This week I’m going to catch up.  I have been tying like crazy, while I see many others are taking advantage of the weather and throwing some line with some good success.     It looks like I need one more week of Red Headed Princes.  They are one of those flies that anglers like to have with beads, in multiple sizes 16 – 8 and many of them.  No problem,  Hopefully I’ll be putting new fly on the vise next week.

I’m extending the Fly for a Buck deal on Red Headed Princes until I post a new fly.

Red Headed Prince

This weeks fly is a “gotta have” nymph/wet fly.  As a guide I carry plenty of them all year long, mainly in size 12 and 10.  Add a red thread head and you’ve made a good fly great.  I started tying them with red heads when I read that Joe Humphreys tied red heads to indicate that he had weighted the fly.  I still fished traditional black head princes that were unweighted, for the next 2 years the red headed prince out performed the black,  particularly on the Winooski! Since then I have only used red headed Princes  The nice thing about Princes, is that you can catch fish in all levels of the water column.  I catch most of my fish at the end of the drift as the fly lifts off the bottom or swings to the bank.  For this reason I consider the Prince to be as much a wet fly as a nymph.

For all of these reasons I will be at the vise for the next several days tying something in the neighborhood of  100 Red Headed Princes.  If you would like any now is the time.  Red Headed Princes for just a Buck until Feb. 22nd.

Pattern Recipe:

Hook: Mustad 3906B or 9671 with a bead, sizes 14,12,10

Thread: Red

Tail: Brown goose biot

Abs/Thorax: 3 or 4 Peacock Herls twisted

Rib:  med. gold wire

Legs: 3 wraps of Furnace Hackle

Wing: White Goose Biot

Head: Red Tread or gold bead

I received a large fly order last week.  In the order is a fly that brings me back to the best 45 min. I’ve spent on the water.  It happened  after fishing 4 hours on the West Branch Ausable without a take.  During that 4 hours, there were 3 different bugs hatching.  I threw two dozen flies and only saw 2 risers.  I left the river pretty befuddled and figured I would just head home.  On the way I drove past a spot I always wanted to try, and no one was there.  As I looked over the water from the top of the bank, I noticed a caddis hatch that I hadn’t seen previously.  I decided to give it a try.  As I approached the water, I notice more adult caddis and no surface activity.  I thought this might be a good time to try some of the Green Sparkle Pupa’s I recently tied for just such a hatch.  The next 45min. brought 6 fish the the #16, all Brown’s all over 16 inches with the largest a 24in. beauty.  This fly doesn’t make my top 12, but it does take up much room in my fly box.

Green Sparkle Pupa

Hook: Mustad 3906b favorite sizes 14 & 16

Thread: Black

Abdomen: Dark Green Antron LaFontaine style.

Wing: Deer hair

Head: small ball of black Antron

Until 2/12/2012 I am offering Green Sparkle Pupa’s for a Buck A Fly. Just let me know how many and what sizes.

I received a large fly order last week.  In the order is a fly that brings me back to the best 45 min. I’ve spent on the water.  It happened  after fishing 4 hours on the West Branch Ausable without a take.  During that 4 hours, there were 3 different bugs hatching.  I threw two dozen flies and only saw 2 risers.  I left the river pretty befuddled and figured I would just head home.  On the way I drove past a spot I always wanted to try, and no one was there.  As I looked over the water from the top of the bank, I noticed a caddis hatch that I hadn’t seen previously.  I decided to give it a try.  As I approached the water, I notice more adult caddis and no surface activity.  I thought this might be a good time to try some of the Green Sparkle Pupa’s I recently tied for just such a hatch.  The next 45min. brought 6 fish the the #16, all Brown’s all over 16 inches with the largest a 24in. beauty.  This fly doesn’t make my top 12, but it does take up much room in my fly box.

Green Sparkle Pupa

Hook: Mustad 3906b favorite sizes 14 & 16

Thread: Black

Abdomen: Dark Green Antron LaFontaine style.

Wing: Deer hair

Head: small ball of black Antron

Until 2/12/2012 I am offering Green Sparkle Pupa’s for a Buck A Fly. Just let me know how many and what sizes.

The Picket Finn is an “Old School” pattern developed in the Adirondack and fished by all the legends of early Adirondack fishing.  Many contemporary fly fishers balk at such flies because modern tying techniques and materials make  more sophisticated looking flies.  As for me the Picket Finn, It’s one of my “Top 12″ flies particularly in early spring when the small stone nymphs are crawling up snow banks at the rivers edge.  The simplicity of the ty and  it productivity on the water are reasons why I have plenty of these in my box.

Picket Finn

Hook: Mustad 3906b #12 -16

Thread: Black

Abdomen: Peacock herl

Wing: Grey Squirrel

Thorax and head: Ball of Peacock herl with head cement to cover

Note: I always tie weight into the fly, and beads on some, however I don’t like beads in early spring.  I do tie these with a rusty dubbing for abs and thorax .

Buck a Fly… As I have been doing, I’m offering Picket Finns all this week for a Buck a fly. Just let me know.

The frigid temperatures this past week has triggered hard water anglers to move into action.   Over the years,  I have tried to stay fishing a fly, even while fishing under the ice.  During that time I’ve tried a number of patterns, and while many have caught fish, there is one that is my favorite.  I call the fly simply “Ice” and can be as productive as a bibbit on pan fish.    The most productive color combos are red/white, olive/white, pink/white and chartreuse/white and tied on #10 hook.

Pattern Recipe:

Thread: to match color of thorax

Hook: Mustad 3906b #12 – #6

Tail and Abs: white maraboo tip with 6 strands of crystal flash, then twist and wrap the rest of the maraboo 3/4 of the      way up the shank towards the eye.

Thorax: red/olive/pink/chartreuse maraboo twisted and wrapped.

If you would like a hand full of ‘Ice’ flies you can get them for a buck a fly until Jan. 22, 2012.