www.cjtu.org

March 2023

General Meeting

Tuesday, March 14th, 2023

Nick Raftus “Fly Fishing the Lehigh”

Nick Raftas is a full time guide and owner of Orvis Endorsed and Trout Unlimited Business, Wild East Outfitters. Nick has been guiding for 12 years and splits his time guiding for trout and smallmouth bass on the Lehigh, Susquehanna, lower Delaware and Juniata Rivers. Anglers Journal and Field and Streams Hook Shots has featured Nick as a guide in their magazine and video series. Nick has also been published in Fly Fisherman Magazine. Nick has presented at Philadelphia Anglers Club, Anglers Club of New York, and for Trout Unlimited clubs across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. When he’s not fishing or guiding Nick enjoys camping with his wife and two daughters and spending time outdoors. Nick will share tons of photos and video content in his presentation. Nick will also cover the following: Locations, history of the fishery, fly patterns and best fishing tactics.

CJTU Annual Picnic

"A meeting with Food"

Tuesday, June 13th, 2023
5:00 - 8:00 pm

Join us at CJTU's Annual Bar-B-Que and Picnic, Tuesday June 13th, starting at 5 pm in the grove right behind the American Legion Hall, 137 New Market Road in Dunellen, NJ 08812. Plenty of food and soft drinks (plus the inexpensive bar is open right inside the hall as always).

Come relax, meet new and old friends, and share some fish stories. The cost of the picnic is only $15.00 in advance, $20 on the day of the event. In case of rain we will move inside the hall to our regular meeting space.

American Legion Hall
137 New Market Road
Dunellen, NJ

Meeting starts at 8:00 PM - Non Members are always welcome!

News & Events

2023 Fly Tying Wrap-up

The 2023 CJTU Fly Tying School now history. We met in the February to run our Beginners and Intermediate fly tying classes with the new two Saturday format which everyone seemed to like.

We would like to thank Ed Kordyla and Lou DiGena for being instructors in the beginners class and Tom Kapusta for teaching the intermediate class.

It's time to start planning for the 2024 school!

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!

Fly of the Month

Ramirez’s Kryptonite Caddis

Tied by Bill Ninke

The nail/barrel/surgeons knot is deeply embedded in our fly tying and fly fishing. If the knot is formed over another material such as in attaching backing to a fly line, it is called a nail knot. If it is without a core such as a multi-turn overhand knot as used to attach tippet to leader, it is called a barrel or surgeons knot. No matter which way the knot is formed, the outside is a nice cylinder if done correctly. A whip finish knot at the head of a fly is a nail knot. You do make your whip finishes by wrapping always forward from the back of the head to the hook eye don’t you. If so you have a smooth outside cylinder. Otherwise you have crosses of thread that can be easily cut by a trout’s teeth.

In the December 2021 FOTM (Swisher’s Mono Caddis Pupa) I described how a whip finish of colored monofilament over the rear part of a hook forms a nail knot that represents the abdomen of the pupa. This month I describe how Juan Ramirez uses a barrel knot of colored monofilament to make a detached abdomen for his caddis pupa.

Juan is a well-known tier and guide based in Colorado. Juan got the idea for making a detached barrel knot body for his pattern from watching Tim Flagler’s video on the Forget-Me-Knot Midge. Tim used a 10 turn knot in 15 lb red Amnesia to match midges. Juan wanted a slightly longer body so uses 14 turns in 15 lb chartreuse Amnesia to match a caddis. To get this knot to tighten properly you absolutely need to run the mono over a bar of soap to create a lubricating coat before forming the knot. Juan further coats the body with UV resin to get an increased diameter.

Since the body is detached, a hook with only a short shank is needed for the rest of the fly. But the hook needs to have a wide gape for consistent hook ups. Juan has specified two Firehole hooks, the 633 and 637, with these properties. These models are readily available in the Rockies area. I have experimented with these and other hooks and have settled on using a Saber 7259 which is more economical and readily available in our area. All these hooks are barbless with a black nickel finish. This unobtrusive finish is part of Juan’s design concept for the fly.

Juan ties the pattern in two sizes since he guides on some tail waters, where a size 20 matches the naturals, and on freestones where a size 16 is a good match. For fishing our local streams I only tie and use the size 16. A black tungsten bead gives the pattern weight to get down fast and also represents the head of the pupa. A few wraps of a CDC feather provide mobile legs. A little rabbit dubbing finishes off the fly. Under water, the combined mono and resin body literally glows making the pattern very effective. While Juan’s preference is for the green Amnesia, other colors of monofilament can be used. I’ve had good success with this pattern tied using 14 lb Gold HiViz Stren. Both the Amnesia and Stren versions are shown in the photo.

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