Stoneflies on the Deschutes R. (Oregon)…

My son, Tony Muncy of Muncy Designs and I ventured over for the day on the beautiful Deschutes R. in Central Oregon. Word ways the Stoneflies were ’emerging’ onto the shoreline vegetation. So we thought we would see if the Redside trout were at all connecting with the adult Stones or nymphs. We centered upon the river North of Maupin, Oregon and some 15 miles downriver we found plenty of Stonefly nymphs crawling out onto shoreline grasses. The adults were emerging from the nymph’s and fluttering into the trees. We fished nymphs hard with only a few bumps. As the shadows finally fell upon the river, the expectations were adult Stonefly patterns would yield splashy takes. Alas, the trout karma didn’t align with the bug karma. A few fish, tons of bugs, glorious scenery and weather. The hatch is evolving toward some amazing times for some fly fishers in the days ahead as the ‘hatch’ progresses up river and the trout and bug karmas align.

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Stonefly time…

May is an optimum time for Stoneflies in Central Oregon rivers and elsewhere as the rivers warm. This is a simple pattern…like an enlarged nymph pattern.

A size 8-10, 3xlong hook, goose biot tail, copper wire ribbing, black fur/synthetic dubbed abdomen/thorax. The ‘backstop’ from tail, up over the abdomen and thorax is turkey feather. The legs in front is a few wraps of black hackle fiber. A simple, yet productive tie. This pattern can be weighted with wraps of ‘lead’ wire or left unweighted and weight attached to the tippet. Blacks, brown, dark yellow/rust colors for the stonefly contingent that emerges/crawls out starting now into Summer.

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Mohair Leech Tutorial…

Tony Muncy of Muncy Designs offers up a tutorial on how to tie the Mohair Leech

MOHAIR LEECH TUTORIAL BY TONY MUNCY

CHECK OUT TONY’S DECALS AND GEAR AT MUNCY DESIGNS

Dusting off the vise…

Spring is near. The Winter doldrums worse than usual. Tying some flies might rekindle the anticipation.

Fly Pattern: impressionistic…

On of my favorite flies to tie/fish. Tied on a curved shank or straight shank it is a busy, buggy fly. The hackle is starling, tail deer hair, abdomen/thorax hare’s ear with copper rib. A size 14 hook here.

‘Fishing is not an escape from life, but often a deeper immersion into it.’ Harry Middleton

CDC bead head pattern…

This pattern is tied on a straight shanked hook, size 12 here. The trailing material is mylar tinsel for movement and flash in the upper strata. The body is a wound dubbing brush, but of course you could dub a similar body, in olive. The wing is a couple of stacked CDC feathers.  This pattern has done very well on rivers and lakes as a diving/emerging caddis imitation. This would be an equally good pattern without the bead and fished below the surface or in the film.