Showshoe & UV Finish Emergers

The flies above are the result of some experimentation I've done with #16 Klinkhamer hooks and snowshoe hare's feet wings. Both bodies were finished using Loon's Clear UV Finish - Thin. On the left, I spiral-wrapped dun WonderWrap with UV Pearl Flashabou wrapped between the WonderWrap spirals. On the right, I used a grizzly hackle quill. The idea is that the bodies will easily sink below the surface, with the super-boyant showshoe hare keeping them afloat in the surface film.

Griffith's Gnat

Hook: Standard Dry #14-24 (Mustad 94849 #18 shown)
Thread: Black 70 denier
Body: Peacock Herl
Hackle: Grizzly, palmered

Grizzly Crazy 8

This is a bit of an experiment that I worked on over the weekend. I used some traditional techniques and materials, modern poly yarn, and what I think is a new or at least odd-ball hackling technique to come up with what you see above. I tied the fly with two different hackling techniques (comparisons below). For my first tie, I wrapped the hackle in figure 8s around the poly wings creating an unruly ball of hackle, reminiscent of a hackle stacker, but above and below the hook. On my second fly, I posted both poly wings and wrapped the hackle parachute-style around each wing separately. 

Hook: #12 standard dry

Thread: white 70 denier

Tail: 3 black-barred white Hareline Mayfly Tails (micro fibbets)

Body: stripped grizzly hackle quill, laquered with Loon UV resin

Wings: white poly yard tied spent

Hackle: #12 grizzly hackle tied figure 8 (or double parachute)

Double-parachue

Figure 8

Figure 8s on left, parchutes on right

Classic Adams

Hook: #12 standard dry
Thread: olive 70 denier
Wing: grizzly hackle tips
Tail: mixed grizzly & brown hackle fibers
Body: Adams Gray Super Fine Waterproof Dry Fly Dubbing
Hackle: mixed grizzly #12 & brown #14

Red Quill

Red Quill
Hook: #12 dry
Thread: 70 denier blue dun
Tail: dark dun hackle fibers
Body: stripped quill from Rhode Island Red rooster hackle
Hackle: dark dun
Wing: wood duck

Snowshoe winged Light Cahill

Hook: #14 TMC 100 dry 

Thread: Orvis Primrose (pale yellow) 8/0

Tail: Cream Hackle fibers

Body: custom Light Cahill fur blend

Wing: snowshoe rabbit's foot, cream 

Hackle: cream

This is a pattern I picked up from Bob Wikoff, who incidentally also provided the dubbin and the snowshoe rabbit's foot.

Mercer's Missing Link

Great caddis pattern for late fall

Hook: dry fly
Thread: olive 70 denier
Body: olive thread
Rib: pearl flashabou

Thorax: ball of Peacock Ice Dub
Legs: tan Z-lon
Wing: coastal deer hair
Hackle: natural dun, parachute

Salmon River Stone

Hook: 2x long nymph, weighted with 2 strips of lead-free wire
Thread: fl. orange
Tail: wire ends painted black
Body: black Angora
Head: orange or red Angora w/ fl. orange thread hotspot.

Olive Devaux

Hook: dry fly
Thread: white and olive 70 denier
Tail: light dun hackle fibers
Body: olive thread
Rib: white thread
Rear hackle: dark dun
Front hackle: light dun
Wing: light dun hackle tips

Gray Squirrel Silver

Hook: Streamer
Thread: black 70 denier
Body: silver tinsel
Rib: silver oval tinsel or Wapsi wire
Beard: red schlappen
Under-wing: gray squirrel tail (gray fox subbed)
Wing: Paired grizzly hackles

Red Squirrel Gold

Classic pattern from Ray Bergman

Hook: Streamer
Thread: black 70 denier
Body: gold tinsel
Rib: gold oval tinsel
Beard: red schlappen
Under-wing: red squirrel tail
Wing: Paired Badger hackles

Orange-butt Otto

Hook: streamer
Thread: Flourescent Orange 70 denier
Tag: orange thread or floss
Body: silver tinsel
Rib: silver Wapsi wire with fl. Pink seal dubbin
Beard: orange rabbit
Under-wing: blue rabbit
Wing: paired grizzly hackles

Leadwing Coachman

Hook: Wet fly, #10-16
Thread: Black 70 Denier
Tip: Gold Mylar Tinsel
Body: Peacock Herl
Beard: Brown Hackle
Wing: Mallard Quills

Basic Baitfish

Hook: Mustad 3906 #6
Thread: pale yellow 210 denier Danville waxed fly master
Body: layered Hareline Baitfish Emulator Flash (pearl, pearl, fl. hot pink, olive, olive)
Eyes: red holographic eyes applied with Zap Goo.

Turkey Dun Wet

 

Hook: Standard Wet Fly, #14 (weighted opt)

Thread: Black 70 Denier

Tail: Dun hen hackle fibers

Body: Gray Hareline Dubbin

Hackle: Dun hen hackle

Wing: Paired Turkey Quill

Normally, a Blue Dun wet would have a Gray Duck Quill wing, but I subbed the turkey since it's all I had on hand.

Fatal Attractor

Hook: Dry Fly, 10-14
Thread: Olive 70 denier
Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippet
Body: UV Light Olive Ice Dub
Back Wing: Coastal Deer Hair
Wing: Calf Tail, white
Hackle: Grizzly
Head: Fl. Orange thread

Greg Heffner's Hook-up Crayfish

Hook: TMC 200r, 3xl curved shank, weighted with a strip of lead free wire on each side
Thread: black
Antennae: 2 Pheasant tail fibers
Carapace: Wapsi thin skin, mottled oak
Head: brown hare ' ear dubbin
Claws: brown rabbit's fur
Thorax: brown dubbin
Legs: brown hackle palmered over thorax and trimmed on top and bottom
Abdomen: more dubbin, covered with thin skin and ribbed with brown vinyl or similar.
Tail: thin skin

Oh bugger!

 

Nothing fancy. Just some classic wooly buggers in black and black/grizzly.

Popper Madness

A collection of poppers I made for this weekend's trip to the in-law's house. Sadly, the bass in their pond were way too skittish, at least during the day, to be interested in these guys, so I had to go subsurface to catch 'em.

The poppers consist of Wapsi Perfect Popper Heads glued onto Wapsi Popper Hooks and painted with some oil-based paint pens. From there I tied on marabou tails, added a collar of rooster hackle, and some dubbin on a few of them. Finally, I heated a bodkin on the gas stove, melted a hole through the popper head and used my bobbin threader to add some rubber legs.

Wikoff Steelie Stone

While I'm new at Salmon fishing, Bob Wikoff is not and when he makes suggestions, I listen. First and foremost, he goes towards patterns that work, are easy to tie, and cheap to make. On a given weekend during peak season, he'll hook into 80-100 fish and maybe land 25% of them. If you're going to be losing 20+ flies a day, you can't afford to spend the time and money tying up Evening Stars all off season. Beyond that, he's looking for sparse patterns that get down in the water column quickly since the salmon are about as close to bottom as you can get. The Stone Fly pattern above is a creation of Bob's that he made to attract both salmon and steelhead to increase his chances of hookups. He tied his in all black with a purple or blue wing case and he added some wood duck fibers to the 'legs' on a few. To quote Bob, "it looks like &#$%" but it did catch me an Atlantic Salmon so who am I to judge? It also worked pretty damn well on small mouth bass.

Hook: Mustad 3906
Thread: Black 70 denier
Tail: Squirrel Fur
Body: Dubbed to match
Legs: Fur or soft hackle (add optional legs - Wood Duck or rubber)
Optional Shellback: Flashabou
Wing Case: Flashabou

Coyote Ugly

This is basically a Zonker pattern that I threw together to hopefully entice that monster Susquehanna walleye that got away. Aside from being what I had on hand, I'm hoping the coyote strips will imitate the color of the small mouth bass in the river. Fished low and slow, zonkers are good for leeches or even crayfish. As the crayfish in our area are mostly brown, it should play double-duty there too.

Hook: Streamer (Mustad 3665A 3XH/7XL size 8)
Thread: Black
Tail: Coyote Strip tied in Zonker style
Body: Silver Flashabou
Overwing: Coyote Strip tied in Zonker style
Ribbing: Wine colored Wapsi  wire woven through coyote strip
Flash: Wapsi Grizzly Accent silver/black
Head: Thread coated with Hard-as-Nails

Eyes on the Walleyes

JBP and I decided to stay closer to home as the days are growing short so we headed to South Side Oneonta and fished in the Susquehanna to see what we could dig up. We didn't plan particularly well so I didn't have much in the way of spinning gear with me other than a micro rod and a few Kast Masters. Not to be deterred, I tied on some salmon flies and some weight and went to work. To be honest, I'm not sure what I was thinking there, but I did land an 8" chub and a few small mouths with a large stone fly pattern and some split shot.

At some point, I came to my senses, grabbed my fly rod, switched to a sink tip line, and went back at it. That was definitely the ticket for me. I landed a few more small mouths, an 18" walleye (my first ever!), and an 16 inch brown who lept and cartwheeled in spectacular fashion after she attacked my Black Bear Green Butt.

While the brown was a lot of fun, the prize of the night came when I was working 6" smallie into the shallows to net and release. The fish was about a rod's length away when a massive walleye came up from the depths and swallowed my fish whole. I fought with the monster for a good 5 minutes in what seemed to be a tug-of-war over the poor bass. It didn't fight particularly hard but just acted like dead weight. I'd get him somewhat close and then he'd lazily swim away and pull my drag out. Finally, I guess he decided the bass wasn't worth it and coughed it up.

The funny part is that my buddy saw me hollering and fighting with my rod doubled over and came running over to arrive about when the walleye coughed up the bass. All he saw was me pull in a little 6" small mouth bass after all of that carrying on. I don't think I'm ever going to live that one down.

Beginner's Luck on the Salmon River

I'm fortunate enough to belong to a TU Chapter with some veritable legends of fly fishing. Bob Wikoff, one of the charter members, was kind enough to let me tag along for opening day on the Fly Fishing Section of the Salmon River today. He's been going for over 30 years so it's fair to say he knows a thing or two about fishing that river.

Going in, we knew the salmon run was late this year and there weren't many reports of fish in the river. In many ways, I think that was good for me as it gave me an opportunity to scout the river and learn the ropes a bit without having to compete with the obscene crowds that come with the salmon.

All in all, I didn't see much action from any of the anglers we came across. Outside of 2 Atlantic Salmon (one each for Bob and me), I only saw two other salmon hook-ups. One was a foul-hooked King in the fly fishing area, and the other a King a guy landed on a spinning rod down on the Staircase. We saw one guy chasing, and catching, Steelhead in the fast water above Church Pool as well. Seems "Sucker Spawn" was his key to success there.

In the end, there were no monster kings for me, but an Atlantic Salmon was a rare treat indeed. I'm crediting beginner's luck there. Bob said in 30 years, the male pictured below is only the second Atlantic he's ever caught in the Salmon River.

(view from below Town Pool)

(Bob at work)

(female Atlantic Salmon caught on a stonefly pattern)

(male Atlantic Salmon, also on a stonefly pattern)

(Bob and his salmon!)

Butternut Creek Report

Bolstered by our previous outing and overly confident of our fishing prowess, JBP and I opted to try some uncharted territory near Morris, NY.

The Butternut Creek was low but stained from recent rains but looked like a nice pocket water opportunity to improve my skills. I admit, I had a rough time of it and started out snagging every tree and shrub within 20 feet.

Finally getting my rhythm, and a 2" chub, I went classic Catskill style and tied on a #14 BiVisible. It seemed appropriate for the setting and as luck would have it, saved my evening by netting a beautiful little Brookie. One of my goals for this season was to catch a native brookie and here was my second. They are beautiful fish and it's a thrill to catch a wild native fish in a small, mountain stream.

West Branch Report

What better way to spend Labor Day than fly fishing with a good friend? JBP and I headed to Hamden, NY to fish a familiar stream in an unfamiliar spot and man did we have a time of it.

When we first arrived in late afternoon there were a few fish rising sporadically and a school of monster carp nosing around. It was tough getting anyone interested in my offerings but I eventually settled on a #18 flying ant tied off of the bend of a #14 Light Cahill.

There were definitely ants in the water when I looked closely and I've learned from recent experience that when fish are rising lazily and you see no bugs, it's probably an ant. At any rate, I soon started catching fish. At first, in fits and starts and mostly on the ant, but as the shadows grew the hits started coming on the Cahill. Eventually I switched completely to the Cahill and pretty much slayed 'em until darkness drove us off.

I didn't land anything over 14" nor anything under 10", except the odd chub, but I easily brought in 15 fish on the night. Yay for September!

Cattaraugus

While visiting family near Buffalo, NY I snuck out to some fishing recon while the rest of the clan got up and ready Saturday morning. My scouting trip took me to an awesome tackle shop in Hamburg by the name of Colville Outfitters. I highly recommend checking them out if you're in the area.

While picking up some fly tying gear and some leaders and tippet for salmon, I chatted up the owner for some good local spots in the area. He was kind enough to direct me to the upper Cattaraugus Creek in Arcade, NY. It would seem the lower section is great for Steelhead later in the year, but for now, the upper is the best locale for trout.

Armed with local k knowledge, I snuck out Sunday morning and hit the creek. The water was cool, clear, and very low and the scenery was beautiful. Sadly, I got skunked for the first time in a while. I blame my lack of pocket water experience and the thunderstorm that chased me away an hour into my excursion. Until next time, Upper Catt!

Hair-wing Blue Charm

Hook: Mustad 3906B #2-8 or Salmon style hook

Thread: black 70 Denier

Tag: double-sided tinsel w/ silver showing

Butt: flourescent yellow floss

Body: black floss

Rib: silver Wapsi wire

Beard: blue marabou

Wing: squirrel tail

Bivisible

A classic Catskill dry fly shown above with a few Light Cahills in the background. 

Hook: #14-18 dry fly

Thread: black 70 denier

Hackle: brown for rear 2/3, cream or white for front 1/3

Optional tail (not shown): brown hackle fibers 

Flying Ant

Hook: #18-22 emerger

Thread: black 70 denier

Thorax: black foam over peacock black Ice Dub

Abdomen: black foam folded over wing

Wing: poly yarn tied spent

Head: thread

I'll be trying out a parachute version as well in the hopes that it'll float well and be somewhat more visible for use in faster water. 

West Branch Report

Tonight was a classic late summer evening on the West Branch. Of course, I say that, but it's the first time I've actually experienced a night like this first hand. First off, the water was clear and low (~85 CFS), but very cool for this time of year. When we arrived in Walton at a little after 5pm, fish were lazily rising all over but I targeted faster water where it entered into slower, deeper water figuring that's where the trout would congregate. I pretty much assume anything rising in slow water during the day has got to be a chub.

Despite the near constant rises and the ability to actually see trout holding in certain spots, I could not figure out what the fish were eating. I threw a dozen different flies at them with no result. Based on the lazy rises, I figured they were after something dead or at least not very fast so I tied on a rusty spinner. Finally, I got a take: a chub. 20 or so casts later I finally caught my first small brown trout on the same fly but not much more interest than that.

Giving up on the holding trout, I decided to see what was rising in the slower water. Pretty much as expected, the only thing I could interest in my spinner was the occasional chub. Why couldn't I figure out what they were eating? I didn't see any bugs flying around or on the water, but apparently I didn't look closely enough. Finally, while standing beneath some trees during a passing downpour, I noticed tiny flying ants on my arm. A-ha!  Too bad I had nothing like that in my fly box. Best I could do was a #16 dubbed ant-like thing I had attempted, failed, and abandoned. The naturals were at best #20s or smaller. Still, I went with it. No trout, but the chubs were definitely more interest in this than anything else.

Thankfully, the passing downpour I mentioned and the oncoming dark stirred things up nicely. Soon I noticed small Pale Evening Duns rising from the riffles. Excitedly, I tied on a mayfly imitation and headed back to the riffles where I saw the trout holding before. Still nothing! Frustrated and having trouble seeing, I decided to go with a #14 Light Cahill just because I'd be able to see the damn thing. Man! Was that ever the right call! First cast hooked a 17" male brown trout.

Darkness was really settling in now, but I couldn't leave, especially since I noticed an increasing number of mayflies rising from the riffles and aggressive rises all around. For about 15-20 minutes, I could do no wrong catching another 4 or 5 trout including a pretty 16" female. By the end I was casting blind in the dark and lifting my rod at the sound of a rise. I missed a few takes to be sure, but I caught a couple more as well. Magic.

Soon, it was too dark and I was no longer hooking up. Turning on my headlight revealed a blizzard of Light Cahills like I've never seen. The water surface was littered with them and they swarmed around my head and landed all over me in the lamp light. I quickly turned off the light and decided to fumble my way out before I swallowed anymore mayflies. Save 'em for the trout.

And you better believe I looked into some flying ant patterns as soon as I got home!

Black Bear Green Butt

Hook: #4-8 Streamer or Salmon Hook

Thread: Black 70 Denier

Tag: silver tinsel

Butt: fluorescent green thread or floss

Body: black floss 

Opt. Throat (not shown): black hackle or marabou

Wing: black bear fur

Head: lacquered black thread

Pale Evening Dun

Hook: Dry size 16-20

Thread: 8/0 Primrose (or pale yellow)

Tail: Natural Dun Hackle fibers

Body: Thread wraps

Wings: Natural Dun Hackle tips

Hackle: Natural Dun

Upper West Branch Report

The water on the Upper West Branch is low (~80 CFS at Walton) and clear and amazingly cool for mid-August. Bob Wikoff and I headed out to fish the stretch between Hamden and Delancy and take advantage of the fall-like weather. We were hoping the fish were of a mind to do the same and weren't disappointed.

There wasn't a whole lot of activity during the afternoon, though Bob nabbed a few browns on a Red Quill and I caught one small-mouth on a CDC emerger. I did receive a major jolt when a three-foot carp pursued my CDC emerger as it swung in the current. Ultimately his senses were too keen and he decided to let it go, but not before my heart rate shot through the roof.

As evening fell, things started to pick up. There were quite a few different bugs out on the water including some big yellow mayflies which I think were golden drakes, small charcoal caddis, tiny BWOs, summer stenos and some light cahills. I had good luck with a #16 blue quill as well as a #14 Parachute Adams, releasing at least a half dozen browns, though Bob out-fished me 2 or 3 to 1. He started out with a dark brown deer hair caddis and moved to a Red Quill which caught several fish just prospecting. As rises began he switched to a light Cahill and finally to a Pale Evening Dun, both of which he used to deadly effect. Beneath one tree which was leaning very low over the water, he side-armed several casts and pulled quite a few trout out, 2 or 3 of which were in the 16-17 inch range. I could hear him chuckling, "Ha! Thought you were safe under there, eh?"

Upper West Branch Report

It's been cool and a little rainy around here leaving the water conditions much better than normal for this time of year. The West Branch Delaware at Walton was at around 100 CFS tonight, up a little from the recent rains, but still quite clear. I'd love to see it up around 200-250 CFS, but the water is cooling off nicely so I took a break from warm water fishing and headed down to Walton to try out some hopper and cricket patterns and a few comparadun variations I had worked up.

There wasn't much in terms of surface activity and no obvious hatches going on tonight, but I found a few fishy spots (mostly fast riffles emptying into deeper runs) and did some prospecting. Sadly, I lost my hopper fairly early on to a fly-eating multiflora rose. I found that particularly painful as I had no backup and the damn thing took me a good 20 minutes to tie. The black cricket pattern I based it on worked well though. I had three hook-ups and landed two, both browns.

Being black and riding low, the cricket was very hard to spot in the fast water, so I tied on my trusty comparadun, a mahogany colored size 12, and went back to work. Again, the fly performed and landed several more browns, a 10" small mouth bass, and few river chubs, just for good measure. The trout and bass were all caught in faster water where the Isos like to hatch and the oxygenation is higher. Wading back to my car, I saw fish rising in a long, slow-moving run. I had a feeling they were chubs, and I wasn't disappointed. With the water so low and clear (and probably a bit warm and stagnant), the trout head elsewhere for their food, shelter, and comfort.

Davie McPhail's Black Cricket

Materials (listed in order of use)

Hook: #12 dry fly
Thread: black 70 denier
Back: black craft foam
Butt: black dubbing
Tail: 2 black goose biots
Thorax: black craft foam, wrapped
Rear Legs: black goose biots
Wing Case: black craft foam
Front Legs/Hackle: black dry fly hackle
Antennae: fibers from starling feather or black pheasant tail
Head: black dubbin

For a detailed instructional video, go to the source:  

Oaks Creek Report

JBP and I decided to scout some new water tonight and headed to Oaks Creek up near Fly Creek, NY a little outside of Cooperstown. It's a smaller stream that runs from Canadarago Lake down through Fly Creek and eventually into the Susquehanna River below Cooperstown. Rumor has it there is a decent population of wild brown trout and native brookies and given that much of it remains wild, it definitely doesn't get much fishing pressure.

JBP being a raging extrovert, we quickly found ourselves parked in some nice folks' driveway walking through their backyard along some beautiful waterfront in and around a favorite local swimming hole. Oaks Creek itself was picturesque, the perfect image of a wild trout stream. It was large enough that I didn't feel over-gunned with my 9 ft 5 weight, especially in the many holes scattered about, but I could easily see a Tenkara enthusiast having a field-day in there.

It being August, the water was a bit warm for trout so I can't attest to the veracity of the aforementioned rumors. However, I did catch a good half-dozen small-mouths (the largest around 10 inches) and more river chubs than you can shake a stick at.  Again, the Iso Comparadun was my go-to top water fly and it drew strikes despite there being little to no surface activity. As the shadows grew longer, I switched to an olive woolly bugger with a red tail and it too caught plenty of fish.

Bass in the ole Farm Pond

We took the family camping at a friend's property near Treadwell, NY and they just happened to have a farm pond full of large mouths. I didn't get to spend a lot of time trying to hook them, but I was able to wet the line once or twice.

Foam disc poppers, bucktail streamers, a "Maple Syrup" and several other flies failed to entice the finicky bass. What did finally catch me a whopper was a classic black woolly bugger with a black plastic bead-head resting on the bottom and twitched once and a while. While the minnow imitations earned a few follows and not much else, the woolly bugger is the only thing that drew a strike. The poppers didn't seem to attract any interest at all. Seems the bass in this particular pond like their prey lazy and slow moving making me think of helgramites and leeches. Hmm... we sure did a lot of swimming in that pond!

Schoharie Creek Report

I spent a couple of days in Dutchess County helping out my folks a bit and on the way back, decided to reward myself with a quick stop on the famed Schoharie Creek. About an hour before dark, I stopped in Prattsville and fished a little below where the Batavia Kill Creek enters the Schoharie. A little bit of hiking brought me to a nice long riffle that emptied into an huge slow moving pool, probably man-made to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

The water was definitely on the warm side but as it was getting close to dark, there was quite a bit of surface activity in the riffle. I tied on an Iso colored Comparadun and went to work in the fast water. In less than an hour I caught close to a dozen fish, mostly small-mouth bass with the occasional brown trout mixed in. I will definitely hit up this creek in the fall when the water temperatures come down a bit. If it worked for Art Flick there must be something to it, right?

As an aside, the Iso Comparadun is definitely my go to fly this summer. In a size 12, it floats high and is easily visible in fast water. It's been fantastic for prospecting in moving water and has caught brown trout, brook trout, small mouth bass, blue gills, perch, chubs, and golden shiners to name a few.

Charlotte Creek Report

I was in the neighborhood so I decided to check out a few spots on the Charlotte Creek between Davenport and Stamford. It was a cool and rainy afternoon but the creek wasn't in bad shape. Cool weather and frequent rain have kept the water temps down making the trout season last late this summer. 

As far as I've seen, the Charlotte isn't known for its insect hatches and most fly fishers I know stick to subsurface stuff there. I hear a sparse black wooly bugger or a copper john dead drifted are killer. No idea if that's true since I didn't listen. This evening I went with a comparadun ISO pattern that has been serving me well of late and did a bit of prospecting. I caught the beautiful brook trout pictured above in some fast water holding behind a rock with the iso as well as a small chub in the middle of a run below a riffle before the storms drove me off. 

I got a good soaking, but it was worth it. That little beauty was my first native brook trout!

Foam Popper

Hook: streamer or wide-gap stinger hook

Thread: black 70 denier

Popper Head: 5 craft foam discs, alternating black & silver

Legs: 2 strips of silver craft foam, rubber bands or crazy legs

Tail: black marabou

Collar: black saddle hackle

Foam n CDC Beetle

Hook: #12 Dry

Thread: Black 70 denier

Body: Dark dun CDC tied in by tip and wrapped forward

Wing: Craft foam disc

Thorax: "Peacock Black" Ice Dub

Foam Head Hoppers

Foam head made with two over-lapping foam discs. 

Hook: 6-10 streamer or 3x dry

Thread: rusty brown 8/0

Head: green craft foam

Body: olive hare's ear dubbed thick and buggy

Under-wing: elk hair

Legs: 4 pheasant tail fibers knotted to make the leg joint

Over-wing: turkey quill lacquered with Tough as Nails

Whip finish behind foam head

More traditional foam head created by tying the foam to the shank and folding it back on itself. This go around I left the butts of the pheasant tail exposed to mimic some forelegs. 

Sulphur Sparkle Dun

Hook: #16 dry

Thread: Orvis "Primrose" 8/0 (light yellow)

Tail: silver poly yarn

Body: thread wraps

Thorax: Hareline UV Light Yellow Trout Ice Dub

Wing: light deer hair tied comparadun style

Isonychia Comparadun

A classic low-riding representation of an Isonychia or Mahogany Dun.

Hook: #10-14 Dry
Thread: Rusty Brown
Tail: Dark Dun Z-lon
Body: Hareline Olive Brown Dubbin
Wing: Natural Deer Hair (the finer the better)

Can be tied with lighter deer or elk hair and combined with different colors to represent other hatches as well.

Oak Creek Report

I decided to scout out some new water on my day off so I headed west of Cooperstown to Oak Creek, the stream the flows out of Canadarago Lake. I started my search near Cattown, but I couldn't find a decent way to access the water there so my journey took me upstream to the town of Schuyler Lake where I found a bridge near a small dam.

A rather nice local gentlemen who was putting his canoe in the water informed me that from that dam the quiet water extended all the way up through the forest to Canadarago Lake proper and, from what I gather, is an amazing warm water fishery accessible almost exclusively by floating.

Well, I had been planning on trout fishing, but the water near the bridge looked promising so I gave it a go. I'm not going to bother much with fly selection here because the small mouths and perch hit pretty much everything I threw at them sub-surface and even a misshapen Henry's Fork Hopper on top. Streamer, bugger, nymph, crayfish all landed fish and an olive and black wooly bugger even drew a huge largemouth out of hiding to follow it all the way in to shore. It didn't take the offering, but it was certainly enough to get my heart pounding when that behemoth emerged from the shadows.

Extended Body Light Cahill

Hook: #14 Emerger

Thread:  tan 70 denier 

Extended body/tail tied separately: white deer hair

Hackle: cream

Wing: calf hair