One Perspective About the Changes in the Bighorn Area. Worth the Read!

Tom Thumbs and Mikulak Sedges with Dr. Bill Young

Dr. Bill Young was our guest tyer tonight. Bill taught us how to tie both a Tom Thumb and a Mikulak Sedge. Both excellent patterns. The 15 tyers tonight got another chance to improve their tying skills using mainly deer hair and elk hair! Again getting the correct proportions is the biggest challenge along with managing the deer or elk hair! Controlled wraps are critical to getting the deer or elk hair to sit on the top of the shank of the hook and not twist. This was an excellent evening and a great follow up to last weeks session on Humpies. Thanks again Dr. Bill! I had a flashback tonight. The Tom Thumb was the very first fly I learned to tie thanks to Dr. Bill. Fly tying has become a great past time in the following years.

We do not have a tying session until Monday January 7th when my wife, Karen, and I do a presentation about the Colorado Cutthroat Slam.

Remember to get a hold of me to sign up for the Phil Rowley Fly Tying Session on Saturday February 2nd. This is going to be a great learning day. You do not want to miss it! (bob.vanderwater@rdpsd.ab.ca)

Merry Christmas everybody. Karen and I hope you have a relaxing Christmas break. We hope you have family and great food all around you!

Tom Thumb

Hook: Size 8-16 3 xl dry fly hook

Thread: 6/0 or 3/0 thread olive, brown or black

Tail: Deer Hair

Shellback and Wing: Deer Hair

Mikulak Sedge (Art Mikulak)

Thread: Olive 3/0 or 6/0

Hook: Size 8 to 12 3xl dry fly hook

Tail: Elk hair

Body: Olive Antron

Wings: Elk Hair

Thorax: Brown antron 

Legs: Brown Hackle

December Walleye Fly Fishing During a Chinook

I could see the chinook arch this morning as I drank my morning coffee. Warm air was definitely spilling over the mountains and racing down our Eastern slopes. It is December but there is always fishable water on the Red Deer River below the Gleniffer Dam. The water in a tail water rarely freezes over because of the warm water at the bottom of Gleniffer Lake that is slowly being released into the Red Deer River.

Well there was a window of opportunity to get out with a fly rod. My neighbour, Colin, and I made the 35 minute trek to the Red Deer River that is ice free. There is a good population of walleye, pike, rocky mountain whitefish and a few browns in this section. We decided to target walleye and then maybe whitefish a bit later.  I tied on an ice minnow and it did not take long to get a few hits but no hook up. Eventually I caught a typical walleye that was in the 18 inch category. But, moments later I hooked up and the fish felt heavy, real heavy. I thought I hooked a pike. Eventually I got a glimpse of the monster walleye and I was excited. I shouted to my neighbour to bring the net and make it quick! Colin, put down his Winston rod and sprinted down the shore after he found the net. I slowly worked my way to shore and met Colin. He scooped the gigantic walleye. It barely got into his large Fish Pond net. What a tank. I have caught lots of walleye but this may have been the largest I have ever caught! Sweet moment! 

You just never know!

The Challenge of Tying Humpies

Humpies are way harder to tie than one might think! Randall Kaufman once said that the humpy maybe the most popular dry fly in existence. I always thought that a stimulator would have that distinction but a humpy would be one of the top two. Now tying one can be a real challenge. You would think that a fly pattern with two or three materials would be easy to tie. Think again. Getting the proportions and sizing correct is a real challenge. As AK Best said in one of his books about tying flies in mass production, you have to tie a couple of dozen of the same fly before you get good at that particular pattern. 

Well a humpy is tough to tie proportionally properly. The fish love it and it floats like a cork! The twenty two fly tyers who came out tonight had a great time challenging their tying skills.

Next week Dr. Bill Young is our guest fly tyer. It will be our last session before we take a break for Christmas!

Remember to get signed up for the All Day Phil Rowley Seminar on February 2nd. Several club members have already signed up! Just drop me a note to sign up. (bob.vanderwater@rdpsd.ab.ca)

Humpy

Hook: Standard dry fly sizes 10-16

Thread: 6/0 colour to match body

Tail: Moose body hair or deer hair or elk hair

Body: Thread or Uni-stretch

Shellback: Deer hair, elk hair, foam or polypropylene 

Hackle: Brown

Deer Hair Humpy

Creative Thinking in Fly Tying Construction with Ralf Kuntzman

Ralf Kuntzman is a very creative fly tyer. He thinks about fly tying construction almost as a craftsman. He likes simplicity, being frugal and often he uses unconventional material. Today we tied 5 flies. Most used a type of pipe cleaner for the main ingredient. There are so many types of pipe cleaners that have a very cool chenille like outer cover that can be used in fly tying. Tonight the 20 plus fly tyers used thicker chenille to make a mouse fly, thinner chenilles to make dragon fly nymphs, cased caddis, articulating leeches and ice minnows. You can tell that Ralf sets himself up to fly fish with a host of materials that includes markers to get the right colours in his flies. Most of Ralf's flies that we tied tonight take mere minutes to construct. I bet there is going to be a run on chenilles at Michaels in the next few days. Great workshop Ralf! I am glad that I was there!

Next week we are going to tie Humpies! Bring orange, yellow and chartreuse 8/0 thread (70 denier). It will be a fun evening!

Finally we will open up the sign up for Phil Rowley's All Day Tying Seminar that will occur February 2nd.

See you next week! 

Ralf's Mouse

Hook: Streamer 4 XL Hook size 2-6

Bead: Gold

Thread: 6/0 colour to match body!

Body: Plush chenille (pipe cleaner style)

Ralf's Articulating Leech

Tail: Rabbit

Body: White chenille(Pipe cleaner style)

Hook: stinger hook

Note: body attached with monofilament 

Ralf's Case Caddis

Body: chenille (pipe cleaner style)

Ralf's Dragon Fly Nymph

Body: Chenille (pipe cleaner style)

Eyes: Bead chain

Legs: Pheasant

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