I picked up this recipe for a caddis larva pattern from Johan Klingberg.  Johan is a fly tier from Sweden who was one of the featured tiers at the Fly Tying Symposium over the weekend.  This a great looking pattern that will sink like a rock.  It will be an excellent pattern to fish with the Polish\Czech nymphing method.  What made this pattern unique was the method in which the dubbing was applied to the hook shank to give that deep segmentation.

Recipe:

Hook:  Partridge CZ hook
Weight: Fine sqaure lead wire wrapped in two layers over bottom third of hook (this is what gives the fly the pronounced lower body)
Rib:  Olive tying thread
Dubbing:  Blue wing olive FlyRite dubbing.  FlyRite is a long fibered synthetic dubbing.  Long fiberes are seperated from the bunch, then overlapped and tied in by the tips.  Twist the fibers into a rope and wrap on hook.  Wraps should not be touching, leave a little gap and fill in with thread ribbing after tying off dubbing.
Legs:  Hen feather

This months pattern is the "Wright's Royal", provided by Ron Ruskai. It was originally created by Phillip Wright of Montana and first fished on the Big Hole River. Try this one on the Beaverkill or small streams in Vermont.

Recipe:

Hook: Dry 14-16
Thread: Black 8/0 Uni
Wing: Tan Elk
Body: Peacock - Red Floss - Peacock
Hackle: Ginger

Tie in rear peacock and floss. Then tie in the wing followed by the front peacock. Wrap hackle thru peacock.

Originally tied as a brook trout wet fly by Fred Brown. Probably named for Swiftwater Creek in the Poconos that feeds the Broadhead Creek in Paradise Valley in Henryville, PA. I took the liberty of tying this pattern also as a dry fly.

Recipe:

Hook: Mustad 3906
Wing: White Duck Quill
Tail: Grey Mallard
Body: Orange Floss
Hackle: Brown Beard Style

Recipe:

Hook: Mustad 94840
Wing: White Duck Quill
Tail: Dun Micro Fibettes
Body: Orange Floss
Tufts: Peacock Herl
Hackle: Red Brown

This months pattern is the "Fifty Degrees", provided by Ron Ruskai. A great early season dry fly, the clue is in the name, as in water temperature. This is an old fly, as it was sold in the Angler's Roost Fly Shop in NYC.

Recipe:

Hook: Dry 12-16
Thread: 8/0 Black
Wing: Natural Mallard Flank
Tail: Blue Dun Micro Fibettes
Body: Dark Muskrat Dub
Hackle: Medium Blue Dun

This months pattern is the Chocolate Dun, provided by Ron Ruskai. It is an old dry fly that had ben sold at the Angler's Roost in NYC.

Recipe:

Hook: Dry 12-14
Wing: Wood Duck
Tail: Wood Duck
Body: Ostrich Black or Brown - Red Floss
Hackle: 2 Coachman Brown

Sulphurs will start coming off this month, and this fly is a good one. I feel that parachute patterns are imitating emerging insects opposed to duns. The parachute style of tying puts the body of the fly right in the film a longer than usual tail may imitate the shuck of the nymph. The bright orange post of this fly makes it easy to see on the water. Trout often key in on the emerging nymphs and ignore the high floating duns making this a very effective pattern.

Recipe:

Hook: Dry fly, straight eye, sizes 14 -18
Thread: 8/0 Uni, cream or yellow
Post: Rainys foam post in Hi-Vis orange
Body: Sulphur orange turkey biot
Hackle: Ginger or Cree tied parachute style

Czech nymphs are more than just fly patterns, they are part of a fishing system. A style of fishing known as Czech, Polish or simply European nymphing is a very effective way to fish subsurface patterns. It is a short line technique similar to our high stick nymphing, but calls for a longer rod (10' - 12' in length). Typically no more that a foot or so of fly line extends from the rod tip so the longer rod length makes it easier to cover the water effectively.

Czech style nymphs come in many styles but they have two things in common. They have thin profiles and they are heavy. They are designed to sink quickly and are fished on multiple fly rigs. The use of adhesive backed lead tape opposed to lead wire gives the fly weight without bulk, allowing it to cut through the water and sink quickly.

Recipe:

Hook: Czech nymph or scud hook sizes 6-14 (I prefer Knapek brand Czech Nymph hooks or a Partridge K4A)
Underbody: Adhesive backed lead tape
Thread: Uni 6/0, White
Shellback: Tan or olive scud back, trimmed to 1/8"
Ribbing: Flat gold holographic tinsel and 5x mono tippet
Abdomen: Synthetic dubbing, olive
Thorax: Squirrel dubbing, dark brown
Hot Spot(optional): Synthetic dubbing, bright colors (pink, orange, red, yellow, etc)
Marking pen: Dark brown or black

The variations of this pattern are endless and this example is only a guide. Experiment with colors and sizes to best match local insects or develop attractor patterns. A little research on the topic will reveal many different styles of patterns in addition to the one shown that imitate mayflies nymphs, caddis larvae as well as aquatic worms.

Al's Rat was made famous by Al Miller, 85 years young, passed away this past December. Al served as a marine in the South Pacific during WWII. Al fished the Little Lehigh Creek almost every day and for those who've met him, he was a soft spoken hulk of a man, a gentleman, a great fly fisherman and fly tyer.

The "Rat" is a midge pupa pattern that can be fished in the film or down below the surface with or without additional weight on the leader. I've had great success with his "Rat" everywhere including big rainbows that take this small stuff on the Missouri River. This is a very simple fly to tie but that does not mean it is not effective.

Recipe:

Hook: Mustad 94840 size 20,22 (Go down to size 24 in the summer)
Body: Brown Monocord
Abdomen: Muskrat under fur

Tying Instructions:

Start the thread 2 hook eye lengths behind the eye. Wrap thread to the hook point, back to the starting position, then back to the bend of the hook. Return the thread to the starting position. Continue forward with the thread one hook eye length. Dub very sparsely with muskrat underfur. Wind dubbing over the area two hook eyes behind the hook eye. Whip finish a head over the first hook eye.

Check out a video of Al Miller tying the Rat!

Sparse hackle flies are effective because the imprint mimics most mayflies as well as crane flies.  This particular fly is a crane fly pattern but it illustrates the technique.  All that needs to be changed to imitate a mayfly is the position of the wings (make them upright) and add a few more turns of hackle . It only needs enough hackle to float after some floatant is applied. This one is dark dun, but it can be tied with a variety of colors.

Recipe:

Hook: Size 14, 16 or 18 dry fly hook
Wing: Hackle tips swept back
Body: Dry fly dubbing (sparse), color to match insect.
Hackle: Slightly oversized dry fly hackle, color to match insect.  It only needs about six   hackle fibers to touch the film (make 2-3 wide turns).
Tail: several fibers of matching hackle

A great winter pattern is the Starling Soft Hackle, a very simple but effective fly named for the use of starling wings for the soft hackle collar. Fish these in sizes 14-18 and swing them across and downstream for best results.

This month's pattern was mentioned by Jim Holland of Shannon's Fly Shop in the article he submitted for this month's Main Stream newsletter. Shannon's Fly Shop is located in Califon, New Jersey and this winter they will be hosting fly tying sessions in the shop every Sunday

Recipe:

Thread: Black Uni thread 6/0 or 8/0
Collar: Starling feathers
Rib: None
Body: Black dubbing
Hook: Mustad 3906
Tail: None