If people could predict the future, I doubt that life would actually be any fun. For one thing, there would be too many rich people, and who knows what else would be different. Getting right to the point; this article is a short post to recognize once again that life, as it is, with all its inherent unexpected twists and turns, is often beyond the grasp of our immediate control. Hence the reason for what I am writing.

I had announced a few months ago that I was drumming part-time for a local classic rock ‘n’ roll band. As the situation has turned out, my position has become full-time. It is good news for me, because I have really been enjoying the revival of my dormant drumming hobby, and playing with the Pepper Street Band in venues in the north-central Pennsylvania area music scene has been great fun, relaxing, exciting, and entertaining. The reason that my drumming position has become permanent is due to the fact that the life of James Rick Martin, age 63, who had been the drummer for Pepper Street over different decades and iterations, suddenly ended last Friday, March 7th, 2014. “Rick” was diagnosed with lung cancer in January, and he had received only one week of chemo and radiation therapy. Unfortunately he developed pneumonia, was admitted to the hospital on March 3rd, and ultimately succumbed to multiple medical complications.

Initially I was asked to fill in for Rick on New Year’s Eve, and at the time, his health was not of any consideration. How quickly situations can change. I did not know Rick well. I had met him just a few times, and on one occasion at a gig we shared a beer; he seemed like a genuinely good fellow. On that date, January 9th, he wanted me to start playing full-time; while his condition had not yet been diagnosed, nevertheless Rick wanted to be prepared in case the probable treatments would lay him low for a while. I could not start immediately, because of my commitments at two Fly Fishing Shows in January, but I began filling in full-time on February 1st.

Rick and I shared the commonality of music and drumming, both of us played in church praise bands, and we both liked model trains. I mainly want to say, since I can relate to this issue from personal experience, never take your life for granted, nor the life of family, friends, and loved ones around you. Rick’s sudden passing emphasizes the fact that we often have no control over circumstances and situations. If there are people you need to forgive, do it. If you need to tell someone you love them, do it. If there is a situation that requires your reconciliation, if possible, by all means, do it. Do something, anything, that you have been thinking about doing, for someone you care about, or with them, but have not yet taken the time to carry out, because we never know what tomorrow will bring.

Rick’s funeral was today, March 12th, 2014.

My friend Bill Shuck in Maryland just sent me another photo and recipe of his latest fly tying efforts. It is a Pete Hidy style rendition of the Partridge and Hare’s Ear Soft-hackle wet fly / flymph.

Partridge and Hare’s Ear Soft-hackle Caddis / Flymph. Tied and photographed by Bill Shuck.

This fly has got to be a great performer in a two or three fly rig, swung down-and-across.

Hi everyone, blog subscribers and visitors! Nice of you to drop by!

Things have been quiet here lately, but there is a reason for that. Many of you saw my last post, “We Never Know,” and I finally replied this morning in the comment thread to thank each of you who posted your concern, condolence, and support.

Right after making that post, I traveled to Maine for an extended working-combination-pleasure road trip, leaving Pennsylvania on Friday March 14th. Saturday and Sunday the 15th and 16th, I taught two days of fly tying classes at Eldredge Brothers Fly Shop in Cape Neddick, Maine. Then the following Tuesday I presented to the local Sebago Chapter of Trout Unlimited, where for some reason, there was a record-crowd of about sixty-five persons in attendance. It was very affirming to have such a good turnout. Chapter members said they can’t remember the last time they had to get out extra chairs. It was a nice evening and everything turned out well.

I must confess, my program was on Pond Fishing, and I intended to bring along my slide projector, which I did, to show a handful of images to augment my presentation. But when I opened the box the day before my program to select the “Maine pond fishing slides” from my Moosehead Lake program, I could not, because the tray in the projector box was labeled, “The Miracle Mile,” which was there from my last presentation in November. Oops. So I made notes and delivered my presentation informally, without anything extra other than me, myself, and I; talking, asking questions to get audience participation and make them think, and answering questions…which as it turned out, all went really well. I was a little concerned that I would run short on time, not having the extra “picture show” as it might have been, but it went nearly an hour, and not one person walked out. My brother even stayed awake; he has a habit of nodding off during conversations or a movie in the evening. The best compliment I received was from Maine Warden Tim Spahr, who was present because of his close friendship with my niece, Emily, who was also there. Tim is one of the leading “stars” in the reality TV show “Northwoods Law.” Anyway, Tim said it was refreshing to see a presentation and not have to endure another “Death by Powerpoint” program; which I thought, as Emily related to me afterward, was quite funny.

Tim remarked that so many programs these days are all done by Powerpoint, which can be a good thing, and maybe one day I’ll progress to that level of modern technology, but for now, I’m still using slides…or not…and a Motorola Razr cell phone. The other night I sent some text messages to a friend as we were making arrangements to get together for beer and a classic rock band; it was the first time I’ve texted anyone in over two years, and it felt like I was chiseling on a stone tablet, especially compared to many of my friends who have the latest model cell phones with voice-activated texting capability. Finally I called her directly on my cell phone and we handled the arrangements the old-fashioned way. ;-)

My trip back to Pennsylvania included a visit at my daughter’s in Connecticut, where I enjoyed some quality time with her and my three grand children. It was a special joy to see Grace, who was at the time just over five months old, and she’s at the stage where it doesn’t take much to make her smile. And what a smile she has! Blue eyes, possible reddish-blonde hair, with the female genetics of my beautiful mother, my lovely late wife Lou Anne, and my charming daughter Kim as well. The girl is going to be a little beauty, I have a feeling. Pappy is very proud!

I also had tickets to a March 20th show for the Samantha Fish Band at Bridge Street Live in Collinsville, Connecticut, just seventeen miles from my daughter’s in Granby. I could go on about the show, but I’ll just say the youtube videos do not do justice to seeing her perform live! It was fantastic! The drummer, Go-Go Ray, was the best, hands down, I have ever seen anywhere in a live performance. And her guitar playing is right up there. Samantha was awarded Best New Artist by the BMA in 2012 for her CD, “Runaway.” Anyone like rockin’ blues with screaming guitar? Check her out.

On tying flies, the site MyFlies.com has been very good me, ever since I joined it in May of 2011. My individual order total is now over seventy-five, with an estimated sales amount of more than eight-thousand dollars. Not a full-time income, but certainly a nice addition to the other things I do. I confess to being a bit backed up on my orders, with my schedule of the Fly Fishing Shows, traveling a bit, and my recent musical involvement as my regular readers know. The musical side seems to keep expanding, as I have been offered the chance to fill-in for a friend’s band, Main Street, which plays a mix of country, country-rock, classic rock, and good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll, this coming Friday April 4th, which is also my birthday. For that upcoming gig, I’m learning another three dozen songs, which I play while working on my fly tying orders. It’s a local gig, and things are very possibly going to work out that the guys in my band, Pepper Street, will also be present, so we may be filling in three or four numbers during both Main Street breaks. A “Two-fer!”

I wanted to update my readers on what’s been going on, but I do need to get back to the vise. Gotta fill those orders!

This is why I’m having so much fun in my life lately; I’ve become the full-time drummer in the Pepper Street Band. It’s also partly why I have not been as active here, and also why I am lagging a bit on my fly orders. But I am working on them. Life has been good, and my health is great! Especially when compared to last year, when even at this time, I was still recovering from that flare-up of Crohn’s Disease.

Here is a pic from last Saturday night’s gig at a local American Legion Post, No. 617 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The Pepper Street Band – left to right; Dave Houseknecht on lead guitar; Peter M. Codispoti on keyboards and harmonica; me on drums, guest lead guitarist Bob LaCerra, guest back=up vocalist Bert Smeal, and bass guitarist Bob Yoas. All four regular band members sing lead vocals.

Life is repeating itself, my cycle of friends, new and old. Pete was the drum major at the Williamsport Area High School back when I was in 9th grade, never got to know him until I joined this band. Bert and I were room mates at band camp on 1969, and he also played in several iterations of my ’70′s classic rock band. Bob is a little younger than me, but I’ve known him for more than thirty-five years. He is a mason by trade, and actually helped lay block and brick here at my home when it was built in 1977 – ’78. Dave knew who I was but I never met him until November 2013, I was asked to fill on on the New Year’s Eve gig. Bob Yoas, also, I did not “know” but we have a mutual long-time friend who is also a fly fishing buddy. My friend and Bob both belong to the same hunting and fishing camp. I am really privileged to be in a band with talented musicians!

Even better than the pic, here is a video taken by a friend from last Saturday’s gig, with the band doing a cover of the Doors, Roadhouse Blues. Both Dave and Bob do some lead guitar work. I decided to post it here so my readers can have a better idea of what I’ve been up to. Not bad for a little hand-held camera. Enjoy! (I hope).

Edit after two comments: One of my subscriber friends wrote, “The singer sounds just like Jim Morrison.” Duh! I forgot to say who is singing the lead vocal on Roadhouse Blues – it’s me! Singin’ and drummin’ at the same time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPy0pYFN9b0#t=32

Perhaps I’m getting a little creative in an odd sort of way, by throwing the word SPAM into the title of this article. I have actually gotten quite a few laughs over the last couple years by reading the ever increasing volume of some of the SPAM that comes into donbastianwetflies.com. Not that I spend a lot of time reading it, I don’t. It comes from everybody and their brother and their mother and their aunt and uncle and their in-laws and cousins and their lawyer and the pool boy and the plumber and brothers and sisters and where to buy shoes and drug companies and your credit score and porn sites and new windows and easy loans and online dating and Viagara and Cialis and Levitra and loan me money and best new food recipes and a host robotic cyber morons pretending to be a real person…ugh…it is actually pretty ridiculous.

This morning, after not checking here for several days, I had a new record-high for SPAM; 574 items. Course I don’t read these, I just fly through them ASAP and hit “delete, delete, delete, delete…” until they are gone into the trash bins of cyberspace. Or where ever it is that they end up…

So, getting back on topic, here are a couple pictures of a recent fly order that I shipped out, one of many that I have recently received through the site, www.MyFlies.com.

Flies…a mixed-bag order that went out to a single customer. Extended Body (my design) of closed-cell foam; Slate Drake duns and spinners in multiple styles, Green Drake Spinners, a few of my Floating Caddis-Mayfly Emergers, the RSP, my Low-water Inchworm, and also my own design of the Floating Inchworm. The gray wings on the Slate Drakes might look like CDC, but it’s actually plain, old poly yarn.

Macro of previous photo. Note the olive body on the Floating Caddis-Mayfly Emergers.

And a macro of the BXB (Bastian Extended Body) Green Drake Fan Wing pattern:

Fan Wing Coffin Fly. The Hook is a Tiemco 2488 light-wire, wide-gape, up-eye scud.

BXB Green Drake Coffin Fly, my original design; inspired by the Dette Coffin Fly and the Coffin Fly from Trout (1938) by Ray Bergman. Since these flies were tied, I figured out how to put three tails on these patterns, just like the real Ephemera guttulata mayflies have. I clip the hackle on the bottom so the fly floats lower in the surface film, and this also helps it ride right-side up.

An authentic original Dette Coffin fly, tied by the Dette’s Fly Shop, Roscoe, New York. It is not known whether Mary Dette tied this fly or not. This pattern is tied on a 1x long dry fly hook. This fly was a gift from a friend, fellow Pennsylvanian, Bill Havrilla. Thanks Bill!

As I slowly gain ground on my fishing fly orders, I am catching up a little bit. I shipped five orders so far this week, but I also received three new orders. Right now I still have twelve orders from MyFlies.com stacked up, plus some other custom orders waiting to hit the vise. That’s the main reason why I have not been out fishing yet. In fact on Saturday April 12th, I was out late the night before, got awake at 3:15 AM, started thinking about stuff, never got back to sleep and got out of bed at 4:30, and by five AM I was already tying. It wasn’t until I went to the post office and drove past the Quiggleville Community Hall at 10:30 AM and noticed that I had missed the Annual Fishermen’s Breakfast. Dang. See:  http://donbastianwetflies.com/2012/04/15/opening-day-on-spring-creek-pennsylvania-part-ii/

It wasn’t until that moment when I drove by and realized I missed the Annual Fishermen’s Breakfast that I even remembered it was the Opening Day of Trout Season in this part of Pennsylvania. I missed out…more so on the breakfast than on the fishing. The water was high and kinda muddy, but I bet that locally grown, home-made sausage, farm-fresh eggs, and pancakes was real tasty!

I recently received this e-mail and photo from Jim Ottevaere, coordinator of Project Healing Waters fly tying classes at US Army Ft. Belvior and MCB (Marine Corps Base) Quantico. I wanted to share this information with my readers and blog visitors.

Here is Jim’s message:

“We’ve had a long, hard winter here in Virginia. It gave us plenty of time to hold fly tying sessions with our Project Healing Waters warriors at Ft. Belvior and Quantico. Here are some of the patterns we tied from Ruffed Grouse and Ring-necked pheasants. All the feathers were donated by bird hunting PHW supporters and volunteers from Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota.”

And here is the photo:

Project Healing Waters flies, original designs, created with feathers from ruffed-grouse and ring-necked pheasants. These were tied by warriors in the program at Ft. Belvior and MCB Quantico. Photo by Jim Ottevaere.

I am pleased to present these flies with Jim’s permission. They are a beautiful expression of creativity in the use of pheasant and grouse feathers, along with other traditional fly-tying materials.

Jim Ottevaere and his assistants are doing a fine job of helping the wounded veterans by leading them in their participation of this program. I am very pleased that Jim and his students have found the information in my blog to be a helpful element of this program. Thanks Jim for your leadership!

OK, I know it’s not fly tying, but a love of good music, and I like almost all kinds, is part of what makes me who I am; fly tier, drummer, singer, audiophile, etc., etc., etc. I went with a good friend to see Samantha Fish, young girl about 29 ears old, a rockin’ very talented, blues guitarist / singer, from Kansas City, live on stage at a small venue, Bridge Street Live, in Collinsville, Connecticut, on March 20th, 2014.

Here is a video that I made of one song while at that show. I love screaming guitars, as fellow fly tier / friend, Tom Baltz, from Mt. Holly Springs, Pennsylvania is fond of saying; among all the other kinds of music I enjoy. And this gal from Kansas City, which has its own Blues Scene and great musicians, is damn good at it.

Here is her rendition of “Black Cat Bone” featuring a great intro bass guitar solo, by bassist Scott Sutherland. Samantha Fish plays electric and acoustic guitar, and also oil can guitar, and cigar box guitar. She’s made two CD’s, Runaway, and Black Wind Howling, and also toured Europe with Girls With Guitars along with Dani Wilde and Cassie Taylor. Their drummer, Go-Go Ray, is one of the best I’ve seen. He has an amazing signature act, a non-stop, drumstick stick twirling, arm-crossing, cymbal crashing routine that will amaze anyone.

My camera card expired ten seconds before the song ended. Dang. Otherwise, check this video out if you like groovin’ – jammin’ blues played by talented musicians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwa09bja27k

That would be me, not turning to salt, but tying some saltwater flies, specifically a palolo worm pattern for tarpon in the Florida Keys. Going back twenty years, and off and on since then, I have tied Clouser Minnows, Deceivers, and some original squid-type patterns for stripers and cold saltwater fish, and once did an order of some bonefish flies. But I have never tied tarpon flies, except for a handful of Stu Apte’s Tarpon Fly that was on the 1991 United States postage fishing fly stamp series. These all went into frames with the stamp.

This palolo worm pattern came about in a strange way. It seems a customer found the site www.MyFlies.com, and saw my Floating Inchworm pattern; here’s a pic of that for those of you who have not seen it:

My original design, Floating Inchworm pattern. The hook is a #16 TMC 2488. This fly is a great late spring, all-summer, and into fall dry fly search pattern. When the hatches taper off trout turn to terrestrials, and this fly fits that need nicely.

So my customer saw this fly, and somehow thought I could perhaps adapt this design to a tarpon fly. Say what? I think of tarpon as these large, predatory fish that can bust up your tackle, not to mention wearing you out in the process of trying to land one.

The palolo worm is tropical and various species of them live in coral reefs around the world. In researching them I discovered the Samoans covet them as a delicacy. And they breed once a year, a night-time spectacle that lasts only a few hours. The annual spawn and harvest of these things is a ritual celebration in some places. I never thought that tarpon would eat something so small, yet I know big trout eat tiny midges, and grizzly bears eat little moths, and a two-hundred pound human will eat a single peanut, raisin, or one M&M, though the latter is hard to do. The reason why trout, tarpon, and grizzly bears eat small food items is that they can occur in large numbers, making the caloric intake worth the effort.

My customer explained to me that the palolo worm larva hatch in abundance, and they are about 2-1/2 to 2-5/8 inches long, and they do not undulate, but rather look like a stick moving in the water. They have small legs, sort of like those on a centipede, that move, but you can’t see these until you get close. My customer also explained that if the projected pattern would float or at least, sink slower than any other palolo worm patterns that it would work to his advantage.

I used closed-cell foam, 2mm, and doubled the cut section up to make the body. This image shows a finished worm body on a tube fly jig:

Original design, a palolo worm body on a tube fly jig. I later used a large-sized straighten-out paper clip because it had a uniform size diameter for the entire length of the body. I was initially working onto the tapered part of the jig.

I was using Wapsi Ultra-Thread brown in 6/0, but only because I had some. I really don’t care for that thread, it seems to flatten out and fray too easily. When that spool was used up I went to Danville 3/0 brown monocord. To illustrate how much thread these things used, I went through a full 50-yard spool of the monocord in a few hours, which reminded me of my commercial tying days, when I did the same thing, using an entire spool of monocord in a day, tying Wooly Buggers. Most tiers have no clue as to what that volume of tying is like. I also put a huge dent into the second spool of monocord until these were finished.

Here is a macro of the finished worm:

Don Bastian’s original design Palolo Worm pattern, the hook is an Owner 1/0 Mosquito Hook, #5377-111 Black Chrome. Bass Pro Shops carry these hooks, so I was fortunate to be able to order them from my local Bass Pro Outlet which is also Winner Hardware in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. If you have never tied on these hooks, let me tell you, they are excellent quality. And sharp as a needle.

The body section on the hook has a strip of foam pulled over the top like a nymph case; the ribbing is the tying thread made with my reverse-dubbing process, and the “legs” are the rabbit fur picked out and clipped just like when making a cress bug pattern. The color is a custom blended mix of brown rabbit that I have in a large ziploc bag; I can’t remember what is in it because I made it up about fifteen years ago and labeled it “Dark Sulfur Nymph.” Finding that when looking for the right color of dubbing to use on these worm, I thought, “perfect.”

The entire lot in the order, fifty-four in all.

Each fly took me about six minutes to make, start to finish, of course I made all the bodies first, then began the process of lashing the abdomen to the hook, dubbing, and finishing the top segment with the tying thread ribbing.

I think they will work…but I’m relying on my customer who will soon be putting them to the test. I’m hoping for a Grand Slam with this design!

I want to post these two tidbits on landing fish, or not landing them. Here are two examples of what not to do.

On May 12th I was at the Wayne Harpster property on Spruce Creek for the annual On-The-Fly event. It’s a fund-raiser for Center County Youth Services Bureau. I’ve been invited a number of times over the years, to do some demo tying, and make a donation of flies, and I always enjoy it. I have a few pics I took that I will post in a few days. I’m still busy tying flies.

When I got there it was nearly lunch time, so I went through the fine food catered chow line and sat at an outdoor picnic table. Several anglers on one of the teams came and sat down. One talked how he’d lost several large trout on one of the morning beats. One of his teammates asked, “What size tippet were you using?”

“5x,” came the reply.

“5x!” His friend exclaimed. My sentiments exactly.

“Well, it was a small bugger,” he answered in defense. And I thought to myself immediately, a “small” wooly bugger would be a #12, and even with that size hook, you don’t fish a bugger on 5x. Remember to apply the Rule of Threes, “Hook size divided by three equals tippet size.” On a #12 bugger that would equal out to 4x, but with buggers and they way fish strike them, better drop to 3x.

The other story took place last year on Big Pine Creek, right of the bank of the Hotel Manor in Slate Run. It was a warm, very bright day, and I was waiting for some friends who managed to elude me up there, not intentionally, there’s no cell signal anywhere, so that explains that. The middle of the day, nothing was going on, so I decided to go to the Manor and enjoy myself. I ordered a Bloody Mary, then another…and later on…another. Then I smoked a cigar. And had another Bloody Mary. I mean, hey, like four hours had passed. In the evening several anglers lined up fishing, wading in from the west bank. Still nothing was rising but one angler managed to hook a large trout right behind the hotel. And then here’s his mistake. He was in the water, and instead of heading immediately to the bank, he stayed in the water and followed the fish downstream. His drag was probably set too light, but I told my waitress who had come by to chat, “That’s guy is gonna lose that fish.”

I explained why. He should have moved to the bank to follow the fish, which he could have done faster if necessary, and at least keep even with it. But also he could have applied pressure to bring that trout out of the middle of the creek into slower water near shore. The ending might have been different. And referring to story No. 1, I don’t know what size tippet / fly he was using. He lost the fish. So there you are…

Yesterday afternoon a friend, his son, and me went to Pennsylvania’s Spring Creek with hopes of catching some sulfur mayfly activity. We did. This article is a brief report on that trip.

The day was bright and sunny, and we selected a section of the stream to fish from the west bank, allowing for the sun to be at our backs. This gave us the advantage by reducing glare and minimizing eye strain, and also hid us from the fish because they have the glare in their right eye. We fished a section flowing from right to left. I always consider that whenever possible.

I started the first twenty minutes or so by giving my friend’s son, Sam, a lesson on nymph fishing. This was a refresher course on a demo that I had given him a few years earlier. As I narrated the approach, casting, targeting, drift management, striking, moving the indicator depending on the depth and current speed of the target area, and hook-setting, I had a couple strikes, and then, the one fish I did manage to hook, was lying in a most unlikely location, which added significantly to the learning impact of the lesson. The trout was holding in just a riffle, shallow, barely fifteen inches deep. Object lesson learned: “Don’t pass up any potential spot, even it you think it is too shallow, at least not on this crick.”

We hooked a few trout on nymphs, then adjourned stream-side for an early dinner of baloney and cheese sandwiches with mustard, before the hoped-for evening hatching and feeding activity. We started fishing again about five PM. Only an occasional trout rose, so I stayed with the nymphs and worked my way upstream through some riffles and pocket-water. I hooked a few trout, but nothing to write home about. For a change of pace I decided to start tossing a dry, or rather, my two-dry fly rig that I started using last year. This set-up is a sulfur dun of various styles with my Floating “Sulfur” (Caddis) Emerger trailing off this fly with about ten inches of 5x tippet. I tie it to the hook bend. After I made about three casts, I hooked a trout on the Floating Emerger. Took his photo as he reluctantly posed for me. The very next cast another trout took the emerger. I thought, whoa, this is gonna be great! Well, it was, almost, but not right away.

My first Spring Creek trout of 2014, taken on my Floating Caddis – Mayfly “Sulfur” Emerger, a #14.

I walked downstream to a pool where my companions were, checked in with them, and since they had a few risers, and caught a few trout, I decided to move below them and try some riffles and pockets. I caught this guy on a #14 Sulfur Poly-wing Thorax Dun:

First trout that took the sulfur dun in my two-dry fly rig.

I keep both these drys close together because they never alight with the tippet stretched out. The intent is to prevent the two flies from getting into current lanes with different speeds. If I have twelve inches of tippet between the two flies, the two patterns are often only a few inches apart. Trout can see both of them, I believe, and make their choice. The Floating Emerger was rising more trout in the afternoon, but as the hatch intensified, they seemed to prefer the dun, though all along trout continued to hit both flies.

We did not have a heavy hatch, and not a lot of trout were actively rising; it seemed sporadic at best. Still we caught trout. After hooking and raising several trout in the water below the pool where my companions fished, I started back up through the same section of riffles and pocket water I had fished previously, and decided to tie on a #12 Sulfur Parachute Dun. Why a size twelve, you ask? Well, some of Spring Creeks sulfurs are nearly that big, I’ve seen enough of ‘em over the last twenty-five to make the assessment with certainty. The other reason, and there are a few are: It was about seven PM, and a larger fly would be easier to see on the rough water I was fishing, and also easier to see as daylight faded into dusk. A larger fly would float better. A larger fly would be easier for the trout to see as well.

So that’s what I did, and trout took the large sulfur dun with no hesitation. The first trout I rose was in a fast riffle, and he smashed the fly; he was about fourteen inches. Every fish that took that fly, whacked it, but then again I was fishing faster, rather turbulent riffle and pocket water and they don’t have a lot of time to think about it. I like the challenge of fishing like this because it is very difficult to get the fly to drift naturally in many of the likely-looking spots. The heavy water allows me to get close enough to almost “dap” the flies on the water, very similar to close-range high-stick nymphing, because often I had only a few feet of fly line extending past the rod tip.

This trout was the fish of the day for me:

Sixteen-inch Spring Creek brown taken on a #12 Sulphur Poly-wing Parachute Dun.

And since he, or rather, “she” was a nice trout, she warranted a few more pics:

Head out of water, in the net. I always try to keep larger fish in the water, and always do when I’m photographing the fish by myself. And with a net. You can see my fingers underneath her. To those unaware, the absence of a kype or hooked jaw, indicates this trout is a female.

And here she is posing in a lovely full-body image:

16″ Spring Creek Brown, taken on a #12 Sulfur Poly-wing Parachute Dun.

I took another smaller trout later on:

Smaller trout, about ten inches, you can clearly see the parachute dun. When I want to photograph trout like this, I actually bring the trout in close, then before I touch the fish, I turn on my camera and hit the macro button. Sometimes after doing this the trout gets away, but I don’t care, I’m releasing it anyway. Once the camera is readied and “on,” I grab the fish, snap a pic, unhook the fly, and they’re quickly back in the water. I wet my hands first. When doing this I have the fish out of the water for about 5 – 6 seconds.

At this point I want to say, anyone keeping fish out of the water for photographs for more than ten seconds after you have played them into submission, presents the risk of harming the fish through lack of oxygen. Speed it up, preferably, respect the fish, and keep them out of the water as little as possible. Imagine someone holding your head under a bucket of water to take photos of you immediately after you just ran the 200-yard dash. That is the position the trout are in when we bring them to hand. And don’t get them on shore where you can drop them and have them slip and flop out of your grasp and die from trauma after being released. I recently read a study on steelhead trout, tagged with radio collars in the Pacific Northwest, where a significant number were dying after being caught and released. The data discovered that most of these fish died of head trauma, caused by thrashing about or being dropped onto the rocks on shore, and not from being hooked with rod and reel.

And here is the intact rig with the actual flies that did the deeds:

Size #12 Sulfur Poly-wing Parachute Dun with a #14 Floating “Sulfur” Emerger, patterned exactly after my Floating “Caddis” Emerger – the only change is the body dubbing color to ginger and I use orange thread. There was only eight inches of 5x tippet separating the two flies. Both flies are treated frequently with floatant.

This two-dry system works. I plan to try a Sulfur Dun and Sulfur Spinner together, that way the trout won’t treat me with disrespect like they did last year one evening, when the dun hatch fizzled out, and there were tons of spinners in the air, I thought I knew better and tied on a spinner. I ended up casting the spinner to about fifty rising trout, only to hook a handful of them. Turned out the dun hatch reignited and went gangbusters from about 8:15 until dusk, and the trout took the duns to my dismay, but I learned that lesson. I should have recognized that sooner. In the type of pocket and riffle water I was fishing, a Dun / Spinner two-dry fly rig will work. I’m about to test that out. ;-)

Here are two links to articles on the Sulfur Emerger I wrote last May 2013, including the recipe and tying instructions:

http://donbastianwetflies.com/2013/05/31/bastians-floating-caddis-sulphur-emerger/

http://donbastianwetflies.com/2013/05/31/bastians-floating-sulphur-emerger-part-ii/

I paid a short visit to Spring Creek last evening. After all I was in the area for something else, and figured while nearby, why not? Turns out my friend Bill Shuck, a regular www.flymphforum.com tier, mentioning to me in an e-mail yesterday about the “cold front” putting the trout and bugs and fishing “off,” was right. There wasn’t much happening.

The high temperature for the day was barely sixty-five degrees, and the sun never even poked its head out, not even for a minute. I thought the sulfurs would be hatching gangbusters and trout would be up everywhere, but only in my dreams. I had driven down to State College to attend a visitation session for Gloria Humphreys, the wife of one of Pennsylvania’s celebrated fly fishing authors, Joe Humphreys. They were professional and personal friends. Gloria passed away on May 20th.

So after paying my respects I drove to Spring Creek, found a spot, geared up, and tied on my usual two-dry-fly tandem rig, a Sulfur Poly-wing Parachute Dun and my Floating “Sulfur” Emerger – which as noted in the article and links from my previous post, started its life in 2006 as a Floating Caddis Emerger. Orvis added it to their fly catalog in 2013, and have continued it for this year as well. http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=7R6A[/

I discovered two years ago that the same pattern, augmented for size and dubbing color, also does a "spot-on" mimic for emerging mayflies. At least that is the conclusion I have drawn, after hooking well over one hundred trout on that fly last season and this season, all while fishing the "sulfur" hatch.

I walked downstream to a slower, deeper section of water and watched for rising fish. Nothing was happening, there were no rises. I gave it all of one minute, which on Spring Creek at this time if year and time of day, if they are rising, I would have seen a dozen or more trout up. So I walked upstream, knowing what my next course of action would be, but for confirmation, I said aloud to myself, "If there are no trout rising, I'm going to fish the riffs and pocket water. No sense of fishing a pool with no rises." Yes, I do talk to myself, sometimes it is the only way I can get expert advice. ;-)

I stepped into this spot:

I entered the water just below this spot, got some line out, and when I was only about four feet from the bank, made a cast downstream and started feeding line to a deeper section. A trout rose to the Floating Sulfur Emerger on the first drift, but he missed the fly. I caught one trout in about eight inches of water maybe three feet from shore. When a lot of fishermen are about, they usually scatter the trout from these shallow sections…for a little while at least. Most anglers don’t bother with this water, they are “pool oriented.” Their mistake. The area between the two rocks, not twenty-five feet away, produced two hookups and three additional rises.

Next I worked my way up to the area in the above photo, standing in water about a foot deep, and by this time I had not moved more than fifteen feet from the bank. I blindly cast about to the pockets, seams, and into the riffles, relying on experience as to where might be a good spot for a trout to be. None of this water was more than a foot or so in depth. Right away I caught this fish:

This first trout took the Floating Sulfur Emerger. He hit the fly when it was about eight feet from my rod tip. You can see the front end of the fly in his mouth. I hooked two more right after this one on the same fly, but they wanted no part of having their picture taken, so they rather rudely excused themselves by making my line go limp.

I rose and missed more than a dozen trout in the course of the evening, and it is important here to note; why I chose to fish the shallower water, pockets, seams, and riffs. There were no trout rising in the pools. I did not want to waste my limited time by “looking for rising trout.” The fish in shallower water are generally always more prone to impulsive feeding when something presents itself, even on the surface. These fish are accustomed by now to looking for sulfur duns and spinners, and also Baetis, or BWO’s, so that was my logic behind the choice to fish dry flies in the shallow water. Plus, I could get close to the trout with out spooking them, able to make accurate presentations, short drifts through targeted zones, repetitive if necessary, all while making pretty short casts. Also a factor besides this, there were trees hugging both banks and extended limbs so I had to keep it short. Managing your drift is easier when casting to close range target areas; most of the time I had about six to ten feet of fly line beyond the rod tip. My leader was about eleven or twelve feet long, including the typical George Harvey front-section formula of about six feet of 3x, 4x, and 5x. In this type of water, and in most dry fly scenarios, one does not want the leader to straighten out, but rather remain somewhat coiled and snaked about on the water’s surface in S-curves. This promotes drag-free drifts. George Harvey’s leader designs are from the 1940′s, when gut leaders were still used, and his formulas predate the present “Czech”, “French,” “Euro,” whatever you choose to call it, leader designs, that are being touted these days as “new.” In fact, one of these days, I’ll write a piece on the reality of every single aspect of this “new” method of nymphing – rods, leaders, flies, technique, all being as old as the hills. It’s all hype and marketing.

I saw just a handful of trout rise, and I did not have a great evening on the water, but I had a good evening on the water. Most of the trout that rose took, or tried to take, the Floating Sulfur Emerger, but a number did come up after the dun as well. Another thing I noticed; there were more Baetis in the air than anything else. This is typical – chilly, all-cloudy day, that is what they like. I saw duns on the water and in the air, but perhaps Bill was correct; the cold front had put the trout “off.”

Here is a pic of the first trout to take the sulfur dun:

First trout of the evening on the Sulfur Poly-wing Thorax Dun. This fly is a modified design of Vince Marinaro’s Thorax Dun; the poly-wing version was created by Barry Beck. I made further material composition modifications, particularly the use of the Sexi-Super-Dyna-Flexi Floss for the “quill body” abdomen, and I generally use poly yarn for the wings rather than the old “Poly-Fluff” or Hi-Vis” – now called E.P. Fibers he used to use.

Here is an upstream shot of the section I fished:

Section of Spring Creek riffles, pockets, seams – shallow, but the trout are here. Note the larger exposed and submerged boulders – structure – these create breaks in the stream flow, “seams” where currents of two different speed intersect – creating holding areas for trout, allowing them comfort while having the ease of opportunity to intercept drifting food items. Work these areas properly, either with a nymph or a dry fly, and it’s Game On!

Here is another important point I want to make: In the comment thread from the previous article, Bill Shuck mentioned about how more than once he had been on Spring Creek and spooked the largest trout in the stream just by stepping into the water, because sometimes big trout are near the bank, even in shallow water.” Most of us look for the trout where we expect them to be. Happened to me last night. We all probably spook more trout like this, because while we think we’re pretty good angler / predators, we really don’t pay attention enough of the time. If I had been looking, I would have seen a brown trout about nineteen inches long, up ahead of me, on the right, in just eight inches of water, so close to the bank that the long grass slightly overhung his position. When I was about twelve feet off, of course looking and casting out into the stream, his take-off made a resounding splash, a plume of silt, and a large wake as I watched him scoot off.

Right then, I gave myself a little more “expert” advice; by saying aloud, “Expletive. If I had been looking for that fish, I would have seen him first and been able to make a couple casts.” Here is one more pic of a trout that liked my Sulfur Dun:

Enjoyable evening on the water. I learned a few new things, got more affirmation of some of the things I already knew, even entertained myself by singing a little bit while fishing, and had a good time. This is about catching fish though. Don’t let anyone fool you by summing up a poor day or few hours on the water, saying, “It’s just good to get out.” That is, in fact, true. But realistically, how many of those people would continue to fish if they got skunked, again, and again, and again, and again…hardly any of us would go out if we couldn’t hook up now and then.

Hopefully you found a few informative and educational things here and among the other articles on my blog to help you get “tight lines” on future trips.

It has been a while since I have last written here. I’ve done some fishing, but as usual, not enough. Lots of factors are contributing to that: weather – lots of rain, high water, heat and humidity, low water; and my routine of fly tying for stacked-up orders. I am slowly catching up, but I’m still behind. Then there is outdoor work, the grass needs mowed, and other yard work is begging to be finished. My personal life and schedule with friends, the classic rock band I play drums for, and a wonderful new lady-friend relationship are all good. Next week, my daughter and three grandchildren are coming from Connecticut to visit for a week. Despite all that, I decided to pause from my tying today to help a friend, Dale A. Darling, of Drake, Colorado,  by posting this article to present a book he wrote about the devastation he and his family suffered at the hands of Colorado’s horrific 2013 flooding.

His book is titled, High Waters: Colorado’s 2013 Flood. Here is the press release that Dale wrote:

“High Waters Colorado’s 2013 Flood presents a compelling personal account of the devastating September 2013 flood that surprised Coloradans and people around the world. Dale A. Darling brings passionate, insightful perspective that he and his wife, Shan, shared with their Drake neighbors during the flood, and with others during their own endeavor to recover following the destruction of their home and belongings.
Chapters include Beginnings, Flood, Evacuation, Returns, Perspective, The River and This Story, and 60 pictures. Specific anecdotes about what it’s actually like to experience a natural disaster will bring the event to life for interested, curious readers.”
“This 208 page book is written and designed to be read, to inveigle imaginations and to serve as an honest report about what is now considered one of Colorado’s harshest natural disasters.”

High Waters: Colorado’s 2013 Flood, front cover.

Dale A. Darling is the author of five previous books and numerous magazine and newspaper articles.

A little more personal introduction from Dale: “It’s been several months since I last wrote concerning Shan and I and the flood. Earlier, I mentioned that I was writing a book about the flood, and would like to announce that it is complete! We have copies to sell.”

“Shan and I bought a cabin near Drake, Colorado, in 2001; in 2007 it became our home. When we purchased the property we were told that it was not in the flood plain, that flood insurance was not required. In September 2013 steady rain over several days caused the Big Thompson River to rise, then flood and our home and 99% of what we owned were ruined or swept away.”

“High Waters is our story about what’s being called a 500-year flood. Being there is different than reading or hearing news clips, or seeing images shot from a helicopter. My report will put you with Shan and me and our neighbors so you can feel and smell the reality of being there; of the aftermath and what actually happens in spite of the pontificating and selective reports that circulate.”

High Waters Colorado’s 2013 Flood is available for $17.95 at www.riverforkpress.com, at bookstores, or in digital form at amazon.com.
As it stands, our only chance to recover from the flood will depend on book sales. If you’re interested, please visit my publishing web site www.riverforkpress.com
To go directly to the High Waters page, follow this link: http://riverforkpress.com/highwaters.html

The kindle version is available here: http://www.amazon.com/HIGH-WATERS-Colorados-2013-Flood-ebook/dp/B00KO3A5IA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1402595336&sr=1-1&keywords=High+Waters+Colorado%27s+2013+Flood

Dale’s closing words in his book announcement:

“Please share the links to buy the book with friends or groups. We’re discussing the idea of making presentations to interested groups, and trying to find stores or others who will help us sell the book. The printer is ready to print thousands of copies as required!”

I have never met Dale in person, but I’ve come to know him as a fellow fly tier and friend via the internet, and we also had some phone conversations and exchanged some lengthy e-mails back in early 2011. As Dale reached out to me, he helped me when I was going through a very difficult time in my life. I wanted to make this announcement in the hope that some of my readers will buy his book, and also share this information to help spread goodwill and assist Dale and his family getting back on their feet.

I have been very busy tying – still – playing in the band, enjoying summer despite very little fishing. And I am still backed up on my fly orders. Just about when I seem to close in on getting caught up, I get a slew of new orders and I’m right behind schedule again. Perhaps being behind on my orders is the new norm.

I did recently send in the reservation form for the International Fly Tying Symposium in New Jersey in November, looking ahead to that. Be here before you know it. I’m still trying to get caught up on some older tying projects as well.

It has been interesting over these years; all the fly tying I have done, the various types and style of flies I have produced. Recently I received an unusual request, and it all came about in a very interesting and fascinating way. A man from Australia posted a comment on the topic about The Angler’s Nook and The Liar’s Bench, the shop on the Battenkill River in New York. Seems the man from Australia hosted an American soldier serving in Viet Nam in 1970, for a little R & R trout fishing time in Australia. This particular soldier turned out to be none other than Richard Entwhistle, son of the owner of The Angler’s Nook. My Aussie friend, Kevin Laughton, sent me a pic of Richard sitting at his kitchen table in 1970, with a mess of trout. And that’s only part of that story. I don’t know how many of you have followed that topic and comment thread, but there have been several folks over the past year who found that post, commented, and have provided a wealth of additional information.

The same thing has happened on my Carson Lake Special Wet Fly topic; feel free to check that out, and read through the thirty-eight comments it has generated. Lots of fascinating information has come forth on that fly, history, originator, and I even received a photo of a penciled drawing on the fly and instructions on how to tie it. Must be at least fifty years old.

Now to the title of this post: Barramundi!

Kevin Laughton has requested me to tie him a couple large flies for these big fish. They live in some lakes in Australia, Queensland, near the Tropic of Capricorn, so the weather is hot at times. These are big predatory fish, and I get to make up a couple “predator flies” – see there, even an old classic fly tier can get in on the new trends, ;-) for him to try out in October. Below is a photo of Kevin with a 40 lb. Barramundi.

40 lb. Barramundi, caught in Lake Awonga, Queensland, Australia, by Kevin Laughton, holding the trophy. I’ll get to try my hand at creating a couple large, original “Predator Flies” for these big fish.

Thanks for the contact, information on Richard Entwhistle, and for the chance to tie Barramundi flies, Kevin! Cheers!

Last Saturday I returned to Clyde’s Tower Oaks Lodge Restaurant in Rockville, Maryland, with my girlfriend, Mary Fortin. I wanted to show her the ten-frame set of classic wet flies that the owners purchased from me at the Fly Fishing Show in College Park, Maryland, in January of 2002. Tower Oaks opened in the fall of that year. We also coordinated our trip to visit a dear friend who is having health problems.

Since it has been twelve years since this collection of framed flies was placed on display, and considering that the last time I was there was in 2005, I was curious to see how they are holding up. From time to time I have friends and customers tell me they have seen the display, and they always have complimentary remarks. The wet fly collection fro Ray Bergman’s book, Trout, was something I vowed I was one day going to do. This was back in 1974, and resulted when I tied my first-ever Parmacheene Belle, and mounted it in a frame for my dad’s birthday. I made this commitment to myself: “Someday I’m going to tie and frame all those flies.” That goal was a dream come true; first in replicating the entire collection of color plate wet flies for the book, Forgotten Flies, 2000, and then for Clyde’s Restaurant Group. Subsequently I have replicated this entire set two additional times for private collectors. The display at Tower Oaks is, as far as I know, the only location in the entire United States where the wet fly color plates from Ray Bergman’s 1938 book, Trout, have been reproduced and are on permanent display. Trout is the only fishing book ever written to remain continuously in print for more than fifty years, and is the most-published in that genre as well, having sold more than 250,000 copies in all its volumes and editions.

There are ten frames in the set; all flies are reproduced exactly in the order and number of the artist’s rendition, and according to the pattern recipes listed in the back of the book. The paintings were done by Dr. Edgar Burke, a close friend of Ray Bergman.

An accurate and historically correct reproduction of Henry P. Wells famous Parmacheene Belle. He originated the fly in 1876, naming it after Lake Parmacheene in Maine’s Rangeley Lakes Region. This dressing is given by Wells in the 1883 book, Fishing With the Fly by Charles F. Orvis and A. Nelson Cheney.

The Parmacheene Belle above was tied in traditional blind eye style, with a snelled double leader; a “bite-guard,” doubled at the head, as they were sometimes called. The wings are also tied in traditional reversed style. You can see the but ends of the wings which were tied in facing forward, then pulled back over. This makes for a garish-looking and large head, but it served its purpose in the durability department. The original body is yellow mohair, the original tag is peacock herl. This fly is dressed exactly to the originators specifications. It is curious that the Orvis / Marbury version of this fly was changed to a wing of half red and white, using ostrich herl for the butt. Various pattern component alterations have transpired over the decades, but this dressing is the correct one as put forth by the creator of the pattern. I digressed a bit to add some background on the interest of classic wet flies and their history.

In examining the frames, I noticed that as a result of routine cleaning, the finish is beginning to wear on the frames, especially along the top edge. The corners of the frames and the edges are showing a nice aura of natural aging, taking on an antique appearance, giving them a natural patina that shows more appropriately compared to the age of the flies contained within. Neither Mary nor I had a camera along, so there will be no actual photos. Not this time. But we plan to go back.

Below are a series of wet flies that are framed, using my original method of wire-mounting the flies to the mat board. It is virtually invisible in the display and my frames, making the flies appear suspended and uncluttered by pins, wire, cork pegs, and certainly no cement of any kind is used.

Hopatcong – #6. This pattern was mentioned in Mary Orvis Marbury’s book, Favorite Flies and Their Histories, 1892, so it is well over one-hundred years old. She indicated that she would like to have included it among the Lake Flies.

Pope – #6.

Logan – #6; another old pattern.

Romeyn – #6. Illustrated in Marbury’s book, and also included as a Lake Fly in the 1893 Orvis Display at the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Vermont.

Victoria – #6; the green variation. There is also a Victoria with a dark blue body.

The wire I use to mount the flies…

…and the view of a Red Hackle Peacock showing the wire mounted to the hook shank. The short 5/8″ to 3/4″ long section is bent 90 degrees and lashed – tightly – to the shank. It is inserted after the tag, ribbing and floss is attached, while winding forward to the head. It can be bent down to place wings and throats for inch wraps, then stood out to mount. A bobbin is used to make the hole in the mat, then the wire is inserted, the fly positioned just off the surface of the mat board, and then taped down in the back with acid-free archival cloth tape.

Display area of frame; Plate No. 3, Wet Flies, from Trout, 1938, by Ray Bergman. This photo is from the third set of these flies that I completed. These are available for purchase on MyFlies.com, or by contacting me personally. Available as a complete set or as individual Color Plate reproductions, and also, custom selected patterns are available.

Here is the MyFlies.com link where images of all ten frames can be viewed.

http://www.myflies.com/Ray-Bergmans-emTroutem-Wet-Fly-Series–P592.aspx

Here is the link to Tower Oaks Lodge: http://www.clydes.com/tower

If you are ever in the metro Washington, DC, area or traveling in central Maryland, this place is worth a visit. The website presents information on the decor, which is exclusive. It is like a museum – the Adirondack Lodge area with the fishing displays,art, and artifacts; the Chesapeake Bay duck hunting section with antique decoys, boats, boats, and more boats, decoy baskets, full of original duck and goose decoys, and at least ten double-barrel shotguns; and the “Horses and Hounds” section, devoted to the racing and fox hunting traditions of estates in Hunt Valley Maryland. And the food, service, and ambiance is excellent. Five Stars!

The Black Prince wet fly is an old pattern. It is shown on the Lake Flies in Favorite Flies and Their Histories, 1892, by Mary Orvis Marbury. It is also in Trout, 1938, by Ray Bergman. It was a popular pattern and has appeared in other publications as well. The Orvis version has a body made entirely of flat gold tinsel, while the later version in Trout sports a black floss body with a gold tinsel ribbing. Both have red tails, the version in Marbury’s book also has a jungle cock cheek. Hackle and wings on both versions are black, with natural black hackle being used on the original plate fly. I have a photo of that and recognized it as natural black; more of a dark charcoal color.

The reason I am inspired to post this article is that I recently completed an order of four dozen Black Prince wet flies, for a customer for fishing. She wanted them in sizes #12, #14, #16, and #18. The surprising part, not to me, but likely to many of you, is that my customer recently fished Pennsylvania’s famed and reportedly difficult to fish, at times anyway, Penn’s Creek. This is a stream where no stocking is done in a large section of Special Regulation water. The fish are almost all wild, stream-bred brown trout. I received her e-mail message today, as follows:

Black Prince – classic wet fly. The hook size is #6, Mustad vintage style No. 3399. The hackle on this fly was applied after setting the wing, using an old-fashioned technique. This method combines the winged wet with the effectiveness of a soft-hackle.

Black Prince

Thread: Danville Black Flymaster 6/0

Hook: Standard wet fly hook, sizes #2 to #18 – large hooks, full hackle to replicate Lake Fly style.

Tag: Flat gold tinsel

Tail: Scarlet hackle fibers of a section of red duck quill – may be two matching slips paired, or a single slip of duck or goose wing quill, as was done almost exclusively in the 1800’s

Ribbing: Narrow gold tinsel

Body: Black floss

Wing: Black duck or goose wing quill, matched and paired; may also be natural crow

Hackle: Black

It is the tiers discretion to apply the hackle as a false or beard style hackle, or as a soft-hackle collar, which may be wound either before or after placing the wing.

If one desired to replicate the Orvis version of the Black Prince, use fine flat gold tinsel for the tag, make the body from medium flat gold tinsel, use a scarlet dyed quill section for the tail – traditionally in the 1800’s, scarlet ibis feathers were used for this – and add a jungle cock cheek.

Like so many classic wet flies, trout do not see them, and one ace-in-the-hole trick you can tuck up your sleeve is to hit the water with something different than what everyone else is fishing. How about the Black Prince?

Next on my customers custom order – the Grackle, another old classic pattern.

Two different people sent me this photo over the weekend of an unknown (as far as I know), carded  Carrie Stevens bucktail pattern. Obviously, it is her card, her handwriting, and her fly. And very interesting in that fly is is a similar design to the FRS Bucktail patterns she originated for her friend and client of her guide husband, Wallace Stevens. The client for whom the FRS bucktails were created and named was Francis Reast Smith, 1873-1950.

Here is the pic of the Gem:

Gem bucktail, created and tied by Carrie G. Stevens of Upper Dam, Maine. This hook is a variation from her standard use of the Allcock 1810 Regular Heavy Sproat turned-down eye streamer hooks that she normally used. Not sure what it is, but it is known she used some Mustad hooks similar in design to the Allcock 1810 after World War II.

By zooming in on the image, I was able to ascertain that the head is red with a black band, and there is a tag on the fly, though it is impossible to determine the color of it. Perhaps if I made another image, cropped it to the tag, and them zoomed in and maybe lightened the brightness I might be able to find that out. That’s a little detective project for later on…

This is also interesting for another reason: chenille was like, never used on any of Carrie Stevens’ other named and well-known and known, but unfamiliar patterns. On the tag, it is very likely that it is a silver tinsel, because of all her named and known patterns, give or take a hundred-plus, she used gold tinsel on only five of them. Upon close inspection, the profile of the tag seems to indicate that it is oval tinsel as well, presenting the use of another material that she did not use on the dressings of her standard Rangeley Style streamers.

Don’t forget folks, you can click on the image to enlarge it, and another click will make it even bigger Check it out!

The topping appears to be green hackle fibers. Body is yellow chenille, and the wing is white bucktail over red bucktail. I’m sticking my neck out a bit and am calling the tag oval silver tinsel, without having made the aforementioned detailed investigation.

To my regular followers…I have a major life-change event on the horizon…all good. Moving on and forward from some of the negative residual of my ill-fated second marriage which ended almost four years ago. I have been very busy with all that. At some point I will be more in control of everything and will be able to focus on more regular writing here as well. I send my heartfelt thanks to all of you for your patience and devotion.

I will be at the International Fly Tying Symposium in November, the 22nd and 23rd, in Somerset, New Jersey.

A few posts back, I wrote about a customer who had bought four dozen Black Prince wet flies from me. Well, her success with that old classic pattern continues, and has spilled over to another angler she met on the stream. After her success on Penn’s Creek, I had asked her what size she was using. There is more success to this fish story, since he also ordered some Black Prince wet flies from me, and I wanted to share a few of their notes:

Wednesday Sept. 24:

Mr. Bastian,

“I say again: ALL HAIL THE BLACK PRINCE!!

I was this evening at Fisherman’s Paradise (FP – near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania), and again was successful with the Black Prince. FP is a very difficult place to fish in that the pressure there is enormous. But I am learning; I go there in the evening and not only fish past sundown but past last light into the darkness. They are active at this time. I am there fishing with my Glenn Brackett, 7ft. 3wt. bamboo rod, Hardy “Baby” Perfect, Cortland “Sylk” line and the Orvis 4x braided Bimini leader. The last one I caught was a nice fat 10-inch that gave a really good fight. Just gorgeous. Size you ask? #16.

I AM learning how to wet fly fish!!”

Best Regards,
Jean

And she replied to my initial post about the Black Prince:

Thursday Sept. 25:

“Dear Mr. Bastian,

Very nice post. Getting the word out on actually using Bergman flies is important. And yes you were correct: I fished across-and-down. Very traditional stuff. Perhaps I should be out there with that Leonard Fairy Catskill and that little Hardy St George Jr. Now that’s tradition!”

Jean

And she wrote this note after yet another successful evening on Penn’s Creek fishing the Black Prince:

Sept. 28:

“I must say, Mr. Bastian, that the Black Prince is a really something. I do hope you are fishing with your own flies. (Of course I am, just not often enough – ;-) – Don). As a fitting closure to the evening, a juvenile bald eagle, a trout in his talons, flew over my head. Gorgeous.”

Best Regards,

Jean

On her “Black Prince” outing at Fisherman’s Paradise, she met another angler who lives in nearby State College. Since she was catching fish, he was curious what she was using. Jean met Robert, and they talked flies, they spoke of classic tackle, talked about me, since she has been a customer for a few years now, and I had also spent some time fishing with her in July 2012, and he also wondered where he could get this “killer fly.” She gave him my e-mail address, he placed an order for two dozen Black Prince wet flies, #14, and #16.

Here is a letter he sent just yesterday, Wednesday October 22:

“Your quality of work is just outstanding! I have been treating your flies like little pieces of art that get tossed through the air. Have only used them on the creek in one outing so far, on Spring Creek at ‘The Rock’. I fished them in tandem ( #14 and #16), 45 degrees upstream dead drift until 45 degrees behind me, and then swung them across and used a twitch method until it was directly downstream, followed by a hand twist retrieve. (This is) The method detailed in Ray Bergman’s, Trout (1938, 1952). In two hours I landed six nice fish. Two were on the hot spot, right when they started to drag 45 degrees behind, one really good strike during twitching, and three more on the retrieve. This is such a fun way to fish for me, and I will certainly be looking into more classic wet fly patterns in the future. I will give you a full days report soon.”

By way of announcement, the International Fly Tying Symposium will take place next weekend, November 22 and 23 at Somerset, New Jersey. I will be present, tying and demonstrating. The event is at the Garden State Exhibit Center, the show hotel is the Doubletree.

I plan to tie classic wet flies, and maybe some streamers, but more likely than not, I will focus on the 20th century style wets from Ray Bergman’s “Trout,” Helen Shaw’s “Flies for Fish and Fisherman,” and other books. I will also have on hand my copy of Mary Orvis Marbury’s “Favorite Flies and Their Histories,” since my book in progress, “Favorite Fishing Flies – 1892″ is being put on a fast track to a finish line to be sent to the publisher. I will concentrate on those patterns, likely focusing on some of the classic Lake Flies.

I will have updated information on my book, so please stop by and see my ongoing laptop slide show of the actual flies from the 122-year old color plates of flies that the book plate paintings were made from.

I will also have some gray mallard on hand, so if you want a demo on tying patterns such as the Professor, using one feather to make a great looking wing, whether for fishing or presentation, check this out. No more stress trying to locate prime matched pairs of gray mallard flank. ;-)

I also have a new, for about three years, method to mount wet fly quill wings. Thanks to my buddy Dave Lomasney, of York, Maine. If you have not seen this, you need to.

Looking forward to being there again!

Earlier this fall, I tied an order for a customer going to Upper Dam in the Rangeley Region of Maine to fish for brook trout and land-locked salmon. He told me to select the patterns, so I thought it only appropriate to choose the flies for his trip from among the famous, historic, heritage Lake Flies, some of which were listed in Mary Orvis Marbury’s 1892 book, Favorite Flies and Their Histories. These flies were in the Orvis inventory, and also for sale by other firms, such as Abbey & Imbrie, who went out of business in 1920.

I tied them on size #6 and #8 Mustad hooks, though I did use contemporary wet fly hooks, in this case, Tiemco #3769, 0x-long wet fly hook. The reason for that is that vintage wet fly hooks such as the #3906 and #3399 Mustad, and other hooks such as Partridge, Allcock, Nyack and others, while they make great-looking wet flies, the contemporary hooks are in my view, better for fishing flies. This is due to their manufacture with high-carbon steel, and having chemically sharpened points and mini-barbs. Besides the limited availability of antique and vintage hooks relegates their prudent usage to collector and framed flies.

Here are the pics of part of the order:

A collection of replicated 19th century Lake Flies, all originated and / or used in Maine’s Famous Rangeley Lakes Region. On the left, Montreals; top center, The Tim – named for Tim Pond near Eustis;  right, Richardson, named after Richardson Lake; and center, a dozen Parmacheene Belles in two sizes. The latter was named for Lake Parmacheene, part of the system that the Magalloway River flows out of.

The Tim in Marbury’s book has a black ostrich herl head, but I substituted black rabbit dubbing to replicate the vintage look. This trick also makes for less time and effort where you might otherwise apply numerous coats of head cement to finish the head smooth and shiny. The fly, done this way, with the faux-ostrich dubbed head, looks classic and can be finished – and fished – right out of the vise. On to the next fly…

Rangeley Lake Flies, a bit of a closer image – macro photo.

And finally, The Tim:

The Tim Lake Fly – named for Tim Pond, created in the 1870’s-80’s…named for Trapper Tim, for whom Tim Pond was named. The mallard wing was applied in two sections, basically layering two sections of webby mallard, right over each other. The second, top layer, is folded or tented over the lower portion of the wing.

The Tim:

Tag: Flat silver tinsel

Tail: Scarlet quill section

Ribbing: Oval silver tinsel

Body: Yellow floss

Hackle: Yellow

Wing: yellow dyed gray mallard

Head: Black wool or dubbing, finished with black thread.

I used Danville white Flymaster 6/0 for the body, and switched to black for the head. These Lake Flies were historically tied in larger sizes, #4, #2, #1, even as large as #1/0 and even 2/0 in some cases.

Oh yes, my customer reported success with the flies on his trip. Classic flies, fun to tie, and they still catch fish! See also the recent posts on the Black Prince, where that classic wet fly has tempted brown trout on Pennsylvania’s famed limestone streams, Penn’s Creek and Spring Creek, for two of my customers.

I have another batch that I took photos of, they were part of a second shipment. I’ll get those posted here as well…after the coming week or so of doing things more important right now…