55 on the fly

Fishing hoppers, ya gotta love it... with the first days of summer come thoughts of fishing what we call "Happy Meals". For tying this Parks Fly Shop Hopper - see this previous "55 on the fly" blog: http://55onthefly.blogspot.com/2010/06/hopper-time-coming-soon.html I tie them in many colors... but pink is the best we've found so far... Hint-hint, I'm tying up some purple body hoppers for this year to try.  Good Luck!

When I harvest a turkey I put most every part of it to good use.  The turkey's wings are most useful. I use the turkey wing feathers for tying flies and for fletching on my arrows. I make turkey calls with the wing bones.  Here are two scrimshawed wing bone calls I just finished up for friends.

It’s been awhile since I got out fishing with all the rain and high water.  But Clint and I had a great time. The water was still high and off color but we took a dozen fish on top with Walter Wiese’s Clacka-Caddis tan #16 being the fly of the day! Here are some photos:   Clint Me

Here's one that Dave Downie ties.... you can find it on YouTube. An excellent fly for the Yellowstone National Park area. I gave this one a go, here is my tie: Hook: MFC 7026 #12 (#10-14) Bead: 3.5 mm Copper Thread: brown Uni 8/0 Tail & Legs: MFC small Centipede tan/brown Rib: heavy copper wire Body & Thorax: Red Fox Squirrel body fur dubbed spiky

Here's your chance to use your turkey tail material on these great TNT Nymph's (Turkey-N-Tail) nymphs.  I'll be fishing these big time out in Montana in July and August.  I tie the Drakes in green, brown and gray, all in size 12's.  I also tie black stones in size 8's with a purple bead head... you of course can use copper, gold or black metal beads as well.  Good Luck! Golden Stone Green Drake Hook: Mustad 9671 #10 for Golden Stones and #12 for Drakes Bead: Toho Glass Bead 6/0 Thread: Tobacco Brown Danville 6/0 Tail & Shell Back: Wild Turkey Tail Feather about a dozen fibers Rib: heavy copper wire Body: DK dubbing from PFS or your choice Legs: Pheasant after-shaft feather, 1 1/2 turns...