

Don't be too hard on me for these masterpieces. LOL

 

I will be using elk from now on. The pronghorn just isn't cutting it.

[dflanagan 0]

They look good to me and those are some beautiful fish.

[Philly 0]

The fish approved so they get a passing grade. I tie all my midges, caddis and emergers on a scud/Caddis pupae/emerger hook{TMC 2488(fine wire) or TMC 2487(heavy wire)}. Prefer the fine wire hook. Look up the CDC and Elk. I think Hans initially tied it with Elk but switched over to deer hair for it. Don't see why it can't be tied with a dubbed body. Body color selection is good, tan is a common caddis color, add gray and olive and you should have most hatches covered. The chartreuse is interesting. I've seen caddis with that color body on the upper Delaware River but that might just be local hatch. I do see a lot of yellow or lime Sallies(small stoneflies)when I go up to Vermont and fish the small streams/brooks there. You might want to add a dubbed yellow body to your box. Those most likely aren't immature brook trout. On those small streams where they don't get bigger than 4 or 5 inches they often never lose their parr stripes. Overall, a good job. Two suggestions, shorten up the body a bit, both caddis and stoneflies have wings that are longer than the body. What you have now is a good emerger pattern. To turn it into dry, try making the wing a bit heavier/thicker. Here's two links to the CDC and Elk.

 

http://globalflyfishe/cdcelkr.com/patterns

 

http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns-tie-better/the-cdc-elk-family

 

[bowmike 0]

Thanks,

 

I have seen a few brookies in the 8-9" range in the are. They are a little more picky.

 

I used the chartreuse because that is what color hackle I had.

 

I have had quite a few guys reference deer hair over elk. I may have to go that rout as well. I am going to pick up some dry fly hooks. I use Daiichi hooks though, I think I want to go with barbless, as I pinch them anyway, but want to skip out on the wide gap I have been seeing on a lot of dry flies. I don't want to injur these fish.

[SILKHDH 0]

Used to love going to Colorado and fishing the beaver ponds for those beauties. Was common to have hundred fish days too. I never could get enough of the spots on a brookie. This picture I took is my screen saver..Pretty little buck all busted out in orange.

[bowmike 0]

That's a doozie!

 

This was my best from this past weekend. Caught 40 that day.

[Moshup 0]

That's a doozie!

 

This was my best from this past weekend. Caught 40 that day.

One of God's most beautiful creatures.

[Dave G. 0]

Those are a bunch of buggy looking cool little flies, of course they worked !!

 

What do you want to build for a brook trout rod ?

[bowmike 0]

I believe I want to get a 7' 2 or 3 weight. I was set on getting a 6'-6" 2 weight, but think if I get an open spot it will be miserable to cast. My reel that I currently us is a 3/4 so it makes sense to get the 3 wt.

 

I want to do it as a brookie theme. So the wraps are going to be white, black, and orange. The blank is going to be green. Guides and reel seat are going to be black.

 

I may go with fiber glass as well.

[prairiedrifter 0]

Beautiful fish! On a side note I offer a 7' 3wt green glass blank/rod for sale.pm me if you want more info

[Dave G. 0]

I believe I want to get a 7' 2 or 3 weight. I was set on getting a 6'-6" 2 weight, but think if I get an open spot it will be miserable to cast. My reel that I currently us is a 3/4 so it makes sense to get the 3 wt.

 

I want to do it as a brookie theme. So the wraps are going to be white, black, and orange. The blank is going to be green. Guides and reel seat are going to be black.

 

I may go with fiber glass as well.

My stream brookie rod is a 7ft 3/4, it's an old Cortland GF1000 blank. It's graphite but forgiving and offers a little extra punch when needed. I presently have it loaded with Cortland 444 4 wf line but I think I like the SL 3 wt better on it all in all. Though this line is good in closer, the other when I wanted to carry some line for more distance. Everything is a trade off ya know ! But yeah that has been my brookie rod for probably 25 years now, I really want for nothing different in a stream rod. Though I am tossed as to what direction I want to go on my 4 wt river rod build and am still putting it off.

 

I'm currently building my wife a 9 ft 5wt on a Batson Revelation blank for our up coming Maine trip in July ( just got the materials in tonight). I've built on the Revelations before, they cast butter smooth FWIW but don't come in green LOL.

[bowmike 0]

I am getting better. I need to get a hair stacker though.

 

I bit the bullet and went a little cheaper on my first rod build. I went with a 7'-3wt blank from ebay, and picked up the hard ware and thread wrapping jig from mudhole. I bought some Pro Wrap in black white and orange size A to match the brookie fin theme I wanted to go with. The rod is a brighter green than what I was looking for but I decided to go with it anyway as it fits in my wifes fathers day present budget.

 

I will try to keep you guys posted. Not sure what forum to post the rod pic in so I will probably just add them to this thread.

[Dave G. 0]

I am getting better. I need to get a hair stacker though.

 

I bit the bullet and went a little cheaper on my first rod build. I went with a 7'-3wt blank from ebay, and picked up the hard ware and thread wrapping jig from mudhole. I bought some Pro Wrap in black white and orange size A to match the brookie fin theme I wanted to go with. The rod is a brighter green than what I was looking for but I decided to go with it anyway as it fits in my wifes fathers day present budget.

 

I will try to keep you guys posted. Not sure what forum to post the rod pic in so I will probably just add them to this thread.

Cool, both the flies and rod potential !

 

I haven't built on the ebay blanks but I've conversed enough with those who have and they have been well pleased.

[bowmike 0]

I didn't want to get a really expensive blank to start. Being that this rod will be for really small streams, I am not that worried how it will cast and such. Once I get a few under my belt I may go a little better quality and such. Just went cheap to start. Pretty much going to be a plain jane set up.