With stream temperatures dropping the trout are holding deep. But they are still eating what are the most prevalent items of biomass now available to them, eggs and midges. This month’s pattern has been my favorite egg pattern for many years. It was designed in the early 1990s by Jim Pettis, a guide on the upper Sacramento River in California. The Sac has runs of King Salmon and Steelhead in addition to resident Rainbows. So there can be lots of natural eggs in the water at certain times of the year and getting fish to eat an egg fly pattern instead of a real one drifting by was the challenge that Jim faced. He solved the puzzle by incorporating a glass bead inside a thin ball-shaped veil of egg yarn. His fly thus had both translucency and an internal sparkly yoke center just like a real egg. And equally important, the glass bead added enough weight to keep the egg rolling right on the bottom of the current troughs where the spawners were holding on their redds and the egg eaters below them were gulping any eggs not captured by the redd gravel.

I did several guide trips with Jim in the mid-90s. I asked him to bring his tying stuff along on one of the trips and show me how he tied his egg. This he did during a lunch break. The fly was pretty easy and straightforward to tie but Jim did struggle a bit to get the yarn uniformly distributed and into the ball shape so the flies looked beautiful. Nevertheless, I tied Jim’s pattern as he showed me with similar struggles to get a nice yarn veil up until 2013 when Tim Flagler posted a video of his “Eggs over Easy” fly. In this video Tim showed a nice technique to easily get the ball-shaped veil of egg yarn. So I tied the Unreal Egg with Tim’s technique for a few years. Then it occurred to me that Tim also was struggling to get the yarn uniformly distributed around the fly center and that there must be a better way. I then came up with what I call the “right from the start” technique to get a uniform veil. So what I’m presenting this month is my variant of Flaglers’ technique applied to Pettis’ pattern.

This egg can be tied in a wide range of sizes and colors. It original was tied on a size 12 scud hook with Peachy King egg yarn and a 6/0 red glass bead to match salmon eggs. This is the version shown in the photo and described in the detailed instructions. I’ve dipped the example fly in water before taking the photo to show you the translucency of this pattern. But glass beads in 8/0 and 10/0 in many colors are easily available in fly shops and craft stores and egg yarn also comes in many colors. So you can tie Unreal Eggs matching the size and color of spawn from many fish. A small (16 hook) version with a green bead (10/0) and cream yarn works well for sucker spawn now in our waters.

Before plunging into the complete tying instruction, I first detail the “right from the start” technique for creating a uniform veil of yarn fibers around another feature on the hook. In this pattern, the other feature is the glass bead. But the technique can also be used on LaFontaines Sparkle Caddis Pupa or similar patterns.where the other feature is dubbing.

In the tying Jim showed me he started by dividing a 1inch long stand of egg yarn into 4 equal pieces. Then he tied one of the pieces on each side of the hook right at the front with the tag ends facing forward. Through experience he was able to get the total of ½ strand of yarn uniformly distributed around the hook shank. He pulled this back over the glass bead to form the veil around the bead. In my technique I start with dividing a two inch long piece of egg yarn into 4 equal pieces. I then flatten one of these pieces into a vertical ribbon and slip this ribbon over the hook eye centered side to side and top to bottom to the waiting thread. X wraps around the ribbon/shank junction leave you with a total of 1/4 strand of yarn fibers on each side and ¼ strand of yarn fibers both above and below the hook shank. Now pull all the tag ends forward and overwrap to the hook eye and you have ½ strand of yarn fibers distributed absolutely uniformly around the hook shank, no superb tying technique needed. You pull this back over the bead to form the veil. Bet you have to read this over several times to understand but the light will dawn after a few readings and a trial tying. With these instruction and practice the pattern takes no more than two minutes to tie.

As a warm up to tying the fly yourself, I recommend you view Tim Flagler’s video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD4F0oHjV94&t=9s . Here you’ll see how he and I now produce the ball-shaped veil and will make the written instructions easier to understand.

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: Size 12 Scud Hook, TMC 2587 used in photo
Bead: 6/0 red glass
Thread: Danville 6/0, red
Veil: Peachy King Egg Yarn

Tying Instructions:

1. Mash barb on hook, impale the glass bead and mount hook in vise. Slide bead back to hook vise junction.
2. Attach thread to hook at eye and wind back to half way point and return thread to 1/16 inch behind eye.
3. Place a flattened ¼ stand of egg yarn over eye centered both side to side and top to bottom. X wrap with thread then pull tag ends forward and overwrap yarn to hook eye.
4. Push bead forward to center of shank, jump thread backward over bead and wrap in very open spiral half way around bend of hook.
5. Pull yarn backward to thread and tie down with two wraps.
6. Push these wraps forward to just behind bead to form ball shaped veil of yarn
7. around bead. Make several more securing wraps and whip finish.
8. Trim thread and backward facing yarn.
9. Add head cement.

It’s November and both the pro and college football seasons are in high gear. So what would be more appropriate for the fly of the month than the Fullback nymph? Yes, there also are Quarterback and Halfback nymphs. But they either just fade back or dance around. The Fullback powers ahead to hook fish in many situations. So of these options it’s the one you want to tie and try.

Notice I said fish, which includes trout, bass, panfish and maybe even a carp, not just trout alone. As I’ve mentioned previously, two years ago my wife developed health problems which prevent me from taking any overnight trips away from home. So I’ve been doing 3 to 5 hour day trips to local rivers for trout but mostly to local ponds for bass and panfish. Fly patterns that work well in both moving and still waters have thus become of great interest to me and this is one of these. This pattern is most popular in the Northwest where it is used extensively in the lakes of British Columbia and the rivers of the northern Rockies. It is one of the oldest nymph patterns around using a shell back to create a fly with a contrasting colors on the top and bottom.

The Fullback is a suggestive pattern. Like the Michigan Wiggler (February 2019 FOTM), it is a crossover fly that imitates lots of food items – mayfly nymphs (particularly Callibaetis), stonefly nymphs, dragonfly nymphs and damselfly nymphs. The Wiggler and the Fullback are the only two shellback patterns that I carry in my fly box. For larger items, (hook sizes 6-10), I like the Wiggler. But for smaller items (hook sizes 12-16), I go with the Fullback. In still water, fish this nymph alone with a hand twist retrieve. In a river, add it as a dropper above a weighted nymph in an indicator or Czech nymph rig.

If you do a search on videos for this pattern, you’ll find several suggested tying variations. The variation I present here is my own. Instead of using just peacock herl to form the body, I wrap multiple strands of peacock herl together with one strand of colored ostrich herl to form the body. I think this brings a little more action to the nymph when slowly retrieved than just peacock herl alone. You could palmer a hackle over the peacock as in the Wiggler, but I think this creates a bulkier silhouette than I prefer for smaller nymphs. A soft hackle at the head adds a little further action in the retrieve or drift. The photos and instructions are for an olive toned Fullback. If you use undyed pheasant tail and a tan ostrich herl strand, you can get a brown toned version. I tie both.

Most instructions tell you to start the pattern by tying in some Pheasant Tail (PT) fibers for a tail, then a separate bunch of PT fibers for the shellback. I do the tail and shellback in the style advocated by Skip Morris in his Skip’s Nymph. Ribbing wire is the first material tied in, then the body is formed. Next, the spiraled ribbing wire holds down one bunch of PT fibers forming the tail and shellback in a single step. This is a technique you might want to apply to other patterns with a shellback since it speeds tying the pattern.

Finally, a strand of mylar over the thorax adds a bit of sparkle. If fluorescent thread (orange, chartreuse, pink) is used instead of plain olive or brown, you end up with a small “hot spot” when finishing the head. I tie this pattern both plain or with a “spot” and am fondest of fire orange.

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: Nymph 2xl, #12-16 (A Saber 7031 #12 used in flies in photo)
Thread: 70 Denier Danville Flymaster, olive or “hot” color
Rib: Small Wire, Copper
Body: Several Peacock Herl (4 for size 12) and one Olive Ostrich herl wrapped with Ostrich herl lagging
Tail and Shellback: Pheasant Tail Fibers, dyed olive (10 for size 12)
Wing Case: Medium Mylar Tinsel over Pheasant Tail Fibers
Soft Hackle: Partridge or Mottled Hen, Dyed Olive. Fiber length of one hook gap.
Thorax: Peacock Herls and Olive Ostrich Herl wrapped together.

Tying Instructions:

1. Debarbed hook and place in vise.
2. Attach thread to hook at 1/3rd point, attach wire (tag back) and overwrap wire back to the bend and then wrap thread back to starting point. Trim thread tag.
3. Tie in one Ostrich herl by tip (tag back) with spine of herl up and overwrap with thread to bend. Return thread to 1/3rd point.
4. Tie in Peacock herls by tips (tags back) and over wrap back to just before bend.
5. Wrap Ostrich and peacock herls together behind thread to 1/3rd point making sure Ostrich is always lagging Peacock and spine of Ostrich herl leads. This produces a nice “Gills” effect. Tie off herls. but don’t cut.
6. Tie in bunch of pheasant tail fibers, tips rearward with tips at length to form tail.
7. Spiral overwrap fibers with wire to 1/3rd point. Tie wire off with thread and helicopter off wire.
8. Tie in mylar, tag back. Fold butts of PT fibers back and overwrap back slightly
9. Prepare and tie in soft hackle by the butt with tip forward, good side down. Thread now just behind hook eye.
10. Wrap remains of herls to thread, tie off and trim herls.
11. Wrap hackle back, two turns, tie off. Thread to just behind eye.
12. Pull mylar and PT Butts forward as wing case. Tie off and trim.
13. Form nice thread head. Whip finish and trim thread. Cement head.

Note: You can coat shellback and/or wing case with UV resin or thinned Liquid Fusion for added durability...

I’m a big fan of patterns created by a group of Fly Shop and/or Fly Lodge owners in the Northern Rockies. The reason is that these patterns are always well-tested by both their creators and the customers of their businesses. Previously I’ve features patterns by Kelly Galloup who runs the Slide Inn, a lodge and shop on the Madison River, and Craig Mathews of Blue Ribbon Flies, a shop in West Yellowstone, MT. Of course there is our own Bob Jacklin, who was intimately involved in founding CJTU before moving to Montana to start Jacklin’s Flies in West Yellowstone. This month’s fly, Nelson’s Caddis, is a design of Nelson Ishiyama, longtime owner and operator of the Henry’s Fork Lodge, perched on a bluff above the Henry’s Fork in Idaho, just downstream from the famous Railroad Ranch section. I’ve personally fished the Henry’s Fork within sight of this Lodge and can attest that it contains a variety of water, both fast and slow, on which I’m sure Ishiyama has tested his pattern.

I first learned of the Nelson’s Caddis from an article in the March 1987 issue of Fly Fisherman magazine. This article described the pattern being tied in a wide variety of sizes and colors. .I already had plenty of effective caddis patterns in smaller sizes so I wasn’t interested in tying up and trying small versions. But I was intrigued by the use of multiple short hair wings instead of a single longer wing as in the well-known Elk Hair Caddis. This gives a narrower wing profile than the single long wing and seemed to me to be most useful for larger caddis patterns. And the only large caddis I encounter is the October Caddis. So the path toward this month’s pattern began.

The October Caddis appears in late September and most of October in both Western and Eastern streams, hence the name. The western ones are slightly larger than the eastern ones. So I tied up some size 8 and 10 Nelson’s Caddis in October Caddis colors and tried them in the Fall of 1987, both in the Rockies and locally. They worked great and these patterns as then tied, with one exception, have remained in my box ever since. Ishiyama’s original has two stripped hackle stems as antennae. I found these tangled with my tippet both when tying on and fishing the fly so I eliminated them after my first season of fishing the pattern. Without them the pattern continues to work just fine.

The pattern is simple to tie requiring only hook, thread, dubbing, elk hair and hackle. Getting the right amount of hair in each stack requires a little practice. A variety of dubbings can be used but I like mostly synthetic ones since they shed water easily and have a little sparkle. You can use either a brown or furnace hackle but I prefer furnace since the black center yields a nice head silhouette when wound, Finally, a ring eye hook seems to make the fly easier to skitter than a down eye one.

An October Caddis pupa crawls up on a streamside rock where it hatches into an adult. From there it finds its way to the water surface where it can drift quietly for a while but then has a tendency to skitter across the water surface. Since this big caddis represents a large caloric intake, trout are eager to seize it and the rises can be explosive. So fish this fly on a heavy tippet. Dead drift it along seams and then twitch it. You can even lift the fly off the water a bit and redrop it. The collar hackle helps you skitter the fly and with all that elk hair in the wing the fly is not going to sink. Trout love this pattern. So should you. Time to fish it is NOW!

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: TMC 101 or equivalent. Size 8 for Rockies, 10 or 12 in East (a size 8 used in fly in the photo)
Thread: Brown 3/0 Monocord or equivalent
Dubbing:: Tannish Orange (I used Wapsi Life Cycle in Caddis orange for flies in photo) Wing Sections: Dark Elk (3 stacks for 8 and 10, 2 stacks for 12)
Hackle: Furnace or Brown. If using brown, a strand of peacock herl can be wound in the head area before winding the hackle to give an effect similar to a furnace hackle

Instructions:

1. Debarbed hook and place hook in vise.
2. Attach thread to hook slightly behind the eye, wrap back to the bend.. Trim thread tag.
3. Dub forward ¼ shank length.
4. Clean and stack small amount of Dark Elk Hair. Trim to length. You’ll probably need a little practice to get amount and length right.
5. Hold hair on top of shank and tie in hard by pulling bobbin down to tighten thread wraps. You want the hair to remain on top the shank and not spin.
6. Repeat steps 2-4 two more times for 8s and 10s and once for 12s. This should leave thread about ¼ shank length behind hook eye.
7. Tie in furnace hackle, wrap forward, tie off, trim and form nice thread head.
8. Apply cement to head.

I’ve previously reported that when questioned in classes and at tying demos that my two highest producing patterns are the Parachute Adams and the Carlson’s Copper Cripple (September 2019 Fly of the Month). But I’ve never had anyone ask on which pattern I have caught most of my big trout. Well, if anyone ever does ask, my answer will be this month’s pattern, the Black BH Hale Bopp Leech. It’s a still water fly and, as experienced fly fishers know, still waters hold the biggest fish. There is little current to fight in such water to sap energy. Trout just cruise slowly around, eat all the goodies present, and grow fat. And those goodies are mostly Mayfly, Dragon Fly and Damselfly nymphs, small fish and leeches.

This pattern was created by Derek Fergus, a California tier and guide, around 1996-7 when the Hale Bopp comet was visible from earth. If you look at the above photo you notice that with the bright bead head and long wispy tail the pattern resembles a comet. The construction is quite simple – a bead head, marabou tail, and mohair (African goat) body. Mohair, a seal substitute, is quite translucent. A thread finishing band behind the bead gives a little hot spot. You might say it’s just a mohair leech. But there are some subtle but important differences. First, the bead is one size smaller than traditionally used for the hook size. This gives the fly a gliding action like a real leech, not the heavy up and down jigging action of a Clouser minnow. The tail is extra-long and thin for lots of sinewy motion. And the body is very aggressively picked out so that the fly is almost translucent with the body fibers able to move freely as the fly is slowly stripped.

I was introduced to this fly around 2000 by Gary Fritz, one of the premier guides on the Missouri River. Gary died a few years ago but the important properties of the fly that he taught me will remain forever in my memory. The pattern is tied commercially by Solitude Flies. If you look at their version you’ll see a black bead. But Gary had them specially tied for him with a silver bead since he thought it fished slightly better. It’s Gary’s version I present here. Gary liked fishing the fly on a floating line with slow stripping and an occasionally pause. Certainly has worked for me.

When I first tied the pattern for myself I used mohair dubbing for the body. If you’ve ever tried dubbing mohair you’ve probably done a lot of swearing. It’s very slippery and hard to control. In recent years I’ve gone to using Mohair Yarn from J Fair. Other mohair yarns will probably work but I haven’t tried them. The yarn is simply tied in and wrapped under high tension with the yarn fibers pulled back with each wrap. No bad words come from my mouth when using the yarn. Then the body is picked out. The key is to use a strongly hook, like that on the tip of a Materelli style whip finisher, to pull fibers out and create a halo like body. I typically spend more time picking out the body than I spend tying the fly.

Although I mostly tie and fish a black version, I also occasionally use an olive one. A copper bead is used on this version. I’ve included an olive one in the photo. I also tie versions without a bead on size 10 hooks in both colors.

Water temperatures are starting to decrease. Trout will be packing in calories to maintain themselves for the Winter. So from now through October is prime time to use this pattern. You’re sure to get lots of “pops” in still water on your Bopps.

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: Daiichi 1260, TMC 200R or similar curved shank hook in size 8 (a TMC 2312 used in fly in the photo)
Bead: 1/8 inch Silver Tungsten
Thread: Red Danville 6/0
Tail: Long strands from a premium black Marabou plume
Body: J.Fair Black Mohair Yarn

Instructions:

1. Mount bead on debarbed hook and place hook in vise.
2. Attach thread to hook slightly behind the bead, wrap back to the bend and then back to starting point. Trim thread tag.
3. Tear off about 20 strands from marabou plume.
4. Tie in with tips of strands pointing rearward so tips extend two shank lengths behind fly. Overwrap with thread back to the bend. Trim forward marabou.
5. Tie in mohair yarn tag end rearward.
6. Wrap yarn forward behind thread under high tension to bead. Tie yarn off securely and trim yarn tag.
7. Form a small thread band behind bead, whip finish, trim thread
8. Apply head cement to thread band.

The water temperature of our local streams is rising and soon will be at the level where fishing for trout should cease. What to do, what to do? I suggest visiting a local lake or pond and giving bass and panfish a go. If in the near future you do visit your local stillwater, look closely at the shallow areas near the shore. You will most likely see tadpoles swimming about. Soon those tadpoles will turn into little frogs. And bass and panfish love to eat little frogs. This month’s fly, the Froggie, imitates a little frog and is a pattern you should certainly tie and try.

I first learned of this pattern when attending the International Fly Tying Symposium sometime in the late 90s. Its originator, Tony Spezio, was a demonstration tier there. After I attentively watched him tie the Froggie, he was kind enough to give me the one he tied. Upon returning home from the Symposium, I tie up a half dozen so I wouldn’t forget the tying steps, and stowed them along with Spezio’s original in a warmwater box. My intention was to trial the pattern the following Summer on a local pond. But pursuit of large trout in Montana and bonefish and tarpon in Belize took over and my warmwater fly box languished in a drawer until two years ago. At that time my wife developed health problems which prevent me from taking any overnight trips away from home. So I’ve been doing 3 to 5 hour day trips to local waters for trout but mostly to local ponds for bass and panfish.

For my local pond trips I retrieved the Froggies I stowed away years ago and gave them a try, first using a conventional fly rod, but lately with a Tenkara rod.. Spezio’s suggested the fishing technique for the Froggie is to cast it out and then vibrate it mostly in place or quiver it. The combination of a Tenkara rod and the easy quivering it allowed proved almost magical. And it’s how I fish the Froggie now.

The pattern is very simple, just a hook, thread, a slice of white Evasote foam,.and two pins with round plastic heads. The hook on my original sample is a #10 4XL streamer. You can use that hook but I’ve moved to a #6 barbless wet fly hook which has the same shank length. The wet fly hook gives a larger hook gap. Otherwise, the pictured flies match Spezio’s original. I use white foam, as did Spezio, and color it with marker pens. You can fish the fly alone or with a trailer on 18 inches of tippet attached to the hook bend. Double hookups are not unusual.

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: Size 10, 4xl streamer hook. Flies in photo are tied on a Saber 7324, size 6 (a Black Nickel Barbless wet fly hook)
Thread: Danville Flat Waxed Nylon, Fl Chartreuse or Fl Yellow
Body: 1/8 “ thick Evasote or Wapsi Fly Foam, White
Eyes: Round Plastic Headed Pins

Instructions:

1. Mash barb on hook if barbed and mount in vise.
2. Attach thread to hook at eye and wind back to bend. Return thread to just behind eye.
3. Cut a 3/16” wide strip of foam about 3” long. Tie in at center at 90 degrees to the shank on top of the hook with x wraps.just behind the eye. 1/8” dimension is vertical, 3/16” dimension is horizontal. .Keep foam flat.
4. Flatten thread and wind back to just around hook bend.. Use an extended whip finisher to do a two turn whip finish there
5. Alternately pull back foam strip on each side and tie down. Whip finish.
6. Trim foam sides to length and then split with scissors.
7. Cut pin shanks to about 1/8” length and inset as eyes. Form eye pupils with nail polish.
8. Color as desired with marker pens.

Since Chapter Meetings are still on hold as the pandemic plays out, I’ve chosen for this month’s fly another simple pattern that needs no pre-meeting tying demo to explain. All you need is a hook, thread, peacock herl and peacock sword. You can probably tie this fly after just looking at the two different views in the above photo.

I first learned of this fly in the early 1980s. I had just started in fly fishing and fly tying and read a number of magazine articles on the wonderful trout fishing on the southern island of New Zealand. In hopes of experiencing the fishing there myself someday, I wrote letters to several of the guides who had ads in the magazines where the articles appeared asking for fly and equipment recommendations. No email in those days, actual postal letters. All those I wrote responded with very personal letters containing extensive information. This convinced me that the Kiwis were very friendly and helpful and that a trip to New Zealand would indeed be fun. So, a trip there was put on my bucket list. Unfortunately, it’s still there to this day. But, I remain hopeful.

One common fly recommendation from all the guides was a small beetle. One of the guides even sent me a sample fly which I present here. Of course back then I just had to tie up many copies of the beetle for a possible trip. And, having many on hand, I just had to try them on local waters. And, as you’ve probably guessed, they worked very well on both slow moving and still water, particularly well for the native Browns on the Little Lehigh and Little Bushkill. After all feathers from a peacock add magic to many famous patterns so a pattern with two different peacock materials must be double magic.

In the midst of several household moves and cleanups, I’ve lost all documentation so I don’t have a record of the name of the guide nor the pattern name given by the guide. So, in honor of the fly’s New Zealand origin and the famous New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, I’m calling the pattern the All Peacock Beetle.

In fishing, the fly sits deep in the film, just like a real beetle. If your eyes are good and the lighting is right, you can follow the sparkle from the peacock sword topping. Trout sip it very gently so remain focused. I fished in originally as a solo but now occasionally add the beetle as a dropper behind a small parachute. Some grease is needed to keep the beetle floating. But trout like it as a slightly sunken pattern also, maybe even better on some days. Experiment.

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: Regular Dry Fly Hook, e.g. TMC 100, size 20 or Short Shank Dry Fly Hook, e.g. Dai Riki 305 or equivalent, size 18. Flies in photo are tied on a Saber 7210, size 18 (a Black Nickel Barbless hook)
Thread: Danville 6/0 Black or UNI 8/0 Black
Back Cover: Peacock Sword
Body: Peacock Herl

Instructions:

1. Mash barb on hook if barbed and mount in vise.
2. Attach thread to hook at eye and wind back to bend. Return thread to just behind eye.
3. Tie in 6 peacock sword fibers by tips, bases pointing back, and wind back to start of hook curve.
4. Cut the weak tips off 2 peacock herls and then tie them in, bases pointing back. Wind herls behind thread to eye. Tie off herls on top of shank but don’t trim.
5. Pull sword fibers forward keeping them flat over body. Tie off and trim sword fibers.
6. Pull one herl back on each side and tie in the bend so herls point backward and slightly outward.
7. Whip finish at eye. Trim herls to length. Add head cement.

Since Chapter Meetings are on hold as the pandemic plays out, I’ve chosen for this month’s fly a simple pattern that needs no pre-meeting tying demo to explain. It is my first original pattern, dating from the early 1980s, and fished often and successfully to this day. You can probably tie this fly after just looking at the three different views in the above photo. All you need is a hook, thread, strip of foam, and a hackle.

The story line for this fly starts when I read Art Lee’s 1982 book "Fishing Dry Flies for Trout on Rivers and Streams" touting the effectiveness of the McMurray Ant, a pattern originated by Ed Surryn of McMurray, Pennsylvania. I was regularly fishing the Beaverkill River at that time and bought a few of the flies at the Beaverkill Angler fly shop in Roscoe to try. They were indeed effective so I decided to make some copies on my own. After all, the fly is just two sections of small round balsa wood threaded on a piece of monofilament and painted. Once paint is dry the central monofilament is tied to a hook and a hackle wound over the monofilament. Sounds simple doesn’t it.

But I kept splitting the balsa cylinders in working the monofilament through them and it took forever to build a nice fly. There must be and easier way to get the same effect, I thought Enter now my interactions with John Betts, my first fly tying instructor, who at that time was promoting building flies with a plethora of synthetic materials including a closed-cell foam called Evasote. John gave me a sample of this foam in color white in 1/8” thickness. I cut this into 1/8” wide strips, colored them black with a Sharpie, and tied them on a hook to produce a pattern as shown in the photo. Seemed an easy to tie equivalent to Surryn’s pattern to me. And my fishing tests confirmed equivalent results.

At this time sheet foam had not yet made an appearance in craft stores and fly material suppliers had no sheet foam offerings. Sheets of closed cell foam were available only for commercial use. So, to support my ant pattern and to start further investigations into foam based patterns, I had to buy foam in 4ft by 8ft (yes that’s feet) pieces from a commercial source, US Foam Corporation. Of course I had to have not only white but sheets in black, yellow and orange. I still have and use what I bought back then. Over time craft foam has become widely available in stores like Michaels and Walmart and can be used for this pattern but I prefer the original material. Evasote is currently available in small pieces from Rainy’s.Fly. Wapsi Craft Foam seems to be the same as Evasote and is also readily available.. So material sourcing is now easy.

I mentioned this fly as an original pattern. I was living in Holmdel NJ at the time of origination but the Holmdel Ant didn’t have much of a ring so it became and remains the McFoam Ant. With the appearance of many types of foam over the years in small package sizes, many tiers have recreated the same fly. But, I believe I was the only one who at the time who was crazy enough to buy 4ft x 8ft foam sheets from a commercial supplier which could be used for thousands of flies just to tie a few dozen flies a year. So, I stand by my claim.

The fly is hard to see, particularly in riffles. In recent years I’ve added a spot of fluorescent chartreuse T-Shirt paint to the rear body to help my aging eyes track the fly. Otherwise the pattern is unchanged for nearly 40 years. Still works great in rivers and ponds. Try it.

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: Short Shank Dry Fly, e.g. Dai Riki 305 or equivalent - size 12. Flies in photo are tied on a Saber 7210, size 12 (a Black Nickel Barbless hook)
Thread: Danville 6/0, Black
Body: 1/8" thick Evasote or Wapsi Fly Foam, Black
Hackle: Black, size 14
Indicator: Chartreuse T-Shirt Paint (other bright color optional)

Instructions:

1. Mash barb on hook if barbed and mount in vise.
2. Attach thread to hook at eye and wind back to bend. Return thread to just behind eye.
3. Cut a 1/8" wide strip of foam about 1" long. Tie in winding back to just before hook bend.
4. Prepare and tie in hackle. Take thread to front of tied down section of foam.
5. Wind hackle forward to thread. Tie off and trim.
6. Whip finish at eye. Add head cement.
7. Trim foam to proportions shown in photo
8. Add T-Shirt paint marking.(optional)

With local rivers being fully liquid this year instead of the normal ice edged, the midge larva that were drifting merrily along the bottom in January have pupated and may on warm days be hatching and drifting on the surface as clusters of mating adult midges. The most common pattern for these clusters is the Griffith Gnat. This pattern, a simple palmer of a grizzly hackle over a peacock herl body, is often attributed to George Griffith, one of the founders of Trout Unlimited. The pattern was actually shown to him by a friend but it was his favorite pattern and he publicized it extensively, hence the name.

While the pattern is very effective it is hard to see and track on the surface. Also it rides high instead of settling deep in the film as do natural midge clusters. Fisherpeople often trim off the hackle below the hook shank to get the fly to ride lower. Enter this month’s fly, Ned Long’s Hedgehog, which deals with both these problems.

When you look at the photo of the fly above you’ll most likely say that’s just a Griffith Gnat tied in hackle stacker style with an added indicator up front so you can easily see and track the fly. And indeed it is. As you learned last month hackle stacker style uses a hackle wound on a thread or material core much like a parachute hackle with the core then pulled over to top of a pattern and tied off. This results in the hackle fibers sticking out of the top and sides of the pattern with none on the bottom. Ned Long, one of the early inventors of the style, called it Hedgehog.

What’s clever about Long’s pattern is that he winds the hackle around a core of brightly colored poly yarn so that when he pulls the core over the body and ties it off he is left with the yarn sticking out the front of the fly. .This yarn is bent back and wedged up with thread to form the indicator. No need to separately tie in an indicator. Long used a gallows tool to hold the yarn but I have modified the tying to use a loop of yarn which is held vertical by your left index finger while the hackle is wound. Thus the tying is strongly related to the tying of last month’s pattern. How to attach the hackle is the same as for last month’s pattern. How to form the yarn loop is covered in the tying instructions. The hackle winding and tie off are different from last month’s pattern so pay close attention to the related portion of the tying instructions.

Once you get used to winding the hackle while holding the yarn loop vertical, the pattern is quick and easy to tie. You can easily see it on the water. Trout love it. What’s not to like?

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: Short Shank Dry Fly, size 16 or 18. Flies in photo are tied on a Saber 7210, size 16 (a Black Nickel Barbless hook)
Thread: UNI 8/0, Black
Hackle Post: Bright Colored Poly Yarn (Orange, Pink, Cerise, or Chartreuse)
Hackle: Grizzly Saddle (one size smaller than hook)
Body:Peacock Herl
Indicator: Hackle Post Yarn

Instructions:

1. Mash barb on hook if barbed and mount in vise.
2. Attach thread to hook at eye and wind back slightly around bend. Return thread to just behind eye.
3. Cut a two card width length of poly yarn from the source card and divide into 4 equal bundles. Use one bundle in next step. Save other 3 bundles for other flies.
4. Form a loop from yarn bundle with two ends aligned. Tie in ends where thread is waiting, closed end of loop to rear, and wrap back to slightly around bend. Loop end is held elevated as you wind back to keep yarn on top of hook shank.
5. Prepare and tie in the saddle hackle, tip back, shiny side up, so the fibers come off the stem at the rearward extent of the loop tie in and bare hackle stem is on the far side of the hook shank.
6. Bring thread to just behind hook eye.
7. Align the butts of two peacock herls. Positon herls with butts at the rear extent of the straight part of the hook shank. Tips of herls are forward. Wrap down herls back to the butt position. Leave thread there.
8. Wind the herls back to thread and tie down with two firm wraps. Trim excess tips. Then spiral thread forward to just behind eye. This reinforces the herl. Leave thread at head.
9. Put your left index finger in the yarn loop and hold loop vertical.
10. Maintain yarn loop vertical as you wind hackle up the stacker loop counter-clockwise (CCW) in very tightly packed turns a distance equal to the distance between the base of the yarn loop and the hook eye. You can tilt the yarn loop forward to help you gauge that you have wrapped up enough. The hackle is wound using the thumb and middle finger of your left hand and the thumb and index finger of your right hand. Finish wrapping with the hackle tip pointing away from you and held with the thumb and middle finger of your left hand.
11. Now pinch the junction of the loop and hackle with the thumb and index finger of your right hand. Slip your left index finger from the loop. Release the hackle tip. Your right hand is pinching it to the loop.
12. Hold yarn loop vertical with your right hand and preen the hackle fibers back with your left fingers. Regrasp the hackle tip and hold away from you. Then pull stacker loop forward with your right hand and over hook eye. This pinches the hackle tip against the hook shank under the loop. Release hackle tip.
13. While holding the loop tight angled slightly under the hook shank, and bobbin in left hand, take two wraps of thread over the loop and hackle tip
14. Then pull stacker hoop hard to the right to force hackle into herl body forming a hemisphere of hackle fibers. Then tie yarn loop off hard.and trim hackle tip.
15. Fold loop backward and tie down. Form nice thread head, whip finish, trim tying thread. Trim loop ends about a hook gap in length to form the indicator. Coat head with head cement.
16. 15 Relax and pat yourself on your back. Again, you’ve done a lot of detailed steps but isn’t the result beautiful?

We all like fishing big dry flies like Hendricksons. But in the midst of a blanket Hendrickson hatch our size 12 Hendrickson or size 14 Red Quill dry is often ignored. Time to put on a pair of smaller flies like a size 16 Paralep Sparkle Dun trailed by a size 16 or 18 Paralep Emerger tied in hackle stacker style. The Paraleptophlebia Adoptiva (Blue Quill in non-Latin scholar terms) is a mahogany bodied mayfly that often accompanies the Hendricksons as a masking hatch. And trout sometimes prefer this smaller tidbit. . So this month’s fly is definitely one you should tie and use.

Hackle stacker style uses a hackle wound on a thread or material core much like a parachute hackle with the core then pulled over the top of a pattern and tied off. This results in the hackle fibers sticking out of the top and sides of the pattern with none on the bottom. In the United States, Bob Quigley is most often associated with this style since he wrote extensively in Fly Fisherman magazine about it. In Europe, this style is called Paraloop and usually is associated with Ian Moulter, a Scottish tier, who wrote two books about it. But Ned Long and Jim Cramer, both recently deceased California tiers, are generally acknowledged as preceding both Quigley and Moulter and both independently created it. They respectively called the style Hedgehog and Pullover. There are some differences in the details of the styles of all these tiers but the result is virtually identical.

I much prefer the specifics advocated by Quigley in which the core is loops of tying thread held in place by the index finger of your left hand and the hackle is wound using the thumb and middle finger of that hand and the thumb and index finger of your right hand. No extra gallows tool is required as in some of the other styles. The hackle is first attached on the hook shank and then wound up the loops and then back down, being tied off at the hook shank. Other styles vary the winding and the tie off. In the next three months I’ll be presenting patterns that use some of these variations. Stay tuned.

From the photo you can see that this month’s pattern has very few components. The rear of the fly is borrowed from a Pheasant Tail Nymph while the front has a hemisphere of hackle fibers over the thorax to support the pattern in the film and act as a sighter so you can easily follow the drift. You grease only the hackle so that when fished the fly sits in the film at about the angle of the photo, the “nymph” part submerged, the rest representing the mayfly exploding from its nymph case.

Once you get used to using your left hand to continually tell the world you are “Number One”, the pattern is easy and quick to tie. Trout love it. You can vary the hook size and materials coloration to yield emergers for other mayflies. Trout will love them too.

Pattern Recipe:

Hook:Light wire Scud hook, size 16 or 18 (Fly in photo is tied on a size 16 Saber 7258, a Black Nickel Barbless Scud Hook)
Thread: Danville 6/0, Olive
Rib: Copper Ulta Wire, XS
Rear Body: Brown Dyed Pheasant Tail, 4 fibers
Hackle: Grizzly Saddle, one size smaller than hook
Stacker Post: 3 loops of tying thread
Thorax: Mahogany Dubbing (I use Rusty Brown Superfine which darkens to the right shade when wet)

Instructions:

1. Mash barb on hook if barbed and mount in vise.
2. Attach thread to hook at eye and wind back until hook starts to curve.
3. Tie in tip of a 6 inch section of the wire, tag end to rear. This length will serve to form several flies. Wrap back over wire until about half way around the bend. Keep wire on far side at finish.
4. Wind thread back to point you first tied down wire. Tie in PT fibers, tips back and wrap back to wire. Bring thread back to point you first tied down wire. You want to position the fibers so that when you have wrapped them back you have a tail about a hook gap.in length.
5. Wrap portion of the PT fibers that is pointing forward back to waiting wire. Tie off with one turn of wire and then spiral wire forward to thread. Tie off wire and clip excess. Trim excess PT fibers.
6. Prepare and tie in the saddle hackle, tip back, shiny side up, so the fibers come off the stem right where you tied off the wire and bare stem is on the far side of the hook shank.
7. Make a vertical extent stacker loop by taking three loops of tying thread over your left index finger and under the hook shank. Take one wrap of thread around the hook shank and then a loop around the base of the stacker loop. Leave thread just ahead of base of stacker loop.
8. Maintain stacker loop vertical with your left index finger as you wind hackle up the stacker loop counter-clockwise (CCW) a distance equal to the distance between the base of the stacker loop and the hook eye and then wind hackle back to hook shank. You can tilt the stacker loop forward to help you gauge that you have wrapped up enough. The hackle is wound using the thumb and middle finger of your left hand and the thumb and index finger of your right hand. The final wrap is completed tight against the hook shank and then the hackle tip held rearward.and slightly downward with the middle finger and thumb of your left hand.
9. Tie off hackle by bringing thread CCW three times around base of stacker loop and over hackle stem. Leave thread just ahead of base of stacker loop. You can now let go of the hackle and take your left index finger out of the stacker loop. Trim hackle stem.
10. Form a flattened ball-shaped thorax of dubbing leaving thread just behind hook eye
11. Hold stacker loop vertical with your right hand and preen the hackle fibers back with your left fingers. Then pull stacker loop threads forward with your right hand. Hold loop on near side of shank with your left thumbnail while you tie it off lightly
12. at the hook eye. Then pull stacker hoop hard to the right to force hackle into thorax forming a hemisphere of hackle fibers above thorax. Then tie stacker threads off hard. Trim stacker threads.
13. Form nice thread head, whip finish, trim tying thread, and coat head with head cement.
14. Relax and pat yourself on your back. You’ve done a lot of detailed steps but isn’t the result beautiful?

Did you buy and use some micro tubing to tie the Little Green Machine nymph described in November and are wondering how else might you use that tubing? This month’s fly, Tucker Nelson’s Red Midge Larva, provides an answer.

Tucker was born, grew up and currently lives and guides right on the Nelson’s Spring Creek Ranch, home of the world famous Nelson’s Spring Creek. I first fished this Creek in the early 90s when Tucker’s grandmother, Helen, managed the fishing reservations and his grandfather, Edwin, managed the cattle business. After Helen’s and Edwin’s passing, their son Roger and wife Mary continued the cattle and fishing businesses. Roger still runs the cattle business and Mary still deals with Creek reservations.

Tucker is Roger and Mary’s son and he and his wife Jacquie, also a superb guide, currently run the fishing and guiding operations. They now reside a few hundred yards from the Creek in the house where Helen would always greet me. I mention all the family geneology because the cattle and fishing operations are truly a multi-generational labor of love. The family is devoted to the land and abundant resident wildlife. My personal favorites are the ospreys and the sand hill cranes. If you’ve never fished Nelson’s or the other Spring Creeks, Armstong’s and DePuy’s, located just south of Livinston MT, you should definitely put them on your bucket list.

As you might expect from his growing up on the Creek, Tucker is truly dialed in to the needed flies and techniques. But as a hard working guide, he’s tired at the end of the day and cranking out complicated patterns for use by clients the next day isn’t in the cards. So his patterns are true “Guide Flies”, very effective for clients yet simple and quick to tie. His larva requires only a hook, thread and tubing.

While this pattern originated in Montana, it is quite effective in local waters. At this time of year trout are hugging the bottom and this midge larva fished as a dropper off a heavier nymph should get you a few tugs.

Many spring creeks and tail waters have resident small aquatic earthworms called Annelids. If you use the same tying steps with a size 16 or 18 hook instead of a 22 and Wapsi Stretch tubing in size Micro instead of the Hareline tubing you’ll have an effective pattern for these worms. This larger “Worm” variation is very popular on the San Juan River in New Mexico.

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: Natural Bend Hook, size 22, e.g. TMC 200R or equivalent. Flies in photo are tied on a Saber 7015
Thread: Red Danville 6/0
Body: Red Hareline Micro Tubing

Instructions:

1. Mash barb on hook and mount in vise.
2. Attach thread to hook 1/16th inch behind eye.
3. Tie in tip of a 6 inch section of the tubing, tag end to rear. This length will serve to form several flies.
4. Overwrap tubing smoothly back to hook bend while stretching tubing.
5. Make a few tight thread wraps right at bend and then flatten thread and wrap forward to just behind eye forming a smooth uniform underbody. Make a single half hitch to keep thread from loosening while you wrap body.
6. Wrap tubing under light tension forward in touching turns to thread.
7. Tie off firmly. Stretch and clip off tubing.
8. Form small thread head, whip finish, and clip thread.
9. Coat body and head with head cement or thinned Liquid Fusion (my choice)