Catskill-Style Split Woodduck Wings - Joe Fox

Tim Flagler shot this video yesterday at the Spare Gray Matter event in Califon, NJ, of Joe demonstrating his method of splitting the woodduck flank feather for the wings on a Catskill-style dry fly.  Joe is a direct descendant of the Dette's - Walt, Winnie and Mary - and now operates the Dette Fly Shop in Roscoe, New York in the very same house on Cottage Street where Walt once showed me (many years ago) how he split the woodduck flank feather for the wings on his flies.       

The Fly Fishing Show - Lancaster, PA - Feb. 28 & March 1

Next Saturday and Sunday, The Fly Fishing Show comes to Lancaster, PA, and it's the last show of the 2015 show season.  I'll be there all weekend tying and keeping fairly busy doing a seminar and a featured tyer session on Saturday, and on Sunday morning at 8:30 am, I'll be teaching a tying class titled, "Tying Simple Dries for Sophisticated Trout", followed by an afternoon featured tyer session. The rest of the weekend I will be on the show floor tying flies and telling lies with the rest of the trout bums.

The featured tyer session on Saturday will be at 3:00 pm, and I'll showing how to tie a few of my favorite caddis emergers and dries.  And on Sunday, the session will be at 3:00 pm also, this time though I'll be tying extended-body mayflies.  Both sessions are free, and so everyone has a good seat, the tying action will be shown on a large screen television.  Commercial free!  

For more information and to sign up for the tying class follow the link here: Lancaster PA Fly Fishing Show    

Hope to see you there.

Tying the Infamous Pink Worm

So, what's the big deal? It's a San Juan Worm with an egg. Yeah, sure, there are anglers whose sphincter will tighten up like wet leather in the midday sun when they see fly patterns like this. But really, it's just another version of a time-tested pattern that originated on a big, southwestern tail water known for mostly for the tiny flies usually needed to catch the fat trout that lived within.  A worm, a simple life form that trout love to eat. And then someone added an egg to the mix, which of course, is another time tested pattern that gathers the panties of the old guard.  So you have two non-traditional patterns combined into a single fly that by all accounts works quite well, and it's bright pink.  I think its that bright pink that draws the fish to this fly, while at the same time drawing disdain from some anglers.  To each his own.

And so we present Tim Flagler in another fine video, showing how he ties the Infamous Pink Worm. 

           

Sharpen your hooks!

We May Not Be Fishing, But Other Folks Are

In this part of the country, very little fly fishing is going on thanks to it being the dead winter, so to speak.  In the mountains of North Carolina, it's a different story as you can see here.  One of Doug's friends sent him this photo of one of the trout he caught today, and you may recall that Doug calls these southern gems  "the most beautiful trout in the world".  It's easy to see why.

    

Wet vs. Dry - Singlebarbed Explains

While I use 6/0 Olive Danville thread for the vast majority of of the flies I tie, there are occasions when I stray from that norm.  Our friend Singlebarbed, explains clearly why that is often necessary, in his own unique way: 

In actuality, flies are darker when wet than when dry. Fish are likely to eat them, but may not eat them with the gusto reserved for the predominant hatch, and refusals can be more common than a properly colored imitation.

Read the entire post here: THE UNNECESSARY DROUGHT IN FLY TYING

Thank you, KB, well done.

Of course, when I don't use Danville 6/0 olive, I still use Danville 6/0. 

Sharpen your hooks!

River Snorkel: Trout Generations

Sharpen you hooks!

The Snow Moon and Jupiter

Tonight the early evening sky is bright with the full snow moon in the East accompanied by the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter.  Jupiter sits to the direct left of the snow moon early in the evening, and as the night proceeds, it follows our moon through its night time journey.  And just as cool, if you look in the opposite side of the sky you will see Venus shining bright in the Western sky. For more on this wonderful phenomenon, click HERE.

So what is so cool about Jupiter?  It is the largest planet in our solar system and it is 483,800,000 miles from the sun.  Think about that......we are seeing a planet that is millions of miles away from us yet it glows so very bright - it is the third brightest object in the night sky behind the moon and Venus, despite being so much farther away from us.  And it is huge - its radius is 43,441 miles, compared to the earth's radius of 3,959 miles.  And it takes the earth a year to orbit the sun, while it takes Jupiter 12 years!

It's just one more thing that makes life so rich and fascinating.

Tying the Klinkhamer

Here's another great tying video from Tightline Productions - Tim Flager ties the Klinkhamer.  It can be fished with success during mayfly, caddis or midge hatches, or as a general attractor - just change the size and color combination to match the hatch.  This fly is also a very popular dry fly when using a dry/dropper combination.  In short, this fly is a serious contender on most angler's top ten dry fly lists.

Tie some up and give them a try.  Since winter is upon us, you'll want them in smaller sizes (#18 - 22), to imitate the midges that are often present on our rivers and streams.

Sharpen your hooks!