Fly of the Week

Red Quill

The top fly in the photo is the Red Quill. The bottom fly in the photo is the Hendrickson. As noted in a previous Fly of the Week update, many fly fishers tie a Red Quill to mimic the male and a Hendrickson to mimic the female of Ephemerella subvaria, the Hendrickson Hatch, according to the authors of Hatches II. The Hendrickson pattern, listed as a recent Fly of the Week (FOTW), has generated positive comments and has sprung the request for a Red Quill pattern. The following pattern is based on the Red Quill naturals I recently captured from the Yellow Breeches. I am confident that the pattern below, which has worked well for me, will catch fish on the Yellow Breeches and other streams that harbor the Hendrickson in early spring. When using the Hendrickson or any other dry fly, I dust the fly with fumed silica. Most fly fishers know the floatant as Frog's Fanny.

Recipe:
Hook: Mustad, 94831, size 16 or 14
Thread: Camel, 8/0
Tail: 3-4 Wood Duck Barbules
Rib: 6/0 Light Cahill Thread
Body: Root Beer (Sonychia), Hobbs Ever-Float # 34
Hackle: Dark Dun and Natural Hungarian Partridge

GENERAL TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb of the hook, if it has one, before securing the hook in the vise jaws.

2) Secure the hook in the vise jaws, attach the thread behind the eye and lay down a single layer of thread to the bend of the hook.

3) Select 3-4 wood duck barbules and tie in as the tail. Tie in a four-inch piece of 6/0 Light Cahill thread for the rib.

4) Dub the body and rib with the Light Cahill 6/0 thread.

5) Tie in the Dark Dun hackle approximately 1/3 behind eye of hook. Tie in the Hungarian Partridge feather by the tip immediately behind the eye of the hook. Select a feather form the shoulder area. Cut the surplus tip material. The tip should face the bend of the hook.

6) Wrap the Dark Dun hackle forward and tie off at the partridge feather.

7) Wrap the partridge feather, toward the bend of the hook, two times and tie off. The partridge feather should slightly penetrate/overlap the front of the Dark Dun hackle.

8) Form the head and whip finish.

Grannom

On April 1st as I fished the Yellow Breeches an adult Grannom fluttered past me. Ten minutes later a second adult Grannom fluttered past. I made a mental note to log the sightings on the calendar. A splashy rise and my attention immediately focused on the far bank where the water stalls out and trout gather to take the naturals that ride high on the slower moving water. The natural I spotted on the surface was not a Grannom but a Hendrickson. Soon it is gone in the wake of a splashy rise. Hurriedly I tied on the Hendrickson pattern that I recently featured as the Fly of the Week and hooked the fish on the first cast. Soon a second hook up and subsequent release followed and next I experienced two nicks, resulting in short hookups and the fish escaping. Working an additional fifty yards of the far bank proved negative. Oh well, with Hendricksons and Grannoms beginning to make appearances on the Yellow Breeches we should be subject to darn good early spring fishing. I want to shout cabin fever be gone for spring has truly arrived! The adult Grannoms that I collected have a distinctive chartreuse rib on the abdomen. The addition of the chartreuse 6/0 thread, as a rib, has had a major impact on the number of takes. The chartreuse rib is one more trigger that elicits a fish to take a hand tied Grannom as a natural.

Recipe:
Hook: Mustad, 94840 or TMC 900BL, size 16
Thread: Black, 6/0

Rib: Chartreuse, 6/0 Uni-Thread
Body: Charcoal Gray or Black Pseudo Seal
Under Wing: CDC Black or Baetis
Wing: Gray Natural Deer Hair

GENERAL TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb of the hook, if it has one, before securing the hook in the vise jaws.

2) Secure the hook in the vise jaws, attach the thread behind the eye and lay down a single layer of thread to the bend of the hook. Tie in a four inch piece of chartreuse 6/0 thread at the bend of the hook.

3) Select the charcoal gray or Pseudo Seal black dubbing and form a body. Slightly build up the area immediately behind the eye of the hook. After forming the body, rib the chartreuse thread forward to the eye of the hook and tie off.

4) Select two matched CDC feathers and tie in behind the eye of the hook. CDC fibers should extend to the bend of the hook.

5) Tie in the gray natural deer hair that closely resembles the natural's wings. Three or four soft turns and several tight turns with the tying thread will prevent the deer hair wing from splaying.

6) Half hitch or whip finishing will complete the head. Should you be fortunate to be in the midst of a blizzard-like Grannom event, select a rising trout and concentrate on accurate casts. You will be rewarded. Follow that pattern of presentation and do not succumb to random casting at rising fish! Become the fly fishers that leaves the stream with numerous hookups and releases and not the fly fisher that later tells buddies that "the trout were up all over, but I only caught a few!"

Henrdickson

Many fly fishers tie a Red Quill to mimic the male and a Hendrickson to mimic the female of Ephemerella subvaria, the Hendrickson Hatch, according to the authors of Hatches II. My copy of Hatches II was obtained from a small book store in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania many years ago while Gayle and I and another couple were cross country skiing in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania. The price of the used book was well under ten dollars and has been one of my 'go to' books for well over 15 years.

As noted in Recent News and Happenings, the following pattern, based on the naturals I captured from the Yellow Breeches in late March of 2006, has been a keeper. I trust the below pattern will continue to be satisfying on the Yellow Breeches and other streams that harbor the Hendrickson in early spring.

Recipe:
Hook: Mustad, 94831, size 16
Thread: Iron Gray, 8/0
Tail: 3-4 Wood Duck Barbules
Rib: 6/0 Light Cahill Thread
Body: Silver Olive Dun, Hobbs Ever-Float # 66
Hackle: Dark Dun and Natural Hungarian Partridge

GENERAL TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb of the hook, if it has one, before securing the hook in the vise jaws.

2) Secure the hook in the vise jaws, attach the thread behind the eye and lay down a single layer of thread to the bend of the hook.

3) Select 3-4 wood duck barbules and tie in as the tail. Tie in a four inch piece of 6/0 Light Cahill thread for the rib.

4) Dub a body of Silver Olive Dun Ever-Float material and rib with the Light Cahill thread.

5) Tie in the Dark Dun hackle approximately 1/3 behind eye of hook. Tie in the Hungarian Partridge feather (select a small feather from the head section) by the tip immediately behind the eye of the hook and cut the surplus tip material. The tip should face the bend of the hook.

6) Wrap the Dark Dun hackle forward and tie off at the partridge feather.

7) Wrap the partridge feather, toward the bend of the hook, two times and tie off. The partridge feather should slightly penetrate/overlap the front of the Dark Dun hackle.

8) Form the head and whip finish.

Small Black Stonefly

The air temperature was in the high teens, the sun was shining brightly at high noon and the wind was not blowing, it was time to go fishing. A wave of cold blustery weather held the Cumberland Valley captive for well over ten days and it was time to shake off the onset of cabin fever. As I suspected, the trout were up sipping midges. The number of fish working the surface was impressive for all the cold/frigid days and nights we experienced. Well you know the rest of the story about the small black stonefly from reading Recent News and Happenings or you would not be looking for the tying instructions.

Recipe:
Hook: Mustad, 94840, size 22
Thread: Black, 8/0
Body: Black thread
Wing: Black hackle

GENERAL TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb of the hook, if it has one, before securing the hook in the vise jaws.

2) Secure the hook in the vise jaws, attach the thread behind the eye and lay down a single layer of thread to the bend of the hook and half way back to the eye.

3) Select two small black hackles and tie in at the half way point with tips extending approximately a quarter inch beyond the bend of the hook. Cut the stem on one of the hackles and wrap the remaining hackle forward.

4) Half hitch or whip finish to form the head.

5) Clip the hackle barbules off the top of the hook shank.

Porcupine Quill

In our travels to trout streams outside of the Cumberland Valley it is not uncommon to see porcupines that have been killed by vehicular traffic on many of the secondary roads. My hunting and fishing camp is located near Snowshoe, PA in a remote area. The 2.5mile drive from the hardtop is via a dirt road and the occasional road kill porcupine supplies me with ample guard hairs to tie the quill body of the Porcupine Quill Fly.

The Blue Quill generally appears in early spring and can be found in the summer and as late as October. The Porcupine Quill does an admirable job of replication and trout do respond. The added value of the porcupine guard hair for the body of the fly is excellent buoyancy and durability. Also, the slender off white tip of the porcupine guard hair can be used for the abdomen of the female Trico. It may be prudent to clip the bottom half of the dun hackle when fishing for trout that are fished over heavily. The resulting flush floating image can be surprisingly effective.

Recipe:
Hook: TMC 100 bl (barb less), size 18
Thread: Uni-Thread iron gray, 8/0
Tail: Dun feather barbs
Body: Porcupine guard hair
Hackle: Dun # 1 grade

GENERAL TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb and secure the hook in the vise jaws. Attach the tying thread behind the eye and lay down a layer of thread to the curve of the hook.

2) The tail consists of 4-6 dun barbs selected from the mid section of a large feather. The tail should approximate the length of the hook shank. Maintain a uniform body base by covering the tail butts with thread to the hook eye and clip the surplus. The larger number of barbs enhances floatability and can mimic the remains of a shuck.

3) Place the tapered end of the porcupine guard hair on top of the bend of the hook, facing the eye and tie in. The tie in point is where the dark portion meets the off white portion. Wind the thread and then the guard hair to the eye and clip the surplus guard hair.

4) Select a hackle that is 1.5 times the hook gap and tie in, approximately, one third the distance behind the hook eye. Tightly spiral the hackle to the hook eye and tie off.

5) Form a neat thread head and finish off the fly with several half hitches or if preferable, whip finish. Applying cement to the head is optional.

Iron Gray Midge

I stepped into the water above the Allenberry dam and was pleased to see only one fly fisher well above the area I intended to fish. It was mid afternoon and the fish were up sipping midges. The number of fish working the surface was impressive for the last week in December. It was another "gift" of a day, weather wise, and I was privileged to be on one of the finer limestone streams in PA. The majority of fish were working the flow line along the bank closest to the railroad which was unusual because, normally, the fish sip along the opposite warmer water bank and out toward the middle of the stream. Fifty plus degree F water from the Run enters the Yellow Breeches and flows along the Allenberry side. In winter the few degree warmer water attracts and holds fish. I adjusted my upstream approach, got into casting distance of a pod of sipping fish, fine tuned my tippet to 8X and attached a #32 Iron Gray Midge. I cautioned myself to look for a telltale sip near where I thought the minute fly would be. Three casts and a hookup later I thought "YES" the minute midge was close enough to the natural midge to warrant takes. My internal fishing radar zeroed in on the feeding fish and the remainder of the two hours of daylight zipped by. This is four seasons flyfishing at it's best and extremely challenging.

Recipe:

Hook: TMC, 518, size 32

Thread: Iron Gray, 8/0

Body: Iron Gray thread

Wing: Mottled Cul De Canard (CDC) light dun

GENERAL TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb of the hook, if it has one, before securing the hook in the vise jaws.

2) Secure the hook in the vise jaws, attach the thread behind the eye and lay down a single layer of thread to the bend of the hook. Return the thread rib style to the eye of the hook.

3) Select 5-6 fibers from the bottom of the mottled CDC feather and tear them off. Lay the middle of the bundle of fibers on top and in line of the hook immediately behind the eye and secure with 2-3 thread wraps. Fold the forward facing bundle fibers over the hook and over the rearward facing fibers toward the bend of the hook and form a thorax at the bend with 2-3 thread wraps. Clip the fibers at an angle to form the wing. Note: Several flies can be tied with one CDC feather using this method. Upon using up the larger fibers, one can then use the CDC tip for the last fly. Most tiers use only the tip and toss the remaining fibers. Be a smart tier and use up the whole CDC feather. CDC feathers are too expensive to waste!

4) Half hitch or whip finishing will form the head.

Olive Caterpillar

October is an excellent time to fish the Olive caterpillar as a terrestrial. Prime times are from mid morning to late evening. Another variation of the caterpillar is the typical reddish and black/brown wooly bug that we see at this time of year and comment "looks like a hard winter in the making because of the number and fuzziness of the bugs". The approach to using the olive caterpillar starts with a 3x or 4x tippet and plopping the olive caterpillar on the water surface. Be alert for a crushing take. If the take is not immediate, allow the bug to float and mend the line often. The mending gives the caterpillar movement and often results in a smashing take. Because of the olive color the caterpillar may be hard to see on the surface, so look for the smashing takes or occasionally a swirl near the area you think the caterpillar should be. Clip the deer hair short on the bottom to facilitate a good hook up.

Recipe:
Hook: Mustad, 94831, size12, 2x fine

Thread: Olive or Chartreuse 6/0

Body: Olive Coastal Deer

Head: Optional black marking with permanent marker.

GENERAL TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb before securing the hook in the vise jaws. Secure the hook in the vise and attach the tying thread behind the eye. Lay down a layer of thread to the hook bend.

2) Cut a small bundle of coastal deer hair, clip the hair tips, wrap the thread tightly around the middle of the bundle and flare around the shank.

3) Push each bundle tightly against each other. About four or five stacks of deer hair will cover the hook.

4) Half hitch and trim the body to the desired shape. It is important to trim the hair tightly on the bottom to facilitate hook up.

August 30, 2006

Stonefly Stimulator

The West Branch of the Au Sable River is a perfect place in August to toss the high floating and colorful Stimulator at receptive trout. The water level is usually lower for comfortable wading. Look for stretches of fast moving water cascading around numerous boulders. Ease into the water and position your self several yards off shore and gradually move across the stream, while tossing the stimulator upstream to work the seams between the boulders. One trip across the stream should net several trout. Move up or down the bank thirty or so yards and start fishing back across the stream. Repeat this process and when the time arrives to leave, a good number of fish should have been caught and released.

Recipe:
Hook: 3X, Size12-8

Thread: Orange, 6/0

Tail: Deer hair

Rib: Brown saddle hackle

Body: Green or yellow poly

Wing: Brown deer hair

Hackle: Grizzly

Thorax: Orange poly

TYING INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Pinch the barb before securing the hook in the vise jaws. Secure the hook in the vise and attach the tying thread behind the eye. Lay down a layer of thread and attach the deer hair tail.

2) Tie in the brown saddle hackle by the tip and then tie in the green or yellow poly. Fish tend to favor the green or yellow but unfortunately you won't know the favorite until you begin fishing. Wind the poly forward to the eye and tie off. Next spiral the hackle forward and tie off.

3) Tie in the deer hair wing. The wing should extend beyond the hook bend but not beyond the tail. Leave adequate room for the thorax and hackle materials.

4) Tie in the grizzly saddle hackle. Next tie in the orange poly and form the thorax. Wind the grizzly hackle forward with small spacing between turns and tie off just behind the eye. Build a small but tapered head and whip finish.

Note: The green or yellow abdomen and orange thorax plus the large wing provide a silhouette that is hard for the fish and fisherman to miss.

August 14, 2006

CIA Fly

A fishing friend of mine introduced me to a fly that works well on the March Brown and Gray Fox roll over hatches. Most folks consider the March Brown and the Gray Fox to be the same bug, only difference, is the size. However, the size difference warrants a two bug distinction in my entomology book. I have found this fly, which I dubbed the "Cover it all" (CIA) Fly to be successful on all bugs that emerge with a yellow, cream or white body color. This includes, but not limited to, the Sulphurs, the March Browns and Gray Fox along with the Avaria's, Light Cahills and White flies. The major adjustment for the above mentioned flies is the size. Tie a few and you will agree the CIA fly is a keeper. Fish this fly in the surface film as an emerger/crippled dun.

Recipe:
Hook: Size to match the natural fly, usually no smaller than a size 16.

Thread: Light Cahill , 6/0

Body: Cream or light yellow polypropylene yarn or dubbing. I prefer the poly yarn found in craft stores.

Rib: Camel thread, 6/0

Hackle: Ginger with barbules no larger than 1.5 times the hook gap.

Secondary Hackle: Partridge feather from the head area.

TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb before securing the hook in the vise jaws. Secure the hook in the vise and attach the tying thread behind the eye and lay down a layer of thread to the curve of the hook.

2) Tie in the ribbing material and poly. Return the thread to 3/16th inch behind the eye.

3) Tie in the ginger and partridge hackles and then advance the poly to form the body and then rib.

4) Wrap the ginger hackle and tie off. Next wrap the partridge hackle through the ginger hackle and tie off.

5) Half hitch and cut the tying thread!

6) No tail is necessary for the CIA.

August 4 , 2006

Japanese Beetle

Japanese Beetles usually appear on our stretch of the Yellow Breeches about late June. The tell tale sign is Gayle standing over her rose bushes and our small grape arbor picking off Japanese Beetles and destroying them by placing them in a bucket of soapy water. Beetle pickin' is a daily occurrence and most often several times a day for about four to six weeks. Japanese Beetles can fly one to two miles to feed and I believe many of them end up in the trout stream where fish become nature's effective Japanese Beetle trap. These are hardy critters because one of their favorite foods is poison ivy leaves!

Recipe:
Hook: Mustad, C49S curved caddis, size14

Thread: Olive, 6/0

Body: Black closed cell foam, cut about hook gap width.

Underbody: Kreinik metallic 1/16 ribbon

Wingcase: Copper Swiss Straw

Wings: Kreinik metallic 1/16 ribbon

Note: For the body, I really like Bill Skilton's stretchy foam. It is easy to use and floats well!

TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb before securing the hook in the vise jaws. Secure the hook in the vise and attach the tying thread behind the eye. Lay down a layer of thread to mid hook and tie in the Swiss straw, then continue over wrapping the straw to the curve of the hook.

2) Return the thread to mid hook and tie in foam and overlap foam with thread to hook curve.

3) Tie in Kreinik ribbon and wrap forward to within 1/8th inch of hook eye, trim.

4) Fold foam over eye of hook and tie down, leaving 1/16th inch buffer, with 5 or 6 wraps. Cut foam even with eye of hook.

5) Fold Swiss Straw and tie down. Cut straw even with eye of hook.

6) Tie in wing, spinner fashion with figure eight loops. Wings should extend 3/8th inch on each side of hook eye.

7) . Now is the time to half hitch and cut the tying thread!

July 20, 2006

BLACK FLYING ANT

The swarming flying ants in summer and fall bring trout to the surface, so tie several and carry them in your fly box. Swarming usually occurs several days after heavy rain and may last only an hour over a stream. The appearance of swarming flying ants is not predictable and usually catches the fly fisher by surprise.

Recipe:
Hook: TMC 900BL or Mustad, size 20
Thread: Black, 8/0

Body: Black thread

Hackle: Dark Dun or Black

Wings: White CDC

2) Build a segmented abdomen and tie in two CDC feathers by the tips ahead of the abdomen to mimic the four wings of the natural.

3) Tie in a small hackle at the Abdomen to mimic the legs and then build a thorax.

4) Half hitch and cut the tying thread!

Note: UNI-Floss 1X in black makes an excellent ant body but can be difficult because as floss it tends to "get away" from the tyer. Maintain tension on the floss while tying and the resulting ant is life-like.

June 28, 2006

TRICO SPINNER

Tricos were in the air on May 1 and I was fortunate to net a couple dozen and then placed them in a specimen vial. During the recent PA Fly Fishing Heritage Day held at Allenberry, Professor Greg Hoover held a program on Aquatic Entomology for the Fly Angler and later we discussed the early Trico showing. Tricos normally appear in July so Greg was enthused about the early appearance. He asked to take the vial of Tricos to his Penn State lab for examination and promised to give me a report. The Yellow Breeches had an impressive spring Hendrickson hatch and the Grannom caddis was unusually heavy in numbers. The Hendricksons were non existent or sparse for the past 20 years. Later I thought I should have asked Greg if global warming might be triggering the unusual hatch activity on the Yellow Breeches. Our climate is changing, folks! As the Trico hatch progresses through the summer it usually becomes necessary to downsize the fly, especially while fishing over pressured waters like the Yellow Breeches.

Recipe:
Hook: Mustad, size 24 - 28

Thread: Black 8/0

Abdomen: Black thread

Thorax: Peacock Herl

Wing: White Hi-Vis Antron (white CDC feathers can also be used)

TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb and secure the hook in the vise jaws. Attach the tying thread behind the eye and lay down a layer of thread to the curve of the hook.

2) Return the thread to mid hook and tie in a small piece of Hi-Vis Antron. The longer section of Antron will face the bend of the hook. The amount of Antron material overlapping the bend of the hook will equal two times the hook gap.

3) Snip the short end of Antron, tie in peacock herl and take three wraps and secure. Fold the Antron over the herl and tie off at the eye of the hook with about four turns of the thread. Before cutting the thread, place two wraps of tying thread under the Antron and around the hook eye to offset the Antron, thus make it easier to thread and tie the tippet material while fishing.

4) Half hitch and cut the tying thread. Now place the index finger on the tip of the Antron extending out over the hook eye and push it back gently to the hook eye, causing a parachute type spinner wing.

5) To create a female Trico spinner, dab the butt end of the black thread abdomen with an opaque permanent white ink marker.

May 31, 2006

GREEN DRAKE

On May 15, The Green Drake activity began on Yellow Creek. Mike Kauffman and I were fortunate enough to be on Yellow Creek the 20th and 21st and caught several fish that were taking Emergers and Duns. The hatch activity had a window from about 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., unfortunately the evening was sour without the appearance of the female egg laying spinner commonly known as the coffin fly. The locals said the cold spell that griped the area while we were there was the reason for the lack of coffin flies. They felt spinner activity would improve in a few days, as the weather was to turn much warmer.

The fly of the week pictured is of a natural Green Drake Dun, which landed on my open fly box while I was searching through fly boxes for a drake emerger pattern. My spinner drake patterns were sufficient but the dun pattern was sorely lacking. That night at Mike's camp I tied several duns that represented the natural Green Drake real well and the next day, a few fish evidently felt the same way.

TYING INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Pinch the barb and secure the hook in the vise jaws. Attach the tying thread behind the eye and lay down a layer of thread to the curve of the hook and return to ¼ inch of hook eye. Tie in a large fiber dark dun hackle and a medium fiber ginger hackle. Double hackles help float this somewhat bulky fly.

2) Select and tie in two dark dun and one ginger hackle tips for the tail. The hackle tips should extend ¾ inch beyond hook bend and have fibers slightly smaller than the hook gap.

3) At the bend, tie in another ginger hackle by the tip to be palmered later and tie in a five inch piece of 3/0 light cahill thread. These items will become the rib.

4) Tie in the green poly yarn at the hook bend and wind the tying thread to the hook eye. Wind the yarn forward to the hook eye and secure. Rib the body with 3/0 light cahill thread and palmer the ginger hackle. The palmered hackle should cover approximately three quarters or more of the shank.

The midge in winter is an important food staple for trout on many streams. The following midge pattern is good for winter midge fishing but is not to be forgotten when the major hatches appear in April and May. Ever wonder what the trout are taking while you scan the water for naturals to appear? Why the subtle rises when no big bugs are obvious? For example, prior to the evening appearance of Sulphurs in early May on the Yellow Breeches, the fish are up and close observation reveals midges on the surface. I usually catch several trout before the Sulphurs appear. The V Midge Emerger is easy to tie, highly visible and successful on the water so don't hesitate to tie some. The CDC forces the body of the fly into the surface film (to facilitate the upright or V appearance, wet the body but not the CDC) and mimics the appearance of the natural midge emerger.

1) Pinch the barb before securing the hook in the vise jaws. Secure the hook in the vise and attach the tying thread behind the eye. Lay down a layer of thread to the curve of the hook.

2) Return the thread to mid hook and tie in two similar size CDC feathers. The tips of the CDC feathers will face the bend of the hook. The amount of CDC material overlapping the bend of the hook will equal one and a half times the hook gap. Snip the CDC butts and save for the next fly.

3) Return the thread to the eye of the hook, fold the CDC feathers to the eye of the hook and tie off with about six turns of the thread. Before cutting the thread, place two or three wraps of tying thread under the CDC and around the hook eye to offset the CDC and thus make it easier to thread and tie the tippet material while fishing. Now is the time to half hitch and cut the tying thread!

Caddis flies generally hatch in the morning and evening hours. Caddis characteristly come up, pop through the surface film and fly off. They are unlike the popular Mayflies that hatch in large numbers, at a predicable time, and ride the surface for a distance thus becoming highly visible to the fly fisher and also the trout. However the advantage of the caddis is its random emergence during the day. It is up and gone in a hurry so trout tend to waste little time hammering caddis that are within their feeding range. Therefore I use a tandem caddis emerger rig with moderate to, at times, embarrassing success as a search fly when Mayflies or Caddis flies hatches are not obvious.

1) Pinch the barb before securing the hook in the vise jaws. Occasionally, the hook will break when pinching the barb so it is better to have that happen prior to spending time tying the fly. Secure the hook in the vise jaws and attach the tying thread behind the eye. Lay down a base low on the curve of the hook.

3) Tie Z-lon in front of the dubbing so that it encircles the dubbing and extends well beyond the bend of the hook. Tie an overhand knot of 6/0 thread around the Z-lon about equal to the hook shank length. Cut the thread tag ends. Cut the Z-lon behind the knot approximately one sixteenth of an inch and singe it with a lighter (see instructor for lighter). Super glue the tip if necessary.

6) Tie-in a wing the length of the body using snowshoe rabbit feet hair. Half hitch or whip finish, snip the butts to form the head and cement.

7) Good luck in leisure! Note: The Winter 2004 issue of Fly Tyer carried an interesting article on using rabbit foot hair for tying flies. Also, the snowshoe hare turn white in winter not only for the benefit of camouflage, but also for extra warmth. A pigment called melanin is removed from the hair and creates empty space inside each hair. The air space acts as insulation and keep the hare warmer during the winter. As the season turns, the pigment gradually returns and the hare turns brown.

Caddis flies are a main food item in most streams. The Yellow Breeches is no exception. During the winter, caddis larva must continue its maturation process called instars. As the cased caddis outgrows its case, it moves about while building a new case. This movement may take place in the immediate area or some drifting may take place. I have pulled the caddis larva from cases and have found them to be grub-like in appearance, off white waxy body with a grayish head and dark short legs. Several ties well represent the caddis larva, including the Florida Nymph, which will be featured as the fly of the week later. But the most consistent fish action has been on the copper wire body with a monofilament overlay and dark head. The monofilament gives the translucent appearance that is so succulent and successful in fishing larvae or nymphs. I dead drift a tandem rig with the Florida Nymph as the point fly and the Copper Caddis Larva as the dropper with success and have found my guiding clients do likewise, regardless of their skill level. The Copper Caddis Fly looks simple to tie but requires concentration to get the proper overlays of copper and monofilament.

1) Pinch the barb before securing the hook in the vise jaws. Occasionally, the hook will break when pinching the barb so it is better to have that happen prior to spending time tying the fly.

2) Secure the hook in the vise jaws and attach the thread behind the eye. Tie in a six inch piece of monofilament at the eye but leave thread at eye and stretch the remainder of monofilament across the hook and lock in vise spring or clip at the rear.

The Early or Little Blackstone Fly, whichever name you prefer, makes no difference because most Aquatic Entomologists feel they are one and the same. On moderately warm (air temps above 35 degree F and water temps above 40 degrees F.), bright sunlit afternoons from late December through March, the Females can be found ovipositing eggs on the stream surface and skittering to the bank and safety. However, not all of the skittering females make safe harbor and are at times intercepted with a splashy surface take. Carry several of the stoneflies and when you see this occurring, tie on a # 16 palmered stonefly, grease your leader and 4X tippet, skitter the fly across the surface with a zigzag rod motion and prepare yourself for some cabin fever busting dry fly action!!

1) Pinch the barb before securing the hook in the vise jaws. Occasionally, the hook will break when pinching the barb so it is better to have that happen prior to spending time tying the fly.

2) Secure the hook in the vise jaws and attach the thread behind the eye. Lay down a base of thread from the eye to the bend of the hook.

3) Tie in three peacock herls and a quality grizzly hackle at the bend of the hook.

5) Palmer the grizzly hackle forward and take two additional turn at the eye and tie off.