Some funk

Here is some stuff for the late night tying. I think these guys are making the rounds and hopefully I can catch the show if in town.

Stroke

More flies: Wigglers.

Golden Drake Nymph

Iso Bicolor Nymph

Working to tie more jointed nymphs for large Summer Jumbo mayflies and iso bicolors. The two examples below are my take on the Golden Drake and Iso Bicolor nymphs. Not a super fast one to whip out but not too bad for the experienced tier either. Not just a show fly, this one catches fish that a standard un-jointed pattern would not in certain settings. More to come as I work to replicate the bugs of the region.

Both are similar ties using a scud front hook with 2x streamer / nymph hook for the 2nd section with the bend clipped. I use a few thread wraps on the front hook where jointed below the eye of the 2nd hook to secure it. Tie the sections separately.

Hook: #10-12 Scud and 2x streamer for 2nd section.
Tails: Color matching Biots or Pheasant tail fibers.
Abdomen/body: Dubbing to match natural
Shellback: Foam cut thin to match natural colored with prismacolor marker if needed. ISO with hackle stem to form conspicuous white “stripe”.
Legs: Pheasant breast feather pulled over top to match natural.
Thread/Head: Tung bead optional, thread to match, biots to match tail as antennae optional.

About a year ago

About a year ago I was headed to Pisgah National Forrest to camp roadside, get drunk and flyfish with glass rods during an unseasonably warm weekend. While I miss the waters and friends of the Southeast, I am happy to call the Midwest and its familiar waters home again! Still good to reminisce.

Stroke

AP dry for bass

In anticipation of the upcoming spring and summer hatches and yearly terrestrial action, I am tying up some additional all purpose dry fly patterns with rubber legs for bass. These get it done and do not work bad on trout either. While you can vary the body color, I have found the ginger tones to be some of the best for my needs. The small barred rubber legs provide movement on the dry but they often fade, I still like the barred best though.

Hook- Standard 2x Dry Fly

Tails: Split Fibette (optional)

Body: Ginger dubbing with 7x mono rib

Hackle: Grizz wrapped around foam post

Legs: Barred rubber, small

Stroke

1st smallie action

Smallies are starting to move this spot is across town, from recently when we had temps in the 50’s before the snow. Good for the soul.




Picked some flies tied in the cold of night to swim in the deepest runs.

Turned some fish.



Flipped some rocks to check out some bugs.

Had a good time.

Went home and ate some venison sausage with local veggies and Octoberfest beer.

All the best,

Stroke

Brookville

Made it over to the tailwater for a little high-water action. Though there was a slight snow falling and a little stain in some places the river was fishable, with wading dicey in most areas of direct current. I had only fished this river once, years ago in mid summer for about an hour as passing through and have not had a chance to explore too much. I do have a few insights into trout holding and feeding patterns and worked what looked like good runs.

Streamside drink

Some from the vault

River at 5'+

I started fishing streamer patterns to imitate the shocked shad that push trough the dam turbines, after only 2 moved fish in a few hours, I opted to move to an indicator nymph rig with a few confidence flies that usually produce. This was a good choice as I moved several nice fish the remainder of the day, getting some solid browns to hand in stiff current on 5x, no easy task for me.

Overall it seems there are some really quality fish in the river. The large brown was tough to handle and photo solo and buzzed, I opted to gently place the fish on damp streamside rocks as opposed to the one hand lift, where the fish could have crashed violently. I had to run to land the large fish after it bailed out the tail of the pool into the run below where I was able to swing it down for the land. Went down on one knee to avoid falling in 3’ of water and got pretty wet but it was totally worth it.

Hope to make it back soon.

Stroke

Happy New Year

This year I am going to attempt to chronicle my angling outings to destinations in the Midwest and beyond on this page. More to come...

Thanks,

Stroke