cp's fly fishing and fly tying

Red & Black Diamond Chironomid

2012-01-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

Been playing with this pattern for a while know. This pattern has some similarities to the Yankee Buzzer. This was one of the main patterns I was tying at The Fly Fishing Show. A very similar version of this pattern was fished very successful over this last year. This one is tied with Deer Creeks Flies Diamond Hard Tack Free UV Resin. This is the only UV resin that is truly take free after hitting it with the torch. Counting the days to ice off at some of my favorite still waters.

Material list for Red Diamond Chironomid

Hook: MFC #7231 Size 12 thru 16

Thread: Abdomen 8/0 white, Thorax 8/0 red

Rib: X-sm black and X-sm red

Abdomen: Pearl Fire Fly wrapped of white thread. Top half of abdomen is colored with red Sharpie, then wrapped with Fire Fly.

Wing buds: Amber goose biots

Thorax: 8/0 red thread

Breathers: Ultra Floss

Material list for Black Diamond Chironomid

Hook: MFC #7231 Size 12 thru 16

Thread: Abdomen 8/0 white, Thorax 8/0 Black

Rib: X-sm black and X-sm red

Abdomen: Pearl Fire Fly wrapped of white thread. Top half of abdomen is colored with black Sharpie, then wrapped with Fire Fly.

Wing buds: Amber goose biots

Thorax: 8/0 black thread

Breathers: Ultra Floss

Pictures from Saturday at the Fly Fishing Show

2012-01-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

Jason making a mess with hair

One of jason's deer hair poppers

More deer hair creations from another tier

Juan

Juan's new hopper

Juan's tying area

One Sue Armstrong amazing flies

One of Chad G. Czech nymphs

The Fly Fishing Show - Jan 6, 7 & 8

2012-01-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

I will be tying at this weekends Fly Fishing Show here in Denver, Co. Will be spinning up some bugs, please stop by. The shows dates are January 6th, 7th & 8th at The Denver Merchandise Mart.

Tying Video - Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear Nymph

2011-12-31T18:42:00.000-07:00

Here is another fly in my fly tying class, Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear Nymph. It is a classic and some solid techniques in teaching fly tying. Enjoy.

Frontrange tailwater fishing report

2011-12-30T17:56:00.000-07:00

Took of from work on Thursday and headed south for a day of fishing with a group of friends. Headed to one of the front ranges tail waters. Beautiful day for late December, arrived about 8:00am and the temp was about 40 degrees. Strung up my favorite 4wt rod and headed to the water. Spent most of the morning fishing with Jeff. For me the morning was very productive. Running a 3 fly nymph rig, BH "D" Rib Golden Stone nymph, Stuffed Olive and a red midge. With in the first hour all three flies had produced fish. The "D" Rib Golden Stone fly Nymph was the fly of the day. Around mid to late morning I was working this deep channel and I hooked a 20" beautiful rainbow. She was bar far the fish of the day. River was getting really crowed by lunch time, started moving around to get out of the crowds. Moved down stream to a little different spot and got out of the crowds. Few more fish at the new spot, we than loaded up and headed home.

Jeff in a very productive run

Fly of the day

Beautifully spotted Rainbow

Fish of the day, 20" Rainbow

Me with the fish of the day

A new Christmas toy

2011-12-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

My family really surprised me this year. They all kicked in on a new digital camera, boy this thing is cool. Lots of learning with this one. Nikon Coolpix P7100. Lots of bells and whistles

Some sample fly pics, auto mode in macro. The detail is killer, zooming in on these is where you can really tell the difference.

Fly Box Organization

2011-12-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

Why keep your fly boxes organized. Keep your fly boxes organized will help you spend more time fishing and less time searching you fly box for that one certain pattern. Couple guys I have fished with have no rime or reason to there boxes and it took them twice as long to locate flies in there boxes. Also if your a tier it will help you to know what to tie in that next tying session. If you don't tie it will help you fill the holes when you take that next trip to the fly shop. You can keep the organization simple or you can take it the the extreme. My boxes seem to go to lean more to the extreme side of things. As a fly tier I carry a lot of flies with me.

The first step in organizing you boxes is to select the right style of box that best fits your needs. All of my boxes for nymphs and parachute dry flies are micro slit foam. I personally like C & F fly boxes and the the Umpqua UPG boxes. They are a bit on the pricey side but all micro slit foam boxes are not created equal. The density of the foam really makes a difference in how it holds the fly. Also all of my fly boxes are water proof. In my opinion this is very important one tumble in the river and you don't dry out a fly box well enough can be a disaster. You might as well just throw it away. For dry flies I use an water proof compartment box from Orvis.

Here is how I organize my fly boxes

Box #1 is my meat and potato fly. This box contains all of my bigger nymphs plus a lot of my bead heads. Here is a sampling of the patterns in this box. Hare's ear nymphs, prince nymphs, Copper Johns, Crane fly larva and stone fly nymphs. How you organize inside the box is up to you. The more organized you keep it the easier it is to manage.

Box #2 is my mayfly and caddis nymph box. This box contains all of my hatch matcher flies. Pheasant tail nymph, Biot emergers, plus various styles of caddis nymphs.

Box #3 is my all things small box. This box is full of nothing but midges. I organize this box by color, black, red, white and olive.

Boxes #4 & #5 are compartment dry fly boxes. These boxes contain various styles of hackled dry flies.

Boxes #6 is my parachute dry fly box. This box is a C & F slit foam box. This box contains a selection of parachute dry flies

Box #7 is my hopper box. This box contains hopper, ants, crickets and beetles. This box has lots of foam in it.

Box #8 & # 9 are my streamer boxes. I have a small streamer box and a larger streamer box. I find more of my streamers are going articulated

Box #10 is my eggs and worms box. This box has various types of san juan worms, pig stickers and eggs

Box #11 is my still water box. This box is full of chironomids, scuds, damsel nymphs and various other still water patterns.

Keeping your fly boxes organized can be a plus in a lot of ways. My boxes are continually evolving. You can organize your boxes by fly type or by water way. What ever you choose can make your time on the water more enjoyable.

Also take the time to put your name and phone number on your fly boxes. 95 percent of all fly fisherman would return your fly box to you if you lost on the river.

So take the time this winter and devise a plan for your fly boxes and you can reap the benefits this upcoming fishing season.

DH Hooper - The evolution of a pattern

2011-12-04T17:51:00.001-07:00

The DH Hopper made another small change over the weekend. I was playing around at the vise this weekend and this is what came about. I borrowed the lower half of the abdomen from the Hooper Juan, so far I really like the effects. This gives a really neat affect of the under body . I think this pattern has made it's final steps. The DH Hopper killed it all summer up in South Park. My friend Lance and is guide service tore it up with this pattern late summer. He fished the previous verison to this one. The under body is now tied with 2mm foam instead of the razor foam. I actually tie in the under body complete before I tie in the over body. The flies you are seeing in the picture are all size 12, will not be hard to increase the size

Fly #5 in Tying Class, BH Prince Nymph

2011-11-27T10:38:00.001-07:00

Fly #5 in my fly Tying class is the BH Prince Nymph.

Stuffed Series Nymphs

2011-11-26T10:23:00.001-07:00

I have been playing around with my stuffed series of nymphs. Changed the dubbing on thorax, was using Arizona Synthetic Peacock. I'm now using a blend of Squirrel SLF Spikey dubbing and the matching color in UV Ice Dubbing. Changed the wingcase material toWonder wrap in a matching color. The Squirrel SLF Spikey Dudding is super cool. The beads are all still the same Montana Fly Luccent Tungsten Beads.

Stuffed Olive

The reason for the changes was the new color of Luccent bead that came out called Deep blue. Came up with a new color combo in the stuffed series called the Stuffed Blue

Hook: 1xl nymph hook

Bead: Luccent Tungsten Deep Blue

Thread: 8/0 Grey

Rib: Lagartun fine peacock blue and X-SM silver

Tail: Coq De Lon fibers

Abdomen: 8/0 Grey Thread

Wing case: Wonder Wrap Dun Color

Thorax: Grey Squirrel SLF Spikey Dubbing mixed with Grey UV Ice Dubbing

The New Stuffed Blue

Stuffed Blue

Fly #4 in my fly tying class - Pheasant Tail Nymph

2011-11-13T08:40:00.001-07:00

Fly #4 in my fly tying class.

Pheasant Tail nymph

Tying video Fly #3 of fly tying class RS-2

2011-11-01T19:27:00.001-06:00

Fly #3 of my fly tying class - RS-2

Videos for my Tying classes

2011-10-02T08:16:00.000-06:00

I thought I would start putting the patterns on video that I teach in my tying class. This will give students a chance to watch the fly being tied again with out me being there.

First fly in my class is a Mircale nymph

Second fly is a brassie

The class I teach is a 4 week class, 3 flies the first night and 2 flies a night the rest of the class

Sorry for the lack of activity latley

2011-09-25T08:08:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the lack of activity lately, been working hard a big remodel of my house. Late July we where hit with walnut size hail and it tore up my vinyl siding. Hopefully to have the outside wrapped up next weekend. Will be back soon!!!!

Thanks

New Fly added to Montana Fly Co Line up for 2012

2011-08-28T10:56:00.000-06:00

I got the word earlier this week that Montana Fly Co added my Biot Emerger PMD to there 2012 line up. This pattern and the BWO color have been main stys in my box for years.

Material List

Hook: Standard scud hook Size 14 thru 18

Thread: 8/0 pale yellow or cream

Shuck: Amber "Z-lon"

Abdomen: Olive/brown goose biot

Thorax: Pale Yellow UV frogs hair dubbing from MFC

Wing case: Mirage opal Tinsel

Wing case & legs: Flourofibre Shrimp color

New and Improved DH Hopper

2011-08-13T09:02:00.000-06:00

I have been playing around with a couple new modification to the DH Hopper. I had some of the new versions out in the field for testing. The results coming back in are sending more DH Hoppers with the new twist. The fish are eating these up. The change I made was adding CDC to the the thorax region. I used the Magic Tool to achieve this. Then I insert it into a split thread, when you spin the split thread it pulls the dubbing to the center and leaves the CDC out long. Marc Petitjean's Magic Tool is turning out to be one of my favorite tools for tying. Here is a link to his site http://www.petitjean.com/. I match the color of the CDC feather to the under body. The dubbing color is either matched to the under body or the orange. Here are a few pic's of the new DH Hopper. Give them a try they will not disappoint. I also tie these with out the orange mid body.

A Rant about Coloradofisherman.com Forums

2011-07-18T13:42:00.000-06:00

This rant is pointed to the fly fishing and fly tying section of the forum. One day this weekend got up an got on my computer and was checking out a couple of the forums. I started reading this post on the Coloradofisherman.com fly fishing forum about a poor customer service from a popular Denver Metro fly shop. The member that posted this topic was very unhappy with the customer service he had been receiving and he was done giving this shop his money. The posted was done very tasteful, no foul language. I marked this post for follow up, came back later in the day and could not find the post. Personally I think some of the moderators on the fly fishing and the fly tying portion of this site delete post way to freely. I understand the need for moderators for these types of site, what they did feels more like censorship. Also I feel if the post was about any other shop than it was it would have been left. I'm really thinking about contacting the site and voicing my displeasure of this practice, moderators need to be kept in check.

Done with my rant. What do you think?

CP's RAzor Foam Caddis Dry Fly

2011-07-17T10:00:00.004-06:00

Thought I would do a new video this morning. Tied my Razor Foam Caddis Dry Fly. You can use this Razor Foam on a lot of dry flies. Give it try.

Hook: MFC #7000KBL, Black barbless hook - Size 18 thru size 14
Thread: MFC 8/0 olive
Body: Olive Razor foam .5mm
Wing: Elk hair
Thorax: MFC UV Frog's Hair Dubbing Olive
Hackle: Standard Dy Fly in Brown

Test Kick Outcast Fat Cat LCS

2011-07-04T16:53:00.001-06:00

Had the opportunity to take out my birthday and fathers day gift for a test float. I received as Fat Cat LCS for a gift from my wife. Headed out for Spinney mountain res on July 3rd. We arrived at no name bay around 6:00am, fished from shore for a while. Then it was time to get the tubes out. Got all set up and headed out, minor to the seat on the way out. The first thing I noticed with this tube was how high you sit in the water. After a while in the tube I thought i was sitting in my recliner at home. The Fat Cat maneuvers fairly easy. The other thing I figured out is need a different net, I don't like my wooden net sitting in the water all day. After about 6 hours on the water I realized my legs are out of shape. Overall had a blast. Oh by the way fishing was ok, the cali hatch on no name bay was epic. Hard to catch fish with that many naturals on the water.

This was the fish of the day, went about 20 inches. This fish put up a fight like no other, just about put me into backing. It was like I hooked into a torpedo.

Electric Chironomid Fly Pattern

2011-06-26T22:03:00.000-06:00

Been Playin around with a couple new spin off's from the Yankee buzzer. Really like how these turned out, they show a lot of depth in the fly on the abdomen. The red one turned out super cool. Material lists and how to tie to come at a later date. These look super deadly, would like to come up with a better idea for the wing buds.

Trip report - 6/14/2011 South Platte River - Deckers

2011-06-18T07:58:00.000-06:00

Had the the chance on my birthday to head out and fish. Joesph and I, a coworker took the day and head up to the South Platte at Deckers. Arrived at the Platte about 6:15am geared up and started fishing. Within the first hour we had landed fish. We started out at the fence right below Wigwam Club. The morning started of great and it continued Thur out the day. We end working our way down to the confluence of the north and south fork of the Platte. Stopping quite a few places to fish. What I noticed is how spunky the fish where. We started the day of with nymph rigs and then moved over to hopper, copper & dropper rigs. Could not get anything to take the hopper but the sub surface flies where on fire. What I did notice was that parts of the Platte are making a solid come back.

First fish of the morning

Joesph with a nice rainbow

Joesph with the fish of the day. Around a 24" rainbow.

"D" rib golden stone nymph, this fly was on fire for the day

Juan's Royal Gorgeous caddis, this little fly was also a hot ticket.

Juan's Hooper Juan, fish where not looking up.

Last fish of the day.

Product Review - Deercreek Flies Diamond Hard Low Tack resin and Torch

2011-06-10T21:36:00.000-06:00

I received are care package a couple days ago from Nik Wright of Deercreek flies, he sent me some of his new UV low tack resin and a torch to cure it. The name of the resin is Diamond Hard Low Tack. Been playing around with for a couple of days now and I really like it. I have been using Loon's clear fly finish before. The Diamond Hard is a lot clear than the Loon, the Diamond hard is crystal clear. It does seem to be harder than the Loon Clear Fly Finish. The Diamond Hard is defiantly a low tack resin, once you hit it with a light no need for anything to cover it. The Diamond Hard Resin seems to be a little thinner than the Loon's Clear fly finish. As for the torch for Deercreeks resin it is a lot more powerful than Loon's new power lamp. The batteries for Deercreeks torch are a little hard to find at a fair price. I went to Walgreens to buy the batteries and they were $11 each, I then went to Batteries Plus and found them for $11 for two. Over all I would highly recommend this product to all.

http://www.deercreek.co.uk/default.html

The resin and the torch

Test fly

Same fly different view

Another Fly

Sculpzilla - The ultimate streamer

2011-05-30T19:46:00.000-06:00

In my opinion this is the ultimate streamer pattern. Sculpzilla can be changed to match almost any color scheme. I tie it in basically three sizes, small, medium & large. The darker the fly I use the black nickel cross eyed cones. The lighter ones I use the nickle cross eyed cones. I pretty much stick with the red eyes for the cone.

Hook: trailer hook Daiichi #1640 size 4, front hook Diarikki #930 size 2 salt water hook. Remember after you finish tying the fly cut of the front hook. Cut it as close to the body as you can

Thread: UTC GSP 50 color to match

Cone: Crossed Eye cone, Black nickle or Nickel

30lbs spider wire braid for connecting hooks

Wing: Rabbit strip, coordinate color of strip to finished pattern

Body: UV Ice Dubbing to match, Use dubbing loop to dub.

Gills: red soft hackle feather

Skirt: Marabou wrapped as a collar.

Collar: Grizzly Chickabou color to match

Nose: Hot orange 140D thread

This streamer in the water has a ton of movement. Also another plus for this fly is that when it is wet, it is easy to cast.

Here is some of the color variations that I like.

UV Chewee Scud Olive

2011-05-15T21:25:00.000-06:00

Been playing around with some different scud patterns. Really likes Herm's scud, but I don't like coloring the scuds the way he does. I'm not a artist, then came UV Chewee skin. This is tied like Herm's scud but with a few different materials. The main material is UV Chewee skin, what neat stuff. The dubbing for the legs is a mixture of Natures Spirit emergence gray olive dubbing and light olive UV dubbing. Hopefully well give this a try next weekend. The fly is coated with Loons UV clear fly finish, not really happy with it. Can't wait to try my new Diamond Clear UV from Deer Creek flies. I'm going to get more colors of the UV Chewee skin. I tied this on s size 14 MFC #7076 hook.

Playin around with Chironomids

2011-05-08T20:44:00.000-06:00

Been playin around with Tak's Crystal Chironomid. Here are a couple, 1 red & 1 black. I not happy with breathers at the head. Can't wait to get my new Diamond clear UV resin from Deer Creek to test on these patterns. My Loon clear fly finish is way to thick to level properly. I think we will be on the still water for a little while. Run off is going to get crazy around here very shortly.

Trip Report - Antero Res. - 5/5/11

2011-05-05T20:46:00.000-06:00

Had the opportunity to call in fishing today, convinced two of my co-workers also to call in fishing. Left bright and early for Antero Res, weather forecast was in our favor today. We arrived at Antero around 8:30 am to very light winds and some what light crowd. Headed for the south shore boat ramp circus, pretty mild today. If you have been there you know what I mean. The day started of well, right out of the chute I hooked up with a real nice rainbow. Kelly started off a little slow but end up with a fury. Dale is fairly new to the lake fly fishing and had a good day.

Second fish of the day, nice cutty.

Kelly's fish of the day. Fat Rainbow

Dale's fish of the day

Fish of the day for me, male rainbow

This was the fly of the day, black chironomid (Buzzer). Olive scuds also worked well.

Sunday morning boredum set in. Organizing Tools

2011-05-01T18:46:00.000-06:00

I was setting at my tying bench bored and wishing I was was on a river with a rod in my hand . So i decided to organize my fly tying tools. Started cleaning and organizing my tools that is when I realized I might have a problem. I'm a fly tying tool junkie, how many tools does one person need.

Scissors- how many pairs dose one person need. I still have my original DH Thompson Ice scissors, midge and hair. This pile would be a lot bigger if I hadn't just threw a few pairs out.

Whip finishers, just a few.

Hackle Pliers

This is the scary pile. Bobbins

Dubbing brushes, a little small compared to the rest

Dubbing twisters

Bodkins, fancy word for dowel with needle.

Hair stacker's

This is what accumulates after 25 years of fly tying. Some of these tools are my original tools when I started tying.

Rubber Leg BH "D" Rib Golden Stone Nymph (Been resiting the urge)

2011-04-17T07:17:00.000-06:00

I had been trying to resit the urge to tie my "D" rib stone with rubber legs, until yesterday. I was tying at the Anglers All Clave yesterday and wanted to try something new. I had seen Theo's Rubbermaid stone and thought it looked cool. So I broke down and tied my "D" rib stone with rubber legs and it looks pretty cool. I was hoping to field test today that will have to wait a weekend. I'm using a light brown super floss from Umpqua for the legs. The proportions on this fly is a little off. The abdomen need to be a little longer, other than that I'm pretty pleased with the way the fly turned out. I can't bring my self to use the rubber material for the tails so I left the biots for the tails. Tell me what you think.

Biot Emerger - PMD Fly Pattern

2011-04-14T19:59:00.000-06:00

I have had a few request here of late for this color variation of my Biot Emerger. I tie this pattern with and with out flash back. It is tied the same as my Biot Emerger BWO.

Material List

Hook: Std Scud hook sizes 16 thru 20

Thread: 8/0 cream or pale yellow

Shuck: Amber Z-Lon

Abdomen: Brown/Olive Goose Biot

Wing case: Mirage Opal Tinsel(optional)

Wing case/legs: Umpqua Fluoro Fibre Shrimp Color( I have only found Umpqua/Metz to carry this color)

Thorax: Montana Fly Co UV Frogs Hair Dubbing PMD Color(or any pale yellow dubbing)

Legs: Umpqua/Metz Fluoro Fibre Shrimp Color

This is a great summer time pattern. Fish dead drift on the bottom fly of a nymph rig. Can be tied with a brass bead.

Product Review - Deer Creek Flies Oil Slick Scissors

2011-04-10T19:40:00.000-06:00

After I posted about my new scissors from Temico, Nick with Deer Creek Flies got in contact me. First he thought I was out of my mind about what I spent on those scissors and he wanted to send me a pair of his oil slick scissors. I have been tying with his oil slick scissors for the last 2 weeks and I'm very pleased with the performance of these scissors. When I first received them I was a little concerned with the size, they are a 5" scissors. After tying with them for a while you hardly notice the size. These scissors are very sharp and well balanced. The one thing that I really like is the size of the finger hole, plenty room for my big hands. These have become my primary scissors for working with foam and deer hair. The color is also very cool!! You can check them out out Deer Creek Flies web site.

http://www.deercreek.co.uk/default.html

360 Degree view on Montana Fly Company

2011-04-07T20:09:00.001-06:00

Montana Fly Company is now showing the new flies for 2011 in 360 degree views. These are my two new patterns added for 2011. Check them out

http://www.montanafly.com/360_Reviwe_2011/360/02-0630/02-0630.html

http://www.montanafly.com/360_Reviwe_2011/360/27-0740/27-0740.html

Trip Report - Sunday 4/3/11 0- The Roaring Fork River

2011-04-06T19:47:00.000-06:00

Had the opportunity to hit the water this last Sunday. Was invited to go to the Roaring Fork river with one of my customers and two of his friends. We pulled into Glennwood a little after 7:00am and started heading up the valley. We noticed the water was pretty off color, so we headed up above the Crystal river. Water clarity was better, not great. The morning started off with a bang, within the first couple hours hooked and landed 6 to 8 fish. Biot Emerger, "D" rib golden stone nymph and Pats rubber leg where the flies of choice. Mid morning the weather turned a little for towards the bad side. We fished at Hooks Bridge and at Cathrine's Store. We did take a little break and went to check out the Frying Pan river. The snow was flat out coming down up on the Pan. Wish I had taken some more pictures. We had a little challenge getting home, I-70 was closed when we pulled into Vail. Come to find out it had been closed since about 11:00am. Shortly after we arrived in Vail they opened the highway.

Nice little male taken at Hooks Bridge by Jeff

Justin and the fish of the day

Fly Box Tour - Dry Fly Boxes 1 and 2

2011-03-20T12:49:00.000-06:00

Another installment of my fly box tour. Today in showing 2 of my dry fly boxes. Box 1 is mainly my hatch matcher's. Parachute dry flies and cripples and some up wing dry flies plus some comparduns. Box number 2 has some caddis dries and some attractor dries

Side One

Side 2

Fly Box Tour - Box #3 Caddis and Mayfly Nymph Box

2011-03-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

This box is still has a lot open slots in it, hope to have it filled by the end of the month. When I first got this box I didn't realize how many flies it will hold. When this box is filled you wouldn't want to to loose it. Also it hard to think about the retail value of this box filled with flies. Each leaf holds 230 flies, times 4 leafs equals 920 flies in total. At $2.00 per fly equals a lot of money.

Sides 1 and 2 are caddis nymphs. Sides 3 and 4 are mayfly nymphs.

Any suggestions to help fill this box would be appreciated.

Side 1

Side 2

Side 3

Side 4

Fly Box Tour - Box #2 Meat and potato fly box - Stoneflies, bead heads and larger flies

2011-02-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

The second fly box of my fly box tour is my meat and potato fly box. The box contains most of my bead head nymphs and my larger nymphs. This box is with me at all times on the water, spring, summer, fall & winter.

Side 1 - Stone fly nymphs, crane fly larva and soft hackles

Side 2 - Copper Johns, Price nymphs & Hot Wire Princes

Side 3 - Hare's ears, HMD's and some Buggers

CP's Soft Hackle "D" Rib Goldenstone Nymph Tying Video

2011-02-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

Newest Video Soft Hackle "D" Rib Golden Stone Nymph. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Enjoy

Fly Box Tour - Box #1 All things Little, Midge Box

2011-02-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

The idea for this post came from the last couple weekends. Two weeks ago I was at West Denver TU tying clinic and had my fly box out on the table and was amazed how people stop to look at my fly boxes . Then this last Saturday I was doing a tying demo at Rocky Mountain Anglers in Boulder and had my fly boxes out. Again they where looked at a lot. So I got this idea to give you a tour of my fly boxes, this could take a while. I'm going to start out with my midge box. I organize my midge box by color. I took these picture with a fairly high setting on my mega pixels so you can really zoom in on them.

Side 1 Reds and blacks, how different black midges can one person have.

Side 2 - Whites and olives

Side 3 - Pearls, browns, copper and some zebras at the bottom.

Side 4 - RS-2's, crystal midges and open spots.

Need a little work to get this box complete

If you have any questions please leave a comment.

Re-cap form 2011 West Denver TU Tying Clinic

2011-02-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

Had the privilege yesterday to tie with 58 of the best tiers here in the west. The weather was great and I think it hurt the turn out a little. Spent the the day tying next to Juan Ramirez and Marty Bartholomew. The day started off a little slow, within about 2 hours it was rock in. I wish I would taken a few more pictures than I did. West Denver TU dose a amazing job putting this clinic on. The food was great and the members do a great job of taking care of the fly tiers. This is one event I look forward to each year.

Juan working some magic

Juan's thread box

One of the highlights of the day for me was getting to talk to Sue Armstrong for a minute. She was tying a couple spots down from me. The George Grant stoneflies she ties are just amazing. The work that goes into one of these flies is astonishing, on average it take 2 to 2-1/2 hours to tie of these flies. The collars are all woven by hand. I was able to get the nerve up to ask her if she would be willing to do a fly swap. I would trade one of my flies for one of hers, and she was willing to do the swap. You are probably wondering who got the better end of that deal. So here are a few pictures of the fly I received in trade.

Tiemico Razor Scissors Product Review

2011-02-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

I have been eyeing these scissors for a while now. Finally saved enough pennies to purchase these scissors. I'm a scissors junkie, I have tried a lot of different scissors, the minute I put these in my hand they felt heads and tails better than any scissor I have ever used. They are beautifully machined and deadly sharp plus well balanced. The only thing I did not care for was the finger holes for me are a little small, for the average person this will not be a issue. I highly recommend these scissors to any one who wants to drop $50 bucks.

Stuffed Olive Nymph Video

2011-01-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

Enjoy,

2011 Fly Fishing Show January 7th, 8th & 9th

2011-01-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to tie at the 2011 Fly Fishing Show. Here is a sample of what I'm going to be tying this year at the show. Please stop by and introduce yourself and ask any questions. Hope to see you at the show.

Stuffed Coffee nymph pattern

2011-01-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

I have been playing with this little attractor nymph for about a week. Finally have it where I want it, this is a color variation of the Stuffed Olive.

Hook: TMC3761 Size 14 thru 18

Bead: Luccent Tungsten Coffee color

Thread: 8/0 Rusty brown

Tail: Coq De Lon Fibers

Rib: X-SM Gold with SM Copper Brown wire

Abdomen: 8/0 Rusty brown thread colored with a sepia prismacolor marker. Just on the top of the abdomen.

Wing Case: Lagartun Flat Mini Braid in Olive

Thorax: Rusty Brown Dubbing - Dubbed in a dubbing loop

The Hopper Juan in the Sunday Denver Post

2011-01-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

Browsing thru the Sunday Denver Post this morning I get to the outdoor section and see this nice little article on the upcoming shows this next weekend. What really caught my eye was the big picture right dab in the middle of The Hopper Juan. Juan and I got to know each other about 4 years ago at the West Denver TU, he tracked me down and wanted to trade hopper patterns. Juan and I where both picked up by Montana Fly Co. the same year. This was really cool to see, Juan is one of the good guys in this industry.

South Platte River - Deckers 12/20/10

2010-12-22T19:08:00.000-07:00

Had the chance to sneak away on Monday for a few hours of fishing. Headed up to the South Platte river above Decker's. Thought I would try my hand there since the lot is closed for the canyon. They are replacing the culvert under the road to Cheesman Dam, they are using the parking lot for the Gill trail to stage there equipment. Arrived at the the river around 9:30am, flows are a little low at 57cfs. A couple cars in the lot. The weather was more like a spring day in the Rockies, not mid December.The high temp for the day was around the high 40's degrees. An hour to the west, the Rockies are getting dumped with white gold. Rigged up the rod with a three fly nymph rig, golden stone nymph, stuffed olive and a Young's midge on the bottom. Started fishing at the bend pool above Decker's. Spotted a few nice fish feeding, pretty quickly hooked up with a nice little rainbow. Ended up with a dozen fish in about 4 hours of fishing. Packed up about 2:00pm and headed home, counting down the days down to our annual New Years Day trip.

2nd fish of the day

The fish of the day, a real fat 18" rainbow.

The fly of the day, Stuffed Olive. Accounted for all but one of my fish.

Newest Olive Nymph

2010-12-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a heavier BWO point fly for a nymph rig. Also to use the nymph as attractor pattern. I think I have the pattern. Been fishing one this fall similar to this, it was tied with a tungsten gold bead and I didn't like looks. I received some new Dark Olive Luccent tungsten beads from Montana Fly Company and that is what the pattern needed. Now it is ready for some field testing, the one similar to this preformed well. This is a quick tie

Hook: MFC#7076 1XL Size 14 thru 20

Bead: MFC Luccent Tungsten Dark Olive

Thread: MFC 8/0 light olive

Tail: Coq De Lon Medium Pardo

Rib: 1 x-sm gold wire & 1 x-sm green wire

Abdomen: MFC 8/0 Light Olive thread colored on the top half with sepia Pantone marker

Wing Case: Lagartun Flat Mini Braid Dark Olive

Thorax: Arizona Peacock Dubbing in Bronze. Inserted in dubbing loop and picked out.

Also I'm trying to name this pattern, not much creative juices flowing right know. Give me your ideas

Top View

Under side

Group photo

BH Golden Stone "D" Rib Nymph Tying video

2010-11-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

Just complete another Tying Video. Let me know how you like it.

BH Golden Stone "D" Rib Nymph

Hook: MFC #7073 Size 10 thru 14
Bead: MFC Luccent Tungsten Coffee
Under body: Flat Lead Tape
Thread: 6/0 Yellow
Tails: Gold Goose Biots
Abdomen: Light Golden Stone "D" Rib
Markers: Sharpie Marigold and Brown
Wing Case: Rainy's Stretch Flex Golden stone
Dubbing: Rene Harrops Tannish Yellow Mixed w/ UV Ice Dubbing Light Yellow
Legs: Natural Partridge

Testing out my new Vise - Regal Vise

2010-11-26T07:08:00.000-07:00

Went back to my roots in fly tying, the first high end vise that I purchased was an Regal. After tying on my Regal for quite a few years I got the bug to go a rotary vise. That end up for me being a mistake for me. I tied a few different vise in between. So now 20 plus years later I have moved back to Regal vises. Pretty much the same mechanics in the the vise. The ability to rotate the head is new from what I had before. The hook holding ability is still top rate. No adjustments for different hook sizes either, place your hook and go. The other feature I like is that you can buy the heads separate, right now I have the stainless jaws and the midge jaws. I will get the standard jaws after the holidays. Check out there website if you are interested.

http://regalvise.com/

Midge head

Size 22 in the stainless jaws

DH Hopper Tying Video

2010-11-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

Just Finished my thrid tying video, DH Hopper. Added a couple new ideas with this video. Hope you enjoy.

Goldenstone Nymph Juan/Carl verison - Anglers All Tying Demo

2010-11-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

Went to watch Juan tie at Anglers All on Saturday, I wanted to see how he tied wing cases on his new golden stone nymph. Earlier in the week he had sent me pictures of a golden stone nymph that he had tied with my "D" rib abdomen and the thorax region of his. Juan should how he tied it at the tying demo. Who would of thought that the thin white foam packing material from most electronics would look so good with a little coloring from markers. Need to work out a few kinks with the proportions on this fly.

Juan's Fly that he tied

CP's Caddis Larva Tying Video

2010-11-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

Just finished my second tying video. CP's Caddis Larva nymph. Let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy.

Hook: MFC#7045 Size 14 thru 18
Bead: Black
Under body: Flat lead tape
Thread: 8/0 Light Olive - 8/0 Black
Abdomen: MFC Wonder Wrap Caddis Green
Rib: X-SM Green UTC Wire
Wing case 1: Black Holographic Tinsel
Wing case 2: Black Flouro Fibre
Thorax: SLF Black Prism Dubbing
Legs: Black Flouro Fibre

Buckskin Midge - something old, some new

2010-11-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

Going threw my tying material and found these pre-cut buckskin strips. I had them in 4 sizes, medium, fine, extra fine and super fine. I would guess they are around 15yrs old. Combine these strips with a 10/0 white thread and some Coq De Leon Light Pardo feather fibers and a little different technique to tie them in. What you get is a nicely proportion size 20 buckskin nymph. When I started tying a long time ago I would get a bulky body. I never liked the way they looked. Can't wait to give these a try this winter on my local tail water

Pre-cut buckskin strips

Size 20 buckskin nymph

Hook: TMC101 size 20

Thread: 10/0 white

Tail: Coq De Leon Light Pardo

Abdomen: Super fine buckskin strip

Head: Black Marker on thread

Same as above but on size 20 2xl curved shank hook and a 1.5mm black tungsten bead

Old freind last Sunday - Cheesman Canyon

2010-11-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday got the chance to go visit an old Friend for the day. Haven't been into Cheesman Canyon most of the summer. Me and a co-worker left bright and early. We arrived at the parking lot to the view above, sky was on fire. Geared up and headed into the canyon, started off at the picnic table hole. Flows where running very good for this time of the year. Fishing was good, fish where pretty active. A lot of different flies caught fish. no one pattern worked better. Crowds was on the light side, had the pick of the holes.

Picnic table hole rainbow fell to a Yougs flasher

Kelly getting ready

Colorful little brown

Fly Fishing the South Platte River - An Anglers Guide by Roger Hill

2010-11-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from a video that Juan Ramirez blog, he did a video of Ed Engle tying the stillborn midge. This pattern came from this book, Fly Fishing the South Platte, An Anglers Guide. This was the first fly fishing and fly tying book that I bought. Roger Hill the author was one of the first to write fishing and tying flies for Cheeseman Canyon. He also spends some time writing about the materials for tying small flies. If you can find a copy of this book I highly recommend it.

Over the winter I'm going to spotlight some of the fly patterns in this book. The patterns in this book are examples of simplicity in tying. Most of the material are all natural furs and feathers.

The first fly I'm going to spot light is the Muskrat Nymph.

Hook: TMC100 size 20 - 26, I tied the pattern on TMC101

Thread: 8/0 gray

Body: muskrat fur, very sparse

Build up thorax with tying thread, sparsely dub thread, and wind onto hook. Whip finish and cement.

Here is the muskrat nymph I tied

Biot Emerger Video in HD

2010-10-30T20:19:00.000-06:00

Re-did my Biot emerger in HD, trying to improve video quaility. How does it look compared to the other video? Also working on getting it to fit my blog layout better.

Fly Tying Demo Saturday 10/30/10 at Angler All - Englewood, Co

2010-10-28T20:02:00.000-06:00

Andrew Grillos a Signature Fly Tier for Idylwilde Flies will be doing a fly tying demo this Saturday at Anglers All in Englewood. He also guides on the western slope. Demo starts at 10:00am and is up in the class room. All demo's will be shown on the HD TV. Please stop by and check it out. Here is a link the the shops web site.

http://www.anglersall.com/event/fly-tying-demo-andrew-grillos

First try at a tying Video - Biot Emerger

2010-10-25T12:32:00.001-06:00

This is my first attempt at a tying video that I did the video camera work. Juan has done a couple for me. Little rough around the edges. Tell me what you think

Fall day on the Colrado River - 10/10/10

2010-10-13T19:45:00.000-06:00

Sunday October 10th me and Chris Skinner took off to fish the Colorado River for the. I have never fished the Colorado River much, but Chris wanted to take me up. As we came up Berthoud pass we figured out that winter was not far of. Pretty much a cloudy all day, we did have a few rain sprinkles. We started out at the Breeze unit just below the Parshall hole. The fishing started off a little slow but picked up fast. I was hoping to see a BWO hatch, none to be found. Fished all day with a nymph rig, a egg followed by my Biot Emerger. The fish would not let my biot emerger pass by without eating. This fly took 90% of my fish for the day. A lot of fish caught in the 14" to 16" range. No sign of spawning browns.

A side note for the day, had the chance to test out my new rod and reel. I have never been a fan of the high dollar fly rod until now. I just got my hands on a new R.L. Wintson 9'-0" 5wt BIIMX, this is one amazing rod!!.

Fish picture

Another fish picture

Chris with a nice brown

My new set up

Fly of the day - Biot Emerger

Wounded Warror Project - Project Healing Waters.

2010-10-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

On Friday October 1st I had the honor to spend the day volunteering my time to guide a couple of our finniest soldiers in the wounded warrior project. Project Healing Waters was able to get a 2-1/2 day trip step up for the wounded warrior project to fish the Blue Sky Ranch for 2 full days. Many of you might only know this stretch of water by the name of Jurassic Park. I would like to give big thanks to Mike the ranch manager for all of his hard work in this project, with out his effort this wouldn't have been as successful. They had the ranch set up into about 16 beats, what amazed me was how much still water is on the property.

I was assigned beat 8 a great piece of water on the river. With the river flowing at close to 700cfs we had to be careful of the wading. Both of the young men I fished with where good anglers, you could tell they have had some fly fishing instruction.

Both of the young men I got the honor to guide for the day are based out of Ft Carson in the Springs. All of these men are very thankful and appreciative of all the hard work that everybody did for this trip.

This was the base camp where everything started. They also served a first class lunch, provide us with plenty of water and pop. The ranch had three of there ATV's to help move people around and lots of great volunteers.

Clayton is the young man I got the honor to spend the morning with. The one thing that I will never forget with Clayton was his joy in seeing the first fish we hooked up in the morning come out of the water. That fish went close to 10 pounds, we didn't land her bought he fought her for a while. Clayton was able to get 3 fish to the net in the morning.

Jesse is the young man that I spent the after noon guiding, we had a tough afternoon on the river. We where able to get him into a few fish on one the the small ponds.

New patterns added to Montana Fly Company Line Up for 2011

2010-09-04T12:26:00.000-06:00

I will have two new patterns added to Montana Fly company line up for 2011. The first pattern is the "D" rib black stone fly nymph. It is basically the same pattern as the golden but tied in black . The thorax is tied with peacock herl, I love the iridescent of the peacock herl in this pattern.

The second pattern is the bead head version of the "D" rib golden stone nymph. The bead I'm using is the Montana Fly Luccent tungsten bead in the coffee color. The fly is also tied on the 3xl bent shank hook by Montana Fly company. With the lead under body and the tungsten bead this one gets down deep fast.

Montana fly is also adding another size for the "D" rib golden stone nymph, they are adding a size 14 in that pattern. That is the size I fish the most.

Soft Hackle "D" rib Golden Stone Nymph

2010-08-15T20:07:00.000-06:00

This is a creation I have been playing with for a while. The rear half of the nymph is from my "D" rib Golden Stone nymph. The front half came from another nymph I saw. The combination of patterns has been deadly on the water. The soft hackle collar is a combination of CDC and Whiting Farms Brahma Hen neck in a Golden Olive. When this fly is in the water it has a lot of movement. With the tungsten bead and the under body of lead tape will allow this nymph to get down deep fast. On my last trip I was trialling this of a DH Hopper with great success.

Rear view

Group photo

Brahma Hen Neck

Brahma Hen Neck Golden Olive

Razor Foam Caddis tying tutorial

2010-08-08T18:34:00.001-06:00

Razor foam Caddis, simple but effective fly.

Three basic materials for this fly. Standard dry fly hook, deer or elk hair for the wing. Standard brown dry fly hackle, and of course razor foam. For this pattern I like the razor faom from Wapsi. It is a little more elastic and that helps with getting a nicely tapered body.

Step 1: Lay down a base of thread on the hook shank

Step 2: Cut a narrow strip of razor foam, taper at the tie point. The thickness of razor foam I use is based on the hook size, size 14 and smaller I use .5mm thickness. Size 12 and up I use the 1mm thickness

Step 3: Tie in the razor foam, I lke to tie in at mid point of the the hook shank and bind it down towards the bend of the hook

Step 4: Wrap the razor foam foward, adjust tension on the razor foam to create a nicely tapered body. Wind forward to just past mid point of hook shank

Step 5: Clean and stack a clump of deer or elk hair for the wing. Tie it in and bind the ends. Cover the ends with thread. With right type of elk or deer hair you can tie this fly down to a size 20 with out any problems.

Step 6: Select and tie in the apporiate sized dry fly hackle. I tie them shining side up.

Step 7: Wrap the hackle forward and tie of at the head. Do not crowd the head like I just did

Completed fly

I tie these also in black, olive and yellow

Anglers All Fly Shop Winter tying demo schedule updated 9/5/10

2010-08-07T05:58:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to let everybody here in the Denver metro area that I'm working with the new owners of Anglers All (Gary & Chris) helping them set up a winter tying demo schedule. The demos will be Saturday mornings starting at 10:00 going till 12:00. All demos will be shown on a HD TV up behind the tier. The shop has a first class set up, they also have one of the better stocked tying sections in the metro. Check there web site out under events, they will be updating the list as I add tiers.

http://www.anglersall.com/

Here is the list of tiers I have scheduled so far

10/30/10

11/6/10 - Carl Pennington

11/13/10 - Chad Gaurke

11/20/10 - Juan Ramirez

11/27/10 - Jason Goodale

12/4/10 - Vincent Stu

12/11/10 - Shea Gunkel

12/18/10 - Marty Bartholomew

1/8/2011 - 2011 Fly Fishing Show

1/15/2011 - Ty Clifton

1/22/2011 - Larry Jurgens

1/29/2011

2/5/2011

2/12/2011 West Denver TU Fly tying clinic

2/19/2011

2/26/2011

3/5/2011 - Rick Takahashi

3/12/2011 -

3/19/2011

3/26/2011 - Al Ritt

DH Hopper protype

2010-08-01T15:39:00.003-06:00

I have customer that really likes the Streambank hopper, he also really likes my DH Hopper. The one thing that caught his eye with Streambank Hopper was the strip of orange. He challenged me to incorporate the orange foam into my DH hopper. The first challenge is trying to figure out the best glue to use. Super glue and Zap A Gap dose not work for gluing foam together. When the super glue dries it will not allow the thread to compress the foam. In tying the DH Hopper you need the thread to compress the foam down alot. I went on the search for the correct adhesive for gluing foam together. What I found was that regular contact cement works great. It leaves the foam in a pliable state. Now it comes down to playing with the thickness of the foam, the one tied above is tied with 2mm brown and .5mm orange. Finding the thinner foam for this is a little tricky. Raineys cross link foam comes in thicknesses of .5mm. 1mm, & 2mm. I also found Wrigthway foam has the same thickness. I hope to have a fishing report sometime later in the week for the above hopper.

Streambank Hooper

DH Hopper

DH Hooper

DH Hopper Tying tutorial

2010-07-30T22:34:00.003-06:00

DH Hopper

I have been tying this hopper for a while. I have had a few requests for a step by tutorial for this fly. The DH Hopper has been one my hottest sellers for this summer. The pattern is a easy tie and has simple materials.
Hook: 2xl dry fly hook MFC#7022 size 10 thru size 14
Thread: 6/0 tan
Overbody: 2mm foam Brown
Underbody: 1mm Razor foam Tan
Underwing: Rainbow Crystal Flash
Overwing: Natural Bull Elk
Thorax: Tan UV Ice Dubbing
Legs: Brown centipede legs

Step 1: Attach thread and cover shank of hook

Step 2: Cut a piece of 2mm foam. The width of foam should be the width of the hook gap.

Step 3: Attach 2mm faom to the hook shank, right above the barb of the hook. Advance the thread to the 3/4 point on the hook.

Step 4: Cut 1mm foam in a strip about 1/8" wide. Tapper the tie point.

Step 5: Attach 1mm razor foam at about 1/2 point on the hook shank. Bind down foam to tie point for the 2mm foam.

Step 6: Wrap the 1mm faom foward, first wrap needs to be handled with care. As you wrap the foam forward it will create a nice segmented body. Wrap forward to the 3/4 point of the hook shank and tie off.

Step 7: Pull 2mm foam over the body and bind down. Bind down all the way up to the eye of the hook. Do not trim the foam out over the eye.

Step 8: Attach about 6 strands of rainbow crystal flash

Step 9: Attach elk hair wing, length of wing should just go back past the tie in point for the overbody.

Step 10: Dub the thorax with UV Ice dub. Note where the thread ends up.

Step 11: Attach rubber legs on each side of the body

Step 12: Pull faom back over the thorax and bind down. Whip finish and trim foam back. Trim legs to length

View of finished fly from bottom

View of finished fly from bottom with tan and yellow

Give this pattern a try. Let me know what you think.

Mini DH Hopper Challenge

2010-07-02T17:07:00.000-06:00

I have been tying my DH hopper in standard sizes for a while, it has been a very productive pattern. I tie it in a wide range of colors. I have a customer that has been ordering my DH hopper in size 12, he seems to really like it. He had a strange request this week, he wanted the DH hopper in a size 16. I thought about it and said I can do this. The biggest challenge with this fly would be what hook to use. A standard dry fly hook would have no gap left after you tie the fly. After a couple of tries I settled on a TMC2499SPBL hook is a size 12. The shanks length of that hook closely matched that of a size 16 2XL dry fly hook. I also liked that it had a slight curve to the hook.

Group photo

I think this little hopper could hold a a good size dropper

Bottom view

I wish Montana Fly Co. made those red/black/yellow rubber legs in a small size

I think this little fly has a lot of potential as a attractor dry fly in these sizes. I'm also going to try it on the same hook but is a size 10. I don't think I would take it any smaller than this.

New mayfly nymph pattern - BWO colors

2010-06-12T10:05:00.000-06:00

Been playing around with this little pattern. Wanting a fly with a little more kick to it.

Hook: MFC #7076 1XL

Bead: Brass

Thread: 14/0 Olive

Tail: Partridge

Abdomen: Peacock Krystal Flash over olive thread

Legs: Partridge

Wing: Pearl Krystal Flash

Thorax: Olive Dubbing

Basically the same fly with a few minor changes

1. Olive tungsten bead

2. Legs are olive flouro fibre

3. Tail is a olive dyed partridge

This made my day - Fly Tyer Magazine Summer 2010

2010-05-20T19:04:00.000-06:00

Finally got my hands a the newest Fly Tyer Magazine, and inside I found something pretty cool. It's not to big of a deal, but I think it's pretty cool.

Inside the magazine was a article for the newest patterns for Montana Fly Company. Started scrolling threw the patterns and I find a cool surprise.

And there it is, Pennington's D-Rib Golden. I was pleasantly surprised, I had heard from MFC that this might happen. You never know until you see it for your own eyes. The only thing that is a little dis hearting is that they have the material list incorrect. At least I know the fly is correct, that is one I actually tied.

Trip Report - Antero Res. 5/15/10

2010-05-18T20:09:00.000-06:00

Took off early Saturday morning for Antero Res. with great anticipation for a fun filled day of fishing. Kelly one of my co-workers came a long for the ride. We head over for the north shore to set up for the day. We where greeted with this view. Shortly after arriving at the north shore we where greeted by a short lived snow squall. We had a couple of fisherman to the north of us, otherwise we had that area of the lake to ourselves.

First fish of the day, nice fat rainbow.

Close up of the first fish of the day

Red chirnomids and olive scuds seem to work the best. Did catch the last 2 fish of the day on a black UV wooly bugger.

This little gem worked well

Kelly with his first fish, nice little cutty.

Cool Picture

Gotta love Colorado

At the end of the day took a trip over to the south shore, heard some stories that the south shore boat dock was on fire. First thing I thought to myself was this is a three ring circus. The concrete boat dock to left of the ramp was being fished by 6 fisherman. The 10 to 15 minutes we watched this circus I saw 12 fish caught and only two were released. The DOW need to put a full time officer at this lake on weekends. I will get off my soap box now.

Yankee Buzzer - New Chironomid paterrn

2010-05-09T13:19:00.000-06:00

I have heard a lot about the new lake pattern from the bench of Rob Kolanda, he was working for Front Range Anglers. The pattern is named the Yankee Buzzer, not a lot of info on the pattern yet. Was able to find the pattern for sale at Front Range Anglers. The Pattern is being produced by Solitude Flies. The fly is tied in 4 color combinations, black, red, olive and brown. I have tied 3 out of the 4 color combos. I have made some minor changes to the pattern. 1st change is the hook, I'm tying it on a MFC #7231 2XL curved shank hook. Second change is the wing buds I'm using amber biots, they used a amber flex floss.

The picture above is the Solitude pattern that I purchased from Front Range Anglers. Not the best looking fly.

All the flies below are ones that I tied

Olive Yankee Buzzer

Black Yankee Buzzer

Red Yankee Buzzer

Loon UV Clear Fly Finish and Power light

2010-05-09T07:05:00.003-06:00

I have been playing around with two new products from Loon Outdoors. First is there UV Clear Fly finish, I have been using it on some buzzer patterns. First thing that I noticed was the clarity of the product. It seems to be very clear, no tinge of yellow. Started tying with it about a week ago, the flies tied a week ago look like the ones tied yesterday. They have a great gloss finish and still very clear. I had tied some other patterns with UV knot sense and they lost there sheen and clarity after a period of time. Have fished the patterns yet, field testing will be coming.

In conjunction with the UV clear fly finish I was using there new UV power light. The light is very strong, it dose not take long to harden the coating. I have there old 3 bulb light the new light is much stronger. The other thing I like about the new light is that is uses AA batteries and has a on/off switch.

As far as the price on both new products, that is the one draw back to the the products. The UV clear fly finish runs $25.00, the tube is about 3 times the size of the UV knot sense. The new power Light runs about $35.00. In my opinion the products are worth every penny.

Here is a sample fly below, Yankee Buzzer

Working on my fly boxes

2010-05-02T15:53:00.006-06:00

Took advantage of a pretty quite day at the home front and got the opportunity to work of my fly boxes. Did get to serious, just attacked some random holes. Also decided to come up with a new pattern for the lake box. Here are some pictures of what was put into the boxes today.

Sparkle wing RS-2

Youngs Flasher

Another view of Youngs flasher

My version of Barr's Bouface. Many difference is that I'm using a pine squirrel collar instead of the marabou collar. Also some new olive tungsten beads on this fly

Group photo of Bouface's

New olive chironomid pattern. This looks to be a killer, can't wait to give it a try

New red chironomid pattern

Apologize for lack of activity

2010-04-25T11:39:00.002-06:00

I would like to apologize for the lack of activity the last couple of weeks. I had a death in the family, hope to getting back to some posts real soon

Carl

Easter Sunday Cheesman Canyon - 4/4/10

2010-04-04T18:07:00.004-06:00

I had the fortune to get a kitchen pass to go fishing, decided on Cheesman Canyon. The flows where just raised to 185CFS. I thought with it being Easter Sunday that it might be a little quite in the canyon, somewhat wrong. I arrived a the trail head about 6:15am, I was the first in the lot. Geared up and hiked in. With it being Easter Sunday decided to stay in the lower part of the river. Started off at the picnic table hole, this is one of my favorite spots on the river if I'm first to the river. Picnic table hole did not disappoint. The weather was great, a little breezy at times but fairly warm.

1st fish of the day, nice rainbow. This fish was taken on a Youngs special

Up part of the riffle right above picnic table hole produced this pig of a fish. She took me on two screaming runs down river. She was taken on a mercury black beauty size 22

Same fish, 22"plus weighed 5plus pounds. I need to work on picture taking skills. When you are by yourself taking pictures can be tricky

The pig again.

This little male was taken at the meat hole

Same little male

Sitting on the bank of the river enjoying the day. Decided to head back a little early to enjoy a great Easter dinner with the family.

Shrimp foil Scud

2010-03-27T06:16:00.003-06:00

Been playing around with a couple new materials to me. I was given a few pieces of light olive pearl shrimp foil. Then I bought some Natures Spirit emergence dubbing in a gray olive color. Both products are very cool. I really like the texture and the sheen of the Natures Spirit emergence dubbing. Can't wait to give this scud a try on one of my favorite still waters.

Hook: MFC 7076 1XL nymph hook Size 16

Thread: 8/0 Olive dun

Weight: .015 lead wire

Tail: Coq De lon Fibers

Rib: 2lbs mono

Scud back: Light olive pearl Shrimp Foil

Free Stone Favorite.

2010-03-21T19:14:00.008-06:00

Spring is in the air that can only me one thing. One of my favorite free stone rivers is awaking. BWO hatches are not far off, mothers day caddis is around the bend. Yes the Arkansas river is what I'm taking about. This is probably my favorite river to fish in the spring. When this river awakens it really comes to life. One of my favorite patterns to fish is a BH Red Fox Squirrel Nymph. Put the fly as your upper fly on a two fly rig, followed by a BWO nymph or a caddis larva. As you can see I add rubber legs to the mix. With the added weight of a tungsten bead this little gem will get down deep.

Hook: 2xl nymph hook, size 12 thru 18

Bead: Gold Tungsten bead

Thread: 8/0 Tan

Tail: Fibers for Indian hen back feather

Rib: Oval Gold Tinsel

Abdomen: Dave Whitlock's SLF Dubbing Red Fox Squirrel Abdomen

Thorax: Dave Whitlock's SLF Dubbing Red Fox Squirrel Thorax

Legs: Extra Small Brown Barred rubber kegs

Give this little gem a try, It will not disappoint you

Anglers All Fly Shop - New Tying products

2010-03-13T17:43:00.002-07:00

Stopped by Anglers All today to pick up my new wading boots that had just come and the Lori was stocking some new tying products. Gave me an idea to put the post up letting people of the Denver metro area of the new tying products they are caring.

1. Montana fly tungsten beads, brass beads & Luccent tungsten beads. We all know how expensive tungsten beads are, you need to check out Montana fly beads

2. Montana Fly camo print tying tools. These tools are of good quality and a cool look

3. Dyed peacock eyes from Wapsi. They now have this very popular tying material ini stock

4. Saving the beat for last, the Denver metro area has a shop in the south side of town stocking Nature's Spirit products. They brought in elk hair in a few different types. They also brought in emergence dubbing and the fine dry dubbing. Natures spirit products are heads and tails above the rest.

Stop by the shop and check it out. Anglers All has one of the best fly tying areas in the south metro.

BWO Biot Emerger Tutorial

2010-03-07T19:24:00.005-07:00

This is the next fly I want to add tying steps for. The name of this the BWO Biot Emerger. This fly has been a all year success. I keep this fly in primarily 3 sizes 18, 20 & 22. I also tie it with out the flash back. The BWO Biot Emerger is also been picked up by Montana Fly Company. It is in there 2010 catalog. Hope you enjoy, give a few a try you will be happy

Material list

Hook: Scud hook Size 18 to 22

Thread: 8/0 grey

Tail: Amber Z-lon

Abdomen: Olive/Brown Goose biot

Wing case #1: UTC Mirage opal tinsel

Wing Case #2: Grey Flourofibre

Thorax: Adams Grey Dubbing

Legs: Grey Flourofibre

Step 1: Attach thread to hook, bind down amber Z-lon 1/2 way down the bend of the hook. Also start soaking a olive/brown goose biot.

Step 2: Attach olive/brown goose biot. I tie in the goose biot notch up, this will create a smooth segmented body.

Step 3: Wrap the olive/brown goose biot forward to the 70% point. Over lap the wrap back onto the previous wrap. This will flatten out the ridge that stands up on the goose biot.

Step 4: Tie of goose biot and move thread to the 50% point of the hook. Tie in UTC Mirage opal tinsel on the top of the hook shank. Bind down to the 50% point of the fly

Step 5: Tie in 8 to 10 strands of grey flurofibre on top of the hook, bind down to the 50% point of the fly.

Step 6:Dub a nice thorax, leave a little extra space at the eye.

Step 7: Pull all the strands of the flurofibre forward and bind down with 2 wraps. Be careful not to get carried away with to many wraps of thread.

Step 8: Separate the flurofibre into 2 equal bunches, pull the flurofibre on the far side of the hook back and bind down with 2 wraps of thread. Then pull back the flurofibre back on the near side of the hook and bind down with 2 wraps of thread. At this point you should have equal size bunches of flurofibre on each side of hook

Step 9: Trim flurofibre just past the back of the thorax, this will create your legs. Than pull the UTC Mirage opal tinsel forward and bind down with 2 wraps. Than pull the UTC mirage opal tinsel back and bind down with 2 wraps, trim tinsel and whip finish.

Finished fly, please note the nice clean head of this fly. If you don't pay attention to your thread wraps you can loose control of this head very easily. So keep all you tie in's to 2 wraps. Also use as small as thread as possible. You should be using at the minimum 8/0.

Another angle of the finished fly.

Couple New Midge patterns

2010-03-06T18:09:00.005-07:00

Saw this cool midge pattern an Thursday at the Dream Stream. This little pattern below was money. Sean Downey a local tier and fly fisherman put me on to this little midge pattern. What really caught my eye was the red hook. Friday took off to the fly shop and bought a few of the Daiichi #1273 red hook in size 20 & size 22. Had to give these hooks a try. 1st fly was tying up Sean's little red midge pupa.

Hook: Daiichi #1273 red size 20

Thread: 8/0 red

Bead: Diamond midge bead

Rib: 8/0 pearl flashabou

Abdomen: 8/0 Red thread

Thorax: peacock herl

Midge Pattern #2

I wanted to see how a mercury black beauty looked on the red hook. I really like the looks, hope the fish do.

Hook: Daiichi #1273 red Size 20

Thread: 8/0 Black

Bead: Diamond Midge bead

Rib: Extra small silver wire

Thorax: Bright green dyed peacock herl

Midge #3

This little pattern comes from the vise of Shaun Solomon. Shaun and I had a tying night on Friday evening. Showed Shaun the red hooks, then he preceded to show me this little gem of an pattern.

Hook: Daiichi #1273 red size 20

Thread: 8/0 UNI Rusty dun

Bead: Diamond Midge bead

Tail: Midge crystal flash

Rib: x-small silver wire. Shaun's pattern did not have rib, I added it

Abdomen: 8/0 UNI rusty dun thread

Thorax: UV grey Ice dubbing

New C & F Fly Box Mid Size - All Things Little Fly Box

2010-02-28T08:14:00.004-07:00

Just bought a new C & F fly box, this is the new mid size box. This box will hold some bugs. I'm going to use as my All things little Box(midge box). This box has 768 slots for flies, I have some work to do. I'm organize by color in this box. I think C & F make the best fly box on the market. They are expensive but in my eyes well worth it. The only draw back to these boxes is if you loose one, you will cry!!! Knock on wood I have never lost a fly box

Sides 1 & 2

Side 1

Side 4

Side 3

Tying Steps for "D" Rib Golden Stone Nymph

2010-02-21T14:20:00.009-07:00

Step By Step Tutorial for the "D" Rib Golden Stone Nymph. This nymph was designed for the South Platte River here in Colorado. Mainly the Cheeseman Canyon section. This nymph is working great any where you find golden stone nymphs. I typically fish this nymph as a upper fly on a 2 fly nymph rig. Or I will fish it as the middle fly on a 3 fly nymph rig. The fly is fished dead drift bouncing along the bottom. Enjoy

Material list

Hook: 2xl nymph hook - Sizes 12 thru 16

Thread: Yellow 6/0 or 8/0

Markers: Sharpie Marigold and Sharpie Brown

Weight: Flat lead tape

Tail: Gold Goose biots

Abdomen: Light Golden Stone "D" rib - Size 12 and above medium, size 14 and smaller small

Wing case: Rainy's Stretch flex Golden stone Color - Size 12 and above 5/32" width, Size 14 and smaller 1/8" width

Dubbing: Tannish yellow mixed with a little UV Ice dubbing

Legs: Natural Partridge

Step 1: Put hook in vise, cut a narrow strip of lead tape. Wrap lead tape around hook, double layer at thorax region of fly. Leave bare shank at the eye of the hook and at the point above the barb.

Step 2: Put on a layer of yellow thread on lead tape. With a smooth jawed pair of needle noose pliers flatten out lead tape.

Step 3: Tie in the gold goose biots, one on each side. Tail length should be around 1/2 shank length long. Trim the tails at the tie in point.

Step 4: Tie in the "D" rib along the hook shank. Keep it on the side of the hook. Tie in "d" facing the hook shank. Build up a tapered body with the thread.

Step 5: Using the markers color the top half of the abdomen. 1st color is marigold, color the whole top half of the abdomen. The with the brown marker create a modeling effect on the top half of the abdomen.

Step 6: Wrap the "d" rib forward. Help create the taper with the stretch of the "d" rib

Step 7: Tie in the wing case material. Bind down to the 1/2 way point of the hook shank. If you ran your abdomen far enough forward you should be tying down the wing case material on to the abdomen material.

Step 8: Dub a small amount of dubbing. dub to the mid point of the thorax.

Step 9: Prepare a partridge feather by cutting out the "v". Install the legs one bunch on each side of dubbing ball. Tips should go just past the back of the dubbing.

Step 10: Pull wing case material forward and bind down. Wrap forward just a little.

Step 11: Pull the wing case back toward the back of the fly and bind down. Bind down just to the front of the dubbing ball.

Step 12: Create another dubbing ball at the front of the thorax. Leave a little more room than usual at the eye of the hook. Then install another partridge feather for legs. On a size 16 "d" rib golden stone nymph I do not create the double wing case. One wing case and one set of legs.

Step 13: Pull wing case material forward and tie off, cut excess material off. Bind down and whip finish the head of the fly. Fly almost done.

Step 14: Notice the golden stone scud back is a little light in color. Take the Marigold marker and darken the scud back. Make sure you darken the thread head with marigold marker. Also take the brown marker and model the back of the wing case.

Finished fly from the top

Finished fly from the bottom.

If you have any questions or comments please post.

More pictures with new camera

2010-02-21T09:27:00.003-07:00

Playing around with new camera. This time around I set the custom AWB setting. I think these pictures look better. With the camera software I'm only playing with exposure. Getting better long ways to go

New Camera Pentax Optio W80 waterproof

2010-02-20T18:59:00.005-07:00

Received my new camera in the mail on Friday. I bought a Pentax Optio W80 Waterproof 12 mp. So far I'm rather pleased with the camera. I'm really liking the macro mode on the camera. All these pictures are take with one of the two macro modes on the camera. There is a macro mode and a super macro mode. All these pictures where taken with me holding the camera. I'm still having some struggles getting the colors correct and the lighting correct. I can't wait to take this camera on a fishing trip, don't know if I will test the waterproof feature. The one feature of this camera I really want to try is the HD video. I will need some extra battery's for this camera the battery life is not good.

Meat and potato box

Golden Stone Nymph

Phesant tail nymph

Mayfly box

2010 West Denver TU Tying Clinic Re cap

2010-02-14T13:19:00.003-07:00

Spent the day tying flies with some of the best fly tiers around. West Denver TU tying clinic is one of my highlights of the year. I look forward to this event every year. This year line up was star studded. Wish I had spent some more time out looking at what other tiers where tying.

Tying next to Juan Ramirez and John Gordon

Got Hoppers!!

Tied up a bunch of the Golden Stone nymphs

Also with tungsten coffee bead

Razor foam Stimi

Getting Ready for the spring thaw on the still water

2010-02-14T13:06:00.005-07:00

Been working on my still water box. Herm Degala's callibaetis nymph is a killer. This nymph is amazing. I will tie it in two colors, olive and a tan. Also check out his web site, the coolest site for flies out there.

http://www.flytyingclips.com/

West Denver TU Tying Clinic Februray 13th 2010

2010-02-12T16:26:00.002-07:00

Setting here getting ready for a fun day of tying at West Denver TU Fly tying Clinic on Saturday Feb. 13th. Stop by and say hey. Still trying to figure out what I'm going to tie. I will surprise every one on Saturday with the fly selection.

carl

Tying Video for "D" Rib Golden Stone Nymph

2010-02-03T20:19:00.002-07:00

Tying Video for "D" Rib Golden Stone Nymph

D-Rib Golden Stone Fly by Carl Pennington, 11/07/09 from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.

Yong Special

2010-01-31T12:43:00.010-07:00

Yong Special

This pattern has been around for a while. The fly originated by Andy Kim. A very simple pattern to tie but very effective in the water. With all the midge patterns out there today how do you choose what to fish with. I like patterns that are simple to tie, also very durable. This pattern meets both requirements. Also a bonus with this fly, you buy a spool of Coats & Clark thread and you tie a lifetime of flies. If this pattern is tied correctly it creates a highly segmented body. This is how I tie the fly, the original pattern is tied a little different. Thanks to Norm Frechette for heads up for this link. Hear is a link to an article written by Rick Takahashi with tying instructions.

http://www.mlsff.org/cgi-bin/Patterns/Recipes/F85/Yong_Special.pdf

There are many colors of thread available. These are some of the colors I like from left to right. Metallic white, summer brown, olive, cream & tan. Here are the steps and a few helpful hints in tying the Yong Special.

Material List

Hook: TMC 101 size 18 thru 24

Thread: 10/0 white

Abdomen: Coats and Clark thread - your color of choice

Head: Black marker

Step 1 - Start your thread behind the eye of the hook. Tie in the Coats & Clark thread. Keep your tying thread really flat.

Step 2 - Tie the thread down all the way to the bend of the hook. keeping a flat smooth under body.

Step 3 - Wrap the Coats & Clark thread forward. Before wrapping forward, cord up the thread by spinning clockwise. If you cord up the thread tightly you will get the highly segmented body.

Step 4 - Tie of the Coats & Clark thread. Color your thread with a black marker, create the head of the fly. Whip finish and cement.

Finished fly brown

Finished fly olive

Give this pattern a try, simple to tie. Simple materials, highly effective in the water

1/17/10 Cheesman Canyon

2010-01-17T19:02:00.004-07:00

Let me start off by saying today was one of the most beautiful days for fishing I have had in January. Arrived at the parking lot with a friend at 7:00am temp was 27 degrees. Geared up and headed for mid river. This little rainbow was the first fish of the day. Flows for Cheesman Canyon where at 198 cfs. We did not see another person until around noon. That was sum what surprising considering how nice of a day it was.

As the day warmed up so did the fishing. Fish where moving into the riffles, me and Chris fished this shelf drop off and hooked up quite a few fish on the drop off.

Close up of the first fish of the day
Another beautiful rainbow
The fly of the day, Tan Youngs midge. Also my Golden stone nymph is a size 16 was tearing it up.

Hook: TMC101 size 24

Thread: 10/0 white

Abdomen: Coats and Clark thread tan

Head: White thread colored with black marker

2010 Fly Fishing Show Recap

2010-01-11T19:48:00.003-07:00

Well the Fly Fishing show is now over, it was a great weekend. Spent the last three days tying next to Lori Nicolas of Anglers All what neat Lady. I got to know hear a little bit over the years shopping at Anglers All. Her passion for fly fishing and tying is amazing, you could see the excitement in her when someone stopped and asked her a questions. It was a blast sitting next to her. Got to tie a lot of flies over the 3 days, the main pattern tied was my Golden Stone nymph.

Spent a little time taking to Juan Ramirez, it just amazing how much our tying styles are a like. I still think his hopper pattern is the best out there.

Also had the honor of sitting next to Mike Tucker, let me say this he is one of the most amazing tiers I have met. His work is out of this world.

The high light of the weekend for me was being invited to tying in Albuquerque by Deward Youcum. He invited me to tie next fall at there equivalent to the West Denver TU tying clinic. Spent a little time talking to Deward, what a neat guy. The only thing I wish was I could have spent more time looking at what the other tiers where working on.

Can't wait for next year

Sorry for the lack of actitivity

2010-01-07T14:26:00.002-07:00

I'm still around, sorry for the lack of activity on the blog. I had a water pipe break Christmas Eve, had to re-do the whole shower in my main bath. This has taken up a lot of my time hear of late. 5 person household in one bath room, not to much fun. Will be putting the final touches on the new cermic tile on Friday nght.

Just a reminder I will be tying at the Fly Fishing Show all weekend. Please stop in and say hi.

Size 26 Parachute BWO Dry

2009-12-13T13:19:00.002-07:00

Was a little bored today, wanted to try something different. I have always liked the challenge of tying small. Really pay close attention to the abdomen of this fly. Took a little trick I learned from Herm Degala to create the segmentation on the abdomen.

Hook: TMC2488 size 26

Thread: 17/0 Trico white

Tail: 3 fibres Coq De Lon feather

Abdomen: Olive micro tubing with the Coq De Lon fibres inserted

Post: White Float Viz

Hackle: Blue dun

I do not know If this is a sign of a sick mind.

Hope you enjoy.

West Denver TU Tying Clinic Februray 13th 2010

2009-12-05T05:47:00.003-07:00

Just a quick note, I received a call on Thursday from Jon Wiemer and I have been added to the line up this year for the tying clinic. Hope to see every one there.

Frying Pan River- 11/23/09

2009-11-24T09:31:00.002-07:00

Took the week of from work to use up vacation time. First trip of the week is to the Frying Pan river. Looked at forecast on Sunday night, almost wimped out. My friend Duane changed my mind. We met at the parking lot at I-70 and hogback at a little before 4:00am. The roads where not to bad, it was snowing from about Georgetown to the other side of Vail. We arrived at the Frying pan River about 7:45am, geared up and headed on to the flat. It was chilly, and a little breezy. The fishing was good. Browns seam to be on the flat in spawning mode. No monsters just a lot of good fish. I only caught a couple of rainbows, mostly browns. Fished to about 2:45pm then headed back. Great day, good company.

There was 2 different flies working well, orange egg and red mercury midge.

The picture above was from last years trip, this years trip was much of the same.

New BWO Nymph

2009-11-15T17:15:00.004-07:00

This is a new pattern I have been playing with. The pattern has had little time on the water. What little bit I have fished it, it has produced well. Looking for some more testing on the water, please tie some up and give them a test. Please post results in the comments.

Hook: TMC2488 - Sizes 16 thru 22

Thread: UTC 70D olive

Tail: Olive Partridge

Rib: X-small black wire

Wing case: Olive Lagartun flat mini braid

Throax: Arizona Peacock Dubbing

Legs: Olive Partridge

Tying At 2010 Fly Fishing Show - Denver, CO

2009-11-15T17:12:00.002-07:00

I have been added as a tier at the 2010 Fly Fishing Show, January 8th - 10th. I'm looking forward to this opportunity. Hope to to see everyone there. Stop by an introduce yourself.

Carl

Fly Tying Demo at Ghillie's Fly Shop

2009-11-03T19:18:00.002-07:00

For any body interested I will be tying a demo at Ghillie's Fly Shop in Colo. Springs. I will be tying some of my favorite nymphs and how to fish them. The demo will be projected in HD to a big screen TV, thanks to Juan Ramirez. Hope to see everyone on Saturday

Demo Starts at 10:00am

Ghillie's Fly Shop

3314 Austin Bluffs Pkwy

Colo. Springs, CO 80918

719-531-5413

Trying something New - Paraloop Hackle

2009-10-25T07:14:00.003-06:00

Trying something new, para loop hackles. I decided to learn a new skill in fly tying this morning. Para loop hackles flies are a fly I have enjoyed looking at. I took my favorite nymph emerger and tied it with a para loop hackle. Once you learn a few little tricks para loop hackles are fairly easy to tie. You tube has a few videos with para loop hackles tying instructions.

Biot Emerger Paraloop

Hook: TMC 2457 Size 16

Thread: 14/0 Grey

Tail: Amber Z-lon

Abdomen: Olive/Brown Goose Biot

Hackle post: 2lb mono

Hackle: Grizzly

Legs: Grey Fluoro Fibre - hard too see, not necessary

Thorax: Natural Muskrat

Can't wait to try this fly on my next trip, BWO hatch here I come.

Versatility of a Phesant Tail Nymph

2009-10-04T13:43:00.013-06:00

I was looking in my mayfly nymph box today and noticed all the different variations of the pheasant tail nymph I carry. So It got me thinking is there a more versatile nymph than the pheasant tail nymph. Here are examples of the pheasant tail nymph I carry in my fly box.

Standard PT nymph natural

Sizes 16 thru 20

Standard PT nymph olive color

Sizes 16 thru 20

Standard PT nymph black color

Sizes 16 thru 20

Stand PT nymph black/red color

Sizes 16 thru 20

Soft Hackle PT nymph

Sizes 16 and 18

Flash Back Bead Head PT nymph natural

Sizes 16 and 18

Red BH PT Nymph

Sizes 16 and 18

Mercury Bead PT nymph

Sizes 16 thru 20

The question is can a person carry to many pheasant tail nymphs?

Is there a more versatile nymph than the Pheasant Tail Nymph?

Biot Emerger BWO

2009-09-27T06:51:00.004-06:00

Hook: TMC 2457 size 16 thru 22

Thread: 8/0 grey

Tail: Amber Z-lon

Abdomen: Olive Brown Goose Biot

Wing case 1: UTC Mirage Opal Tinsel

Wing case 2: Grey Fluoro Fiber

Legs: Grey Fluoro Fiber

This fly is one that was picked up by Montana Fly Co.

Montana Fly Lucent Tungsten Beads - Christmas Red

2009-09-27T06:44:00.005-06:00

I saw these colored tungsten beads by Montana Fly Co. thought I would give them a try. They are available in a few colors, I like the red the best. A lot of possibilities for different midge patterns. With the winter coming and a lot of midge fishing on its way, a lot of testing around the corner