Tag Archives: fly tying

Matching The Hatch with Wet Flies

“Matching The Hatch With Wet Flies.” That’s the title of my Featured Tier demo this Sunday at 11:45am at the International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, NJ. As I prepare for the demo, I had a few thoughts I wanted to share.

When you’re fishing wet flies, matching the hatch doesn’t matter — until it does. And then, you’d best be prepared. What I mean is, there will be times when fish will eat a wet fly simply because it looks alive and like something good to eat. The bug that wet fly is supposed to represent may not be hatching at that moment. It may be entirely out of season. It may be the wrong color or size. But nonetheless, it gets stomped.

However, the more you fish with a team of three wet flies, the more you will encounter situations where the trout will only have what’s hatching, presented in the water column exactly where they are feeding on the naturals. They may pick out one fly on the three fly team to the ruthless exclusion of the other flies. That’s when matching the hatch pays dividends. You’ll be the person leaving the pool, trailed by other anglers who will want to know, “What fly were you using?”

So: know your hatch windows. Understand what food is most likely to be in the water. Understand how those bugs behave. Specific patterns aren’t as important as matching size, color, and profile. Give the trout a choice. They will always tell you when you get it right.

See you this weekend!

LaFontaine’s Diving Caddis is a good choice for a late afternoon-into evening pattern — because that’s when the trout are most likely to be seeing egg-laying female caddisflies. One memorable evening, I landed two dozen trout in two hours — sixteen on the Diving Caddis.

International Fly Tying Symposium next weekend, Nov 16-17, Somerset, NJ

Time flies when you’re writing a book, and I can’t believe we’re only one weekend away from the 2024 International Fly Tying Symposium. That’s right, next weekend, November 16-17 in Somerset, NJ. They will be vendors galore with all kinds of hard-to-find-stuff, along with some of the best fly tyers in the world. There are classes, seminars (free with admission) and featured fly tyers (like yours truly!) Check out the seminar schedule:

And the featured tier list! (Note the slot on Sunday at 11:45, which of course will be of particular interest and importance.)

I’m looking forward to seeing you there. Please come say hello!

Blood Dot Egg featured in On The Water’s Guide Flies Column

Ok, so it’s not my pattern — it’s Jeff Blood’s pattern. But the Blood Dot Egg is a classic guide fly, and I was delighted to share it with the readers of On The Water magazine‘s “Guide Flies” column, written by Tony Lolli. (Thanks again, Tony, for letting me play!) This is the single best egg pattern out there, and it’s so ridiculously easy to tie that you won’t fret when you sacrifice one or three or a dozen to the bottom gods. Steelhead season is upon us. Now, if we can only get some rain.

Fall Fishing on the Farmington and other gleanings from the book

Hello, fellow fly fishers and readers! I ‘ve been on an intense writing jag this week, trying to finish up the bug and food forage sections of the book. I think it’s going to be very helpful. It’s divided into mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, midges, and other stuff trout like to eat. There will be some hatch details (although it’s not meant to be a biology or Latin names monograph). And then, for you fly tyers, there will be photos and recipes of some essential, proven fly patterns, mostly from local experts, guides, and anglers.

Current situation…add the sfx of fingers on keyboard…

To the Farmington we go! Water remains low, but fishable. It’s plenty cold and that’s the good news. Caddis is the main hatch right now, soon to be joined by Tiny BWOs. We’re getting near spawning time, so if you see a redd — a light oval shaped patch is gravelly riffles — keep your distance. Mark its location in your memory so you don’t walk through it in the winter and accidentally wipe out the next generation of wild browns. Please do not target trout on redds — it’s bad form.

Two more notes: as we get deeper into fall, streamers will increasingly come into play as a primary fishing method, as will egg patterns. Try an egg this winter as an attractor on a two fly nymph rig, and make the top dropper something small and match-the-hatch. And remember that the entire river from the dam down to the steel bridge in Unionville is catch-and-release. If you see poaching, please call the TIP line: 800-424-HELP. Program it into your phone so you’ll have it ready when you need it.

Carry on.

Is it too early to start thinking about steelhead? Here’s a fantastic egg pattern to get you in the mood.

Shorter days, longer nights, cooler weather…I’m definitely in the mood, baby! We do need some rain, but as you read this, Great Lakes Steelhead are staging at the mouths of rivers and creeks. I think this thought train all started when I saw that Jeff Blood was going to be one of the tyers at the International Fly Tying Symposium (you’re going right?) on November 16-17. Jeff’s Blood Dot Egg has been my new favorite egg pattern since steelhead guide extraordinaire Bob Packey introduced me to it three years ago. It works on both Erie and Ontario steelhead (not to mention trout in CT). I’ll stand by the title of the article linked here: The best egg pattern for steelhead might be Jeff Blood’s Blood Dot.

Give that man (Jeff Blood) a ceegar! This is a Salmon River fish from last November taken on Jeff’s fly.

Mark your calendar: International Fly Tying Symposium Nov. 16-17, 2024

Once again, I’ll be appearing at the International Fly Tying Symposium this November 16-17, 2024, at the Hilton Doubletree in Somerset, NJ. This is great opportunity to mingle, mix, and see some of the best fly tiers on planet earth: Thomas Baltz. Jeff Blood. Bob Clouser. Tim Cammisa. Tim Flagler. And that’s just one partial alphabetical column. Oh! There’s also a well-stocked marketplace that always has common and hard-to-find items. There are classes, seminars, and featured tying demos. The last two are free with your admission, and I’ll be one of the featured tiers on Sunday at 11:45, which will get you home in time for football. The demo is “Matching the Hatch with Wet Flies.” I hope to see you there!

HCTU Awarded Legion of Meat Lovers Pizza with IPA Clusters and a quick striper report

Many thanks to the men and women of the Hammonasset Chapter TU for being such gracious hosts. They’re a passionate group of fly fishers, and we had fun before, during, and after the presentation. This group understands that a fed presenter is a happy presenter, and a very hoppy IPA was an added bonus. We talked about Fly Fishing CT’s Small Streams, and right about now is prime time for thin blue lines. We could use some rain, though.

On Tuesday night I fished a top secret location in LIS with surfcaster extraordinaire Toby Lapinski. We thought we might be in for a treat when Toby connected on one of his first casts with a metal lip plug — decent fish, 15 pounds — but sadly, ’twas not to be. Toby had three more hits, converting one, and I had a nice swipe from a decent fish, but no tug or pull. It was a gorgeous night for fishing, with a favorable wind, but there was precious little bait and no schools of fish.

So it goes…

I’d eat this…this is Ken’s Sure Thing, a three-feather flatwing about 8-9″, a fine choice to swing over a reef in the fading moonlight on a crisp fall night.

“Fly Fishing CT’s Small Streams” Thursday 9/12 7pm at Hammonasset Chapter TU

I’m kicking off my 2024 fall/winter speaking season Thursday night, September 12, 7pm, at the HCTU meeting in Meriden. The topic will be Fly Fishing CT’s Small Streams, a subject that I’m really passionate about. We’ll talk when, where, how, tackle, flies, tactics, conservation, and more. The meeting is open to the public, so I hope to see you there!

Fishing small streams returns you to the very soul of fly fishing.

Better late than never: Time to tie up some September Nights!

I’m way late on the draw here, but there’s still a lot of September left. Ken Abrames’ September Night is by far my favorite finger mullet fly, and you can tie it longer as the mullet get bigger and fatter. I have received confirmed, reliable reports that at least one RI salt pond is loaded with mullet, and that school bass have been harassing (if not enjoying) them. Here’s a good link with tying instruction from yours truly so you too can tie the September Night.

If you think this fly looks good on the vise, wait until you add some water and current. I also tie a variation with a ginger marabou collar. The stripers approve.

(Late) Farmington River Report: Trout (mostly) open for business!

My apologies or not getting this out last week. I’ll try to be a little more timely. The good news is that the terrible weekend rains mostly missed the Farmington, and the river has been fishing very well. Last week I guided Dan for a late afternoon-into evening session. The focus was on dry flies, and we started off with a hopper/dropper system. (‘Tis the season! And I promise, no more parenthetical statements.) We discovered a pod of trout taking emergers in a shallow run in bright sunshine. When Dan dialed in his cast and drift, his hopper got crushed by a very respectable mid-teens brown. We found another run formed by the confluence of two sections of river, but we couldn’t buy a hit. Even when we switched to wets, it was no dice. My best guess is that they were feeding on something far smaller than what we were throwing.

We ended the session at a classic dry fly pool within the PTMA. Hatch activity (22-24 BWOs, 18-20 Summer Stenos, and later, 12-14 Light Cahills and an absurd number of midges…and I guess I fibbed about the parenthetical statements) was light until 8:30pm, but Dan managed to stick a nice fish on a 22 BWO dry. We used a 14-foot leader-tippet system terminating in 6x to get better drifts in the languid, glassy pool. At 7:30 I was able to join in the fun. As predicted, that wild brown feeding just off the rock in the frog water got stupid as it got dark, and I took him — with great delight — on a size 16 Catskills Light Cahill dry. Both Dan and I had good action until we could no longer see our flies.

The next day, I shot some drone photos for the book with filmmaker extraordinaire Matthew Vinick. I fished for about 45 minutes below and within the PTMA until he arrived.

I was fishing some water in the PTMA I really haven’t spent any time in for at least five years when I connected with this gorgeous creature. She was part of a pod of trout taking emergers, and she chose my Squirrel and Ginger top dropper. Matt and I went to a couple other pools in the PTMA to shoot, and then we had places to be.

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I had 30 minutes to fish before I had to pick up my son at Bradley. So I ventured into some snotty, treacherous water that’s rarely fished. This rainbow hit the Squirrel and Ginger so hard that she peeled off 20 feet of line before I could adjust my drag. The photo really doesn’t do her justice — she was fat and powerful and wonderful, and she just wouldn’t sit still for a picture.

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There’s a happy guy! My last customer of the day was the best. She was feeding in a slot near the shore, and it took some maneuvering to get into a good position to present my team of three. This is where it helps to be physically fit (and carry a wading staff). There’s no way I could have reached her without being willing to wade into some dicey currents. Measured against my net, this is a high teens fish (I refuse to thrust a fish at arm’s length into the camera) that took an Isonychia soft hackle I’ve been prototyping for a year. I’ll publish that pattern soon, but in the meantime, I can tell you this: big fish like that fly. You can see a fly-in-mouth shot on Instagram, probably Tuesday.