Caddis Chronicles

With our New Jersey area rivers being frighteningly low and warm right now, Tim Flagler is looking forward to when we get some serious rain and aggressive fall trout.  Here he ties his Dumb Bunny streamer, that not only is a good trout pattern, but also can be tied and fished to target bass, stripers, pike and any other good-sized meat eating fish.

Team USA won its third straight world title, and its fourth in five years — this one in the U.S., specifically on three rivers and two lakes in Eagle and Summit counties, Colorado.

LINK: Vail Daily

Douglas is in the second row, third from left.  Here he is with a nice brown.

Here's a fly that stands out to both fish and fishermen.  It's a big, nasty, high floating terrestrial imitation (or maybe just a big meal) that can be fished on its own, or as the dry in a dry-dropper rig. Tim takes you through the steps to get the perfectly segmented body with minimal wraps of thread, and a few other tips on tying with foam.  

As for any fishing reports, things have been too hot around here and the rivers have been much too low for trout fishing.   I plan to be in the Catskills next weekend, and if that goes as planned, I'll report back here on how things go.

Sharpen your hooks. 

Last year I tied a bunch of Ausable Wulffs for C. D. Clarke, a very well-known sporting artist that happens to live near me and whom I run into around town and at the Tewksbury Inn.  When I brought the flies to him, knowing he hunted birds and ducks, I asked if he could swap some woodduck flank feathers in lieu of paying me.  He was glad to oblige, but with our busy schedules I forgot about it, and in reality, I was happy to tie the flies for him with nothing in return but knowing he would fish them with the same passion that I tied them with.  

Fast forward to last week.  I was having dinner at the Tewksbury Inn and C.D. was there having dinner also.  We talked for a minute or two, than them he said he'd be right back.  While he went to his car I got caught up with his constant companion, Tracey Warmus, on their recent Atlantic salmon fishing trip.  In perhaps five minutes time, he came back in carrying a clear bag full of woodduck flank feathers.  For a Catskill fly tyer, this is more valuable than gold and I was and am very grateful for his generosity. Since then, I've been using it to tie some of my favorite dry flies - traditional Catskill dry flies.  Here's a Quill Gordon I tied on top of two of my favorite fly tying things, a Rite Bobbin and 6/0 Olive Danville thread.   

       

(Click on photo to enlarge)

It's fairly likely that many of you have seen C.D.'s work in one of the many hunting and fishing magazines.  He does beautiful work, and he is a heck of a nice guy, too.  Check out his resume and work by clicking here: C.D. Clarke 

Sharpen your hooks!

So the cat's out of the bag.  The real reason Tim's videos are so good is because his hot blond assistant keeps us focused on the task at hand.  In this fine video, Tim shows us the virtues of tippet rings with the help of his assistant who knows the importance of being seen but not heard; if you watch carefully though, you will see her roll her eyes at some of Tim's comments.  Clearly, she doesn't fish.