Fly Tying – 11/6/2011

Time: Sat. and Sun. off and on

Location: My desk

With the onset of colder temperatures and daylight saving time, my thoughts turned to tying flies for the upcoming 2012 season so on Saturday, November 5 I made a list of the flies I plan to have on hand to begin the 2012 season. I counted my inventory and subtracted to determine what I needed to tie.

Here is my list:

1. Beadhead hares ear  85 – 12 = 73

2. Beadhead RS2 30 – 5 = 25

3. Olive and black woolly buggers 10

4. Damsel fly nymphs 10

5. Light gray deer hair caddis 20

6. Dark olive deer hair caddis 20 – 5 = 15

7. Beadhead prince nymph 15 – 5 = 10

8. Tricos 10

9. Sunken tricos 10

10. Letort hoppers 25 – 5 = 20

11. Charlie boy hoppers 15

12. Green drakes – 10 – 2 = 8

13. Purchased irridescent pheasant tail nymph 10

14. Cream parachute hoppers 8 – 2 = 6

15. Emerald beadhead caddis pupa 25 – 14 = 11

16. Bright green beadhead caddis pupa 20 – 9 = 11

17. Beadhead pheasant tail nymphs 40 – 26 = 14

18. Jujubaetis – 10

From this list I generated a material shopping list:

1. Size 14 scud hooks 100

2. Beads for size 14 scud hooks 100

3. Camel (brown) thread

4. Yellow heavy thread for Charlie Boy Hoppers

5. Size 16 saddle hackles for caddis dries

6. Size 20 scud hooks for RS2’s 25

7. Silver beads for RS2’s 25

8. A way to weight the sunken tricos

9. Calf body hair patch for parachute hopper wings

10. Materials for puchased fly

11. Materials for jujubaetis

Jane agreed to accompany me to Charlie’s Fly Box in Old Arvada on Saturday afternoon, so we departed at around 3PM. A friendly salesperson greeted me and helped me gather all my materials in a basket. He also advised me on the materials required to make the irridescent nymph that I took along and requirements for the jujubaetis.

Fly Tying Materials from Charlie’s Fly Box

After making our purchase, Jane and I discovered a new micro brewery in Old Arvada so we checked out the tasting room and purchased a pair of Arvada porters. Next door was a new Belgian Frites (french fries) shop, so we shared a cone of fries along with a sampling of dipping sauces while we drank our beers.

On Sunday I got down to business and began tying beadhead hares ear nymphs. I managed to crank out 22 off and on around a bike ride and watching the Broncos.