I’m headed to Alaska with my friend, Dave Graebel, in search of some big rainbows on the dry fly. This is the time to do it. The trout are not yet so fixated on eggs that they will take nothing else. And, the mayflies are on the wing—both the Western Green Drake and the PMDs. I’ve got the dry flies all tied and resting patiently in the box. And I’ve got my Stroft tippet material packed, too (see here).

But this is also the time when the sockeye fry migrate from the headwater streams down to the first lake, there to remain for a year or two until they become smolts that migrate to the sea. The big rainbows eat the fry by the bucketful, and so, having a good selection of fry flies in the box is a wise move.

One of the chief features of the young fry is the very large eyes, relative to the size of their body. I tie the inch long or so flies on salmon egg hooks or other similar short shank hooks because the wire in them is extra strong. A caddis bend hook or other similar fly tying hook is often straightened by Alaska’s husky bows. And I fish them on 2X so that I can really pour the pressure to them on my 9 foot 6 or 7 wt Hardy Zenith rod.

In the past, I tied the flies, added stick on eyes, and then coated the head with epoxy, stuck them on a drying wheel and came back 24 hours later to claim the finished product. Not now. Now I use Silvercreek’s Crystal UV Coat. It cures in seconds, literally, and is not tacky when hardened. It comes in two varieties (1) the original, either thick or thin, and (2) Flexthin. I love ‘em all. Tie the fly, slap on the eyes, coat the head with cement, shine the UV light on it and voila, it’s done. When I coat the head, I go right over the eyes so that everything is fused into a single unit. Works like a charm. The little bullet head allows the fly to get under the surface with ease, and the eyes stay put fish after fish.

Silvercreek’s Crystal Coat comes in a 15cc bottle, with applicator, for $15.00. That’s enough for hundreds of flies. You can get it, and/or a UV flashlight or UV laser from picaboo@charter.net (at this time they only ship to US addresses). Read more about this great product at http://tinyurl.com/kkctayx

The first step in the fry fly is to tie in a little crystalline flash material. This will form the core o fhb body, and give a bit of flash from time to time.

Form a loop and spin a bit of cream fur to form a 3-D hackle. Wind over front half of shank to form body.

Add the stick on eyes, one on either side, obviously.

Coat the head and eyes with UV coat, hit em with UV light, and the fry fly is complete

Silvercreek’s UV coat comes in a 15cc bottle with brush applicator/ Easy and very fast to use.

Both UV Coats come in a 15cc bottle with an applicator brush. They are $15.00 each.

I also carry two types of UV flashlights and a UV laser.

Let  your readers know that they can reach me at picaboo@charter.net for information. I ship only to USA addresses.

They can read about what I offer at:

http://tinyurl.com/kkctayx