Central Alberta Fly Tying Club: Three Calebaetis Nymph Patterns and The Skip Nymph with Bernie Peet

Monday, January 16, 2017

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.