This fly was first tied by Harry Mason and I saw it tied in a video by Hans Weilenmann. It’s a little complicated to tie but I think it’s worth the effort. To tie the fly insert a hook into the vise and start the thread and wrap back to
If you plan to fish out West in July and August you should have plenty of Gray drake patterns in both the dun and spinner stages. One of the best patterns I have found to imitate the Gray Drake dun is the Gray Drake Comparadun. The Western Gray Drakes are
Many of the caddis flies in our area have either an olive, tan or cream body. This fly was first shown to me by fellow TU member and Lackawaxen river guide John Appert. It sort of makes the color of the caddis fly body a little easier to solve by
Starting about the third week of May until the middle of June the Golden Stonefly emerges on larger waters in our area. One of the patterns I use is the CDC Golden Stonefly. This pattern is fairly simple to tie and since it uses CDC feathers it floats like a
The Lacky Sunken Stone is a variation of a salmon fly pattern created by the late Nick Nicklas of West Yellowstone MT. Nick’s pattern was tied with an orange body on a 6xl hook in sizes 4 and 6. He also tied golden stones on size 8 hooks. Fortunately we
Next in the Clown Shoe series is the Amber Clown Shoe. I tied this pattern to represent the many caddis and mayflies in our area that are a “rusty” color. It is tied the same as the other Clown Shoe patterns with new material substituted. Hook – Tiemco Scud Hook
After tying the original clown shoe and being pleased how the fly looked, I decided to expand the selection. The first variation is the Olive Clown Shoe, it is tied the same as the original but with some materials being substituted. Hook – Tiemco #2487 Scud hook #12 – #18
In the April/May 2015 issue of Fly Fisherman magazine there was an article written by Charlie Craven about a Jay Zimmerman originated fly called the Clown Shoe. The article labeled the fly as “a no fail caddis fly”. I liked the looks of the fly and tied up the original
Cripple patterns are proven fish catching flies. In an earlier Fly of the Month a purple cripple pattern was featured . I had some sample dubbings that I ordered from Fly Tyers Dungeon (www.flytyersdungeon.com), the sample packs had 17 different dubbings, but one color caught my eye, it was PINK!
Over the past few seasons purple flies have come into their own. Most fly fishermen cannot explain the reason why trout go crazy for purple flies but they do. Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, MT (www.blue-ribbon-flies.com) has come up with a new pattern called a purple cripple. It has
