Tag Archives: fly tying

The fall 2016 appearance schedule is shaping up

Greetings, fellow fly enthusiasts and pursuers of all things piscatorial. I hope you all had as good a Labor Day family picnic as I did. Incredible food, some stellar wines, a My Father Le Bijou Box-Pressed Torpedo — not to mention some ruthless hands of setback (you don’t want to mess with Aunt Jennie). We’ve been right busy in the currentseams calendar hub. Thanks to all the clubs and shows who have reached out, and if you haven’t yet, but intend to, please do because the slate is filling up. Here’s what’s going on so far:

Wednesday, September 28: Narragansett Chapter TU 225, “The Little Things 2.0.” Coventry-West Greenwich Elks Lodge, 42 Nooseneck Hill Road, West Greenwich, RI. For more information and directions, visit narragansett.tu.org.

Tuesday, October 11: Mianus Chapter TU, “The Little Things 2.0” Waveny House, New Canaan, CT. For more information and directions, visit mianustu.org.

Thursday, October 13: Hammonasset Chapter TU, “The Little Things 2.0” (pretty sure we settled on this — if not, it will probably be LT 1.0). Quinnipiac Watershed Association Building, 540 Oregon Road, Meriden, CT. For more information and directions, visit hctu.org.

Saturday, November 5: Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum 10th Annual Art of the Angler Show, “Wet Flies 101.” I’ll be speaking at 1pm, and tying before and possibly after. Since wet flies is the subject, that’s probably what will be on the vise, though as always I am happy to take requests. The show is two days, but I’m swinging Saturday only. For more information, visit cffcm.com/programs-events/art-of-the-angler-show/.

Looking forward to 2017, I have one local gig scheduled, and I plan on presenting again at The Fly Fishing Show in Marlborough, MA, January 20-22. Subjects, dates and times are still TBD, and I’ll let you know as soon as I do.

Thank you all for your kind words, your enthusiasm, your questions, and for reading currentseams.

All this talking is going to make me thirsty.

EinBeer

Fly fishing club guest speaker coordinators, have I got a presentation for you!

Please forgive the shameless immodesty — it’s all meant in good fun. I really am excited about this one, though. It’s a follow-up to The Little Things — hence the highly imaginative title, The Little Things 2.0. You can read more about it here.

LittleThings2.0

Friends, Romans, Fishermen (and women) or: Upcoming stuff you might be interested in

For some reason I’ve had Julius Caesar running around in my head for the last few days, hence the bastardized title reference. I really just wanted to update you on a few things. So, with apologies to the Bard, lend me your ears. (Or eyes, as it were.)

I’m working away in my lonely writer’s garret on a new presentation, The Little Things 2.0. I’m really liking how this one is unfolding. Lots of good stuff, and it will be ready in September for the fall presentation circuit.

I’m very likely going to be tying and making a presentation at the 2016 Art of The Angler Show. Details to come.

Still trying to finalize some appearances at the 2017 Fly Fishing Show in Marlborough, MA. Ditto details.

Gadzooks! The writing pipeline appears to have gone dry. (That’s not entirely true — I should have a conservation piece in American Angler any issue now.) Not to worry. I have several pitches already accepted by editors, and just need to take fingers and brain to keyboard. Subjects will include floating lines in the salt, streamer fishing basics, and perhaps a few essay-type story pieces.

Finally, I see a lot of new names on the followers list. Why not stop in and say hi? In fact, I’d like to hear from everyone. Tell us about your fishing this summer, flies you’ve been tying, questions you may have — it’s all good.

And as always, thanks for reading and following currentseams.

Please stay out of the writing room when the red lamp in on.

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Stuff I Use: the Eagle Claw 253 Hook

The Eagle Claw 253 hook is the traditional choice for tying the flatwings, bucktails, and soft hackles made popular by Ken Abrames. It is a 1x short, O’Shaughnessy style spinnerbait hook with a non-offset point.

Ken didn’t choose that hook by accident. In Striper Moon, he writes of the 254 1x short, a similar hook, “The wire is light and does not cause the hook to sink unnaturally…the shank of this hook is one size short…this does two things: first, it makes the hook lighter and second it makes the point longer in relationship to hook size. I believe this gives me a mechanical advantage when fighting  a fish.” Those same attributes apply to the 253, which is the dominant hook in his book of fly patterns, A Perfect Fish.

“To fashion a fly from tradition is an honorable practice.” — KA. I did my best to honor that practice with the Rock Island, tied here on the Eagle Claw 253, size 3/0.

Rock Island Flatwings

The Eagle Claw brand holds a special place in my heart. It was the snelled hook we used when my father taught me how to fish for trout in the early 1970s. For years now, I’ve been tying most of my striper flies on the Eagle Claw 253. I usually buy them in lots of 100, readily available at any number of online retailers. Most of those 100 are sticky sharp right out of the box; those that aren’t are easily sharpened with a few strokes of a mill file. Eagle Claw makes a version of the 253 called “Lazer Sharp.” Ironically, I’ve found many of the Lazer Sharp hooks to be pencil-eraser dull, and difficult to sharpen. Stick with the regular 253 hook.

The biggest striper (probably between 30-35 pounds) I ever caught on the fly from shore took this Razzle Dazzle flatwing, below, tied on an Eagle Claw 253. At the time of the catch, the fly was at least 3 years old, and seen multiple seasons of use. I had sharpened the hook the night of the outing, as I had done many times before with Eagle Claw 253s, making sure it had enough sticking power to hold a junior cow.

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Most of the Eagle Claw 253s I use are size 1/0 and 3/0, although I will tie some of my larger flatwings on 4/0s. A word of caution: on larger stripers, I’ve had the 1/0s begin to open (I tend to put a lot of pressure on a fish when fighting it) although I have never lost a striper to an opened hook. If I suspect there are bigger fish around, I’ll go with a 3/0 and up. I have never had an issue with those sizes.

My favorite hooks for flatwings, bucktails, and soft hackles, fresh from a 100 count bag, ready for the vise.

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Ray’s Fly Featherwing: A simple, sparse flatwing

Many years ago, I was having trouble with some bass that were feeding on silversides in a Rhode Island breechway. The fish were active, but I couldn’t get them to bite. Ken Abrames recommended that I try the Ray’s Fly Featherwing, a dressed-down flatwing version of Ray’s Fly. I remember him telling me that it was, at the least, another arrow  in the fly box quiver.

That was a long time ago. I remember tying some up, but I don’t know what became of them. I know I caught stripers on them. I think I lost my last one to a bluefish.

Recently, someone on one of the forums asked about a “Ray’s Fly flatwing.” I think the Ray’s Fly Featherwing is the fly he was referencing. I haven’t tied in a couple of weeks, so I went down to the bench this morning and churned out a few. So simple. And sparse. I’d be as inclined to use these for a sand eel as I would a silverside.

All saddles are tied in flat — flatwing style, as they say. Note that the olive saddle is tied in at the head. All you need to do now is add water.

Ray’s Fly Featherwing flatwing

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Hook: Eagle Claw 253 1/0
Thread: White
Tail: 30 strands white bucktail under white saddle under 4 strands pearl flash under yellow saddle
Body: Pearl or silver braid
Wing: Olive saddle
Topping: Peacock herl

Housy Smallmouth Report: Gluttons for punishment

It would be safe to say that smallmouth on the fly is a current addiction. Back for more last night, a shorter session at three hours (6pm-9pm), and quite different from Monday’s.

For starters, the water was up a wee bit (180 cfs and rising) and perhaps had a bit more color. While not Africa hot, the air was rain forest humid. I got soaked just walking from the truck to the river. And the overall action was off, in terms of general size and numbers. But yessiree Bob, it was still good.

How to tell it’s summertime by the river. We get these along the Farmington, too.

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The surface action window was brief, about a half hour, and I didn’t even bother trying to fish with classic dry flies. I saw a few caddis and a handful of white flies (and the ever-present midges) — clearly the smallies were keyed on emerging bugs. I sat on a rock, enjoying my cigar, and as it got dark I went to work on some risers with a size 6 olive Zoo Cougar. That was fun, but for me the main event would be testing a prototype surface bug I’ve been working on, a floating/neutrally buoyant version of the Deep Threat, size 4. (More once I get it ironed out.) On it went, and….nothing. And more nothing. Finally, a respectable bass. Then another, a little bigger. I saw a splashy rise down the pool and parked the fly over it on my next cast.

KA-BLAM!!! It was one of those takes where you knew you had a good fish on from the moment the transaction went down. As soon as I came tight to the bass he went airborne. I cackled out loud, which you can do with impunity when you’re alone on a river. Thrust and parry, thrust and parry, my forearm burning with fatigue. (This is surely why God created 0x leaders.) And there he was. A smallmouth you could measure in pounds instead of inches. (Yeah, I know, low pounds, but please let me have my moment of glory unmolested.)

I’ve now landed a mid-teens Housy smallmouth and a mid-teens Farmington wild brown, and I gotta tell you, with all due respect to Salmo trutta, that it’s not even a contest when it comes to battle skills. 

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So, the new fly works.

It’s probably not a wise decision to do an impromptu victory dance while you’re wading out of a river in the dark. But I couldn’t resist.

 

The best streamers for smallmouth bass are…

If you do a search for “best” or “top ten” streamers for smallmouth bass, you are presented with an eclectic mix of patterns, typically opaque, with big googly eyes and using all kinds of new-agey materials — often accompanied by seductive promises of fish-catchess prowess. And oh, by the way, you can’t have the recipe, but here’s where you may purchase the wonder fly.

Ahem.

I can’t claim to be an expert on the lesser pie-holed cousins of the bucketmouth, but when I sat down at the vice this weekend to tie some smallmouth streamers I kept things pretty basic. I have a strong suspicion this selection will be met with approval by the target audience — the key word being selection. Some will ride topwater. Some will swim just below the surface. Some will plumb the depths and jig on the retrieve. They feature colors that range from earth-tones to fluorescents. You know the drill: give the fish a choice.

Now, I just gotta get them wet.

Clockwise from bottom left: Gartside Gurgler variants (size 2), three sets of Woolly Bugger variants (sizes 4-6), Deep Threat variants (sizes 4-6), and in the center, some neutral buoyancy thingy I tied on a whim.

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Ooh. Ahh. Ohh. (400 Followers Contest Swag.)

Fear not, contest winners, your goodies are on the way! Thank you for your bountiful patience, and of course for your loyal readership.

If you’re new to the site, I have been celebrating each successive century mark of email followers with a giveaway. To win, you have to be signed up as an email subscriber — so there’s your incentive. And we’re now under 75 away from 500…woo-hoo!

Here’s a little something to whet the winner’s appetites.

Gary gets the striper flies. Clockwise from top: Orange Ruthless, Big Eelie, Soft-Hackled Flatwing, September Night, Rhody Flatwing, Herr Blue, Ray’s Fly.

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Kris and Bill went for trout flies. Here are a dozen classic wets and fuzzy nymphs, clockwise from upper right: Soft-hackled bead head Pheasant Tail, Pale Watery wingless, Ginger caddis larva, Brown Hackle, Black Gnat, Hackled March Brown, Drowned Ant, Squirrel and Ginger, Hare’s Ear, Dark Hendrickson, Grizzly and Gray, Partridge and Light Cahill.

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NYCTU awarded the Order of the Black Shack Burger with IPA Clusters

Yesterday evening found me in the Big Apple presenting Wet Flies 101 to the NYCTU Chapter. Many thanks to the group for having me, and for recognizing that a fed presenter is a happy presenter. The Black Shack Holy Mole burger was delicious, as was the Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA. Thanks also to the midtown Orvis store for providing the venue. A great group and an outstanding post-presentation Q&A session.

That closes out the 2015-16 appearance schedule. We’ll kick off 2016-17 in September at TU225 in Rhode Island. Details later this summer.

Apparently, there’s a shortage of Guinness.

Beer Sign

That’s AM. Very AM.

Getting home from a fishing trip when the birds are just starting to sing is significant.

It can mean the fishing was so good you lost track of time. It can also mean you were stupid enough to leave your home before midnight and stay out long past where good sense should have compelled you to stop.

And sometimes it’s a little of both.

A bleary camera eye stares blankly at the microwave oven clock. 

VeryAM

We’ve been working the striper night shift here at currentseams for the past three weeks. While it’s been a mixed bag, it has been better than last year (pretty much a blank repeated ad nauseum), with only one skunking in the mix and my first keeper of the year. Most of the fishing has been wonderfully meditative greased line presentations with large flatwings. And I’ve had the chance to reconnect with my beloved five-weight.

The best striper of the spring so far, a 30-incher who found my Rock Island flatwing to her liking. I was lucky to catch this fish — she came at the end of the drift on my last cast of the evening, and saved me from the dreaded polecat. Loads of fun, and quickly landed on the five-weight.

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