Massacre Midge
Max Pavel & Nava Keno
Translated by Carl Wuebben
Original By Matt Mc Cannel
Original By Matt Mc Cannel
This fly will work just about anywhere in the world. Fish it deep, fish it as a dropper, I don’t think it really matters. This fly can imitate a variety of emerging insects. The Massacre Midge created by Matt Mccannel has climbed to the top of the list for favorite patterns. It can be tied in a variety of different colors with different colored foams. This fly has a lot of “BUGGYNESS” when you rough up the dubbing a little bit. This makes it very dynamic to your fishing situation. Tie bigger like a chironomid for lakes.
PATTERN
HOOK – TIEMCO 2488h in size #18
THREAD – UTC70 olive
WIRE – small UTC olive wire
FOAM – thin fly foam tan 2mm or white
DUBBING – Dave Whitlock’s SLF in dragon fly color
HOW TO TIE
- Mount hook, start your thread in 2 eyelets from the eye and wrap a thread base back to just before the bend of the hook –clip tag end of thread off.
- Tie in your wire and with your thread wrap it down well back into the bend of the hook then bring your thread back toward the eye with close smooth wraps and stop where you started your thread and as you do make a slight taper toward the front.
- Wrap wire forward with evenly spaced spiral wraps and tie off at about 4 eyelets spaces from the eye then helicopter the wire tag end off.
- Cut a strip of foam about 3-4 mm wide and tie in where your thread is now with the longer part facing toward the eye and a small piece rearward that you will secure down on the shank – pull up on the rear part to put tension on it and clip the tag end off and cover any additional foam that may be showing on the rear side of the foam with your thread.
- Using some SLF dubbing make a small noodle by twisting the dubbing firmly between your thumb and index finger – wrap the noodle over the rear foam area and wrap forward up against the base of the front foam – tie off and clip the tag end off.
- Bring your thread in front of the foam and lay a couple wraps down then put a small dab of Zap-A-Gap on the thread and make a couple wraps in front of the foam again to keep it upward and makes it more durable.
- Whip-finish – clip your thread – rough up the body a little with a Velcro brush and clip off the longer fibers – clip the foam about the thickness of the body or to your liking.
TIE UP A DOZEN OR TWO – AND GO FISHING*** But remember to practice C.P.R. (CATCH – PICTURE – RELEASE)
Checkerboard
Lee Baerman
Translated by Carl Wuebben
These surf flies, the green tailed, brown tailed, red tailed and orange tailed checkerboards have transformed over the years from a bad copy of a hasting’s surf rat to what you see here. The first day out it landed a very nice corbina and continues to be my go-to-fly. When wet, the orange tailed version looks like a new born perch; the halibut and leopard shark love it. It even landed calico bass. The brown version has since been joined by body colors of burnt orange/yellow, fluorescent red (pink)/black, chartreuse/black, pink/silver to go with the original red/black. All kinds of fish have been caught including surf perch, corbina, halibut, walleye, perch, shovelnose guitarfish and leopard shark.
PATTERN
HOOK – Gamakatsu SS15, size 4
THREAD – Ultra 140 (6/0), in red, orange, chartreuse or pink.
WEIGHT – Black 5/32 barbell eyes
TAIL – Brown, red or orange marabou
FLASH – Accent-grizzly flashabou in red/black, copper/black and pearl green/black
BODY - Red/black, fluorescent red/black, red/orange and chartreuse/black variegated chenille. Or you can make up your own by twisting up the color chenille you want with a black strand of chenille.
HOW TO TIE
- Mount hook in the vice. Start your thread in behind the eyelet and wrap back and tie on a black 5/32 barbell eye at about one barbell width behind the hook eye.
- Tie in one marabou feather, one and a half times the length of the hook shank, starting behind the weighted eyes.
- Tie in two strands of accent-grizzly flashabou to each side of the marabou tail. Trim to length of tail if needed.
- Tie the chenille in at the base of the tail, bring your thread forward behind the eye and wrap the chenille forward and wrapping around the eyes and tying off behind the hook eye to help build up the nose then clip off your tag end. Wrap the thread until it forms a cone shape in front of the eyes. Whip finish, clip your thread off and coat with head cement.
TIE UP A DOZEN OR TWO – AND GO FISHING*** But remember to practice C.P.R. (CATCH – PICTURE – RELEASE)
Chuck Caddis
Eric Leiser - Chris Hunt - Tim Flagler
Translated by Carl Wuebben
Caddis patterns come in all shapes and sizes – some are a little more artsy and impressionistic, and others appear more practical and representive of the flies that are actually on the water. Maybe the simplest of caddis patterns like the chuck caddis can be “extremely suggestive”, simple and a little bit elegant too and it’s tied using all natural ingredients. Put the chuck caddis to work, it’s an excellent pattern for spring caddis hatches.
PATTERN
HOOK – Fulling Mill # 35050 dry fly size #14 or equivalent (dry fly 1x wide standard wire)
THREAD – Black UTC 70 denier (8/0) or equivalent
BODY – Packaged hares mask dubbing (original was woodchuck underfur) but you should also feel free to substitute it out for whatever dubbing material you have on your bench.
WING – Woodchuck (with a good range of colors in it –bottom to tip of hair)
HACKLE – One Cree feather (dark barred dun color). Traditionally it was one grizzly and one brown feather used, you can get them easier and you may have already
HOW TO TIE
- Mount hook in the vice. Start your thread in on the hook about 2 eyelets space from the eye of the hook and clip your tag end off. Wrap rearward to make a smooth thread base ending at about the hook point.
- Dub about a two inch noodle using the hares mask dubbing by twisting the dubbing between your thumb and index finger onto the thread leaving just a small amount of bare thread just before the hook so you as you start to wrap the body you will go rearward first to the bend of the hook till the noodle starts onto the shank then go forward to where you started your thread and tie it off –clip the tag end off.
- Grab your woodchuck and snip a small clump from the hide and grab the tips in one hand and with the other pull out the short hairs and throw them out. Place the longer hair into a hair stacker tips first – tap on the table a couple times, open the stacker so the tips are hanging out toward the rear of the fly - now grab the tips and keep them aligned and tie them in where your thread is now and the tips facing rearward (just a little longer than the hook.) Wrap down toward the eye with a neat tapper and holding tight as the hair is slippery. Clip the ends off and continue the thread taper. Then bring your thread back again to a little bit before the tie in area or where you ended the body.
- Now if you’re tying it the traditional way you will use one grizzly and one brown hackle or use a single Cree feather (dark barred dun) – size it up to the hook gape before plucking from the hide. Now flip the feather over so the dull side is facing away from you then strip off the fluffy fibers then remove about ½ dozen more fibers from the top. With the shiny side facing you lay the stem on the near side of the hook with the tip facing forward toward the eye and tie in with a short bare section of the feather showing – clip the feather tag end off and wrap forward toward the eye then back to the wing base forming a clean tapered thorax area. Grab a pair of hackle plyers then grab the feather by its tip with it and pull the feather rearward to crease the stem then take touching wraps rearward with it (this pattern works well with a fairly substantial hackle collar) then when you reach your thread give your bobbin a clockwise spin to cord it up and strengthen and decrease the size of the thread now use it to tie down the feather but don’t clip it yet. Now using the thread counter wrap the fragile feather stem and when you get to the eye pull back the hackle and put down a couple more wraps to hold it back then whip finish and clip the thread. Use a hobby knife to clip the hackle tip off as this will keep you from clipping off the feather fibers you want to keep just lay it up against the feather stem and pull back up against the knife to cut it cleanly.
TIE UP A DOZEN OR TWO – AND GO FISHING*** But remember to practice C.P.R. (CATCH – PICTURE – RELEASE)
Drifters Punk Perch
Tom Loe
Translated by Carl Wuebben
Local guide, Tom Loe of Sierra Drifters, uses a variation of the mohair leech pattern with his “Punk Perch” rather than using angora goat or seal dubbing Tom uses ice dubbing which is a finely cut Mylar. The Punk Perch is tied somewhat differently with a thin rear portion to the body and a much longer dubbed upper body in which the Ice dubbing fibers reach the base of the tail. Use a dubbing loop and adjust the amount of material so that the bulk will be wound nearest the forward portion of the shank. As you twist the loop, the material will also be somewhat tighter around the rear portion of the shank and this will assist in the profile. In the water, this profile is really good for mimicking a Sacramento perch fry which is a prevalent food source for large trout within Lake Crowley. Keep the pattern less than 2 inches since the trout will not feed on larger patterns due to the sharp fin spines that develop on the fry. The translucent effects of the material give real life to the fly. The hook is a 2x long wet fly. He also incorporates a thin red thread collar behind the head for gills which can be a strong triggering mechanism to the fly as an alarmed baitfish with its gills flashing.
PATTERN
HOOK – Daiichi 1710 #6 -16 or equivalent
THREAD – Danville black 6/0 (140 denier)
GILLS - Red thread 6/0 (140 denier)
RIB – Fine copper wire
BODY – U.V. light olive iced dubbing, some U.V. black ice dubbing mixed in.
TAIL – Olive marabou
For a Drifters Punk Perch – light. The hook – thread – gills are the same just change the. RIB- Fine gold wire BODY- Pearl ice dubbing TAIL- Gray marabou with silver Krystal flash strands (about 3 to6 strands).
HOW TO TIE
- De-barb the hook and mount in the vice. Start thread in about 2 eyelets from the eye and make a thread base to just before the hook bend; clip about 30 to 40 strands of marabou from the quill, keeping the ends even. You may have to make two separate clippings to get enough strands. Measure the tips so that they are about the same as the hook shank length and tie them just before the bend of the hook. Wrap down the excess forward up the shank to the ¾ position then tie it off and clip off the tag ends.
- Attach a length of fine copper wire for the ribbing to the underside of the shank starting at the front of the hook and securing the wire with thread wraps to the tail tie down position. Make a dubbing loop with a dubbing twister about 3 -4 inches in length. Secure the loop by wrapping the thread around the loop at the shank. The loop is held open by the dubbing tool. Wrap the thread forward not your loop yet and hang the bobbin away from your work with your bobbin rest.
- Blend a little bit of U.V. black ice dubbing with the U.V. light olive ice dubbing. The light olive makes up about 90 % of the mix. Adjust the material within the loop so that the bulk (75%) is within the bottom half of the loop. Twist the loop closed, the material closest to the shank will tighten first. Tighten the loop but do not overtighten, so that the last half of the loop becomes a tight noodle. It should be somewhat bulky.
- Wrap the loop forward to just behind the eye (one eyelets space), leaving adequate room for a head. Tie down the loop and trim off the tag end of the dubbing noodle/loop.
- Bring the copper wire forward with evenly spaced spiral wraps in a reverse method to counter wrap over the dubbing. Tie it off and helicopter the wire off or clip it off. The ribbing helps secure the dubbing fibers. Build up a tapered thread head and whip finish then clip your thread off.
- For the gills tie in your red thread just in front of your dubbed body and make a small band then tie off, whip finish and clip the red thread.
- Pick out the dubbing with a bodkin. You should get the much longer fibers from the front half of the shank. Take a piece of Velcro and work the material to blend the material together and get it to flow in a backwards sweep. Trim any wayward fibers. Try to get a tapered silhouette. The front fibers should be able to extend to the base of the tail.
TIE UP A DOZEN OR TWO – AND GO FISHING*** But remember to practice C.P.R. (CATCH – PICTURE – RELEASE)
RS2 Adams
Tim Flagler
Translated by Carl Wuebben
Rim Chung created the pattern we call the RS2 in the 1970’s, and since then this fly has developed an extremely loyal following. I believe the main reason for its popularity is that regardless of conditions, place, or time of year, it almost always catches fish. Try tying it in smaller hooks like a size 28 or 30. Tim developed his own technique for creating a nicely segmented abdomen similar to Mr. Chang’s. He also ties on the microfibbet tails a little differently, but for the most part he stays fairly true to the original pattern. The RS2 is a very adaptable fly. You can create incredible variations by switching materials for the tail, body, and wing. If you haven’t tied or fished the RS2, you’re missing out.
PATTERN
HOOK – Lightning Strike DF3 or an equivalent regular dry fly hook, size #20
THREAD – Black 12/0 gel spun.
TAIL – Medium gray Microfibbets.
ABDOMEN – Adams gray beaver dubbing.
WING – Natural dun Cul De Canard puff feather.
THORAX – Adams grey beaver dubbing.
HOW TO TIE
- De-barb the hook (if you want) and mount in the vice. Start your thread in on the hook about 2 eyelets space from the eye of the hook and clip your tag end off. Make a smooth thread base ending just before the bend of the hook. Next, tie the Microfibbet tail to the top of the hook shank at the rear where your thread is now; the tails should be about equal to the length of the shank.
- Take a small piece of doubled over thread to form a small loop and put the loop end under the hook shank then bring it rearward up against the bend of the hook and under the tail area; the loop should be on the bend of the shank below the Microfibbets. Bring the loop of thread up by its ends from under the end of the hook shank (loop will stay in at the hook bend) and in-between the tails then lightly pull the ends of the loop up and forward to split the tail fibers. Tie the loop ends to the top of the hook shank and clip any excess.
- Spin a pinch of dubbing on the thread to form a small noodle about two inches should do. Put one wrap on the body right at the base of the tail. Make sure to get a full wrap of dubbing around the shank. Now hold one finger on the thread where the dubbing ends on the thread then bring your thread up to the fly at where you started your thread in step one and tie it off then clip the side of the thread the noodle is on but keep ahold on the noodle end and put your hackle plyers on the noodle end and using a dubbing spinner attach it to the hackle plyers and spin it clockwise to form a tight noodle. Spin it tight this will help create a nicely tapered body. Now remove the twister tool and use the hackle plyers to wrap the noodle up the hook to create the abdomen of the fly. End it where your thread is now, tie it off and clip off any excess dubbing next to the shank.
- Tie on a Cul De Canard puff or other suitable material for the wing right where your thread is now with the tips facing forward then secure firmly and clip tag ends off and put a wrap or two of thread in front of the wing to keep it upward then bring your thread behind the wing.
- Spin another, smaller pinch of dubbing on your thread; but there’s no need to spin this tight like the other noodle (just spin with your fingers only). Wrap the noodle around the base of the wing (figure eight) front and rear to form the thorax but don’t crowd the head, whip finish and clip the thread off.
- Using your fingers, hold up the Cul De Canard wing and clip it off at an angle. It should be about a hook gape in size.
TIE UP A DOZEN OR TWO – AND GO FISHING*** But remember to practice C.P.R. (CATCH – PICTURE – RELEASE)
The Bead Worm
Philip Rowley
Translated by Carl Wuebben
Stillwater featuring muddy bottoms are home to epidemic populations of chironomid’s many reaching appreciable sizes. Larva, pupa and adults of the larger chironomid species have been affectionately christened “BOMBERS”, a season long morsel few trout resist. In the early spring and late fall these lesser known Stillwater staples migrate. In the spring larvae migrate from the deep to the shallows and vice versa in the fall as the larva escape the lethal effects of the approaching winter. Other aquatic insects mirror this behavior and as a result anglers should consider deep to shallow presentations in the spring and shallow to deep water in the fall. The bead worm targets the more mature stages of the chironomid life cycle. The contrasting V-rib and wire segmentation over the holographic Mylar make a convincing imitation. Although many anglers are familiar with red or maroon colored larva there are species displaying a unique barber pole combination of green and red and for this larval color scheme consider the holographic green and red combination. Whatever the choice present this design near the bottom. Use a floating line and long leader of 15 feet or more. Leaders should be 25 percent longer than the water is deep.
PATTERN
HOOK – Klinkhamer 1160 or 1170 in size 12 to16
THREAD – Red 8/0 (70denier)
BODY- Red or green holographic Mylar
RIB #1 – Red V-rib
RIB #2 – Fine gold, copper or silver wire
HEAD – 8/0 glass bead
HOW TO TIE
- De-barb the hook and slide a red glass bead onto the shank and push forward to the hook eye. Place the hook into the vise. Attach the tying thread directly behind the glass bead and cover the hook shank with a thread base (you should be at the rear of the hook now). Using open wraps spiral the tying thread back to the rear of the glass bead. Tie in the #2 ribbing (wire) material along the entire length of the hook (on one side or the top).
- With the thread at the rear again. Take a length of V-rib and trim one end to a point.
- Tie in the V-rib by the point on top of the hook shank (in the rear) so the flat side faces upward. Once initially tied in by the point, pull on the V-rib to reduce bulk, use tight thread wraps to secure. Tie in the red holographic Mylar in place along the side of the hook shank. Advance the tying thread forward to the rear of the bead.
- Wind the holographic Mylar forward over the hook shank in close touching turns. There should be no gaps between the wraps. Use appropriate tension when wrapping to keep the body slender and neat. Wind the V-rib forward in open wraps. Position the V-rib during the initial wrap so that the round side faces out. Tie off and clip the tag end off. Spiral the wire rib along either the front edge or rear edge of the V-rib. Tie the wire off and twist and pull it (helicopter) to break away the tag end.
- Cover the tie off area behind the bead with tying thread then whip finish and clip the thread off then coat the entire fly with brushable super glue or U.V. glue for added durability and shine.
TIE UP A DOZEN OR TWO – AND GO FISHING*** But remember to practice C.P.R. (CATCH – PICTURE – RELEASE)
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