Pub Night Change of Location and Final Details for the Euro Nymphing Workshop

Tomorrow Night, Friday, is Pub Night and we have had to change locations. Bo Diddleys has a band and a substantial cover charge so we are moving to Tiffany's Pub right at the top of the south hill! Karen, Phil, Patsy and I will be there about 7:30 pm!

I have added the details about Saturday below for the Euro Nymphing Workshop. All the tying packages for those of you who signed up have been made up and are ready to go! This is going to be a very informative workshop.

Hi Gang!

Can you please try to bring the following material along with you to the Euro Nymphing Workshop with Phil Rowley! If you are having trouble finding any of these materials, TC Outfitters will have most of these materials at the workshop for purchase or you can share materials with another fellow fly tyer!

I know TC Outfitters carries most of these materials.

UTC 70 Red

UTC 70 Shrimp Pink

UTC 140 Olive

UTC 70-Black

UTC 70-Olive

.030" Lead Wire

3X or 4X Tippet (for ribbing)

Mirage Opal Mylar-Medium

Mirage Opal Mylar-Small

Copper Wire (Fine or Small)

Gold Wire (Fine or Small)

Black Flashabou

Fine Silver Wire

Dubbing Wax

.... the rest of the materials will be supplied

The Workshop is at Mattie McCullough School which is located at 26 Lawford Avenue. The easiest way to get to Mattie McCullough School is to travel east on 32nd Street right to its end. The school is just to your right about a block down Lawford Avenue. We will get started at 9 am and finish about 4:30 pm.

If you are travelling down Highway 2, take the 32nd Street exit and head east towards Red Deer College and continue to travel all of the way up 32nd Street travelling east for about 4 km.

Remember to bring all of your tying tools because this is a hands on workshop!

We will supply snacks, coffee, water, etc.

Come early (8:30 am to set up and to have coffee with Phil!)

We will also order pizza as a group although you are welcome to bring a lunch!

Bob

Chironomids That Work!

Hi Everybody!

We had another great turn out of fly tyers who spent the evening tying chironomids. The entire evening was especially successful thanks to Troy Langelaar at TC Outfitters. Troy ordered in most of the materials for the evening. Some of the materials were tough to run down. Thanks Troy!

Just a few reminders:

1. Pub Night is this Friday, January 30th at Bo Diddley's Pub on the south end of Red Deer near Bower Mall.

2. Our all day Euro Nymphing Workshop with Phil Rowley is this Saturday January 31st. All the details are in a previous post! There are a few spots left!

3. Next Monday, Evan Ritchie is our guest tyer.

4. All the details about tonight's chironomids that we tied are detailed below!

I have been very fortunate to learn about chironomids from two very knowledgable fly fishers. Phil Rowley and John Kent have taught me a great deal about lake fly fishing. Today, I want to take the time to recognize John for his great fly patterns and fly tying ideas.

John is an innovative fly tyer who has spent many hours designing and tying lake flies. His time at Tunkwa Lake Resort certainly gave John the opportunity to develop flies that work! John's chironomids do an excellent job of imitating the naturals.

John told me about how the Dragon Lake Special came to be from a customer who described the chironomids at Dragon Lake. John got to work and quickly got this great pattern to his customer who had a lot of success. I have personally chironomid fished with this pattern in Manitoba with a lot of hook ups.

John also steered me into fishing a chartreuse chironomid while we were chasing the trophy fish in the Parkland Region of Manitoba. Well I had no chartreuse chironomids. I borrowed some beads from Barry Stokes and found some chartreuse diamond braid that I dismantled to create a chartreuse chironomid. I was giving this creation a try at Patterson Lake in Manitoba and I was surprised with its effectiveness.

The chironomid called The Patriot was shown to me by Doyle Clark from Idaho. I know Doyle has had a lot of success with this pattern and I do know that lahontan cutthroats will devour this chironomid.I have seen a few variations of this chironomid but the basics; red, white and blue seem to to be the winning ingredients.

There is always something to learn in fly fishing. I consider myself lucky to have some very knowledgeable individuals point me in the right direction. I appreciate their wisdom and advice.

John Kent

Using Unistretch as an underbody to help create a nicely tapered body is an idea that John Kent has used a lot.

 Loon Thin Formulation UV resin is a great top coat to your chironomid!

Chartreuse Chironomid

Hook: Mustad C49S sizes 10-16

Thread: UTC Chartreuse 70 denier

Rib: Micro Tubing Mahoganny

Bead: 7/64s or 3/32nd Chartreuse

Underbody: Unistretch White

Guns 'n Roses

Designed by John Kent

(Watch John tie this fabulous chironomid)

Hook: C49S Sizes 10 to 16

Thread: UTC Wine UTC 70 denier

Rib: Micro Tubing Mahoganny

Body: Flashabou Gun Metal Grey (6916)

Thorax: UTC Wine UTC 70 denier

Underbody: Unistretch White

Dragon Lake Special 

Designed by: John Kent

Hook: Daiichi Covert #11 and 13

Rib: Small silver wire

Body: UTC Wood Duck 70 denier

Thorax: UTC Rust Brown 70 denier

Bead: 7/64th or 3/32nd silver

Gills: White Unistretch

Underbody: Unistretch White

The Patriot

Hook: Mustad C49S sizes 10-16

Thread: UTC Red or Black 70 denier

Bead: White, 7/64ths or 3/32nd

Body: UTC Blue Tinsel medium or small

Rib: UTC Red Tinsel, small

Thorax: UTC Red 70 denier (or black)

(The Patriot is also tied with a 2 tone red and blue body with a silver wire rib!)

As you can see, I order all of my beads from Canadian Llama Company. Kent and Amanda Glovett have provided prompt service at great prices.

Bernie and Alex working on their chironomids!

Western Canadian Fly Fishing Exposition

Saturday was perfect to spend the day at the Western Canadian Fly Fishing Exposition. Doug, Larry and Bob took in all the displays.We talked with many of the exhibitors, watched some seminars, and of course bought some fly tying materials. As you can see from the picture above, Doug is showing off the rhea feathers he bought from the Fly Gals. These are great feathers for intruders!

The expo was well attended on Saturday. Lots of our gang made the trip south to Spruce Meadows to take in the show!

Larry and Ken had a shopping list. Of course any new shiny, sparkly item got a thorough examination.

Reid Stoyberg was spending his weekend at the Plummer's Arctic Lodges booth! You can tell that Reid loves working at Great Bear and the Tree River for Plummers.

Norm Norlander demonstrates his creation, the highly successful Norvise!

Doug is at the Trout Unlimited booth with the new CEO of Trout Unlimited Canada, 

Silvia D'Amelio!

Pub Night Friday January 30th at 7:30 pm

Where: Bo Diddley's Pub right across the street from Bower Mall (south end of Red Deer)

When: Friday January 30th at 7:30 pm

Phil Rowley will be there to visit with everybody!

Materials to Bring to the Euro Nymphing Workshop with Phil Rowley on January 31st!

Hi Gang!

Can you please try to bring the following material along with you to the Euro Nymphing Workshop with Phil Rowley! If you are having trouble finding any of these materials, I am sure that we can do some sharing at the workshop!

UTC 70 Red

UTC 70 Shrimp Pink

UTC 140 Olive

UTC 70-Black

UTC 70-Olive

.030" Lead Wire

3X or 4X Tippet (for ribbing)

Mirage Opal Mylar-Medium

Mirage Opal Mylar-Small

Copper Wire (Fine or Small)

Gold Wire (Fine or Small)

Black Flashabou

Fine Silver Wire

Dubbing Wax

Parasol Emergers and a CDC Caddis Dry Fly Pattern with Tim Maley

Twenty Two fly tiers came out tonight and learned to construct parasol emerges with Tim Maley. It is neat to see a very unique way to present a fly just under the surface. The fly is attached to an antron/yarn parasol that allows the fly to be fished just under the surface. You can use this technique for just about any emerging mayfly or caddis.

We ended the tying session by tying an excellent CDC Caddis pattern that is a real winner!

Thanks Tim for the very cool idea. I hope we get some feedback as to how this pattern made out on the water this upcoming fly fishing season!

Just a few reminders:

1. The Western Canadian Fly Fishing Exposition is on this weekend at Spruce Meadows in Calgary. Take a look at their website for a list of presenters. This exposition is usually full of great displays, presenters and product to purchase!

2. The Euro Nymphing Workshop with Phil Rowley still has 6 spots available. Let Bob Vanderwater know if you would like to attend!

I will post some materials that you will need for the workshop. Mostly thread. If you cannot find the materials, I am sure you can share with another person attending the workshop!

3. Next Monday we will be doing a chironomid session. The cost of next week's Fly Tying Monday is  $5.00. You will get some extra thread to take with you at the end of the session. Try to bring an extra bobbin if possible next week!

Building a pheasant tail parasol emerger.

Pheasant Tail Parasol Emerger

Thread: Green or black 8/0 thread

Hook: Mustad 3906 size 14 or 16

Parasol: Antron or macrame cord

Attaching parasol: 8 pound tippet

Tail: Pheasant Tail

Rib: Copper wire

Body: Pheasant tail

Thorax: Peacock herl

Legs: Pheasant

Emerging Caddis Parasol

Thread: Green or black 8/0 thread
Hook: Mustad 3906 size 14 or 16
Parasol: Antron or macrame cord
Attaching parasol: 8 pound tippet
Body: Olive semi seal
Wing: Swiss straw
Thorax: Olive semi seal
Legs: Olive mallard flank

CDC Caddis Dry Fly

Thread: 8/0 Olive

Hook: Standard dry fly hook sizes 14-16

Body: Olive antron

Wing: Tan CDC

Thorax: Olive antron

Hackle: Grizzly

The gang at work!

Damsels, Stones and a Streamer with Larry Prowse

The library was jammed to capacity tonight to learn to tie three excellent fly patterns with our guest tier, Larry Prowse. Larry brought along a very cool floating damsel pattern that is a sure trout catcher. Larry also showed us how to tie an excellent streamer that included a furled tail using UV polar chenille and finally we took time to learn a quick and efficient way to tie in legs for a stonefly.

Three fantastic patterns Larry! Thanks!

Just a reminder that we are two weeks away from the all day Euro Nymphing Workshop with Phil Rowley! Drop Bob an e-mail to sign up! We still have some room!

Next week Tim Maley is our tier. I know Tim has a cool session planned for us!

Floating Damsel

Hook: 2 XL nymph hook size 10

Thread: Olive 8/0

Tail: Olive marabou

Body: Razor foam, olive

Legs: Partridge

Thorax: Olive seal

Shellback: Razor foam, olive

Eyes: Yellow/Red 1/16 foam, round

You can burn mono, use chenille or foam to make damsel eyes!

Rabbit Streamer with a Polar Chenille Body

Hook: size 4XL Streamer hook sizes 2 to 6

Thread: Color to suit streamer

Tail: Furled polar chenille and rabbit

Body: Polar chenille and rabbit

Eyes: Dumbell Eyes

Head: UV Ice Chenille

Making a furled underbody tail for the streamer.

Rubber Legged Stonefly

Hook: 3XL size 6 -10 streamer hook

Tail: Rubber legs

Legs: Rubber legs

Antenna: Rubber legs

Body: Chenille

The Gang at work!

Green Drakes with Dr. Bill Young

Happy 2015 Everybody!

Dr. Bill Young was our guest  presenter tonight. Twenty fly tiers came out to take in his presentation on the stages of a green drake. We tied a nymph, an emerger and a dun. This was an excellent opportunity to review all the major stages of a mayfly.

Bill always has a few insightful thoughts that he shares with the group. Washing your hands and using hand lotion is a great way to start a tying session. Bill also suggested that one continue to tie the same pattern many times so you get used to the correct proportion and tie in points for the fly. We also talked about how a parachute fly seemed to be more effective than a dun in so many cases.

Thanks Bill for getting us going for 2015. We even had the big screen going in the corner so we could watch the Canada-Russia gold medal game which our boys won!

Next week, Larry Prowse is our guest tyer!

Remember that we still have 7 or 8 spots for the Euro Nymphing Workshop with Phil Rowley. Drop Bob an e-mail to sign up. The all day workshop is the last Saturday in January!

Green Drakes!

Bill loves to use Corn Huskers Lotion on his hands before tying flies.

Preparing a parachute post is an excellent skill to master.

Green Drake Nymph

Hook: Mustad 3906 size 10

Thread: Olive 6/0 or 8/0

Tail: Goose biots

Body: Peacock herl

Rib: Small gold wire

Thorax: Grey dubbing

Flashback: Crystal flash

Legs: Partridge

Parachute Green Drake

Hook: Mustad  94840 size 10

Thread: Olive 8/0

Emerging Shuck: White antron

Body: Green-brown antron

Post: Grey antron

Hackle: Grizzly

Green Drake Dun

Hook: Mustad  94840 size 10

Thread: Olive 8/0

Tail: Moose or elk

Body: Green-brown antron

Wing: Antron

Hackle: Brown

Watching the BIG game during during our tying session!