Thinking Outside of the Box with Ralf Kuntzemann

Ralf Kuntzemann was our guest instructor tonight. Ralf shared several neat flies that are all quite innovative and use materials that you probably did not buy at a fly shop except for the hooks and thread! Ralf's ideas allow most of flies to be "Guide's Flies." That is, flies that are quick to tie and are fish catchers! All of his flies are versatile. You can quickly change the size, colour, hook size so the fly has willing trout!

The first fly is a leech that literally takes 30 seconds to tie. Simply tie the yarn onto the hook, done. You can adjust the length of the leech with a quick trim. Ralf also uses jig hooks. A quick bead of UV resin to the hook, touch the yarn, hit your UV light and presto, the fly is complete!

Another great yarn made a nifty dragon fly imitation, while we tied a chironomid with just white thread and magic markers to create the appropriate colour. We then tied a blood worm imitation with a red hook and some 20 pound mono! The effect is awesome. Finally we tied an ant pattern by cutting off a section from a nonslip mat.

Well done Ralf! Great ideas! That was a fast two hours taking in all of those ideas. Oh yes, Ralf showed us how to fashion wine corks to make great strike indicators.

MacGyver would have been proud of you, Ralf! I know the 30 plus fly tyers came away with a lot of great ideas!

By the way, most of the yarn was bought at Michaels. Don't for get your 40% off coupon!

A few important announcements:

Our annual all day workshop with Phil Rowley is this Saturday starting at 9 am. We will have the coffee on at 8:30 am. remember to take a look at the spooled materials that you should have along.  Just look below Phil's picture on the blog for the list! Troy at TC Outfitters has most of the materials available at the shop. He is open Tuesday-Thursday in the evening!

Yes we will order pizza for lunch or you can bring your own lunch. Drinks, water and snacks will be available throughout the day! Bring a coffee cup along!

Finally we will be having PUB Night at Tiffany's this Friday night starting at 7 pm. Bob, Karen, Phil and Patsy will be there to visit! Do bring your spouse!

Yes there is a tying session next Monday! Rick Miyauchi is our guest instructor! I wonder what Rick has up his sleeve?

Ralf's Leech 

Dragon Flies

Empty Tea containers make for great storage boxes for flies!

Tying a Chironomid with just white thread and and red and black marker!

Use the Red Marker to make a red butt and then colour the thread black for the ribs and thorax!

Watch Davie McPhail tie the Glo-Bright Buzzer!

Blood Worm Imitation!

Hook: A Red Hook shaped to imitate a blood worm shape

Thread: Green or black

Body: Mono

Covering UV Resin

Hereare two videoes of tying this type of bloodworm pattern!

Floating Ant!

Hook: Size 12 dry fly hook

Body: Foam sections from a nonslip mat

Legs: Hackle

Home Made Strike Indicators (with wine bottle corks)

Stimulators, Yellow Sally Stones and "The Chicken" with Garnet Clews

Garnet Clews was our guest instructor today. He showed 26 fly tyers 3 great dry flies that our local cutthroat trout will greedily smash. This was Garnet's first time in front of the camera with our club! Garnet showed us a slick way to tie stimulators. We used "pro wrap", a material we usually wrap an ankle of a knee with before applying sports tape. That way the tape will easily cut away after use without pulling off all of your body hair! Pro wrap is a type of stretchy foam and it is the perfect material for the body and the head of stimulators, stone flies and hoppers. You can get pro wrap at a local therapy store like Collegiate Sports Medicine (downtown in Red Deer near McBains Camera shop). Garnet also taught us how to overlap hackle to reinforce it instead of using wire. Garnet showed us his favourite caddis pattern called "The Chicken!" The Chicken is a CDC Caddis pattern. It floats low in the water and is an excellent representation of a caddis adult!

Next week Ralf Kuntezmann is our guest instructor. Bring some white or cream  8/0 thread, a red and black marker, your resin and UV light or crazy glue along!

We still have a few spots for Phil Rowley's All Day Workshop on February 4th. Drop Bob Vanderwater a note to sign up ($40). We will have pub night on February 4th. The location TBA!

Foam Stimulator

Hook: TMC 200R sizes 6-14

Thread: yellow or orange

Tail: Deer hair

Body: Pro wrap

Hackle #1: brown or furnace 

Wing: Deer hair

Head: Pro wrap

Hackle #2: Grizzly

Yellow Sally Stone

Hook: TMC 200R size14

Thread: yellow or orange

Egg Sac: Orange Pro Wrap

Body: Yellow Pro wrap

Hackle #1: grizzly 

Wing: Deer hair

Head: Pro wrap

Hackle #2: Grizzly

"The Chicken" CDC Caddis

Hook: Size 16 dry fly

Body: Ice dub (colour to suit)

Wing: CDC Tan

Pro Wrap

It was cool to see Chris' dad here all the way from Nova Scotia! His flies looked pretty decent!

Three Calebaetis Nymph Patterns and The Skip Nymph with Bernie Peet

Bernie Peet was our guest fly tying instructor. Bernie taught 24 fly tyers how to tie 4 excellent stillwater patterns. You can read Bernie's notes below. Tying well proportioned slim callibaetis nymphs takes practice and precision! Bernie's instructions helped us all tie excellent nymphs that will certainly be winners on our next trip to our favourite lakes! Thanks for the informative evening Bernie!

Next week Garnet Clews is our guest tyer. Stimulators and Lime Sallies are on the menu! Be sure to have orange, olive, and yellow thread along in 6/0 for the stimulators. Bring chartreuse or yellow 8/0 for the lime sallies!

Note: The ALL Day Phil Rowley Workshop on February 4this rapidly filling up. We will be full once we hit 30 fly tyers. Drop Bob a note to sign up! We have 26 tyers signed up so far. The cost of the workshop is $40!

We will also have pub night on Friday February 3rd. Stay tuned for the time and location!

Cracking Callibaetis

Last May, at Dragon Lake, Quesnel, BC, there were some prolific mayfly hatches.  Trout fed sporadically, for two, or perhaps three hours, in the late morning, then again in the early evening.  We quickly found that trout preferred slim, light coloured mayfly patterns rather than the pheasant tail nymphs that many anglers were using.  The most successful fly was the King’s Callibaetis Mayfly, which was responsible for catching fish to 5 lbs 8ozs.  However, the colour of the mayflies varied, almost from day to day, and sometime a darker pattern or green mayflies were successful.  Presentation was equally important; we fished with a floating line and a long leader in depths of 6 to 10 feet, twitching the flies above the weed beds.  Alternatively, we could have used a nymph tip line or a clear intermediate to provide a different presentation.

We came back from BC with one battered King’s Callibaetis left, so this was the first pattern I started tying last fall.  I have also explored various other Callibaetis patterns and here are some of the recipes that I would like to share with the group.

Skip Nymph (Skip Morris)

Hook: 2X Nymph, eg. Mustad S82-3906B, or Daiichi 1710, size 12 – 16

Thread: 8/0 brown

Tail, back and thorax cover:  About 8 Pheasant Tail fibres

Body and thorax:  Hareline dubbing, Hair’s Ear

Rib: Copper wire

Poxyback Callibaetis (intheriffle.com, via YouTube)

Hook: Curved nymph, eg. Mustad C53S, size 10 - 16

Thread: Olive UTC 70

Tail:  Ostrich herl, light gray

Body and thorax:  Whitlock SLF dubbing, Scud Shrimp olive

Rib:  Krystal Flash, pearl

Thorax cover:  Pheasant tail

Gills:  Fibres from base of partridge feather

Legs:  Partridge

Poxyback:  UV resin

King’s Callibaetis Mayfly (Matt King, in Stillwater Selections by Phil Rowley)

Hook: Mustad C53S, size 12 – 16

Thread:  8/0 or 6/0 tan

Tail:  Partridge

Body:  Thin Skin, tan

Thorax: Stillwater Solutions Sparkle Blend Dubbing, Callibaetis

Legs:  Partridge

Head:  Stillwater Solutions Sparkle Blend Dubbing, Callibaetis

Wing case:  Thin Skin, mottled oak, natural

Stillwater Callibaetis (Phil Rowley in Stillwater Selections)

Hook: 2X Nymph, eg. Mustad S82-3906B, or Daiichi 1710, size 12 – 16

Thread:  8/0 olive or tan

Tail:  Stillwater Solutions mottled Turkey Flats, Callibaetis or light olive

Rib #1:  Wire, Fine silver

Rib #2:  Crystal Hair or Krystal Flash, pearlescent or silver

Body:  Stillwater Solutions mottled Turkey Flats, Callibaetis or light olive

Wing case:  Stillwater Solutions Midge Braid, brown

Thorax:  Stillwater Solutions mottled Turkey Flats, Callibaetis or light olive

Legs:  Stillwater Solutions mottled Turkey Flats, Callibaetis or light olive

Tying the Kismet, ...a Rick Miyauchi Pattern tied by Phil Rowley

The Kismet is a Rick Miyauch pattern. Rick has experimented with many a combination of marabou and brill or micro chenille to come up with several excellent balanced flies. Take a look, this fly should definitely have a space in your fly box for your favourite stillwater lakes!

The 2016 Fly Fishing Season Was Amazing, Take a Look!

Grab a coffee and enjoy the slide show! A special thanks to all of you who submitted photographs!

Wyoming Cutthroat Slam, a Special Presentation by Karen Vanderwater

This was a trip that was inspired by our friend Leon Buckles. Leon is from the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club. Over the last several years, Karen and I have spent several days on the water with Leon! Leon has crossed the world many times with both work and pleasure. He has many a great story to tell and he does!

Karen Vanderwater

We had 31 fly tyers come to Karen's presentation on the Wyoming Cutthroat Slam!

A picture of concentration!

Leon invited Karen and I to join him in Wyoming. Our goal was to catch the 4 different pure strain cutthroats that call Wyoming home! Leon was our leader and he already knew where to set up and to fly fish. It was a 15 hour drive from Red Deer. We left early and we were at our camp spot on the Grey River by supper time. It was the third week in July. It was a long drive but our adventure was well on its way.

Well you can read more about our trip right here:

http://rdflytying.blogspot.ca/2016/07/wyoming-cutthroat-slam-getting-there.html

and the 4 blog posts right after the above post!

Karen did a great job catching all of the subspecies of cutthroat that exist in Wyoming using a Bastard Adams dry fly. 

A few weeks later, Leon was in Alberta fly fishing some of our home waters. Leon showed us that his "go to" cutthroat dry fly was an older more traditional fly called a Renegade. Well Karen used Renegades with a great deal of success on our local cutthroat streams. 

That is why we spent tonight tying Renegades, Royal Renegades and Bastard Adams flies.

Here is a little information on the Renegade. It was originated by Taylor "Beartracks" Williams of Sun Valley Idaho.  The first reference that Leon found was June 4, 1966.  This was said about it:  No angler in his right mind would fish for cutthroat without a few Renegade flies in his pocket.  The Renegade is a dry fly.  Besides a top cutthroat and brook fly, it is a blessing to anglers with poor eyesight.  The double hackle, fore and aft, make it float high and dry with the white hackle in the front it is very easy to see.  It is tied on hooks #8 through #16.

The original was tied with a gold tag.  Now you see them with gold or silver tags.  A variation was tied for the St Joe River (a premiere cutthroat stream in Idaho) with two white hackles in the front to float it in heavier water.

In Flies of the Northwest, a book published by the Inland Empire Fly Club in 1998,  it had this to say.  "The Renegade, which is nearly as popular as the Adams and the Royal Coachman, is a "must have" pattern for anyone who fishes for cutthroat in the Northwest's lakes and streams.  Other species of trout like it too.  It is highly visible and because it is "symmetrical," it looks good from any angle.   If fish don't take it dry, try fishing it subsurface."

I have added some pictures of the flies and trip highlights below! Thank you Leon for all the information and, of course, for the wonderful company while fishing!

Next week, our guest tyer is Bernie Peet! I am sure that Bernie will have some neat fly patterns for us to tie!

Remember that the all day Philip Rowley Workshop is on February 4th. The cost is $40. The theme is attractor flies. We have 21 signed up so far. We hope to get at least 25 for the workshop. Drop me a note to sign up:

bob.vanderwater@rdpsd.ab.ca

Leon Buckles