the blood worm midge

I have been using this for ice fishing trips for a couple years now, and it produces on a consistant basis. There are just 2 materials used to tie this. It's simple and effective.

Ingredients for this fly:

• Mustad 3399/3906/3906B size #14-#20
• Larva Lace
• Red marabou fibers
• Red 6/0 Uni-thread

Tie in your thread and take it about 1/2 the length of the hook. This give a bit of room to tie forward the lace.

Tie in the larve lace next. I tie it up top, and wrap forward to cover the end. I then wrap backwards as far as I can down the bend. Whil I wrap, I pull the lace to make it thinner.

Wrap the thread back to the eye of the hook. Wrap the lace around the hook keeping the wrap as close as possible. Once you reach the head, tie off the excess and trim.

Tie in 5-6 small marabou fibers at the head. Wrap the fibers around the hook 2 or 3 times and tie off the marabou. Add a whip finish, and carefully cement the head, taking care to keep it away from the marabou. Take a small piece of velcro to fluff out the marabou.

the 2 tone alaskabou salmon fly

The 2 Tone Alaskabou Salmon Fly
A very simple, but impressive looking salmon fly. Try tying this in a few different color combinations to produce some interesting results. A pink and orange variant is a must on any steelhead or salmon trip. Here is a list of a couple variations (front / mid / rear).

• Popsicle - Purple / Red or Pink / Orange
• Blue Moon - Light Blue / Black / Black
• Manhatten Beach - White / Chartreuse / Chartreuse
• Nitro - Black / Chartreuse / Chartreuse
• Showgirl - Purple / Pink / Pink

Ingredients for this fly:

• Salmon / Steelhead hook #2/0 - #6
• Blue and purple marabou
• Rainbow crystal flash
• Blue saddle hackle
• Fire orange or red 6/0uni thread

Tie on your thread at the head of the hook, and lay down a base of thread. Cover the open end of the eye with your wraps.

Add the first color of marabou. Make sure not to crowd the tail and leave enough room to the application of the second color.

Tie in your second color of marabou. Trim the excess marabou, and apply a couple wraps to secure the loose ends.

Take a few strands of crystal flash, and tie it at both sides of the fly. Prepare a blue wet hackle feather, and tie it in at the head.

Wrap the hackle at the head to create a collar. Trim off any excess materials, and add a whip finish and cement to the head of the fly.

the zebra midge

The Zebra Midge Fishing Fly

The Zebra Midge is a great little sub-surface fly. It resembles a mosquito larve, and can be fished similar to a chironomid. Make sure to add a few of these to your chironomid box before heading out on the water for the day.

Ingredients for the Zebra Midge:

• Scud Hook Size 8 - 18
• Fine to Medium silver wire
• Stretch Floss
• 8/0 Black fly tying thread

Start by crimping the barb of the hook in the vise jaws, or with a pair of flat pliars. Select a bead of appropriate size to place on the hook. Tie on your thread just beind the bead.

Take a piece of silver wire, and tie it onto the hook shank, just behind the bead. Bind the wire to the bottom of the bend of the hook. This will keep the body of the fly even.

Tie in a piece of black or dark coloured stretch floss near the tail, and wind the thread to the bead. Add a half hitch to secure the fly.

Wrap the floss forward to the bead. Use tight wraps, while pulling the stretch floss away from the hook. Tie off the floss once you have the taper you want, and trim off any excess floss.

Wrap the wire forward using even wraps. Tie the wire off just behind the bead, trim the excess wire and add a whip finish to the fly. Add a small amount of head cement for durability.

    

the coyote dry fly

The Coyote Dry Fly
I really enjoy tying this fly and I hope that you will also. I also make a darker version of this using black elk hair. Both versions work well in caddis hatches.

Ingredients for this fly:

• Mustad 94833 size 6-16
• Yellow elk hair
• Grizzley hackle
• Brown hackle
• Fire Orange 6/0 Uni-thread

Crimp the barb of the hook and tie on the thread. Wrap the thread to the bend of the hook.

Take a small clump of elk hair and stack it. Tie it in as a tail. Be careful not to wrap too tight. The hair will flair out if it is too tight. Wrap the thread forward to just past halfway on the shank. It would be good to add a couple half hitches at this point.

Take another small clump of elk hair and prepare it in the stacker. We will use this clump as the hairwing of the fly. Tie the elk hair in just forward of the halfway point on the shank. There should be an exposed strip of orange visable from the side and bottom of the fly.

Tie in a grizzley hackle and a brown hackle. the hackle fibers should be 1 1/2 times longer than the gap of the hook.

Wrap the hackles forward one at a time, and tie them off. Take care not to wrap down the fibers of the first hackle as you wind the second hackle. Add a whip finish to the fly, and cement the head.

Grand River Fly

If you fish the Grand River in Southern Ontario with any degree of regularity, chances are you’ve run up against some of it’s big lock-jawed browns sipping caddis on, or near the surface. This can be a frustrating experience~for visiting and local anglers alike! There are a few ways to put the odds in your favor, one of them is to familiarize yourself with the work of Ian Martin.
Ian Martin is the author of “Fly Fishing the GRAND RIVER~the angler’s vest pocket guide” and is an entomologist, fly tier and Grand River angler. His patterns, the culmination of science and years spent fly fishing on the Grand, are truly what I consider “guide’s patterns.” Simple to tie, very successful. I attended a fly tying show years ago and was fortunate enough to be parked beside Ian while tied the fly pictured below. If memory serves, he described how this pattern was once a well-kept secret until someone he trusted (client?….don’t remember) spilled the beans. Fortunately for us~a glimpse into the fly box of an entomologist! I’ve had incredible success with this fly, but I don’t limit it’s use to the Grand River. In fact, I don’t limit it fishing caddis hatches either! I swap the dubbing/shuck colors to suit a number of mayfly hatches as well. How is that for a great pattern?
Experiment with this fly, have some fun!

Grand River Fly

Hook: standard dry fly hook #14-#18 (Tiemco #101 used here)
Thread: 8/0 color to suit (Rusty Dun used here)
Shuck: spooled antron (natural/off-white used here)
Body: dry fly dubbing, color to suit (Nature’s Spirit “caddis green” used here)
Wing: type #1 or #2 CDC, natural color



Start your thread and wind it down well onto the bend as shown. Begin dubbing the body, tapering thick to thin.




Prepare a length of antron. You’ll be using only 1/2-2/3 of the diameter that comes off of the spool or card. Using a lighter, singe the end. While its still hot, pinch it between your thumb and forefinger and roll it.


If you’re not pleased with the result~trim it off and try again. Position it on the hook as shown, you want it to envelope the back part of the shank. (fibers pointing forward on the sides, top and bottom)




Prepare 3-4 CDC feathers, aligning the tips as shown.




Tie them in at the tips so that the feathers curve upward as shown. Secure them with several tight wraps of thread. Continue dubbing the body of the fly working towards the eye of the hook.




Fold the group of feathers forward creating a “loop” shape as shown. Tie them down behind the eye of the hook, trim the excess. A small thread head, a couple of half hitches…some head cement~Done!

 

bunny foot emerger

Hello HipWaders! There are some flies i’ve considered keeping to myself, due in part to the "secret weapon" feelings anglers get when a pattern is so easy to tie and catches lots of fish. This pattern falls into that category. It has, on many occasions, been the difference between catching, and being skunked. Like any good emerger, the pattern needs to ride low, be visible to the angler and look buggy to the trout. I’ve found that when trout are truly keen on taking emergers, they can be VERY selecive. Its been my experience that these patterns need to be accurate in size, and very close in colour. The bunny foot emerger, tied in different shades and sizes, can suggest a wide variety of insects. Its slim, minimal, segmented body is quite true to the dimensions of real insects. It works well almost all the time, often when conventional dubbed-bodies don’t produce.
On a visit to the upper Grand last year, I came upon an area where there were a good number of brown trout "rising." There were some caddis around, but a small BWO hatch was going on at the same time. As I watched the fish, I noticed a few were slashing at some caddis as they were trying to take flight. The majority, however, were not really "rising" at all. They would come up, take something near the surface, and return to their hold. It created a "dimple" in the surface, but their mouths never left the water. This appeared to me to be "textbook" emerger-taking behavior! I tied on the bunny foot emerger, and caught 3 fish in the first 5 casts! While I wish I was right ALL the time, I think I made the right call that day. The pattern has worked well for me "matching the hatch," and as a general searching pattern.

Tying The Bunny Foot Emerger Fly Pattern

Bunny Foot Emerger
Hook:Tiemco model #2487 Size #10-#22
Thread:8/0 tan (or colour to match)
Abdomen:Goose biot, pale olive (or colour to match)
Thorax:Pale olive super fine dry fly dubbing (or colour ot match)
Wing:Medium dun-coloured Snowshoe Rabbit’s foot
Tie in, wind thread back a bit past where the bend starts, as shown. Strip a goose biot off the stem, and moisten it. With the tip of the biot at the tie in point, and the "notch" in the base of the biot facing toward the rear of the fly, tie-in with 3-4 wraps of thread.


Begin to wrap, bringing the biot down to a position where you can get your hackle pliers attached to help you. If you have a fuzzy rib created when you wrap, you may have tied the biot in with the notch facing forward. Tied in properly, there will be a tiny, fuzzy rib on the leading edge of the wrap when it is on the fly. When you wrap it forward, you overlap the next wrap ONLY enough to cover the "tiny, fuzzy rib."

When you each the end, tie off.

Trim a small clump of hair from the bottom of the rabbit’s foot. If you have not used it before, it is a slippery wool-like material. (heavy scissors help!) Pinch the tips and remove any wooly fluff (underfur) from the cut end of the clump. Tie in as shown, length of the wing is up to you. I like slightly oversized ones. DON NOT trim the butt end.

Add some dubbing to your thread, pull the butt end of the "clump" up and dub a few wraps to hold it in position. NOTE:"less is more"
When you observe insects as much as I do, you begin to realize that almost all patterns are too bulky. One peek into a fly fishing guide’s box will usually reveal that the pros have figured that out a long time ago!

Dub in front of the wing, making it "one." Trim the butt end a little shorter than "tip" end. The wing will ride almost perfectly upright, set the angle (using the dubbing) to get the body to hang the way you want it too.

The finished fly.
Bunny Foot Emerger

opening day nymph

For trout fishers, there are few days so eagerly anticipated as the "opener." Most anglers have plans mapped-out months in advance, equipment prepared flies tied etc. For better or for worse, my openers have seldom unfolded as expected. There is one opening day that stands out above and beyond all the others for me though…..a handsome brown caught within 20 minutes of starting out on a nymph I kind of thought I’d invented. This sounds like a very common scenario, I know. It is, however, a moment in time early in my fly fishing/tying life that had a profound effect on me.
In the two previous years of fishing this river I’d spent a great deal of time collecting samples from the bottoms of rocks, drifting in the current and on streamside rocks and foliage. The sample mayfly nymphs I caught in the current were often a rust brown/black color, only slightly more "red" than the black stonefly nymphs I found clinging to the bottoms of rocks. I began to form a picture in my mind of a fly that might encompass many of the size, shape and color traits of the naturals I’d seen. I decided that, unlike many of the nymph patterns I tied that were bead-headed attractors, this would need to be subdued. I’d need to feel confident I could drift it through the same run numerous times without setting off any alarm bells with the trout. Using the gold-ribbed hare’s ear as a starting point, I tied the fly pattern you see here. On it’s debut, I hooked and landed my first big brown. In my journal, I named the pattern the "Opening Day Nymph." I still tie, and use the fly to this day.
A note on the hook: The hook used here IS a dry fly hook. I prefer to use either dry fly hooks, or curved shank fine wire hooks for all my nymphs. Feel free to substitute actual nymph hooks when you tie this fly

Tying The Opening-Day Nymph Pattern

Hook:Daiichi 1180/Tiemco 100 size #10 and #12
Weight:Med. lead wire
Thread:Dark Brown 8/0
Tail:Mallard flank fibers, dark brown
Body:Dark brown Hare’s mask blended with gray squirrel (approx: 75/25)
Rib:Medium copper wire
Wing case/Legs:Mallard flank feather, dark brown
Make several wraps of lead, secure at both ends as shown. Wind thread back to bend.



Tie in the mallard flank fibers for the tail, about a shank-length. Tie in the copper wire.



Dub the abdomen approx. 3/4 of the way up the hook shank, wind copper rib forward as shown. Tie off.



Select a mallard flank feather with nice "barring" on it. Stroke the fibers toward the stem back, and out of the way.
Tie in as shown, the tips of the fibers in line with the tips of the tail fibers. Trim the other end of the feather off.



Dub the thorax a bit bulkier than the abdomen as shown. If I’m after a "spiky" appearance, i’ll often use wax when dubbing. This allows the dubbing to have a nice grip without having to spin it too tight. Be sure to leave some room behind the eye.



Pull the tips of the mallard flank forward, and over the eye of th hook as shown. With your left hand, make a couple of wraps of thread to secure it in position.



To create the legs, separate the fibers protruding forward into two equal parts. Stroke them back, and to the sides as shown.
Using several wraps of thread, bind the fibers so that the legs stay facing out, and back. Using your bodkin or dubbing brush, pick out some of the fur fibers on the bottom and sides of the thorax.





The finished fly