55 on the fly

Making some rabbit dubbing the old fashion way.... Hunted with my good friend Eric and his dogs today. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Rabbits are excellent eating too.... we make them into hot dogs or as we say; "rabbit dogs".

My son Scott and I hunted down in Cherry Creek, NY this weekend..... Scott shot this big old field gobbler on Saturday.   Nothing like a hunt with your son, quality time in the woods and the bonus of some good eating..... 8 inch beard, 3/4 inch spurs and one very, very wet turkey  ;-) Even though it rained non-stop all weekend we saw several more birds and a bunch of deer as well. 

Today was an excellent morning to be out in the woods.  I harvested several squirrels, both red and gray's for fly tying dubbing and the tails. My old 22 LR did the job. There's nothing like a little lunch in the woods.

This is a variation of my Korn's Wrapped Foam Hopper that I tie for Parks Fly Shop.  It makes a super Salmon fly and you can use the same pattern for Golden Stone flies as well.  I just change the hook to a size 8-10 and the foam over body to a golden yellow.  Out West it's a killer fly when the Salmon flies are hatching and in the East for the small Spring Black Stone flies. I just change the color and downsize them to size 12... Materials: Hook: MFCo. 7026 4-6 Thread: black 6/0 Uni Legs: MFC med. black legs Underbody: orange craft foam wrapped Over body: black or dark brown craft foam, hook gap wide with split-tail Wing: deer tail hair Indicator: orange craft foam SBS tie in back legs split tie in underbody foam at eye extending out from hook superglue thread base, wrap orange foam back to tail-legs attach over body with 3 wraps at tail-legs, then loop thread over the top of the underbody to the eye (this way no wraps ...

The RS2 has always been a good producer for me... I tie them to represent many different Mayflies from Green Drakes to Trico's.  The only thing that changes is the color of the thorax and the size of the hook. Hook: #1560 12-24, wet fly (1x long) Thread: UTC 70 Wing: fluff from base of dun rooster or turkey feather Tail: pearl flash, tied split Abdomen: rusty brown dubbing, rabbit Thorax: PMD dubbing, rabbit

Here's my latest: Red Oak Delrin mouth piece 38 special brass This trumpet has the slender shape and call tone that I have been striving for.  I really like the way this one came out.  Now I will try to replicate it and be consistent from call to call...  thanks for taking a look.... Doug

More practice on the lathe.  I turned this trumpet of Spalted Maple in a more classic style...

Hi folks, just thought I'd post a couple of photos of the first trumpet turkey call that I made yesterday on my lathe. I turned it out of red oak. It has a PEI mouth piece and a cork stopper.  She's a sweet talker!

May first found me in Cherry Creek, NY gathering some fly tying material.  Ben, Jim and I hunted for four days in the rain to take these fine gobblers.  I have plenty of tail feathers and secondary turkey rounds now, as I need to tie some more Korn's WH Turkey Tail Nymphs...... May 2nd ~ I took this gobbler with a Mossberg 12 ga. and Remington 3 1/2 inch mag.'s #5 shot @ 30 yards. After taking the first bird I switched to my Grandfather's old Remington Sportsman in 16 gauge you don't see many of those these days.  I can remember my Grandfather using it to knock down a deer with a single shot one day as I stood by his side in Hemlock, NY many, many years ago when I was just 12 years old.  He shot a lot of deer and small game with this gun and it did a fine job for me too on this, my second gobbler... Grandpa's Remington and a wet turkey. May 4th ~ "Grandpa's Turkey".... taken at 17 yards with #5 shot... My buddy Ben and his Cherry Cre...

Ben Jewell's - Slough Creek Spinner Fishing Yellowstone National Park's famous Slough Creek can be a real test of skill and fly fishing knowledge.  The Cutthroat trout are tough to catch and by mid-season have seen most every fly available.  Knowing a few key flies and how and when to fish them can make all the difference. There are a few flies I would not be without on Slough, this is one of them.  That's why my fellow guide Ben named it as such.  Anytime you see a fly with a creeks name, and you are going to fish that creek....... Yeah, you're going to want some of those. an average Slough Creek Cutt'y... I enjoy tying this fly even though it has more materials than I like and they can be troublesome to manage. Here you see wing bundles, each made up of white and dark gray Widow's Web and 2 strands of Krystal Flask.  Turkey rounds of Gray-olive biots are used to wrap the body and moose  body hair is spilt to form the tails. usi...

I've been tying dozens of these: Korn's Tinsel Caddis

Hi folks, Today I was tying up some of my Korn's Spent-wing Caddis flies with Opal Tinsel bodies.  The tinsel was a real pain in the butt to handle as it was full of static.  It was so bad I almost couldn't put it down! Then I remembered an old trick.  I ran downstairs and grabbed a dryer sheet from the laundry area and put that on my tying bench and laid my tinsel on it, bingo!  The anti-static dryer sheet solved the problem and I could get back to knocking out 15 dozen of these killer flies... Here is a photo of the Opal Tinsel body, nice and slim. Anti-cling dryer sheet does the trick... finished fly - bottom Korn's Tinsel Caddis - top

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...

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. St...

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...