Graham's Cracker

My friend Graham showed me this fly a few years ago. He swears by it and uses it everywhere from Lake Ontario tributaries to high mountain streams in California.

It's simple to tie. I wrap chartruese thread on the hook then wrap micro tubing over the top. Use a little white egg yarn for the viel and finish off the head. Graham likes to use Christmas tree tinsle for an underbody and chartruese tubing.

Tie them up now because it's that time of year and the brown trout from the lake will be hungry for some Graham Crackers!

Midge Man's Midges

My recent trip to a local spring creek got me interested in midges again and while cruising around the internet I found a great site by a guy who goes by Midge Man. His website Poudre Canyon Chronicles has pages worth of midge patterns. I especially liked the box he recently filled....in "a week's" time. That box would take me months to fill with the way too infrequent time I get at the vise.

So if you're looking for some midge inspiration have a look at his site.
LINK

Bottom Hand

A new blog went up just about a week ago, called Bottom Hand. It is rumored to be the work of a group of 2 handed fly fishermen enthusiasts from across the country. Two of those are based in NY. Shaq who runs Spey Nation posted a a few sweet flies he tied up to fish when the rains start falling today!

Check them out at Bottom Hand

With the forcast of a few INCHES of rain coming for the Rochester area, it could make for an interesting time on the creeks this Saturday...when I FINALLY get out!!!

Another Stippled Popper

These poppers are just amazing!

DJ Roughfisher Mixes the Dub

USCarpPro has an article by Roughfisher that talks about making your own dubbing. Anyone who loves paying too much for dubbing should visit oprah.com instead. All others who don't mind mixing their own blends should start at page 88.


LINK

Tubes for Bass

Eumer Pro Fishing Accessories shows a great way to mix and match poppers with tails. I've wanted to try this for a while, but haven't done it yet. I've often wondered if there was a good way to rig them so if you got snagged you could break off the hook and not lose the popper head. This would allow for less crying like a girl when a nice popper head was lost to a tree.

LINK to Eumer

Crease Fly Took A Swim

I had a few minutes today so I took one of my crease flies for a swim. Went to one of my favorite local ponds that is only about .25 acres or less, and often gets weeded over in mid summer. With todays wind and cooler temps it wasn't weedy on top at all.

I rigged up my line with about 5 feet of sink tip and put the crease fly on. This worked well since the line would sink, then when I stripped in the fly it would dive down, but still float up to the surface if given enough time. I could see how this fly and this line setup could be very effective during the summer. I've always thought that fish are more willing to bite if they don't have to come up to the surface. I do however love fishing the surface, so I do that plenty, but this setup gives me an option to go under and still have a chance to not hook into anything since the fly is trying to float.

In the end I didn't catch anything, but had a few hits out of the spot above. Still good to toss a fly even if only for a short time.

Before this stop, I took my daughter to a tiny local trib to look for salmon and fat browns. There aren't any in there yet, but in the next few weeks that will likely change!

An Egg or an Omelette?

Deneki Outdoors post Get It Down! got me thinking....should we offer fish an egg or an omelette?

I've tied plenty of single egg flies, and some cluster eggs, but after seeing the picture they shared I've been trying to think how I could tie up a carton of eggs fly.

Either way, I'm thinking I should tie some eggs up tonight!

The Great Pumpkin

I'm amazed at the work this guy does. He goes by Stippled Popper online.

Here's "The Great Pumpkin" and some of his friends!

...just another reminder that I have to buy more popper heads!

Legged Gurgler

I had this idea to thread some rubber legs through some foam. So last night I tied up this legged gurgler variant.

Of course, there are some variations to the original gurgler pattern, but that's what tying's all about.  When tying this, I did use supper glue at both points where the foam is wrapped. Fishing this pattern this summer I found that the foam likes to rotate around the hook. Hopefully the super glue will help keep it in place....hopefully.

The rubber legs did exactly what I expected....pointed straight down. I want to figure out a way to get them to stick out to the side a bit more. But, for now, having tried this idea out, it's got the brain working on other ideas! 

Here's a cool step by step of how to tie a more traditional gurgler.

http://www.danblanton.com/hotflyLeeGurglerinst.html

Crease Flies

I've never tied or used a crease fly, but have always been interested in giving some a try. I have 1 that I got in a swap years ago, but never wanted to lose it, so it's never been fished.

Tonight, I got the chance to tie some up. They turned out pretty good and I'm definitely going to give them a shot on the water...hopefully this week.

I think covering them in epoxy as most people seem to do is a good idea. I tried to super glue the eyes on and that worked ok, so far, but didn't look as nice as I think a coat of epoxy will look.