Over the past 24 plus years, I have spent a lot of time chasing lake run trout and salmon. Much has changed in those years - I now use different gear, techniques, and flies to pursue these lake run giants. And any success and skill that I now have, has been fine tuned with plenty of trial and error, and in those early years, failure!

I have also been able to glean plenty of useful info from those anglers that I would meet on the stream or in some cases a fly shop or two. And in every one of those instances I always made sure to take a peek at the flies they were using, and if I could, their whole fly box. I later learned that getting the fly to the fish was paramount, and everything else, like fly selection, came a distant second, third and fourth. But as I began to learn the nuances of fly fishing the tributaries I began to notice a startling trend - Those that paid attention to the small details, where more successful than anyone else on the river.

On a not so cold march afternoon while fishing the Salmon River many years ago, I noticed something small and black move onto the snow bank as I was fishing. As I looked closer to what was happening I noticed hundreds of small blackish brown stoneflies crawling all over the place. It was at that moment that I caught onto one of those small details, and from that day on I have made sure to carry some sort of black stonefly pattern with me, and I have not looked back since! In fact I now carry with me a good variety of different sizes and colors to fit just about every situation.

So here is a realistic easy to tie pattern that I love to fish. I will tie it in all black, dark brown, olive and amber. You can even add a hot spot if you like with a brite bit of dubbing for the thorax….I hope you enjoy!

Hook - #12-#14 Daiichi 1760 2x heavy wire nymph hook

Thread – Ultra 70 denier in rusty brown

Tail – 2 turkey biots rusty brown

Body – Medium vinyl rib amber

Wingcase – Molted turkey feather

Thorax – Hare’s ear dubbing

Hackle – Brown

Head – Ultra 70 denier rusty brown thread

Note: Make sure to coat the head and turkey with some sally hansen’s hard as nails or other tough coating to make it more durable.

Angler’s Workshop

Time:                       Saturday, February 4^th  -  9 am to 4 pm

Location:                Twelve Corners Middle School – Monroe Ave Entrance (Rochester, NY)

Tickets:                   Purchase at the Door - Adult = $15  & Youth under 16 = $5

(Gate proceeds benefit Upstate Fly Fishers, Canandaigua Lake Chapter of Trout Unlimited & Seth Green Chapter of Trout Unlimited)

Angler’s Workshop is a fun, one-day fly fishing event that provides informative content to promote fly fishing and broaden the angler skill set. Angler’s Workshop offers six, 50 minute workshop sessions on various workshops for the beginner to the experienced fly fisher.  There is an entire cafeteria dedicated to fly tying and instructors are welcome to demo/tie, or lead small group workshops.  You will be reimbursed for your materials/hooks cost.

Fly Fishing Instructors Wanted:  Building upon our success of Angler’s Workshop in 2010, we will bring together a talented group of experienced fly fishers as instructors. Good content and unique programming will attract anglers from Upstate NY. Our facility is Twelve Corners Middle School and digital projectors/screens, dry erase boards, classrooms, cafeteria and gym are available.  We are looking for knowledgable  instructors to lead Workshops based on a fly fishing skill/topic/destination of your choice.  If you would like to learn more about being an instructor, click this link:  docs.google.com/viewer

Sponsors Welcome:  Would you like to promote your business or organization? Donate $50 and you will be an Angler’s Workshop Sponsor.  This will allow you to set up a commercial table in the Fly Fishing Atrium.  As an Angler’s Workshop Sponsor, you may distribute material, sell products, offer demonstrations and promote your cause.  Up to two (2) 3’ x 6’ will be available per sponsor.  In addition, you will be recognized as a sponsor in the program/handouts.  If you would like to learn more about being an Instructor, click this link:  docs.google.com/viewer

As I recently had surgery, it is now two weeks since I did not go fishing and I probably won't be able to go before one month. I think of those who, suffering from a disability or serious illness, have their lives turned upside down ; and I think to myself that each fishing trip (may it be the worst or the better) is a gift from life...
While waiting to return to the banks of rivers, I'm terribly bored and I fish in my mind by reading books, reading your news, and tying flies.
This winter, I plan to fly fish for perch and zander by "scratching" rocky bottoms with heavy streamers. That's why I started to tie a series of streamers with Texas wide gap hooks, heavily leaded on the shank.
I hope to fish them in the coming weeks and tell you about the results...

Here is fall, marking the beginning of fishing season for predators : masses of fry congregate near the banks, attracting pike and perch that come to hunt them.
To fish these predators, local fly fishermen often use small streamers, white or silver coloured, imitating fry, such as "appetizers" for instance.
For my part, I like fishing with slightly larger (about 3 inches) and heavier streamers, tied with dark natural materials : hackles, badger hair, marabou feathers... They are intended to imitate small perch or roach evolving close to the bottom. By their larger size, they attract bigger perch (which are cannibals and like eating their young fellows) usually posted under the fry shoals.

Throughout the messages I posted this year, I said many times that water levels have been very low. It's always the case right now, as you can see from the pictures : at piers, close to canal locks, only very little water flows...
Under these conditions, fish are to be found in running waters. At the foot of waterfalls, it is sometimes amazing to catch two or three perch behind every stone, in little holes that are just 10 inches wide !
Unfortunately, larger fish are bottom set, and they probably go out to eat only during the night.
With a little rain, november and december could enable us to see more large predators out of their hiding ...

Last week I showed how I've been painting flies using a Copic Airbrush. I love the results this gives and it's fun. I make my base colors using this, then do other details with other paints or markers.

I had bought 50 popper heads and was a little disappointed when the D60 can ran out of air after 25 poppers.

Last month at the fly tying symposium I was talking to Brian and a few others about trying to hack the can and make it refillable. On the ride home my wife and I were talking about this a bit and came up with some good ideas. Here's what I did.

After the can ran out, I made sure to run the can a bit more to make sure it was completely empty. Then, just to be safe, I had a friend drill a hole in the bottom. Safety first.....friends second!  He drilled a hole about 3/4 inch wide in the bottom of the can. Then I cut the air valve out of an old soccer ball and glued it into the hole. I used JB Weld to glue it in. I made sure to let this sit for close to 20 hours before trying out the setup.

Once it was dry, I put the air needle into the valve and with 2 pumps it would get the pressure up to 40psi. I didn't go past this because I didn't want to have any issue with the seal not staying put. With those 2 pumps I could get about 8 seconds of spray out of the airbrush. While 8 seconds isn't much, it is enough to do most of the fly. I found I could paint the whole popper with 2 pumps, but if I sprayed the spots, it might take another pump.

I found that keeping the needle in the can was a lot easier than removing it after pumping it up. I think a foot operated pump would allow you to use both hands for the fly instead of having to pump with one hand. Also, by having a foot pump, I think you could have less pressure in the can and have the pressure basically on demand and not stored up. This could help prevent a blow out of the valve. For now, I have kids that are pretty excited to pump it for me.

In the end, I was able to paint the remaining 25 poppers without spending another dime. If this hadn't worked, I would have had to buy a new can of air ($12) or a compressor (a lot more $). Now I don't feel so bad spending more money on more markers.

More photos can be found on my blog.

A Brief Intro: Hello, I'm Mike Simmons and I'm excited to start blogging for JP Ross Fly Rods! I've been fishing most of my life and exclusively fly fishing and tying flies for over 15 years, and I run Rochester NY's largest fly tying party Guys, Flies & Pies. It's good to be here and I hope you can learn from the things I will post.

And now, how about painting some poppers?

After seeing other posts online about using a Copic airbrush to paint poppers I thought I'd have to try it myself.

First - The Copic airbrush is a system that uses markers as an ink source, and this allows the changing of colors to take literally only a few seconds. Clean up of the system is likely not necessary, and I've done nothing to clean mine yet.

It comes in a few setup ups. I got the one with the grip and an air can. Other setups are available with a grip and a can (without compressed air in it) that can connect to your own hose and air compressor. A third setup comes with the grip, the can to connect to a compressor and the hose and a base to hold up the can when not in use.

Of course the cans of compressed air have a time limit to their use. Mine is rated to have about 7 minutes of continuous air. If you connect it to your own air compressor then your air supply is unlimited.

My investment consisted of the grip and air can and 4 markers. At a local art supply store I bought all these items for about $50. 

First I had to super glue the hooks to the popper head. Then I put some Elmer's wood filler in the slot. I did most of them first, then remembered I had heard that thinning the wood filler with water worked well. I did that and found it much easier to push it into the slot than when it wasn't thinned.

After the wood filler dried I took a nail file and sanded it smooth.

Next, I painted the bottom of the popper white. This covers the wood filler and gives an even white color if you want to leave it white on the belly.

Now comes the Copic airbrush. This isn't too hard to use. I just load up the first marker and hold it back a few inches from the popper and make short bursts with the air. Just like spray paint, if you hold it in one spot too long it will get darker and even build up to the point where it will drip.

I typically do the lighter color on the bottom first, then a darker color on top second.

Using a piece of fish net material (raid your wife's fabric supply) you can make a nice patter by spraying through it. Once I'm satisfied with the airbrush results, I switch to another source for color. I use markers or acrylic paint to make eyes and other patterns on the popper.

I put the eyes on in 3 steps. First I put black, let it dry, put a smaller white dot, let that dry, then finally a smaller black dot, and let that dry. I use the back end of drill bits for different sizes. I found that dipping the bit into the paint to get a drop on the end, then gently pressing that drop on the popper slowly works best. I don't really try to get the bit to touch the popper, but let the paint spread out gently, which it does uniformly. I found trying to rock the bit back and forth to get it to touch the rounded edge of the popper resulted in poor results. Letting the drop just press itself out worked well and gave good round results.After I'm done painting the bodies I put on some 5 minute epoxy to help protect all the work and provide some durability while fishing. Next up, feathers to decorate the tail end!

Overall I'm really please with both the Copic Airbrush and the eyes. Many people that have seen these have asked me if you can use other markers. I do believe that I saw somewhere on the internet where someone said there was another brand of marker you could use, but I don't remember that source. The grip that holds all the stuff together does have a specific shape and size, so the marker has to fit. I did hold a different marker outside of the grip, and it did blow the ink out....so there is some potential. I think having the marker fit into the grip would be the easiest approach. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has success with other (cheaper) markers.

“Ridin’ Dirty” Golden Stonefly adult

Materials:

Hook:  TMC 2457 6-10

Thread:  Danville 210 UNI

Tail:  Brown Life-flex legs

Abdomen:  Golden Stone STS Trilobal Trout Dubbing

Rib: 3X Mono Tippet

Under wing:  Blonde Deer Hair

Over wing:  Tan 2mm Foam

Legs:  Brown Life-flex legs

Antennae:  Brown Life-flex legs

Head and Top Wing: Blonde Deer Hair

The “Ridin’ Dirty” Golden Stonefly Adult is a stonefly pattern I have built on with the same principals I always go by when I am tying large dry flies. First I need them to ride low on top of the water; the lower the stone fly or hopper can ride the more helpless it actually is to fish.  The second is life, if you can get your dry fly moving around looking like its dying that’s the ticket. I am also a huge fan of synthetic materials, in my mind they are supreme to naturals, EXCEPT when it comes to finishing up your dry flies.  And when it comes to stonefly adults deer hair is the all super material.  A bullet head finish is something I try and do with all my stone flies, reason being you can get away with lots of materials to sink the rear of it and then use your deer hair to keep it floating up top, which is the desired effect!  Tie some up and fish them hard, if there are stoneflies around this will do the trick!

The Buggy Baetis!

Recipe:

Hook:  TMC 100 dry fly hook sizes 16-20

Thread: Olive 8/0

Tail: Amber Darlon

Abdomen: Olive Brown STS Trilobal Trout Dubbing

Spent wing:  Flouro-fiber

Hackle: Blue dun

Thorax:  Gray Superfine dubbing

Instructions:

Step 1:  Attach your tying thread behind the hook eye and create a nice under body of thread.

Step 2:  Tie your Amber Darlon in for the tail, once your darlon is attached run the tying thread under the darlon at the back of the hook so it flairs up the shuck behind the fly.  Trim the tail about half as long as the hook shank.

Step 3:  Make an open dubbing loop right in front of the darlon tail. Wax the loop with a good amount of dubbing wax, and apply a very sparse amount of STS Trilobal Dubbing. Twist it tight in the loop and begin wrapping the loop forward. Make sure that after each wrap you pull back the fibers of the dubbing to get a really super buggy look! Tie it off at about the 2/3 point in the hook!

Step 4:  Tie on an appropriately sized blue dun hackle and let it fall off the back off the fly.

Step 5:  Cut yourself a dense amount of flouro-fibers, not too much to be over flashy but more than a sparse girly amount, and attach them with figure 8 wraps to make a pair of spinner wings off each side.

Step 6: Grab a very sparse amount of Gray Superfine dubbing and apply it behind and in front of your spent wing to make a nice thorax.

Step 7:  Palmer forward your blue dun hackle from behind the spinner wings to just behind the hook eye and tie it off.

Step 8: Trim the hackle on the bottom of the fly so that it will have a super low profile.

 The “Buggy Baetis” is relatively new off my vise but now has a permanent place in my mayfly box as a go to baetis pattern. The beautiful thing about it is how versatile of a pattern it is, it has a trailing shuck made out of darlon that wiggles and gives a killer look on the surface.  The STS dubbing, when used correctly in a loop,  gives a slim profile with a lot of nice fibers making a mess of themselves.  And a spinner wing made from flouro-fiber. The flouro-fiber is an awesome material that gives a natural shimmer to wings and bodies.   This fly can be a little tricky to see on top of the water, and would recommend tying it in a parachute style for all the guys who have problems seeing little flies. I tend to palmer my flies more than put parachutes on them; I feel it gives a much “Buggier” look to the fly.  Also, I am going to keep getting better at taking pictures of my bugs for everyone to see. If there is anyone who can give me some tips on this that would be great! If anyone has questions just shoot me an email and I would be more than happy to help you out!

 Nick Ross

Hi Everyone...  I posted some information on spiders and soft hackle flies.  Check it out.  I posted it on the Adirondack Trout Bum Blog Page.

 1) Tie on your thread at the 2/3 point of the hook with a few wraps.

 2) At the 2/3 point tie on a piece of your gold ultra wire and tie it on the top of the hook just a little bit past the bend.

 3) At the bottom of the hook tie in a rather long and skinny piece of red chewee skin, make sure you cut it long enough to have a tail in the back and some to hang over the eye of the hook.

 4) Once you get your chewee skin tied on wrap it around the hook until you reach the 2/3 point of the hook and then tie it off, do not cut the excess chewee skin!

 5) Rib your gold wire with COUNTER WRAPS up to where you tied off your chewee skin and tie it off.

 6) Wrap your thread back towards the bend a few wraps and fold your chewee skin towards the back and tie it down secure.

 7) Make a dubbing loop right in front of your chewee skin and put the dubbing in the loop.

 8) Twist that loop so its good and tight with the dubbing inside it, and wrap it towards the eye of the hook and tie it down right at the eye.

9) Fold over the remaining chewee skin to make the abdomen section of the worm and tie off below your chewee skin so you don’t break it.

Nick Ross, blogger for hackles and Hair

I grew up in Pueblo, Colorado fishing the Arkansas, South Platte, and many high mountain lakes. Then I moved up to Gunnison, CO for school and lost my mind the fishing was so good it was all I wanted to do. If I had to say my favorite way to fish is terrestrials and really tiny technical midge fishing. I spent a year guiding in Missoula, Montana and am now going to switch gears to the Alaska gig for a few!  When I am not fishing or tying flies I can be found playing Playstation 3 or just chatting and keeping it real with some of my good buddies.

Tom Deane just posted some very interresting stuff about his beautiful nymphs.

As I'm afraid of never being able to produce such nice flies, I make mine my own way. They are drab, hairy, simple, sometimes ugly : my style is "raw fly"...

For example, here is one of my March Brown emerger nymphs :

1- the cerci are badger hair

(photo 1)

2- the body is made up of red squirrel tail hair. I love these fine hairs, which vibrate easily in water. Owning red squirrel hair is forbidden, because it is a protected species. That's why I want to specify hair used here is from a poor squirrel found dead beside a road...

(photo 2)

3- I turn the hair around the shank of the hook, then make the rib with the thread. In Europe, "March Brown flies" (Rhithrogena) have brown abdominal segments, the integument between the segments appears white.

(photo 3)

4- the "leggs" are formed from the folded squirrel hair.

(photo 4)

5- Thorax is hare dubbing.

(photo 4)

Hook size is 12 to 16.

As you see, it's really a raw fly (photo 5) but it' works rather well, precisly because it's sober. Indeed, here in France, fish are used to see artificial flies and lures and well trained to avoid them. So, flies that are simple, light, little, natural looking and life-like can make the difference.