The Hendricksons are upon us, and it’s time to haul out the old vise and crank a few imitations. I love the Hair Leg Nymph style for all my mayfly nymph imitations. It’s a very easy design to tie, quite rugged, and highly effective. While mayfly nymphs vary in color, this Red Brown Nymph works just fine for most of the medium to small species. By the way, this was the first Hair Leg Nymph that I designed, in the spring of 1971, and I still rely very heavily on this color and the design.

First tie in a tail of pheasant tail fibers, and a piece of fine copper wire for the rib

Add an abdomen of coarse red brown dubbing and counterwind the copper rib. Wind the ribbing wire as extra weight under the thorax.

Tie in 6 pieces of peacock herl to be used for the covert, form a spinning loop and apply coarse red brown dubbing loosely to one side.

Pluck a clump of guard hairs from the back of a cotton tail rabbit skin and place them in the loop on top of the dubbing and at right angles to the thread. Spin the loop tight and wind it forward to form the thorax. After each turn, stroke the hair legs back so they don't get trapped under a subsequent turn.

TOP VIEW. Stroke the legs out to the sides before pulling the herl forward to make the covert.

After pulling the herl forward tightly over the top of the thorax, tie it down securely at the head. Tie the finishing knot in front of the herl and immediately behind the eye. Clip the herl to leave the butt ends the same length as the hook eye. Clip the hair legs off thee bottom of the fly.

TOP VIEW. I use a drop of thin, flexible head cement to coat the thread and butt ends of the herl. The finished fly gives a very good impression of the Hendrickson nymph. I fish it from about 11 am until the hatch starts, and perhaps into the first part of thee hatch until bigger fish begin to show in the surfacer feeding zone.

The leaves on the oaks are the size of a mouse’s ear; it’s the time of the Hendrickson. Here in the northwoods of Wisconsin, the Hendrickson (Ephemerella subvaria) is our first serious mayfly hatch. And it’s a civilized hatch, at that, coming off just after the lunch hour and lasting for an hour or two. In addition, the duns are large—sizes 10 and 12. But being yet spring, and being Wisconsin, the hatch is variable due to weather conditions. I have fished the Hendrickson hatch in a snow storm, and a few days later, fished it in short sleeves.

The response of the fish to the hatch is equally variable. Some days they seem to fall all over themselves to get every insect drifting down on the currents. Other days it seems that the fish have forgotten just how tasty the Hendrickson can be. One day the trout fall to the nymph, emerger, and dry. The next day all that responds are chubs. But by golly, it’s a real hatch and it’s always interesting.

In my next few posts, I will show designs to imitate nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners, and discuss some fishing tactics for this hatch.

The Hendrickson dun is the herald of a new fishing season here in northern Wisconsin.

Jason and I have received the page proofs from our printers and are busy examining them. They will go back to the printers in a couple of days, and then the book will officially be “in the works.” We will, of course post the estimated release date and other pertinent information right here and on Jason’s Blog–watch for it in the next few days.

In the meantime, I am starting a series of blogs that focus on our hatches as the season gets underway. The first one is up and it’s on the Hendrickson mayfly.

GB and a trophy from reading waters at age 10.

[A quick post from JB] Yep, it’s gone. Off to the printer in Ohio for proofs, then onto the press shortly thereafter. We’ll have an order page up as soon as we can for those readers who might be interested in a Father’s Day gift (not sure that actual delivery will make Father’s Day, but it should be close—we hope). The book will be a sibling to Fishing the Film in terms of size (7X10 inches), length (192 total pages), design (color cover, black text), and cost (US$24.95). Indeed,all books in the “Fly Fishing” series will follow this same template, with the exception of a few titles that will include some color pages inside (lie the third book, Long Flies).

Well, my old friend Jake Jordan doesn’t use a Gray Ghost for his tarpon fishing, but he certainly takes a lot of big fish on long flies at night. Night fishing for big browns is very exciting. Imagine what catching a 100 pound-plus tarpon is like–especially with the added thrill of sharks that can’t be seen but which are most certainly present. No jumping in to get a photo with the fish allowed.

Click on Jake’s link in the right-hand sidebar to receive his e-newsletter or arrange a booking for some of the most exciting fishing you’ll ever do.

May 8, 2011: My good friend Tony Weaver from Anchorage Alaska booked two nights of my extreme night time fly fishing for Tarpon. This year Tony brought along his good friend and fishing buddy Tim Howland from Seattle Washington, Tim had never seen a Tarpon prior to this trip. Tonight  the conditions were: 85 degree water temperature, no wind, dead calm seas, lots of sea weed, and plenty of rolling Tarpon. We began fishing at 7:00 PM and watched hundreds of Tarpon slowly rolling all around the boat, we only got one bite before sunset, then Tony hooked, jumped, and pulled the hook on a big female. Later after jumping a couple of fish and breaking the tip off of a Sage 12 weight in the heavy sea weed, I saw the fin of a laid up surface Tarpon. “Cast over there, (Tony), about 60 feet, and slowly strip the fly”, and then a 110#  female charged and ate the fly. Tony fought that monster for 2 miles,  rolled her on her side on the surface, removed the fly from her mouth, and then after pictures we released this awesome Tarpon. Jumped 3 and caught one tonight!

May 9, 2011: Tim Howland and Tony Weaver met me at “Fly Reel” in the marina at 7:15 PM, for another night of POON fly fishing. Dead calm, lots of sea weed, and thousands of Tarpon rolling on the surface in Tarpon world. Just as the sun set, Tim jumped his first 100 pound+ Tarpon on fly, after the initial jump, Tim forgot to set the hook and the fish spit the fly back at him, (he was shaking)! Next, just after the moon came up, Tim hooked a big male (about 90 pounds), which took 300 yards of backing, jumped 6 times, and settled in for the 20 minute battle, until Tim finally caught and released his first ever Tarpon, of course it was on fly on 20 pound tippet.

Tony jumped two more Poons tonight, and then his final fish of the night, another big Female, ate the fly and was hooked good. Now Tony, who is a world class fly angler, used some new techniques learned tonight from his favorite, old, Tarpon guide, and beat the crap out of this 125 pound Silver King, in less than 10 minutes. We were giggling like little kids as Tony released this awesome Tarpon, it was fun fishing with my good friend again. Tim and Tony fished fro 8 hours of hard fly fishing, they jumped 7 Tarpon, and released 3, the numbers do not tell the story, we had lots of fun! Stay tuned for more fly fishing reports from Tarpon world, I love this job, wish you were here.

Regards: Jake

Hooked up--in the dark.

And it's not the bottom, either--tarpon on.

By the way, they do jump at night.

Typically if there are two anglers in the boat they will rotate the rod.

Another fish on in the inky black. Note how shallow the water is.

In my last post on the Gray Ghost, I showed the labor that I undertook in the days before I knew Carrie Stevens’ tying tactics. She greatly reduced the efforts that are required to tie the fly well, and also to increase its durability.

Here’s another paragraph from Long Flies that explains her tying strategies for the Gray Ghost.

“Carrie Stevens was also very much a production tyer who developed a unique strategy for dressing her unique imitations. For example, she staged the Gray Ghost in three tying steps. First came the tag and ribbed body, which she tied only on the rear 4/5 of the hook. Next came the peacock herl and white bucktail underbody, the golden pheasant crest topping on the body, and the hackle fiber and golden pheasant crest throat. Then came the wing. Now here was her secret. She head cemented the jungle cock nail to the silver pheasant feather and cemented two wing feathers to the other face of the silver pheasant, then allowed the cement to dry thoroughly. She would make up dozens of these assemblies at a time. Then, rather than tying in four individual feathers on each side for the wing, all she had to do was tie in one of the wing assemblies on either side to finish the fly. Fast, efficient, and a very strong construction. In addition, the feathers stayed in position and sustained the look of the fly cast after cast, and fish after fish.”

Carrie used white thread for the body so as not to change the color of the wet floss. As a note, use a floss bobbin when tying this and any other flies that require a floss body. It's a much faster and more efficient way to get the look you want. As you tie, stop every once in a while and spin the bobbin counterclockwise to re-flatten the floss.

Wind on a short tag of silver tinsel and then rib the body. Carrie spaced the ribs liberally to show as much of the body color as was practical.

She then tied in a clump of peacock herl in the underbody position, representing the lateral line of the smelt. Next came a small clump of white bucktail to represent the belly of the baitfish. A golden pheasant crest topping was added over the body. At this point the white thread was tied off and cut away.

Black thread was tied in and used to add a throat of white hackle fibers and golden pheasant crest..

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Carrie had cemented jungle cock nails to the front side of silver pheasant body feathers that had been sized to the hook being used.

She then cemented a pair of winging feathers to the back of each silver pheasant feather/jungle cock nail combo; the result was a four feather wing/shoulder/eye unit that is easily tied in, one on either side to complete the fly..

The finished fly is very durable and sustains its appearance cast after cast, fish after fish.

As I continue to tie flies for our third book, Long Flies, I am amazed at the richness of all the long fly designs. Probably, no not probably, simply the most brilliant early development of streamers (long flies with feather wings) came from the vise of Ms. Carrie Stevens. Here’s a two paragraph excerpt from Long Flies about Carrie’s most famous fly, the Gray Ghost.

It was really Carrie Stevens (1882-1953) that elevated the streamer to its permanent place in the annuals of angling lore. Carrie and her husband Wallace Clinton Stevens lived out their last 30 years at Upper Dam, Maine, where Carrie both fished and tied flies. And what a tier. With her incredible skills, and a nod to the art of the Atlantic Salmon fly, Carrie developed there her most famous fly, the Gray Ghost, as well as others in the “Ghost” series and many other imitations that remain as popular and as effective as the day they first came out of her vise. For those who love detail and beautiful art in their flies—and are willing to spend the time to dress them in this age of busy-ness—Stevens’ flies are a paradigm. She modeled her imitations on those of the Atlantic Salmon fly, giving her creations such arcane parts as tips and tags, and toppings. Not really necessary, but certainly fine window dressing.

When one examines a fly like the Grey Ghost, analyzing it for design features, it becomes readily apparent that Carrie Stevens was not just “tying flies.” The wing color is not white, but gray like a smelt’s back. The four feathers of the wing reduces the overall transparency of the fly, giving it a stronger profile and more closely suggesting the non-transparent back of the bait fish. The silver pheasant cheeks nicely mimic a minnow’s gill plates, and the belly of peacock fibers and bucktail not only increase the effective height of the fly, feeding into the development of the correct vertical profile, but also suggest the lateral line and white under belly of a smelt. The thin application of white bucktail made the belly nearly translucent, like that of the natural.

When I was young, I tied the Gray Ghost consulting the Family Circle’s Guide to Trout Flies and How to Tie Them for the correct pattern. I was not privy to the actual tying tactics used my Ms. Stevens, and dressed the fly as shown below. Note however, that I did not add golden pheasant crests nor jungle c0ck eyes (which I could not afford in those days) and the shoulder was the palest grouse feather that I could find amongst those collected with my shotgun.

Carrie preferred very long shank hooks for her flies to better imitate the smelt of the Maine lakes. This imitation is dressed on a size 2, 10X long, Partridge hook with a looped eye. The tag is silver tinsel, the body is orange floss tapered front and back, the rib is embossed silver tinsel

A half dozen strands of peacock herl is added under the body to represent the lateral line if the smelt.

Next comes a belly of long white bucktail to suggest the white belly of the smelt.

A golden pheasant crest is applied as a topping over the body. It shows out through the wing when the fly is wet, giving the imitation more "depth."

The wing is made of four hen saddle hackle feathers faced cup-side inward and tied in so they cover the body.

Silver pheasant feather cheeks are added to suggest the gill plates. Note that this step covers the thread used to secure the other elements of the fly, allowing for a very small head to be formed.

Jungle cock eyes and a throat of golden pheasant crest are added to complete the design.

My apologies for abandoning all of you for the last 10 days or so. Jason and I have been working rather intensely to get book # 2 press ready. Reading Waters will be going to the printer this week. As soon as we have a release date we will, of course, post that on our blogs.

In the meantime, I’ve finished Long Flies, book three in the series, and am working on number four, The Angler as Predator. Well, maybe I shouldn’t say I’ve totally finished Long Flies because I am still tying the flies to be featured in the book. Which leads me to this post.

Long flies are built from about every tying material that has ever managed to fall into the eager hands of a fly tyer. Based on the use of materials and design styles, we can divide the long flies into ten categories:

1.    Bucktails (also called Hair Wing Flies) are tied with a wing made from any of a wide variety of long hairs.

2.    Streamers (also called Feather Wing Flies) are tied with a wing made from feathers or part of feathers.

3.    Strip Flies have a wing made from a strip of tanned hide with the fur left on, or similar materials.

4.    Buggers have no wing per se, but rather have an elongate tail made from a variety of materials.

5.    Muddlers and Divers have a packed deer-body hair head that causes them float and to send out strong displacement waves when pulled underwater.

6.    Collared Flies are those in which a wing is applied as a collar of various materials.

7.    Tube Flies are tied on plastic or metal tubes with a variety of materials and tying styles.

8.     Film Flies have been designed to ride on, in, and just under the surface film. (Mice, Poppers, Hair Bugs, Gurglers, Sliders, and others.)

9.    Techno-Flies have lips, wobble wings, spinner blades, rattle chambers, and other devices to give them action and sound not achievable with normal tying methodologies.

10.  Others include those tied without a wing or long tail to represent a variety of elongate invertebrate organisms.

Obviously all of these didn’t arise at the same time. Bucktails and Streamers had their origins first, and nearly simultaneously, in the work of Harvey A. Donaldson, who created and fished both bucktails and streamers as early as 1875. His first streamer was a real Down and Dirty fly, no doubt. In fact it was nothing but 4 white chicken feathers lashed to the hook, cupped sides facing out.

The design of this fly is genius. Donaldson wanted an imitation that really gave a strong pulsing motion in the water, and turning the feathers cup-face outward certainly did just that. Many tyers/anglers won’t tie or use flies with such wings because they are not as streamlined and artistic looking as ones with the cup-faces together and toward the inside. But Donaldson was looking for fish catching action, not just an arty fly, and he certainly found it. Only a bare hook with four feathers lashed in place. It still works as a great Down and Dirty Streamer.

The Donaldson Streamer is nothing but four feathers lashed on the hook--the silver hook is my idea just to give the fly a little flash.

Our second book, Reading Waters will be off to the printers next week. Expect it out by the third week in May. Watch this blog for updates along the way. In the meantime, I’m cranking away on books three and four. Our third volume is entitled. Long Flies and covers the development of long fly designs and log fly tactics. It will include 16 full-color pages of long fly designs from their origins until today–I’m tying these right now. One of these is the Fort Wayne Bucktail, The first fly to use the “bucktail” monicker. Below is a paragraph excerpted from our book.

The term “bucktail,” as applied to a fly style, seems to have been coined by John P. Hance of Fort Wayne, Indiana. In Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing, Bates states that (Hance)…“brought forth a long hair-wing fly for bass called the ‘Fort Wayne Bucktail,’ …dated 1886.” It was more like a modern bucktail in its design with a tail of red and yellow feather fibers topped with a strip of woodduck flank feather, an orange body ribbed with gold tinsel, and a sizable clump of bucktail hair tied in specifically like a wing. And, like Gordon’s Bumblepuppy, Hance’s imitation was specifically built to represent a baitfish. And note—it was originally designed for bass.

The Fort Wayne Bucktail

As I’ve given tying demos around the US this spring, I’ve had numerous requests from the audience to show them the Double Hitch knot that I use to tie off the thread at the head. It’s a very easy knot to learn (it had to be for an 11 yyear old who knew nothing of the whip finish and so just “made up” a knot that worked). I’ve set this as a permanent page–see the listing at the right

The Double Hitch finishing knot

I don’t use a whip finish. The truth of the matter is, I learned to tie flies by myself from the Family Circle’s Guide to Trout Flies and How to Tie Them, and there was no mention of a whip finish. The instructions simply said to place a couple of half hitches on the head and then lacquer it. Half hitches didn’t hold very well, so I came up with a knot I call the double hitch, and began using two of them to finish the fly. They work just great. I’ve since learned the whip finish, but really don’t use it because the double hitch has decided advantages for

First, I can tie it much faster than a whip finish. Second, I can direct its placement so that no material gets trapped under the thread as the knot is drawn tight. Third, I can use it on any size fly and with any size thread. Fourth, I can place it anywhere along the length of the shank, as needed.

To tie the knot, begin by taking the thread around a finger of your materials hand, and then one and one half times around the head of the fly. The thread should end up hanging down under the head. (Figure 1). If there are hackle barbs or other materials close to the head that could get mistakenly wrapped under by these turns, make them with the very end of the bobbin (Figure 2). Take the loop around the eye of the fly, keeping the bottom thread of the loop under the eye and the top thread of the loop over the eye (Figure 3). As you do so, rotate your finger in the loop so that you can pinch the loop between your thumb and forefinger. Your hand will now be on the far side of the hook (Figure 4). Pull on the bobbin to draw the knot tight. As it tightens, allow the loop of the knot to slide through your pinch so that the loop gradually gets smaller. By this method you can guide the loop of the knot to exactly the right spot on the head and avoid trapping any materials in the knot.

I’ve learned to tie this knot using my index finger, middle finger, or ring finger of my materials hand. This allows me to hold materials out of the way with the other fingers, if necessary (Figure 5).

Figure 1. Take the thread around the tip of a finger of the materials hand and then 1 1/2 turns around the hook.

Figure 2. If need be, just the very end of the bobbin can be used to make the wraps, preventing any unwanted tie downs.

Figure 3. The loop is taken around the eye so that the top thread stays above the eye and the bottom thread stays below the eye.

Figure 4. Rotate your finger in the loop so that you can get your hand on the far side of the hook and then catch the loop between your thumb and forefinger. Pull the bobbin to draw the knot tight.

Figure 5. Learn to tie the knot with your middle finger so that the thumb and forefinger can hold materials out of the way as the knot is tightened.