Busy Time!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! You would think this would be the dead time of year for somebody obsessed with fly fishing, but man, I have been super busy! Leading up to January 1st I had a medium-sized fly order I needed to finish for Lund's Fly Shop in River Falls, Wisconsin. Lund's is one of the best fly shops I have ever been to, and I am not just saying that because they sell a bunch of my Scott Hanson designed flies. And I also am not just saying that because they advertise here on the ol' blog, although neither of those facts hurt...

Some of the flies I tied for Lund's Fly Shop. Go there and buy some!

In the days since I finished that order I have taken on a new task. I am working on the photographs that will be accompanying an article I am sending in to Fly Tyer magazine. I have sent Fly Tyer several articles in the past, and they have even published two of them, so hopefully they like this new one I have written. As always, writing the article turned out to be far easier for me than getting usable photographs. Cameras and all their technical what-have-you's tend to drive me a little crazy. I am almost done, though, and hopefully all of the photos I send in will work for them. Wish me luck!

This photo is just to prove that Fly Tyer has actually published some of my articles...

After I get the article done I will have to start in on another, much larger, order for Lund's, which will be due on March 1st. I also have a fairly substantial order for a private party who has hired me to tie several dozen dry flies in the 22 to 24 size range. I, myself , never fish with flies so small, so hopefully the finished flies turn out OK. I am of the mindset that small flies catch small fish, but I am also of the mindset that the customer is always right, so if he wants small flies, small flies he will get!

Along the way my Beginning Fly Tying classes start in St. Paul in February, (Click Here To Get More Info), and right after that I will be teaching the same classes in Forest Lake, MN (Click Here To Get More Info). After that the local Fly Fishing Expos start, and the Film Tour happens. Or is that vice versa? Oh, and don't let me forget I have a wife and 4 kids to tend to! Or is it 5 kids now...? I can't remember. Oh well, they're all asleep, so I better get back to tying flies.

Son of Rod Love: Steffen 7'6" 3-Weight

Have you heard of Steffen Fly Rods? No? I hadn't either, until I got deeper and deeper into the world of fiberglass rods. Steffen is a small company in Arizona that rolls their own glass blanks. They have the reputation of making some of the best casting rods in the business, so of course I made it a goal to try out some. The first Steffen rod I was lucky enough to acquire was this sweet 7'6" 2/3weight beauty.

It's listed as a 2 or a 3 weight, and I love it with a 3-weight Weight Forward line. In my opinion it is just about a perfect bluegill and brook trout rod. It can handle nymphs and small buggers easily, and it loves dry flies, poppers and foam bodied spiders. The rod loads terrifically in close, yet I can easily cast up to 50 feet with very good accuracy. As I say about most of the fly rods I own, this is one sweet rod!

 

Make sure you check out Steffen Fly Rods!

Daiwa Reels

I am a Lamson reel guy, but I have also owned a bunch of Daiwa reels over the years, and ya know what? They all have been great reels. My latest one is no exception, even though it's probably older than all of the other Daiwa reels I have owned. It's a Daiwa 730. It's a small click-and-pawl reel from the 1970s, and it works beautifully. It was fashioned as a sort of clone of the Hardy Featherweight, if my research is correct. It doesn't really look like a Featherweight, in my opinion, other than on the insides. The guts of my 730 looks exactly like the guts of a Featherweight, but the outside is quite different. There are less holes on the spool of the Daiwa reel. There is no fancy script writing on the back side of the frame. It's really not that attractive. But who cares?!? It works great, and now I am feverishly looking for another to use as a backup reel for my 4-weight rods.

My new Daiwa 730. Isn't it grand?

Back side.

Its more glamorous Hardy equivalent.

Daiwa is not big in the fly fishing reel world any more, at least in the USA. But if you are looking for a good, low cost reel, try to get your hands on any of their older reels. I am sure you will find you've made a good purchase!

My first nice fly reel, which I bought in 1987. A Daiwa-made System One 456. It still sort of works today!

Same reel with the Daiwa name badge

The 789 version of the System One

And the 789 version of the Daiwa

This and above: A newer Daiwa Lochmor-S 200. Another fine reel.

And the Lochmor 200A, a mid-arbor design.

I thought this old Daiwa glass rod, the VIP 43, was one of the coolest old glass rods I had seen. A beautiful translucent blank, cool thread wraps, a comfortable foam grip. I thought it was so cool! Then I took it out and gave it a test cast. It was rated for a 5 or 6 weight line, but I think it would have been better suited for an 8 or 9. It was so stiff! The closest thing that I have ever come across to the proverbial broom handle. Oh well, I'll just stick with Daiwa reels.

Rod Love the Third: Old School Sage Glass

A couple of days ago I read through a thread on one of my favorite fiberglass fly rod forums, in which people were answering the question "What one rod would you choose if you could only have one rod?" That question got me to thinking about fly rods, specifically my fly rods, and I quickly came up with an answer. It was good that my answer came quickly, because if I had thought about it for much longer I might have changed my mind about 5 or 20 times... The one rod that I own that can handle pretty much any situation I put it in is my beloved Sage 476SFL, a beautiful old school glass rod that is as sweet as can be!

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 40 years, you should know that Sage is probably the leader in technologically advanced graphite fly rods. Their current rods probably are more technologically sound than my smartphone, and anglers across the globe love them. That's all good and fine, but I prefer their older rods, especially their LL series of graphite rods from the early 90s, and their SFL series of fiberglass rods from the 1980s.

That brings me to this edition of Rod Love. My Sage 476SFL is an awesome casting tool. 4-weight rods are probably the perfect trout fishing rod, and my 7'6" Sage glass rod is no exception. It has the finesse to cast a small fly at short distances, yet it has the power to launch streamers and big nymphs on large water. It loads and unloads smoothly, and somehow my fly always ends up right where I want it. Or at least as close as someone with my casting skill can get it... It's not noodly like some other glass rods, and not too stiff like most of the newer graphite stuff. It's pretty much perfect!

It can be hard to find old school Sage glass rods, but I would suggest you keep on the lookout. If you can find one I am sure you will love it. I also have heard rumors that Sage may be coming out with a new line of glass rods...That should be interesting, if it actually happens... As I mentioned earlier, Sage is at the forefront of graphite rod technology. It will be fun to see how they use that technology with fiberglass.

Fly Focus: M.E.S. (Mini Egg Sucker)

Three of the Kiddos and I were loitering at our local Hobby Lobby the other day. We were having a great time walking up and down every aisle, checking out all the cool stuff. Every 30 seconds or so one of the aforementioned Kiddos would find something that they thought was extra neat, and say, "Hey, Dad, look at this! Can we get it?!?!" And I would shout my standard reply, "No, I told you we aren't going to buy anything! We're just looking around!" If you ever want a quiet and peaceful visit to Hobby Lobby make sure you don't bring a gaggle of kids with you!

If I don't show the whole name it's not copyright infringement, right?

Eventually we got to the bead aisle, and things started to change. My hard exterior started to melt away, and a cheeriness swept over my entire being. My determination not to spend any money washed away, and I lost all control of my wallet and its contents. My kids seemed to sense that I was losing control, and they peppered me with purchase requests, right and left. In order to not succumb to the pressure, I quickly grabbed one tube of beads and ran towards the checkout, with the kids nipping at my heels. It was a narrow escape, but somehow I made it out to the family truckster with just the one tube of beads, and most of my cash, still in hand. It was something, I tell you what!

The beads in question...

 

That one tube of beads is pretty cool, though. When I saw it, I immediately thought "Fish eggs!". Each bead is actually two beads in one: a small pink bead inside of a larger, translucent white bed. That combo makes it look like a small trout egg, and we all know that trout like to eat eggs. 

Looks like an egg to me...

I have several ideas for flies using these beads, but so far the only thing I have tied is a small variation of an Egg Sucking Leech, which I am calling the M.E.S., or Mini Egg Sucker. I think it looks pretty good, and plan on trying it out next year on trout everywhere. Here's the recipe:

Mini Egg Sucker

Mini Egg Sucker Pattern Recipe

Hook: Daiichi 1710, size 10-12
Bead: Pink-inside-white glass bead, size 6/0
Weight: Several wraps of lead wire
Tail: Black marabou
Rib: Black wire, small or Brassie size
Body: Black mohair yarn
Hackle: Olive grizzly hen saddle

New Advertiser: Lund's Fly Shop

I always knew that this blog was big-time, but now it seems more official! We have an actual advertiser, Lund's Fly Shop. If you are here in the Twin Cities/western Wisconsin area, you probably already know about Lund's, but if not, you should get to know them. Located in the beautiful college town of River Falls, Wisconsin, Lund's is a short drive from some of the best trout streams in the region. Walk across Main St. from Lund's and you will find the world-famous Kinnickinnic River. A few miles north are the two branches of the Willow River. A short drive to the east sits the enormously popular Rush River. A handful of lesser known creeks are nearby, as well. And Lund's has everything you need for all of them. Make sure you check out their selection of locally tied flies! Especially the ones tied by some guy named Scott Hanson...

Fly fishing for muskies has gone crazy around here, and Lund's has everything you need if you're into that, too. Pretty much anything you need for fly fishing or fly tying, you can get at Lund's. And we are very excited to have them as an advertiser here on The Riffle! Make sure you click on their ad and check out everything they have for sale. And don't hesitate to contact the owner, Brian, if there's something special you may need.

Hooks & Beads and Beads & Hooks

I just checked the Guinness Book of World Records and it turns out I am the most disorganized human in the History of the World. I mean, sure it's fun to be recognized for something, but I guess I thought it would be something more fun than that...

Well, I am trying my darnedest to not be so disorganized, and my trying is starting with my fly tying stuff. Up until now my hook bags and boxes have just been piled in a little nook in the corner of my rolltop fly tying desk. Using that system of storage usually allows me to find the hooks I need, but only after sifting through the entire pile once or twice or twelve times.

How I look after trying to find the right bag of hooks for the past half hour...

My beads have been somewhat more securely stored in the top middle drawer of the rolltop desk, a system which seems like it should be slightly more organized, until you realize that that drawer is also home to all my CDC, tailing materials, Krystal Flash, Flashabou, rubber legs, and miscellaneous other stuff that doesn't have a permanent home. Finding the beads I need can be very tedious, to say the least...

A fictionalized version of how I used to store my beads... Photo by Catrin Johnson

Well, not any more. After seeing a post in one of my Facebook fly tying groups about this very subject, I did some research and came upon an option that seems to be perfect! I don't know who Elizabeth Ward is, but if you type her name into the Search bar on ebay or Amazon, a ton of her bead and other tiny object storage solutions pop up, many of which are perfect for hooks and beads. I acquired two of the larger containers, which hold dozens of tinier containers, and have been transferring my hooks into one, and my beads into another, over the past few nights. The hook box is now full, and I still have a few packs of hooks laying around on my desk. But, never fear, Elizabeth Ward and her storage solutions are to the rescue! I have another box on it's way.

Hooks

Beads

Individual hook box

So far, everything seems perfect! I know where my stuff is. It's easy to find. I can categorize everything so that I don't mistakenly buy duplicates. It's awesome! Too bad Elizabeth Ward doesn't have a way to help me organize the rest of my life!

Fly Focus: Rusty Spinner

I used to beat my head against the wall trying to match the midge hatch that was obviously occurring around me on trout streams throughout the Upper Midwest. It was usually around dusk, I couldn't see any bugs on the water, yet there were fish rising consistently everywhere I looked. I tried every midge imitation I could find, because what else could it be?!?!

Rusty Spinner, Size 16

I'll tell you what it could be, and probably was all those times that I was getting frustrated. It was probably a mayfly spinner fall, is was it was. I finally figured that out one evening, fifteen years ago or so, and once I switched to a mayfly spinner imitation, I started to consistently catch fish. What a fun breakthrough that was!

Mayfly spinners are fairly easy to tie. I like to use a goose or turkey biot for the abdomen, and dubbing for the thorax. But you can use dubbing for both. Or any other number of materials. For the wings I prefer antron yarn, but other things like poly yarn, hen hackle tips, and organza can work well, among other things.

For a while I liked to tie the antron wings spent, like a normal spinner, but then also add an antron post and a parachute hackle for visibility. That is an added dimension that can be frustrating to tie, so now I have gone back to the spent wings-only approach. Some people add a little piece of yellow foam over the thorax for visibility. That can be a good idea, since spinners can be difficult to see on the water's surface.

Here's how I tie them:

Rusty Spinner Pattern Recipe

Hook: Tiemco 101 or other straight-eye dry fly hook, size 12-24
Thread: Brown or rust, 8/0 or smaller
Tail: Mayfly Tails, dun
Wing: Antron yarn, white or dun
Abdomen: Goose or turkey biot in rust, brown or tan
Thorax: dry fly dubbing in rust, brown or tan

SWAG

I may be biased in this regard, but as far as I can tell it's almost impossible to not love The Riffle. If you do love this blog there are now three ways to show it. Not only do we have stickers that you can slap on the rear window of your Yugo, your tackle box, or your forehead...

I wouldn't recommend slapping one of our stickers on your forehead, but I guess I can't stop you. I am not sure who the handsome model is, but man, he's got some dreamy eyes, doesn't he?

But we also have fun buttons that go perfectly on your shirt, your backpack, your gear bag, or even your ear lobe, if you're into things like that...

That looks great on a flannel shirt, doesn't it?

And we also have super cool magnets, which you can stick on your fridge, the bumper of your Yugo, your tool box, or, for those of you with a metal plate in your skull, your forehead...

As far as I remember, I don't have a metal plate in my skull, so I used the fridge for this magnet photo.

If you would like any of this stuff to show your love for The Riffle, head on over to the Store page and place an order. While you're there, check out all the flies we have for sale, all of which are hand-tied in the Good Ol' USA by an expert fly tyer. You can even request a quote for custom flies, if you have a fly in mind but you can't find it anywhere.

Fly Focus: Female Adams Parachute

I love to tie a lot of Female Adams Parachutes, but I'm not really sure why. If you aren't familiar with a Female Adams, it's pretty much just a regular old Adams, only with a little yellow egg sac on the back end. I don't know if it actually looks like a female mayfly to the trout, or if they even notice the little yellow egg sac. Maybe they do. If I was able to think like a trout I probably wouldn't be typing this right now, because I most likely wouldn't have fingers. Let's just assume they do, and I will continue to tie them. Sounds like a plan to me!

Female Adams Parachute

Hey, I will also teach you how to tie a Female Adams Parachute. What a guy, huh? You can tie them in pretty much any size, but I usually tie mine in 14s and 16s. If you get much bigger than that, there aren't that many mayflies of that size around here. And if you get much smaller than that, the egg sac gets so small that you might as well just tie a regular old Adams.

All of the Female Adams I have ever seen have had a yellow egg sac, so that's what I am going to tie. I have seen a bunch of mayflies with orange egg sacs, though, so you could probably tie them in that color scheme. And trout seem to like pink, so you could probably tie some of those, too... just remember what my boss at Bob Mitchell's Fly Shop always used to say, "There are no rules in fly tying!"

Let's tie one, shall we?

Female Adams Parachute Pattern Recipe

Hook: Tiemco 100 or any other standard dry fly hook, Size 10-22
Thread: Gray 8/0 (or Red 8/0, if you like that look, like I do)
Tail: Brown Mayfly Tails
Post: White Antron yarn
Hackle: Brown and Grizzly rooster, sized for the hook
Egg Sac: Yellow dry fly dubbing
Body: Gray dry fly dubbing

R.I.P. 2018 Trout Season

Today marks the last day of the trout season around here. Since I am not out on the water, I thought it would be fun to take a pictorial look back on the season that was. Join me, won't you?

For me, the season started on an absurdly cold and snowy day in February.

This is Ted. He can be very persuasive about going fishing, even when the weather is terrible...

Ice in the guide.

I didn't actually fish this day, but I did have fun at the 1st Annual Kinni Mini Clave in May.
 

The "Clave" is a great place to try out fiberglass rods!

Going through our stuff before hitting the stream in Forestville State Park.



Trout Trip at Forestville State Park

Lots of fish in this stretch...

A nice, buttery Brown.

My buddy Bryon's first Brookie.

Smallest trout of 2018.

"Watching the woods"

A rare graphite appearance.

Just one of the dangers of trout fishing.

North Shore stream.

Mayfly

Appalachian stream.

The Madame X seemed like a good choice...

Another buttery Brown.

Wrong way!

Last fly of the season: a completely battered Mushroom & Swiss Bugger. Thanks 2018 trout season!