Iron Sally 01/20/2013 Photo Album

Nice Top View

Another fly I was introduced to by Taylor Edrington is the Iron Sally which serves as a nymph imitation of the yellow sallies that are prevelant on many Colorado streams during the summer. I purchased a couple from Royal Gorge Anglers but wanted to produce some on my own this winter, and over the weekend I had my opportunity. I found a YouTube video that demonstated the tying steps, and made a trip to Charlie’s Fly Box to purchase ingredients that I was missing. I bought some Tiemco 5262 size 14 nymph hooks, gold ultra wire, and some black crystal flash and returned home to begin the process of tying my first prototype.

The fly is more time consuming than a hares ear nymph mostly due to the split out of the crystal flash fibers and the amount of materials added to the thorax area late in the process. I ended up using three different dubbing materails for the thorax area, but my favorite was natural hares ear. I ended up making five to go along with the one that I purchased and they look very attractive, but I wonder if they are really any more effective than a hares ear. The ultra wire abdomen definitely gives the fly more weight and the crystal flash makes it stand out more.

I’m anxious to give it a try and let the fish determine what they prefer. On to Pool Toy hoppers as my next new tying project.

Arkansas Rubber Legs 01/17/2013 Photo Album

During several early trips to the Arkansas River I stopped at the Royal Gorge Angler and purchased some Arkansas Rubber Leg weighted nymphs, and I used these with positive results in my early season visits. The Arkansas Rubber Leg in combination with a beadhead RS2 proved particularly effective on several occasions.

Top View

On one of my later trips I stopped at RGA and asked Taylor Edrington to pull all the materials needed to tie these nymphs from his fly tying material stock. These sat on my fly tying desk for the remainder of the summer in a bag, but over the last few days I found myself in a position to tie this new fly for my arsenal. I found several You Tube videos that demonstrated how to tie Pat’s Rubberleg, and the Arkansas Rubberleg is essentually the same fly with slightly different colored chenille and rubber legs.

Materials and Beaded Hooks Needed

The fly is actually fairly simple to tie with the greatest challenge in aligning the rubber legs and then wrapping the chenille so it doesn’t lock down the rubber legs as you move forward. I’ve now completed eight and plan to make two more yielding ten in addition to the quantity I purchased as I head into the 2013 fishing season.

More Nymphs 01/08/2013 Photo Album

On a guided fishing trip on private water of the Arkansas River in September my guide introduced me to the twenty incher stonefly imitation. I made some in October, but resolved to tie more during my winter tying sessions. Over the weekend I produced additional twenty inchers to increase my inventory to 20 entering the 2013 season. Hopefully the fish love the look of these as much as I do. I had some success on a couple late outings on the Arkansas River, and this fly has been around for quite a while in Colorado, so it is a proven producer.

Top View of Twenty Incher Nymph

20 Twenty Inchers Stashed

Another fly that I tied and tested during 2012 is the salvation nymph. Until I returned to the Conejos River in July, I did not know what this fly was called, but I attempted to tie some by using a purchased fly as my model. These turned out rather nice and I used them with some success in October and November. I’m now in the process of tying additional quantities with the goal of entering the season with 25, and I’m considering using this fly in situations where I would normally use copper johns or beadhead pheasant tail nymphs.

Side View, Love the Flash

A reader of this blog suggested that I use black peacock ice dub for the thorax so I purchased a pack and have been implementing that adjustment to my salvation nymph ingredient recipe. I love the look of this fly and hopefully the fish will like it even more. I’m also considering some color variations on the salvation nymph theme.

My last day of fishing in 2012 was November 21 on the Big Thompson River, and 2012 offered the longest fishing season I can remember as I began in early March and ended just before Thanksgiving. It was certainly a year to remember.

Zoomed in on Beadhead Hares Ear Compartment

As I entered October I noticed that my supply of beadhead hares ear nymphs was low so I actually began my production tying then and continued through the end of the year while continuing to fish concurrently. So far I’ve stocked my fly boxes with 100 beadhead hares ear nymphs, 50 beadhead RS2’s, 50 beadhead pheasant tail nymphs, 25 BWO size 22 soft hackle emergers, 45 bright green caddis pupa, 30 emerald caddis pupa, 25 light yellow caddis pupa, 15 black and olive beadhead midge larva, and 25 duke nymphs (simplifed prince nymphs).

100 Beadhead Hares Ear Nymphs

I’ve now entered the realm of tying flies newly discovered as effective in 2012, and this includes my current work in process twenty inchers. I hope to enter the season with 20 of these so I probably need to tie 10 more. Next up in the nymph genre will be salvation nymphs (20), Arkansas rubber legs (20), and iron sallies (20).

50 Beadhead RS2’s

That should put me in a good position in the nymph category, and I will then move into large attractor dry flies including Letort hoppers and Chernobyl ants. I was disappointed with the Charlie Boy hopper, so I plan to attempt some Pool Toys as recommended by Taylor Edrington.

BWO Soft Hackle Emergers

After I am satisfied with my large attractor dry fly supply, I will take an inventory of my standard dry flies such as comparaduns and caddis dries and restock as necessary. There is a lot of work in front of me, but I truly enjoy tying and especially experimenting with new flies. The advent of YouTube fly tying videos has been a huge benefit to tyers such as myself.

How many different types of baetis nymphs does a fisherman need for his or her fly box? I made some teal baetis nymphs from Scott Sanchez’s book several years ago and pretty much exhausted my supply. As I flipped through the book again, I noticed it and decided to tie a few more.

Nice Side View

Scott’s pattern suggests using a clear glass bead or black metal bead. I had both available, but the glass beads tend to break after a lot of usage so I opted for the metal bead. I threaded five beads on to five hooks and gathered the materials and began to tie. Originally I thought I might make more than five, but after tying several I changed my mind and halted my teal baetis nymph production at five. Tying with the teal fibers is very tedious due to the fragile nature of the twisted fibers. I tore off the fibers two or three times in my efforts to twist and wrap the abdomen.

Tilted to See Teal Abdomen

When I notice blue wing olives hatching, I tend to select a RS2 from my fly patch, but I do recall an occasion when the teal baetis nymph produced. I was on the South Platte River in Wildcat Canyon late in the afternoon and observed some olives emerging. I was running low on RS2’s, and since I’d hiked three miles from my car, I didn’t have the option of returning to the car to supplement the flies on my patch so I selected a teal baetis nymph and fished it as the bottom fly below a beadhead hares ear and attractor top fly. The teal baetis nymph produced well in this situation, thus, I’d like to have a few available.

From the Top

Scott Sanchez’s book presented a third ultra zug recipe, and I was so enamored with the results of the first two patterns that I replicated, that I decided to tie five ultra zug free-living caddis. As with the others, this is a simple tie and could replace the bright green caddis pupa that take longer to make.

I raided daughter Amy’s bead collection to obtain the plastic black bead for this fly. Thanks Amy.

I finished tying all the flies on the list I generated in November, so now the fun part has arrived. I decided to make some new flies I’d never tied before, and last night I browsed through my Charlie’s Fly Box book by Charlie Craven and selected two new patterns to tie; Craven’s soft hackle emerger and a mugly caddis.

The soft hackle emerger appeals to me as a potential alternative to the RS2 that I frequently fish when blue wing olives are in the air. The white tail and wing made from fluoro fiber looks like a true fish attractor.  On Tuesday I made the lunch time drive to Old Arvada and purchased 5 minute epoxy to appropriately finish the jujubaetis flies, bought white fluoro fiber for the soft hackle emerger, and finished my shopping with two tan colored snowshoe rabbit feet for the mugly caddis.

Craven Soft Hackle Emerger

On Wednesday and Thursday I sat down at my vice and produced ten soft hackle emergers. The first five were tied per the directions in the book, and I was quite pleased with the results even though I struggled to fold the hackles. I added five on Thursday night tied on a size 18 scud hook with a small silver bead. I’m anxious to try both types as replacements for the RS2.

Beadhead Soft Hackle Emerger