dry flies Archives

Tying The Brown Bi-Visible Trout Fly

When I am fly fishing for brookies here in New Brunswick I like to keep a supply of brown and white bi-visible flies, in a few different sizes. The trout sometimes like the ones that look a little plump but there are other times that they want something fairly small, so having these bi-visibles in sizes from 10 – 16 will give you more options to toss at them.

The white front of the bi-visible makes the fly a whole lot easier to see drifting down stream.

Here is a video showing you how to tie a brown and white bi-visible trout fly. It’s one of the easiest flies to tie, enjoy.

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Huge Northern Pike On A Dry Fly

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Image by 'Scratch' via Flickr

I’ve caught pickerel, a relative of the northern pike, but my biggest was about 22″ and that was a huge amount of fun with lots of yelling and laughing. I couldn’t imagine hooking into a 50″ northern on a top water fly but I’m definitely up for the challenge.

Here is a video I have to share with your today. This guys does this all the time and it looks like a real blast.

Since I met Casey and Jamie we haven’t fished for pickerel using the fly rod but this year’s going to be different. I have already talked Jamie’s ear off about the fun I’ve had fly fishing for pickerel so I know he’s going to go for this year. And Casey is learning to fly fish this year so I know we’ll be going for pickerel and smallmouth bass.

Now all I have to do to get ready is start exercising my arms and to get some top water flies tied, before we head out. I have been talking about tying all winter but have been working from home growing my business and have set other things aside. Time’s running short, less than a month until fishing season opens and I don’t get much tying done when I’m out on the water so it’s gotta be NOW.

I am going to tie a few leech patterns, a couple of top water popper type flies and a few streams that will travel just under the surface, like the Mickey Finn I use for Atlantic salmon fishing on the Renous and Miramichi Rivers here in New Brunswick.

Fly Fishing For Pike

Fly-fishing for Pike

Fly-fishing for Pike

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The Typical Muddler Minnow Pattern

Image via Wikipedia

Wikipedia on The Muddler Minnow: The Muddler Minnow was spawned, so to speak, by Don Gapen of Anoka, Minnesota in 1937, to imitate the slimy sculpin. Gapen developed this fly to catch Nipigon strain brook trout in Ontario, Canada. The Muddler, as it is informally known by anglers, was popularized by Montana, USA fisherman and fly tier Dan Bailey. It is now a popular pattern worldwide and is likely found in nearly every angler’s fly box, in one form or another. Due to its universal appeal to game fish, the muddler minnow will remain as an integral tool in sport fishing.

The Muddler Minnow Catches More Than Just Trout

I have tied a few muddler minnows over the years as they are a variable pattern and can be fished in a number of ways. I have always been a top water guy so that’s how I fish it most often but it does excellent under the surface as well.

Even though I most often tie my muddler minnows to go after brook trout they also catch smallmouth bass and even chain pickerel. Look out when these guys hit the fly as you’re in for some major fun.

Note: When I plan to fly fish for pickerel I will use a small section of fluorocarbon as a leader as those little teeth are like razors and will cut through regular leader line like butter.

Here is a video I found on Youtube that will help you tie muddler minnows so you can see for your self.

The fly tying materials you will need to tie the standard Muddler Minnow:

  • Head: Deer hair, natural colour
  • Tail And Wing Section: Mottled turkey wing feather
  • The Body: Gold flat mylar tinsel
  • The Under Wing: Grey squirrel tail for the under
  • Standard dry fly black thread
  • Hook: 4X Long Shanked Hook – Size 8

More Great Trout Flies

Holofusion Fly Tying Material - Model HF02 - Polar - Flies & Flytying
Offer by: Bass Pro Shops
Price: USD 5.49
This Holufusion Fly Tying Material is an easy way to add a just the right amount shimmer and appeal to trout, salmon, bass and saltwater fly and streamer patterns. The semi-translucent Holofusioin fly tying fibers and can be used for accent or as the body on baitfish imitations like the world-famous Clouser pattern. This Holufusion Fly Tying Material is an easy way to add a just the right amount shimmer and appeal to trout, salmon, bass and saltwater fly and streamer patterns. The semi-translucent Holofusioin fly tying fibers and can be used for accent or as the
Holofusion Fly Tying Material - Model HF02 - Polar - Flies & Flytying
Offer by: Bass Pro Shops
Price: USD 5.49
This Holufusion Fly Tying Material is an easy way to add a just the right amount shimmer and appeal to trout, salmon, bass and saltwater fly and streamer patterns. The semi-translucent Holofusioin fly tying fibers and can be used for accent or as the body on baitfish imitations like the world-famous Clouser pattern. This Holufusion Fly Tying Material is an easy way to add a just the right amount shimmer and appeal to trout, salmon, bass and saltwater fly and streamer patterns. The semi-translucent Holofusioin fly tying fibers and can be used for accent or as the
Tie-Fast Magnum Knot Tying Tool - Line/term/acc/boats
Offer by: Bass Pro Shops
Price: USD 10.49
This oversized Tie Fast tool makes tying 6/0 hooks and 120-lb. mono a breeze. This oversized Tie Fast tool makes tying 6/0 hooks and 120-lb. mono a breeze.

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Tying Bass Poppers For Smallmouth Bass

White River Fly Shop Fly Tying Kit - Bass TyingCatching smallmouth bass on the fly rod is a blast, especially when I’m using some of my bass popper flies.

Bass popper flies are easy to fish, they’re fun and the strikes are quite often very explosive and that’s why I like using poppers.

Here is a video I found on Youtube that shows how to tie a popper.

Crease Fly Bass Popper – PA Fly Tying Lessons

Crease flies were originated by Capt Joe Blados for stripers and blues.

Scaled down, these flies are an effective alternative to loud poppers when largemouth and smallmouth are skittish but still taking surface patterns. Crease flies wiggle and swirl when stripped and this action often drives bass crazy.

Watch this video to see how to tie a very simple, effective, and durable surface pattern for smallmouth and largemouth bass fishing.

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Trout Fishing on The Fly

fly fishing rod

Image via Wikipedia

One of my favourite methods for fishing trout, well really any fish, is using my fly rod and artificial flies. I also tie most of my own flies. For me that’s just part of fly fishing. There’s just something extra in fishing when you make your own flies and lures.

Some of these flies are so tiny that I am amazed every single time I hook into a brook trout with them. Others are bigger and some are ones I actually use for fly fishing Atlantic salmon, Smallmouth bass and Chain pickerel. I do like to use a lot of top water flies, just to watch the action when I get a strike. It’s so cool and makes me keep coming back for more.

When I am fishing new water I always take both my spinning rod and fly rod. That way if the terrain is too tough to get a fly rod through I can use my spinning rod but most places I go I tend to be able to use my fly rod. I also must admit I don’t do that well on those windy days so the spinning rod does come in very handy.

Flies I Use To Catch Brook Trout

I like tying my own trout flies for those days on the water and I never go with anything complicated so even if you never tied an artificial fly you would be able to put one of these together.

Most often, almost 100% of the time I use dry flies. It’s just so much fun watching them take it from the surface of the water, but every once in a while I will use a wet fly, a streamer or even a nymph to get below the surface if they aren’t taking anything from the surface.

My personal favourite dry, wet and streamer trout flies:

Dry Flies – Hair Wing Dry Flies – size 8-18

  • Gray Wulff
  • White Wulff
  • Irrisistible

Dry Flies – Fan Wing – size 10-20

  • Adams
  • Royal Coachman Fanwing
  • Dark Hendrickson

Other Trout Dry Flies I Use

  • Misquito size 10-20
  • Brown Bivisible sizes 10-20
  • Brown Hackle Peacock sizes 12-20

Wet Flies

  • Black and Grizzly Weighted Wooly Worm – size 2-10
  • Coachman Lead Wing Wet Fly sizes 12 -18
  • March Brown English Wet Fly sizes 10-14

Streamers For Brook Trout

  • Mickey Finn – size – 6-10
  • White Maribou Streamer sizes 10-14
  • Black Woolly Bugger – size – 6-10

Brook trout fishing, whether on your spinning rod or fly rod is a great hobby but always think conservation for our children and their children. Practice CPR – Catch, Photograph and Release.

Note there is nothing wrong with eating a few trout. I love to keep a few for dinner in the early spring when the water is still ice cold here. They taste great but for the rest of the year I always release them unless I hurt them during the fight and know they won’t survive.

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Dry Fly Tying – The Adams

The Adams dry fly is meant to sit on the water’s surface so it’s important to get the wing, hackle and tail proportions just right.

The tail should be the length of the hook shank and the hackle should be one and half times the gap of the hook. Also the wing should be about 20% longer than the hackle. Get this right and it should sit pretty for the fish.

It’s always advisable to use stiff hackle when making a dry fly like the Adams as it will help to keep it floating higher on the water’s surface.

?I enjoy using the Adams on  most of the trout streams and brooks here in New Brunswick. I find that I have great luck with dry flies that are made using brown hackles like the colour in this fly.

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How To Tie A Cahill Dry Fly

Learn How to Tie a Cahill Dry Fly

I love watching people tie flies, especially when they actually explain the steps.

Here is a list of what you will need to tie the Cahill.

Name: Cahill

Hook: #12 Dry Fly

Thread: Black 6/0

Tail: Furnace Hackle

Body: Blue Dun Superfine Dubbing (needs to repel water.)

Wing: Imitation Wookduck Flank

Hackle: Brown Neck Hackle

Using The Whip Finisher To Tie Off Your Fly:

Not comfortable with the whip finisher yet. It took me a long time before I stopped using my fingers to whip finish a fly. Here is a video that will show you how to use the Whip Finisher.

I looked at a few whip finisher videos on Youtube and chose the following because it has audio and is easy to see the process.

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A Few of My Favourite Confidence Trout Flies

Brook Trout
Image by Aaron Gustafson via Flickr

I am sure, we as fishers, all have our confidence baits. I have confidence baits for any species I have fished regularly and it also applies to my fly fishing trips.

About a month ago a friend took me out fly fishing for some brook trout here in New Brunswick. It was close to Sussex but he would shoot me if I said exactly where. Well he might not actually kill me but he might never take me fly fishing again and that surely would kill me. So I’ll keep tight lipped on this one.

When he told me where we would be going I prepared the confidence flies and put them all into one fly box and I put my favourite dry fly on before I ever left the house.

We had a great day and landed many brook trout. All of which we promptly released as it’s a catch and release area only.

Here is a little video that I watched on Youtube this morning and thought you might like to see some of the trout flies I love to have with me.

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Fly fish
Image via Wikipedia

Trout fishing tips come in quite handy especially for beginner fly fishing. Some knowledge on the specificity of the trout species would be great, as these fish have a metabolism closely related to water temperature. Their metabolism accelerates with temperature increase. If the water where they live is cold, as it is in deeper waters, they show less active and a reduced appetite.

Moreover, at the beginning of every year those interested in catching trout start to be directed towards warm waters as trout leave behind cold deep waters for environments more favorable to spawning. Also, during fall trout start to move towards colder and deeper waters where they would be better off during the cold season. Yet fishermen should not expect them to travel distances too rapidly. The migration cycles from one place to another follow the seasons and last for several months.

Also good to know when trout fishing is that these animals are social ones. Similar sized marine fish will tend to gather in schools. Therefore, if you have already caught some trout, you are likely to catch more in the same area as long as you do not throw the dead caught fish in the water to panic the rest of the school.

In addition, trout fishing locations are not difficult to find. trout prey on smaller fish, but they are not great hunters due to their slow motion features. They rather wait for the prey to come along and then strike. Sometimes, they feed on injured marine animals even though this kind of food might not be part of their regular menu. They normally eat craw-fish, minnows, worms, insects, frogs and so on. For an experienced fisherman, knowledge of the eating habits and the mating peculiarities is no secret.

On the other hand, these fish are prey themselves therefore, in the normal habitat, there should be rocks and alls sorts of sea vegetation to provide them a safe retreat. That is why trout fishing gets carried out in areas where they could find safety like small or big rocks, weeds and other shady or sunny well-lit areas where the eye makes it difficult for them to be spotted.

Successful trout fishing may also depend on the type of bait that is chosen by the anglers. Bait should vary according to both the season – spring, summer, autumn or winter – and the spawning cycle of this fish species. Hence, those new to trout fishing should pay attention to more experienced anglers to learn the basic steps.

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Fly Fishing
Image by wvdave.geo via Flickr

Fishermen within the UK are blessed with a limitless selection of lakes, waterways, shores and rivers where tons of freshwater and saltwater fish species deliver great recreation. Although each fisherman has his inclinations, several desire to try and catch salmon or trout. Ahead is a bit of information about the form of fly fishing tackle you may want when searching for trout.

About Trout and Flies

Because the diet plan of the trout is highly wide-ranging, they’ll get caught by several different baits and lures. Trout munch on minnows as well as various other small shoal fish, along with grubs and worms turned up by the current. The main food source for trout, though, is bugs. It’s possible to capture trout utilizing bait as easy as earthworms or imitation spinning lures, or as sophisticated as colourful hand-tied representation of insects also known as flies. Fishermen who want the biggest challenge and excitement from their trout fishing expeditions generally select the strategy that makes use of flies.

Trout Fly Rods

Rods for fly fishing tend to be crafted from a wide range of materials, including state-of-the-art carbon fibre along with simple split cane. Fibreglass rods are widely used also. For fishing lakes, a large number of fishermen choose a more lengthy rod, sometimes 11 ft. or more. Lengthier fishing rods are also preferred by wet fly fishermen. Dry fly anglers usually choose a reduced fishing rod roughly eight to nine feet long. Whenever fly fishing in rivers or from shore, a lot of anglers make use of a rod approximately nine to ten ft. long, together with a less heavy line.

Trout Fly Reels

The selection of a reel is highly personal and is dependent upon the angler’s form. Quite a few want to allow the trout to take off having the line whilst playing it out more by hand than by using the reel. Some people love the difficult task of going up against the fish using a smaller line, choosing to wind the fishing line back onto the fishing reel by using the crank. Functions to look for consist of disk drag or spring and pawl click drag, ball bearings, anodised paint finish and big arbours. A lot of fly fishermen take pleasure in utilising premium reels from days past, such as those created by J.W. Young of Redditch. Old-fashioned reels from Pridex and Beaudex also are well-liked, as well as the low-priced Rimfly models.

Trout Fly Lines

Initial trout fly lines had been produced from silk. Present day lines appear in a dizzying range of models, types and weights. Some lines are double tapered, some others are either {weighted or floatingfloating or weighted}. Weighted lines are designed to sink gradually, quickly or somewhere in between. To some extent, the preference of fishing reel influences the choice of line. Plastic line is well-known with trout fishermen and is not difficult to keep. Some anglers pick a double tapered floating line for both lake and river sites. Double tapered line also is rather durable and more versatile than other forms of line. Reasonably priced fly line is available from Aircel, Shakespeare, Cortland and others.

When equipped with the right fly fishing tackle, UK anglers can drastically raise their odds for success.

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