Deer Hair Caddis 02/22/2021 Photo Album

Review my post of 02/16/2020 for links to more expansive descriptions of my history with a deer hair caddis as well as a materials table. This rather sparse fly is selected from my fly box fairly often during a season of fly fishing. The two colors that I favor the most are olive-brown and gray, although I also carry a few in tan and yellow. Sizes 14, 16, and 18 seem to fulfill most needs. When my larger and bushier flies such as the hippie stomper and stimulators elicit refusals, I often downsize to a deer hair caddis, and the fish seem to appreciate such a move. These earth colored imitations are challenging to track, but the trout seem to have no problem picking them out. During the 2020 season I increasingly deployed the strategy of a double dry fly with a larger more visible fly in the front position trailing a smaller deer hair caddis. It worked quite well, and I suspect it will be added to my bag of tricks in the upcoming season.

Underside

I counted all my deer hair caddis, and I was pleased to determine that I possessed adequate if not excessive quantities. I also went through my damaged and unraveling fly canister and extracted twelve flies in the 16 and 18 size range, and I stripped them back to bare hooks. With this recycled supply of dry fly hooks at my disposal, I manufactured five additional size 16 deer hair caddis with olive-brown bodies. Bring on the April caddis hatch. I am prepared.

Ice Dub Olive Bodies

Comparaduns 02/21/2021 Photo Album

I am unable to compose a better description of the why’s and wherefore’s of the comparadun style of fly than that which I created in my 02/21/2014 post. If you have any interest in this type of mayfly imitation, click on the link in the previous sentence. As the reader may suspect, I am a huge proponent of comparaduns, and the mayfly imitation that benefits the most from this affection is the pale morning dun. I always maintain an ample supply of cinnamon and light gray comparaduns in size 16 and 18, and rarely do they not produce trout during a pale morning dun hatch.

Size 18, Boat Box

The best characteristic of the comparadun is the lack of need for expensive dry fly hackles. This feature also assures that the fly sits low in the water similar to a natural mayfly. The lack of hackle does, however, dictate strict adherence to several important tying steps, so reading the referenced 02/21/2014 blog post should be required reading.

Size 16, LIght Gray

As is the case with all my regular flies, I counted my supply of cinnamon and light gray comparaduns in size 16 and 18, and I determined that my supply was adequate. Oddly I reached the same conclusion during the winter of 2020. I accepted my good fortune and moved on to the next fly on my list for 2021.

Stimulators 02/19/2021 Photo Album

Fairly thorough descriptions of my history with stimulators, and how I utilize this versatile fly are available through links in my post of 01/29/2020. This classic fly possesses several desirable characteristics including buoyancy and visibility and the ability to imitate quite a few food organisms that are preferred on the trout’s menu.

Olive Ice Dub Abdomen

The classic stimulator is tied with a fine wire rib that is used to counter wrap the body hackle. I do not favor the added weight associated with even fine wire, so I deviate from this practice, although the step is included in the videos I viewed by Charlie Craven and Tim Flagler. After I build a solid thread base and add the deer hair tail, I move my thread to the area in front of the tail and tie in a size 14 saddle hackle of the desired color. Next I dub the rear half of the fly, and then I wrap the hackle forward to the end of the body and tie off. Otherwise, my stimulators follow the accepted recipe and steps.

Left Side View

The most difficult aspect of tying a stimulator is avoiding the annoying result of crowding the hook eye. In order to avoid this unsightly circumstance, I end the abdomen at the midpoint of the shank, and this allows adequate space to add the deer hair wing, dubbing and the dense hackle of the stimulator collar. Do not tell me you were not forewarned.

Five Olive Ice Dub Stimulators

My stashes of stimulators of various colors were adequate for the upcoming season except for olive, so I settled into my swivel chair at my fly tying counter, and I produced five size 14 olives. These were not just ordinary olive stimulators; these possessed olive ice dub abdomens. The hint of flash amazingly shows through the densely hackled fly, and I am hopeful this will attract the attention of western trout.

Purple Haze 02/15/2021 Photo Album

During a float trip on the Colorado River on 07/07/2020, my guide knotted a purple haze to my line during the afternoon, and this simple act resulted in the guide’s net sagging under the weight of two bank dwelling brown trout in excess of fifteen inches. Needless to say this convinced me that the purple haze is a viable fish attractor in Colorado, and I made a mental note to tie some during the off season between 2020 and 2021.

Looking Good

I remained true to my commitment and recently manufactured five size 14 3XL purple hazes to experiment with during the upcoming season. I had to visit Charlie’s Fly Box in Arvada to purchase purple dubbing, as I never experienced the need for purple flies in my forty years of fly fishing and fly tying. Since I took the plunge to add purple dubbing to my supplies, I also created a purple haze chubby Chernobyl and a purple haze pool toy hopper. A purple hopper may be a reach, but I am anxious to see what happens.

Zooming In

I feel heightened anticipation for the dry fly season in 2021, so that my parachute purple hazes can ride the currents of western rivers and streams.

User Friendly Green Drake 02/12/2021 Photo Album

My post of 01/31/2019 provides a nice description of my introduction to this fly. It also describes how I envisioned it enhancing my arsenal of green drake imitations, and it contains a materials table. You can find a step by step video performed by the designer himself, Andrew Grillos, on YouTube.

The Better Side

During the 2019 summer season I tested the user friendly green drake on numerous occasions, but the results were less than impressive. In fact, I switched back to my more trusted green drake versions on several occasions, and they resulted in superior performance. As it turns out, the saga of the user friendly green drake was not over. I continued to carry four in my green drake fly box, and during a visit to the Cache la Poudre River on 07/17/2020, I knotted one to my line as a last resort after cycling through my other green drake imitations. Voila! The out of favor green drake accounted for seven trout during my remaining time on the river. Once again on 07/21/2020 I defaulted to the user friendly green drake on the Taylor River, and it yielded decent results including a fifteen inch rainbow trout. Again the user friendly green drake model proved its worth on 08/11/2020 and 08/14/2020 on South Boulder Creek, as it produced trout during several stints on my line.

Five User Friendly Green Drakes

Needless to say these productive periods convinced me to restore the user friendly to a prominent space in my fly box. I counted my stock of five and approached my vise to create five additional flies to bring my total to ten. Hopefully the user friendly green drake will continue to impress me during 2021 and become the preeminent green drake imitation in my possession.

Parachute Green Drake 02/09/2021 Photo Album

2020 probably stood as my high water mark for encountering western green drakes. Readers of this blog may already know that chasing green drakes is one of my foremost endeavors, as I navigate the seasons of fly fishing in Colorado. I encountered green drakes on the Cache la Poudre, Taylor River, Lake Creek, and South Boulder Creek. My most dependable green drake action generally originates from the Frying Pan River, and I never made the trip to that revered tailwater in 2020. Needless, to say the many green drake hatch experiences resulted in the depletion of my inventory, and a recent quick count revealed that I needed to to tie six parachute styles to bring my supply to my target level.

Cannot Wait for Green Drake Hatches

My post of 02/09/2020 (ironically the same day as this post) provides an update to my green drake quest and includes a link to a materials table and other background information. I recently approached the vise and spun out six new parachute green drakes. Hopefully these will serve me well as I continue my quest for western green drake hatches in 2021.

A Fleet of New Parachute Green Drakes

Chubby Chernobyl 02/08/2021 Photo Album

Chubby Chernobyls and hippie stompers became the fashionable flies over the last couple years. I was slow to jump on the hippie stomper craze, but once I stumbled on to its effectiveness, it became a dry fly favorite. Chubbys, on the other hand, took me a fair amount of time to embrace. Prior to my trip to Argentina, I purchased a fly box full of flies gathered by Taylor Edrington of Royal Gorge Anglers, and several chubbys were among the collection. Upon my return from Rio Manso, I periodically tied one to my line, but they did not produce and the large wing grew saturated with water. This made the fly heavy and reduced my confidence, so I clung to my tried and true fat Alberts, pool toy hoppers and classic Chernobyl ants.

Tan Ice Dub Body

I fished on in unenlightened bliss until July 2019 on the Yampa River, when I knotted an ice dub olive body chubby Chernobyl to my line. I was shocked to discover a hot fly, as several robust trout engulfed the large attractor along the edge of the Yampa. Unfortunately I lost the only such flies in my box within a short amount of time, and the Steamboat Fly Fisher did not stock the ice dub tan or olive body versions that I was enamored with. I bought and tried some alternative body colors, but their effectiveness was lacking.

Five New Chubby Chernobyls

Fast forward to 2020, and my usage of chubby Chernboyls increased significantly. I learned to apply floatant to the large gangly wing, and I increasingly substituted it for the fat Albert, and it performed reasonably well. I find the slow, gradual disappearance of the large poly wing, when a fish grabs the nymphs, to be enormously seductive.  For a materials table and additional accounts of my history with this fly, check out my previous post of 01/17/2020. The cubby Chernobyl is rapidly earning my trust as a valued top fly in dry/dropper configurations.

Nice Angle

I counted my inventory of chubby Chernobyls and determined that I was reasonably stocked, so I simply increased my supply of two of the favorite colors; ice dub tan and gray. In addition I created a single chubby Chernobyl with a purple body as an experiment for the upcoming season. My guide on a float trip on the Colorado River utilized a purple haze on my line for a considerable amount of time, so I purchased a packet of purple dubbing to tie some. Since I had the purple dubbing available, I applied it to several favorites to experiment with a color that somehow avoided my attention for nearly forty years of fly fishing.

Purple Haze Chubby Experiment