Saturday, March 8, found me in St. Louis, Missouri, speaking to the Ozark Fly Fishers. A crowd of over 100 members turned out for the all-day affair. And what a day it was. I presented PowerPoint programs on “Equipment isn’t the Only Thing,” “Reading Waters,” “Nymphing From Top to Bottom,” and “Fishing the Film.” Because this was not a Fly Fishing Show where presentations must be fitted into the allotted time schedule, the presentations were intertwined with casting instructions and plenty of anecdotal illustrations. Club members had asked that I bring books, and I spent every spare moment inscribing them.

The group was most receptive, and the day passed all too swiftly. But not before we finished with a pizza party, featuring St; Louis style, ultra-thin-crust pizza in toppings such as pepperoni, sausage, bacon, and the supreme with everything. Great stuff. Thank you Ozark Fly Fishers for a great event.

The crowd was a pointing one! I gave them permission to point (mommy always told them not to point). This exercise illustrates the value of the Three Point grip.

The crowd on the other side of the hall was equally pointed in their efforts to fulfill my request to “point at me.”

Book signing is always an important function at club meetings, and I enjoy taking the time to inscribe the books to each person and have a chance to chat a bit with them.

During the recent Fly Fishing Shows, I discussed the use of “tippet rings” or “leader rings.” There were many who could not find them at local shops. Here is a source for these items—really “jump rings”—from the jewelry making industry:

3mm brass rings http://www.firemountaingems.com/search/?Keywords=3mm+soldered+brass+rings

3mm sterling silver rings http://www.firemountaingems.com/itemdetails/H203171FD

2.15 mm rings http://www.firemountaingems.com/itemdetails/H202059FD

I carry my leader rings on a large safety pin (easy to handle, even with very cold hands). Tie the leader to the top ring on the stack, open the pin, and pop the ring off. Simple to do.

The rings allow one to change tippets or leader sections rapidly with no loss of material in the preceding section.

Leader or tippet rings can be inserted anywhere along the length of the leader, as needed.

Holland is warm enough that Theo could fish for pike this past weekend. And fish he did. The big female pike that he caught took his monster fly with gusto. And as Theo was unhooking the hungry female, he noted that it had a big fish in its gullet! That’s either hungry or greedy!

A very nice female pike on the fly–look at its mouth.

The grizzly hackle feather tail of the fly is pointing right at the tail of the other fish in the pike’s gullet.

Sunday at all shows tend to be a bit slower than Saturday, but the slightly smaller crowd is, none the less, every bit as enthusiast. The programs and demos are well attended and one must still answer a barrage of questions after each event. Good stuff.

The next Fly Show is Pleasanton, next weekend. If you’re in the San Francisco area, head on over to the Pleasanton fair grounds for a great show.

The demos were well attended. Here Simon Gawesworth demonstrates two-hand casting.

Norm Norlander is a tireless demonstrator, and always has a big crowd around him, watching his seemingly magic hands perform flawlessly with his great rotary vise.

Dave Scadden of North Fork Outdoors has a new boat–and it is a honey. The Fusion is a 24 pound, inflatable cross between a paddle board and a float tube. Its 48 inch width makes it very easy to stand on, and even with a 200 pound person on it, it still only drafts less than 4 inches of water. It is an amazing new water craft. Great work, Dave.

Keith Scott is one wild, and very good, blues guitar man and friend. He was doing gigs in the area and stopped in at the show to visit for half a day. We met at Dave Scadden’s booth, and got some photos with Dave’s new Fusion boat.

There are those casting pointers again. It’s a fun exercise and everyone has a great time participating and learning with a laugh.

The other half of the pointing crowd. The Sunday crowd packed the casting pool for the demo, and we all had fun learning the Wrist Cast, Forearm Assisted Wrist Cast, and Whole Arm Cast, along with stories, some good-natured humor, and tips on learning to better Reach Mend, Shoot Line, the C-pickup, and more.

The show opened with a bang at 9 am on Saturday, February 15, 2014  Very quickly the crowd was surging through the aisles, looking, talking, buying. The energy was high. It’s been a long winter, and everyone is more than ready for the fishing season to burst forth. I gave a PowerPoint presentation on The Angler As Predator, followed by a casting demo. Then it was off to the author’s booth for book signing. My day ended with a tying demo on hackling techniques. All in a all a great day. The show runs through Sunday. Come on out if you’re in the area, and say “Hi.”

The crowd was thick and intense.

Marc Williamson, a long time friend, is showing others some of his tying trick and tips. The shows always have a great group of tiers.

Daniel Galhardo at Tenkara sharing a good laugh with me about shared experiences.

Daniel demonstrating Tenkara casting and line handling tactics.

Long time friend, Denny Rickards, laughing with his customers.

Outcast boats has some great new items this year. Plenty of gear on display and being sold at the Show.

One of the more unique displays was the art of Dave Allred. His sculptures of steel, brass, and copper have a very pleasant feel and strong appeal, as this trout shows.

Dave’s art extends to the insects, too.

Salt water species are within Dave’s artistic grasp, too, as this rooster fish clearly demonstrates.

The crowd at the casting demo, all pointing at my encouragement. This is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Three Point Grip.

The other side of the casting pool. Look at all those pointers. With the Three Point Grip, the forefinger not only adds great strength to the grip, but points the way of the cast.

Here are two of Theo’s flies that do well anywhere in the world. He and others have fished them very successfully here in the States. They both have peacock herl bodies, and I think that is the major appeal of the flies. Trout just like peacock herl, period.

The tying is straight forward, so make up a few and give them a fair chance. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Theo’s Goldbead Bomber.
Hook: TMC 3769 # 8 -m 10 – 12
Thread: Black, try gold, too
Tail: Golden pheasant fibers topped with red wool yarn
Body: Peacock herl
Hackle: Black

Theo’s Goldbead Bomber

Theo’s  Danger Baby
Hook: TMC hook 3769 # 10 – 12 – 14 – 16
Thread: Black, try gold, too
Head: Goldbead of appropriate size
Butt: Chartreuse flexie body or floss
Body: Peacock herl
Wing : Antron, tan, green, red, or brown

Theo’s Danger Baby

Those who use the various long-leader nymphing tactics will find this fly a very good one to get deep and stay deep. And although Theo ties it in 10 and 12, it is effective down to 18—adjusting the bead size to the hook size, of course.

I like to use it as the top fly in a two fly rig. The heavy weight keeps it right among the cupboards of the bottom. Behind it I will trail a small midge larval imitation or caddis larva style fly (a la the Czech nymphs). A great combo.

Theo’s Golden Balls nymph.

Hook                   :TMC 3761 # 8 – 10 – 12

Thread                 : Black or dark brown (try magenta, too)

Tail                      : Pheasant fibers

Beads                   : 2 or 3, 2 mm gold

Ribbing                : Flat gold tinsel, twisted Flashabou, or gold wire

Wingcase             : Antron yarn or similar—try several darker colors

Cement                : Epoxy or bug bond

1. put the beads on, and tie in a tail of pheasant tial fibers.

2. Tie in the gold tinsel rib, pheasant taoil fibers for the abdomen, and the Antron for the covert.

3. Wind the pheasant tail fibers for the abdomen, and rib with the tinsel. I like to use gold wire to not only add more weight, but to really protect the pheasant tail fibers. I counterwrap the wire so it crosses the pheasant tail fibers in the opposite direction they were wound.

4. Pull the Antron tightly over the top of the beads and tie off at the head—clip away the excess.

5. Give the covert a coat of epoxy or better yet, a coat of thick UV set head cement. Fish with confidence and excitement.

Show season is always a crazy time for me, simply because I am traveling and working the shows. This activity leaves little time for me to keep up on my blog activity, and yet I want to put up new posts as often as I can. My friend, Theo Bakelaar, has come to my aid. He has a number of flies for which he has photographed the tying steps, and he has kindly agreed to share them with us.

I am particularly happy to do so for a three main reasons. (1) They allow me to make posts without too much effort. (2) They promote the use of beads not just for nymphs, but for a variety of imitations, both salt water and freshwater. (3) They allow us to peek in the window of one of Europe’s better known fly tyers and fly fishers to see what style of flies are used there.

This first one is the Long Tail Sally.  Not all that much different than a Woolly Bugger, you say? Have another look. It uses a short shank hook, which give the fly a very much different action in the water. In addition, because the hook is short, the body of the imitation is short. This design would lend itself to a double egg fly with long flowing white marabou tail. Or a fluorescent orange body and hackle, with black marabou tail, and many, many other choices where the splash of color needs to be shorter than the full body length of a Woolly Bugger.

The finished fly. The short hook really makes the fly jig strongly when fished with a Strip/Tease Retrieve or other jigging retrieve.

My friend, Bob Mead, sent along a URL to a great bit of footage of a big brown rising on a river in Central Otaga in New Zealand. I’ve fished that area many times and love the country, the people, and the fish. Watch closely, you can see the damselflies hovering over the water as the brown leaps to snatch them out of the air. Go right here.

Big browns are so much fun on the fly–when you watch this video you’ll understand exactly what I mean.

I told Jason that I was tying flies for a trip to Chile in late March and early April to offer some clinics and spend some time fishing. He very graciously sent me a JB1608 Richard Wheatley Fly box. It’s a JB box because it bears a laser engraved copy of a pen and ink brown trout head that Jason drew. The back of the box bears Jason logo. You can see more of Richard Wheatley fly boxes here.

I will fill the box and use it with great delight. More to come.

The JB1608 is laser engraved with a brown trout head drawn by Jason.

The back of the JB1608 bears both the Richard Wheatley logo and mark and Jason’s logo.

Jason’s Logo is a marvelous linking of J and B and the look of a primitive hook.

The interior of the box offers 10 hinged-lid compartments and a series of “fly clips.” They will all be full as I head to Chile.