Flies for the Greater Yellowstone Area by Bruce Staples

Early last year Bruce Staples contacted me and asked if I would be willing to contribute some of my original fly patterns to his new book.  Needless to say I was flattered, and said yes.  I sent off to Bruce examples of eight flies, a materials list and a short description for each.  I just recently received my copy and I was very impressed with both the content and quality of this publication...

My "Korn's Marabou Caddis" even made the cover!

My flies included in this book are:
Korn's; Spruce Moth, CDC Spent-wing Parachute Caddis, Green Lantern, Holiday Golden Stone, Marabou Caddis, TNT Golden Stone, TNT Green Drake and my Wrapped Foam Hopper.

It is truly an honor to have my flies listed alongside some great fly tiers like: Bob Jacklin, Hans Weilenmann, Walter Wiese, Craig Mathews as-well-as many others...

If you get a chance please give this book a look especially if you plan on fishing in Yellowstone Country!  Thanks Bruce...

Back in the Saddle, tying flies...

Hi folks, I've been "tied up" with my knee surgery and some other health issues as-well-as the Holidays.   Needless to say I've fallen behind on my fly tying... But now I'm back up and at them.

Today I'm tying up a bunch of my favorite fly - the "Korn's Spent-wing Caddis".

You can check out my YouTube video titled; "Korn's Spruce Moth".  The Spent-wing is tied using the same methods with just slightly different materials.  See my list of materials and tying instructions below.  The thing to remember is, caddis flies have a narrow wing profile, where the spruce moth's wings are wider.

Korn's Spent-wing Caddis, tan version. 

Tied with narrow hen pheasant feathers producing the perfect profile in the water.

Hook: MFCo. #7000 Dry 14-18

Thread: Serafil 200  

Rib: tag end of thread 

Abdomen: DK Tan dubbing

Palmered hackle: ginger rooster neck.

Wing: 2 hen pheasant wing or neck feathers

Steps:

1. Start thread at eye, wrap thread base to bend of hook, leave tag end for rib.

2. Dub thread, form tight dubbing noodle, wind forward to form body.

3. Tie in hackle 1 eye length behind eye, palmer front to back.  

4. Trap hackle at bend with the tag end of the thread, wrap through hackle and tie off at eye, clip hackle short on top..

5. Prepare 2 pheasant wing or neck feathers, tied in flat one on top of the other, 1 gap length longer than hook, tied behind eye then folded over to form head and wrapped and whip finished. Varnish head, clipped “^” out of center, bottom hackle.

The Knothole Spoon (or taking a break from fly tying today)

Spoon #4 - I finished carving this ash serving spoon today.  No sanding, just a carved finish.

Here are the other tools I used for this spoon.  The Keen Kutter 1 1/2 lb. axe head is one I recently bought off the bay for $20. I reground the edge bevel and made the handle and mask for it.  My spoon knife and Mora carving knife are also included in the photo.

The knot hole worked out perfectly.  It popped out nicely with a little help while carving the bowl.  It will make a nice drain hole for serving cooked veggies...

The spoon is 10 1/2 inches long.  I'm sorry that it's not fly fishing but thanks for checking it out...

Making dubbing 101 a step-by-step by Doug Korn.

Making dubbing from yarn is easy using a coffee grinder.  Buy one just for making dubbing, they are cheap, about $15.  Experiment with different yarns yourself to find the right color, texture and float-ability desired for your fly tying needs.

Today's goal is to make an orange sulphur dubbing for dry flies.

Materials needed.  All you really need is a coffee grinder and some yarn...

I use a 12 inch board to measure my "parts".  

I cut one part of orange yarn and ten parts yellow. 

Then, cut the 11 pieces of yarn in 3/4 inch lengths or "bundles".

Keep the 3/4 inch bundles nicely lined up so that they can be added to the coffee grinder in the proper 1 to 10 ratio.  You will end up with about 15-16 bundles.

Add 3-4 bundles at one time to the grinder.  Turn it on and run it for about 20 seconds.  Grinding times will vary depending on your wool and the volume of yarn in the grinder. 

You should end up with dubbing that looks something like this, with color blending and texture consistent throughout the batch.  Safety Note: always unplug your grinder before putting your hands in it. Repeat the steps above with the remainder of your bundles.

You should end up with some nice orange sulphur dubbing.  Here is the orange sulphur compared to my standard sulphur dubbing.

If you get this - you haven't blended enough.  There is too much material in the grinder.  Remove some and grind some more.  Trial and error is necessary until you get a feel for how much material is too much.  Take notes on your dubbing blends so that you can repeat your recipes when needed.

As you can see here this batch needs a little more blending to be consistent throughout the blend.

Be careful though, too much grinding creates heat and the heat will melt and clump the yarn/dubbing.

I ended up making two batches of orange sulphur dubbing.  Above is the darker of the two.  This was 2 parts orange to 10 parts yellow.

The finished dubbing...  On the left 1 part orange to 10 parts yellow and on the right 2 parts orange to 10 parts yellow.

A Hunter's Breakfast...

My favorite.  Pan fried venison tenderloins, whole grain wheat toast and two eggs over easy, PRICELESS!

Opening Day Luck

I am happy to have taken this nice little buck on "Opening Day" here in NY.  This year I only had a buck tag and I will not be able to hunt the rest of the deer season due to knee surgery.

Some fine eating!

Bubble Back Nymph

step-by-step- Bubble Back Nymph - BWO

Here’s a great nymph to use in the film or slightly sub-surface.  I say that because the fly starts out as a trailer nymph up in the film, but after the first few fish beat it up it rides a bit lower in the water column.  It behaves very much like a Pogo Nymph, another favorite of mine in that when it swims in the water column it bounces and bobs-n-weaves all over the place and drives the trout "to the take"... 
Tie some up in the Mayfly colors you need to match the hatch.

This is my version of this nymph.  I've seen many nymphs featuring some kind of foam used as a shellback. But mine differs slightly, because it also uses the foam to form the head and the eyes of the nymph providing a little bit more floatation especially in the bigger fly sizes.

Materials list:

Bubble wrap for electronics:  This is the thin, tightly packed, small bubble wrap in Tan/Gray/Dun really nice stuff... cut a piece a little wider than the hook gap. 

Hook: Nymph 1xl size #12-20,

this is a #16.

Thread: Tan Serafil or Uni 6-8/0

Tail: Pheasant Tail

Body: Olive yellow dubbing

Legs/Thorax: Fox Squirrel dubbing

Shellback, head and eyes: Tan/Gray/Dun bubble wrap.

Step 1.) Start the thread on the hook behind the hook eye. Wrap back to the barb.

Step 2.) Tie in PT as the tail. Wrap thread back to the 60% spot on the shank. Trim waste PT.

Step 3.) Dub the thread.

Step 4.) Dub the body back to the 60% point on the shank.

Step 5.) Tie in the bubble wrap.

Step 6.) Dub the fox squirrel on the thread and wrap it forward to one hook eye behind the eye.

Step 7.) Pull the bubble wrap over the dubbing and tie down one hook eye behind the eye and then wind thread forward over the bubble wrap to the hook eye.

Step 8.) Pull and fold the bubble wrap back over thread wraps and tie down at the one hook eye behind the eye point.  This forms the head and eyes... nice hah!  Trim waste bubble wrap and whip finish behind the head.

Step 9.) Brush out the legs and trim them to length. Finished view - bottom.

 

Finished view - top.

Finished view - side.