Visit the Bakslengen site for some very crisp, beautiful tying efforts.
I like this Damsel dry pattern with the braid tail and split braid wing. Simple and inviting....gluuump! Damsel Pattern
Archive for the 'Stillwater Pattern' Category
28
Mar
12
Fly Tying: Bakslengen’s
Came upon this pattern in the Bend Bulletin. A pattern called the CJ Rufus (I don't know). The pattern is pretty straight forward to tie (Wollly Bugger), but has the unique extended beard of rootbeer marabou and some flash. The fly is reputed to ride hook up, probably because of the over sized beard? The fly was offered by Gary Lewis here
Like this:
The Best Dragon Fly Nymph, created by Randall Kaufmann. (SwittersB)
SwittersB isn’t given to such pronouncements as a rule. I came perilously low on my tied up Lake Dragons last season, in fact this the last one in all my lake boxes. If you enter Dragon Fly in my blog’s search box you will find 70+ entries on assorted patterns and pontifications about the dragon fly nymph for stillwaters or my superstition about its magical powers it bestows upon me once in flight. Ok, maybe it is a touch hot out on the waters sometimes.
But this pattern is top rated amongst all the Dragon nymphs I have tied. The Lake Dragon just produces. This time around, I will tie some that are less weighted and fish the shallows/shoals/weeds a little better. The pattern has been around for quite awhile, but you won’t see it in shops as much anymore, so you must tie up this beauty or some offer it on line.
The original pattern was a 50/50 blend of olive green rabbit and Angora. Along the way I added orange rabbit…a very little bit…in the thorax dubbing. I noticed red or orange straggles over the years in the original patterns so very subtlety protruding from the head or thorax. Not sure it has made a bit of difference.
Fine or medium copper wire for the ribbing. Olive marabou, chickaboo or filoplume for the tail. No weight, single layer or doubled layer of wire wraps. Plastic dumbbell eyes…no single bead head here! Cut the wing case from a turkey feather that you lacquered with some clear drying goo. Then tie in the six pieces of pheasant tail fibers on each side, not extending but half way back in the abdomen. The abdomen and the thorax are dubbed from the same mix of fur. With today’s blends you can come close to the color, but the original works great. A size 6-8 hook with 8/0 olive thread binds it all together.
So, this is one of my four tying goals, initially for this Spring:
1. Tie up at least two dozen Lake Dragon Fly Nymphs
2. Tie up several dozen Green Rock worm caddis larva
3. Tie up several dozen unweighted Woolly Buggers in the Black, Brown, Green colors
4. Tie up a few more black/brown ants and whatever else pops into my mind.
More information on the legend Randall Kaufmann. In the day, he had already been there before……………….
Regard the ubiquitous Woolly Bugger…I make no apologies in promoting or using the fly. It just works. But, the last few years with the Woolly Bugger (Little Fort Leech) and the Lake Bait pattern, I used dyed hot red and hot green hackle fibers or dyed hot red marabou fibers either at the top of the tail, but shorter than the tail length or at the sides tied in at the head. I have been wanting to experiment with the side of the head spot for an attractor hot spot. In the Brown Buggers, below, I used a dyed red goose biot. I will explore the length, durability and success of the material. Remember, the hot spot here is for an unweighted fly, so the hot bead head is not an option. Of course, the two could be combined with a heavier weighted fly.
Woolly Bugger w/ Hot Red Goose Biot, Unweighted, Size 8
The Tried & Very True Little Fort Leech (Hot Spot On Top of Tail)
Like this:
29
Dec
11
Fly Tying & Fishing: The Leech
I have come upon Leeches in the shallows of lakes, particularly in B.C. Fly fishing literature promotes the use of Leech patterns for stillwater fly fishing.
The Little Fort Leech has been a very successful fly pattern for me. Does it simulate a Leech in the water, by its appearance or presentation? SwittersB
Typically, you see the Woolly Bugger pattern offered up as the go to Leech pattern, or maybe a brushed out Mohair or Synthetic Fiber Leech pattern. Check Google Images Leech Fly Pattern and you see the range of patterns and attempts at innovation toward the real critter.
A Leech photograph by Karl Ragnar Gjertsen. This is a Leech in a more or less compact position, that could stretch out considerably longer. The left, Anterior portion, is the 'front' of the Leech
Leeches reportedly move in an undulating locomotion. Tying and fishing a Leech pattern with that in mind would focus upon the presentation of the fly; how the materials contribute to a sense of undulation and is the pattern shaped like a Leech. Many ‘Leech’ patterns are misshapen and presented in a horizontal mode with only the slightest undulation, usually imparted from the bead head.
I have taken to fishing a Leech pattern off the bottom in the shoals beneath a slip bobber. This is particularly effective if the water’s surface is rippled enough to impart a slight up and down movement to the bobber/fly. First light, last light and dark skies are good times to fish those shallower areas where the muck and debris suits the Leech. I have often found them on my waders in that first few feet of water as I am getting into my pontoon boat or back to shore preparing to exit the pontoon. The bottom is often muck and woody debris.
This is a nicely shaped Leech pattern by RickB called the Slight Leech Streamer. The shape is excellent and the marabou tail would provide the undulation. Some might use a narrow tuft/straight cut piece of rabbit fur. The abdomen of this fly appears to be wound Marabou, although wound Ostrich herl might work also.
On Stillwaters, the presentations can be vertical, diagonal or horizontal. The Intermediate Clear/Camo line is indispensable for that horizontal presentation. Tonight, I was watching a WFN show (B.C. Outdoors) and Phil Rowley was mentioning a horizontal presentation with a ‘balanced fly’ beneath the slip/strike bobber (floating line). I did a little checking and discovered the fly pattern promotes a horizontal path beneath the bobber, a non-slip loop knot and the hook point riding up.
The combo of the hook eye set back and on top. The bead head and materials should be presented to provide a balanced fly when drifted with a loop knot. Phil Rowley
The experimentation will be to extend the bead out just far enough beyond the hook eye to achieve a balanced presentation beneath the loop knot/bobber. Query ‘slip strike bobber’ in the search box upper right and you will see several past posts regarding how to rig up the bobber/pin & the ‘non-slip loop knot’. I wonder if some jig heads would achieve this same balanced presentation? Still worth a little experimentation on lakes and wind drifting a pattern beneath a slip strike bobber.
Balanced Leech Pattern by Andy Larkin
31
Aug
11
Fly Tying: In The Film, Emergers
The Orb Callibaetis Emerger, SwittersB
I haven’t been able to get out much this Spring/Summer to fish due to family health issues. I am looking forward to getting out onto a lake soon and experimenting with assorted patterns. It is a part of fly tying/fishing that I enjoy…the experimenting with patterns that you know just have to be successful….but sometimes fizzle. All fun and often amazing. The Orb was hugely successful the past two seasons on lakes as an emerging Callibaetis Mayfly. Fished in the top foot or so of water, with a ‘greased’ leader or beneath a strike indicator (bobber or supportive dry fly) it rocked. Others tie a similar pattern with a deer hair wing canted forward, plus the bead. I have not tried that…but this simpler version works also.
Frequently changing flies is the sign of what? Impatience? A thought out progression of presenting patterns? Giving up on ‘the’ recommended pattern(s) for that stretch of water? You paid $1.75 + for that little gem, why didn’t it work?
On lakes, I change often. That rod is under my left arm/elbow every 10 minutes or so. As I search with trusted searching patterns, if they don’t soon produce, snip, new pattern. I seem to have more faith in searching patterns that fit the standard stillwater food groups. I have an arsenal and I quickly change through it to find the connection. I feel more intuitive on a lake. Some would say it is easier; just find the cruising fish. I think it is presentation, manipulation through the horizontal/vertical pathways.
On rivers, I am more exacting. I study more. I plan upon what insects are in a certain drainage and which stages of the insect’s life are worth tying and presenting. If an insect emerges from the nymphal exo-skeleton well below the surface then in the surface film emerger/stillborn patterns are a waste of tying time. Better to tie wet, soft hackle, flymph patterns that replicate the emerging mayfly well below the surface, but swimming toward the top.
Stream habitat is more complicated than stillwater habitat re trout and their food sources (in my mind). There are often more options on the stream. If the clinger nymph rarely dislodges from the substrate and ‘drifts’, then stocky little nymphs are less useful. I study bottom to top. And, for some fly fishers it is the other way around: Rivers are an open book and lakes are featureless and boring.
SwittersB's Trout Chasing Nymph Tat
Research, then think before just tying on the ubiquitous Hare’s Ear Nymph or Adams Dry Fly and wasting a hundred casts, as the river pulses with life everywhere except on the end of your line. And, again: location, the pattern, then the perfect manipulation/presentation. Random searching patterns are ok, for awhile. But, as you come up empty outing after outing, you will soon decide to learn more (insects, other fish food) about the specific waters you fish. Or, you might develop your own data through in the field observations. Check out a perfect example of this at Winona Fly Factory
Hi-Jinx Midge Emerger (SwittersB)
Stillwater, conventional, fly fishing wisdom is to present your chironomid/midge pattern in a vertical posture from the muck to the surface. I agree with this. There are always exceptions. I can recall moving from one part of a lake to another and trolling along a midge pupa, that had to be bobbing between vertical to horizontal as I rowed, and getting nailed. But, a stationary, vertical presentation toward the surface is predominantly called for.
That said, I have had excellent results with a horizontal presentation for midge emergers in the film. Retrieved back, twitched or wind drifting, a pattern tied and presented in a horizontal path does provide positive results on top.
Now I am talking stillwaters, re that maneuver. On the slower tailouts of rivers, a drag free, dry fly presentation is appropriate. A light wire hook is better on a river to maintain a mostly horizontal position for the fly. The rear end of the fly will cant downward because of the lack of a tail to prop the fly up in the surface, or pattern design.
With the Hi-Jinx pattern above, the fly is tied smaller on a size 16 hook. This is not a bad idea for some patterns: still go somewhat small for the hook size and then reduce further the pattern size on the shank of the hook. The positives of the pattern will overcome the perceived negatives of the exposed hook. Pattern + Presentation will usually overcome most negatives.
LaFontaine Sparkle Pupa (SwittersB)
Caddis patterns are fun to fish because the take is often aggressive. Whether you are swinging a pupa pattern along bottom or swinging it up toward the surface, the takes are solid. Fish often leap out of the water on lakes in pursuit of emerging (escaping) Caddis. But, another consideration is female Caddis returning to the surface and diving down to lay eggs. This diving (sinking) presentation is less often considered, but has been successful for me on lakes. I have seen feeding activity and mistaken it for feeding upon emerging adults. Rising or Diving, the Pupa like patterns are a good offering. Even a dry (Elk Hair Caddis/Hairwing patterns) pulled under can serve in a pinch with a bit of shot (if allowed) a foot or so above the fly, or with a sinking line, or a heavier bead head nymph above the Caddis pattern. Many of the Caddis Pupa/Bead Head Pupa patterns, one sees these days, will suffice for this presentation. Check Google Images (or Scroogle Images-less selection-if you are a rebel) for patterns and see the variety of tying options. Bright greens are attractive, as depicted here, but earth tones are always a good bet.
Bead Head Pupa (SwittersB)
