Rainy Day... Lets Tie CDC Stone Fly Nymphs!

    

    Here in Easter Pennsylvania the weather is not cooperating. Latley, I have been addicted to CDC and saw a pattern on the Fly Fishermen site for Charlie Craven's CDC Yellow Stone. I was trying to get a picture of the pattern in the water, because the ice blue flashback make the stone glow. I could not, but trust me on it! I hope you like the pattern.






Hook- DaiRiki 12 3xl nymph
Bead- 1/8 gold bead
Lead- 15 wraps of .015
Thread- Yellow Danville 70 denier
Tail- Yellow dyed pheasant tail
Flashback- Ice blue pearl tinsel
Rib- 3x mono
1 Brown grizzle hen saddle feather
1 Brown Cdc feather
Dubbing- Jacks tackle Rainbow Worrior Rainbow Stone (Yellow)

Place bead and 15 wraps of .015 lead on hook. Push up into the bead and cover with thread.

Tie about six pheasant tail fibers, ice blue tinsel, and 3x mono. I use cheap Cabelas brand.

Dub onto your thread a healthy amount of dubbing and taper forward. Do not be afraid to use a nice amount of dubbing, because stone fly nymphs are wide and bulky.

Pull the tinsel forward and tie down. Rib the mono up the fly and tie off..You can bulk up your abdomen with thread as to match.

Tie in one brown Cdc feather by the tip and wrap like a wet fly. Pulling the fibers to the rear of the hook each wrap and tie down.

It will look like this

Before you tie in the hen feather, pull the feather fiber to the base of the stem. Tie in the feather by the tip and wrap as you just did with the Cdc feather. Pulling the hen fibers back like a wet fly collar and tie off.

it will look like this.

Dub a collar and whip finish.

Underside

Wet

Natural Disaster Clean up

       I have been tying for a little over a year. It started off as two little plastic shoe box's and has grown in a spot in my kitchen. Another reason my wife hates me and she refers to this area in the house as "The Fly Shop". I remember having to pull out the containers and my vice that I was given for free. I would lay everything on my dining room table and tie fly's. I was forced to clean up right away and repeat the process the next time I wanted to tie.
      After I outgrew the containers, the wife had this brilliant idea to allow me to have a space in my kitchen to tie. A small dry bar area that was only being utilized as a visible junk drawer. We do not have a large house, and with two children, have pretty much outgrew the space. Mostly the toys have taken control of out habitat (Thanks Mom!).
      Being able to leave my tying stuff out, allows me to be messy. It is not something I take pride in, but it is what it is. I finally decided to do a clean up and reorganization. Which promptly made me want to go to The Evening Hatch Fly Shop (Candy Store) and add to my bountiful collection.
      The wife has begun to grumble and say I need to find a nice desk at a garage sale or something and move all of my materials upstairs in a small bedroom. I told her in the beginning of my tying life that giving me an inch of space would lead me into taking over the house. It is slowly coming to fruition.

Using The Magic Tool on Christmas Night: CDC Biot March Brown Parachute Emerger.

First, I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas. After all the food and putting my children gifts together, I took a nap. I woke up feeling great and wanting to finally try out the Magic Tool for the first time. I do not know why I have not tried it out yet. Maybe it was because it is not dry fly season.     

      Anyways, after messing with it and getting used to it. I can tell you, it is a great tool. Now, I am not saying there is not cheaper options out there that do the same thing or that you couldn't make your own. What I am saying is that; it does what it is suppose to do and makes using cdc easier.  I really enjoyed using it. I think you can tell from the pictures. The flies looks bad ass and buggy!                

Pattern: CDC Biot March Brown Parachute Emerger

Thread: Danville 70 deniere 6/0 Red Brown
Hook: Dai Riki Size 12 Scud
Shuck: Orvis Zlon Brown
Biot: TCOMarch Brown Turkey Biot
Post: Trout Hunter White CDC
Dubbing: DRC Yellow Brown Spectramized dubbing.
Wing: TCO Super Select CDC Natural Brown ( I am using 2 of these feathers in the Magic Tool)

The Magical Waters of Falling Spring Branch and Letort Spring Run

      I believe if you stare into the waters of FSB or the Letort, you will become hypnotized by the gentle sway of the water cress. However, this hypnotizing motion will not make you cluck like a chicken or Shuffle like LMFAO. It will however draw you back and forcible kick your ass over and over again, while you try to figure these magical waters out.
      I have figured I better get in as many fishing days over this winter holiday as I can. Reason being, once the spring semester starts, I do not know how many trips I will be able to go on.
      I decided to make the two and half hour trip to the Cumberland Valley and hit one of my favorite streams and one of my arch nemesis.

       Ever since I read Mike Heck's Spring Creek Strategies book, FSB went to the top of my list as a stream I wanted to fish. Luckily, last winter a friend and I decided to book a guided trip with Mike. He is top notch and very reasonable priced. Go check out his site. That trip was my first time dealing with a true spring creek. I got skunked, but working with Mike helped me learn how to approach a stream of this caliber. Look for a guest interview coming up from him.
      Anyways, I arrived at FSB at 8:45 in the morning and was greeted with rising fish. I skillfully crawled to position. Began my casting motion......and spooked all of the trout on the stream. It really is ridiculous, you spook one fish and the whole stream knows you are there. I just have to laugh, because that is why this stream is so great. My competitive nature of succeeding on such a technical stream will torture me the rest of my life.
      I was able to succeed today. There is a nice small waterfall and some broken water. This was going to be my best chance at a fish. I did not have to be as precise and the broken water helped hide me. After fifteen or so casts I hooked up with my largest wild rainbow to date. It was gorgeous. The gold speckling across the back glimmered in the suns rays. FSB holds great memories for me in my brief fly fishing career. I caught my first wild rainbow there in the summer and now my largest to date.
      I decided to leave FSB around 11:30am and head northeast to do battle with the mystic Letort.

I name you Goldie

Wish I had friends to take picture of me holding fish, instead of the boring wrist shots.

Puuuurrrrtttyyy

"Uhhhm excuse me, but you care moving?"

Now I know how Jesus walked on water

Even the trout celebrate Christmas

      " The stream holds some of the most sophisticated brown trout in the fly fishing universe.  But to the fly angler who wants a challenge it's the place that let's you test your skill on a legendary stream with legendary trout and perhaps see the ghosts of legendary fly anglers who past this way.  It is not a stream for a person who is just getting into fly fishing contrary to what many so called websites will tell you."-E. Macri Check out Mr Macri's site on the Letort. It will scare the piss out of you.

       I arrived at the battle dome around noon and began my dissent into hell. I walked to take a picture of the Letort Spring Run sign and had fish scurrying everywhere. I knew it was going to be one of those days.

        I worked my way upstream of the Bonnybrooke access and just had fish laughing at me. I do not even know why I try. Somehow I found a bruiser, twenty plus. It had that beautiful light grayish brown coloration. I got myself into position to cast my sculpin and on the back cast snagged a tree. This was not an ordinary snag either. This was a birdsnest, cut everything off and retie your leader and flies back on kinda snag. I know you all have had them. by the time I redid everything he was surprisingly gone! (sense my sarcasm) I turned around and walked down to the  meadow that Vince Marino and Charlie Fox made famous and worked my way back upstream. Not only did I spook ever single god damn trout on this stream I even spooked the deer. I was able to get a fifteen incher to chase my sculpin twice from under a bridge. The first time he missed the hook, looked up at me, and shot back under the bridge. The second time he shot out again to grab it, and must have forgotten I was there. He saw me right when he was about to grab it and once again retreated under the bridge. This fish obviously was not of the best genes.

   I headed home completely broken and cursing the Letorts name under my breath. They say to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Guess I have to move to Carlisle.

Peek a Boo

Who's house is this?

Bait Chuckers and Dirty Pinners  Stay the F Out!

     

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Surprise Of A Day

What the F you looking at?

         I had the pleasure today to do some fishing with one of my good fly fishing buddies, Lenny. He lives a little over an hour away from me, so we do not get out much. However, today he made the trek up from the Philadelphia area to explore a stream with me, that I have never fished. I consider this stream a home water for me, but I always thought of it as a put and take stocked fishery. Until a little mouse told me a secret.....wild fish, and nice ones. He never told me though that one of the wild species were rainbows. Imagine my surprise when I saw a 3-4 inch bow with beautiful  par marks laying in my net later on in the day.
         This did not come until about 2 hours into our exploration, and I had only landed one bow in the 10 inch range. Lenny, looked at the ten inch fish and made the comment " man that is a nice holdover, I mean it almost looks wild...".
        No freaking way wild bows are around here though. Those things only exist on the Upper D and Cumberland Valley streams, right?

Frenchy in the snout

      We were five minutes from leaving the creek in disappointment. We found some nice holding water and Lenny tried his luck with the George Daniel's technique (Euro) and had no luck. I decide to test it out with my set up. I am using a strike indicator. First cast and I have a small fish come up and try to eat my indicator. I laugh and cast again. Same dang thing happens. I get Lanny to come over and watch, because obviously it will happen again. he comes over and instead of a rise, I get a hook-up, but lose the fish. same thing happens the next three casts. Keep missing them, then SNAG. Crap, I have to go into the hole to get lose. Lenny stops me though and ask for a try. So, I maneuver my snag out of the way for him to try to hook up. Waddya know. The little guy up above comes to hand. We look at each other in astonishment. Holy Sh*t, is that what I think it is? A couple more come to hand and we are just pumped! We decide to walk another 1/2 mile upstream and it does not disappoint. I miss one or two nice size fish and we are literally talking about turning around because of the time. I ask for 5 minutes to fish a very small section of holding water and BOOM hook up! 13-15 inch wild brown starts rocketing up and down the creek and doing an aerial display. I can still here Len saying "Don't lose him, dumbass". I finish the deed and get a couple pictures and our day is complete. A pleasant surprise for a chilly December afternoon.You better bet, I will be back for those big boys that came off though.

Fins as sharp as razor blades.

Do not put your fingers to close, I will bite.