News & Events
Fly Tying School Starts This Saturday!
Last Chance to Sign Up!
Part 1: Saturday, February 11, 2023
Part 2: Saturday February 18, 2023
10:00 to 3:00 PM
Beginners Fly Tying Class
This is our entry-level class for the person just getting started in fly tying or who has very little experience. We will cover the basic tools, techniques and materials necessary to tie a variety of basic flies, concentrating on patterns that work well on local rivers and streams.
Learn to do things “right from the start” from our excellent instructors who are some of the best in the East. Techniques are taught in a sequence that continually builds competence. Our instructors watch you and make sure you are doing things right. Further, we will provide a quality vice, tools, hooks and all materials or you can bring your own. Finally, we provide a manual with summarized tying descriptions for each pattern plus a reference to a web video we believe is the best for that pattern.
Intermediate Class
This class is for the intermediate tier who has acquired the basic skills in handling tools and materials either by previously taking a beginners course and/or tying flies regularly for a year or two.
While our Beginners Classes are the same from year to year, our Intermediate Class constantly evolves. New patterns, techniques and materials introduced by tiers through-out the world are monitored, and the best ones that mesh with the skill set of the intermediate tier are selected. Thus the class remains interesting to past attendees and also to those who have never taken it before. Students must bring their own vise and tools, some materials will be provided.
The cost for all classes is $50.00. To register or ask questions contact us at cjtutying@cjtu.org. Please register early so CJTU can plan ahead to make your course a success.
Fly tying classes will be held in the American Legion Hall, 137 New Market Road, Dunellen, NJ 08812
This course is open to members and nonmembers. We welcome anyone who has an interest in the sport of Fly Fishing or Fly Tying.
Our courses are taught in a relaxed atmosphere of camaraderie. We feel that with the patient, guiding help of our instructors, everyone will finish the course with a good working knowledge of how to tie flies.
Please remember to bring a light for your vise, lighting conditions in the building might not be as bright as you may like.
2023 Musconetcong River Clean-Up
Central Jersey Trout Unlimited (CJTU) will again be participating in the Musconetcong River Clean-up from the Point Mountain location. The Musky Clean-up will be held on Saturday, April 15th, beginning at 9:00a.m. At the completion of the Clean-up, probably between 11:00a.m. and 11:30a.m., we have been invited by the Musconetcong Watershed Association (MWA), to attend a BBQ at their headquarters at 10 Maple Avenue, in Asbury, New Jersey. It's a fun time!
MWA will supply gloves and garbage bags for whatever trash we collect.
Please bring your own water bottles so that we don't add to the trash by supplying individual plastic bottles.
There will be a couple of large reusable canisters of water so that we can refill our own personal bottles.
This is a great event, one where we can do good work and get reacquainted! Invite a friend! Please let Marsha Benovengo know if you are able to participate in the Musconetcong River Clean-up on Saturday, April 15th. You can reach Marsha via email at casabeno@msn.com.
Thank you!
Help CJTU when you shop at Amazon!
AmazonSmile is a simple way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. AmazonSmile is available at smile.amazon.com on your web browser and can be activated in the Amazon Shopping app for iOS and Android phones. When you shop at AmazonSmile, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added benefit that AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchases to Central Jersey Trout Unlimited.
Fly of the Month
Fritz’s Zebra Midge Variant
Tied by Bill Ninke
Midge fishing normally starts on local waters near the end of this month. With the recent unusual ups and downs of cold and warm weather it’s going to be hard to predict exactly when. But, it will come. So I’ve picked a productive variant of the Zebra midge and a variant of this variant and also of the original as the flies of the month.
I bet most of you have both tied and fished the Zebra Midge. It’s a simple pattern, just a hook, bead, thread and wire rib, that has been featured in many books and magazine articles. Justly so since it flat out hooks fish. I first learned of and fished the Zebra Midge in the Spring of 1997. The occasion was a trip in April on the Missouri with super guide Gary Fritz. Nothing was happening on the surface then so we were fishing nymphs under a thingamabobber in the deep shoreline runs about a half mile below Holter Dam. As Gary was rigging me up he said he wanted to try a new fly that a client he had just guided had brought from fishing near Lees Ferry on the Colorado. The client said his guide there had just created it and named it the Zebra Midge. Always willing to try something new I agreed
As a start, Gary carefully bent down the barb on the size 20 hook and slightly offset the point. He stated his belief that the offset helped hooking and the debarbing eased getting the tiny hook out of the trout’s jaw. And doing these operations now saved time in case anything broke. (if you are tying, do these operations before you start)
After tying on the Midge and adding two split shots eight feet below the indicator, Gary instructed me on how he wanted this rig fished. He noted that midge pupa do not move sideways in the water so I should continually mend my line to keep the indicator moving with the current, no sideways movement. And strikes are just sips so set the hook at any twitch of the indicator. Pupa do move up from the bottom as they are hatching so let the fly swing up at the end of the drift and you’ll often get a grab. Soon echoes off the nearby canyon wall of large trout leaping confirmed Gary’s choice in pattern and presentation. Other boats were circling with us in the area but none doing anyway near as well as I was. One fisherman in another boat yelled out “What are you fishing?” I asked Gary if I should reply. He said “Sure, they won’t know what a Zebra Midge is nor have any. And they certainly won’t be fishing it correctly”
Next year I fished with Gary at the same time of year at the same location. During rigging up he said “The Zebra Midge is no longer a secret. All the local shops sell them. So the trout see them all the time and are getting suspicious. But I’ve been tying and testing a variant that has been doing well for my clients. It has a gold bead and red wire rib with a peacock herl body. It is one size larger than the Zebra. Want to try it?” You know my answer. It worked just wonderfully. This month’s instructions cover it.
The following year I was back again. In preparation for the trip, inspired by Gary’s continually seeking new patterns, I tied up some doubled versions of both the original Zebra and Gary’s variant. I reasoned that the larger gape from a bigger hook would aid in hooking and that the larger “meal” might be a great trigger. The above photo tells all of what I tied. Did my doubled flies do better than single ones. The only hard evidence I can cite is that Gary commandeered all of my remaining doubles at the end of my trip. And I tied myself up a new supply upon returning to New Jersey and still always carry some with me.
When fishing these patterns in local waters you’ll be fishing much shallower than on the Missouri using a very small foam or New Zealand Wool indicator, possibly without any added shot. But Gary’s advice to not move the midge across the current and to let it swing at the end still holds.
My interactions with and learning from Gary continued until 2016. In April of that year he suffered a massive heart attack while playing golf and died on the course. He was the strongest rower I’ve ever been with. He would often make his guide boat seem to plane water as he rushed to get me near rising trout. So it has always seemed inappropriate to me that he had his attack while pursuing the rather sedate sport of golf instead of pushing hard on the oars I sure do miss that guy.
Click here for the recipe!
|
