Fantastic Turnout for the Final Tying Session of the Winter Season-Backswimmers

 

Deer Hair Backswimmer tied by Rick Miyauchi

What a fantastic way to wind down the 2025-2026 fly tying season. We tied up three different types of backswimmers. That included tying up a deer hair backswimmer. That was a real challenge and I was impressed with your results!

The best part about the evening was the great turn out! I absolutely love seeing everyone working together, visiting and just plain having a great time!

...as we bring the tying season to a close for the group, the fly fishing season is amping up. I'm excited just like many of you! I do want to thank our presenters. We have such a diverse amount of tying expertise in our group. I am very appreciative to all of you who helped with the tying sessions. I especially want to thanks Adam for all he has done to keep our gang tying at Reliance Oilfield Service Learning Centre. 

Keep checking back on our blog! There will be fly fishing reports, flies that are working and bug hatch information throughout the fly fishing season! See you out on the water!!!!

Head over to Alberta Relm to get you 2026-2027 Alberta Fishing License.

Rinse and Repeat (Phil Rowley)

Deer Hair Ultimate Boatmen

Reinforce your boatmen and backswimmers with clear Gorilla glue!

Boatman/Backswimmer Challenge-The Final Tying Session of the Season on March 30th

We have one last fly tying session this Monday, March 30th at 6:30 at Reliance Oilfield Services Learning Centre. The theme is backswimmers/boatmen. We will be tying two foam patterns that definitely need to be in your fly box. 

...and then we are going to try to  spin up a deer hair boatmen pattern. That will be a lot of fun and an excellent challenge!

Bring some white 6/0 and 8/0 thread as well as some olive 8/0 (70 denier) thread with you! It will be a great way to wind down the tying season! 

...also bring red, olive and black markers. We can share these around too so bring them if you have them!

 

Damsels!

Hi Everyone!

What a fantastic turn out we had last night for our second last tying session of the year! We missed you last night Ralf and look forward to your return! Last night we focussed on tying some damsel patterns. We tied Randall Kaufmann's Marabou Damsel, as well Phil Rowley's suggestive Grizzly Damsel and we tied a basic balanced damsel.

Note: One of our younger fly tyers won a draw for a fly rod at the Sportsman raffle. Unfortunately the winner's name was almost not readable. If you put in for a draw, get ahold of Doug Wood (403-347-7968) to claim your prize!

Next week is our final tying session of the year. We will be tying boatmen/ backswimmers. It should be an excellent session! See you there! Bring some UTC Olive and Red tying thread!

Marabou Damsel (Randall Kaufmann)

Hook: Daiichi 1260 size 10

Thread: UTC 70, Olive

Tail: MFC (Montana Fly Company) Rust/Olive Marabou

Body: MFC (Montana Fly Company) Rust/Olive Marabou

Rib: Copper wire, small

Grizzly Damsel (Phil Rowley)

Hook: Daiichi 1260 sizes 10-12

Thread: UTC 70, Olive

Tail: Grizzly Marabou

Body: Grizzly Marabou dubbed

Shellback: Mirage Opal Tinsel, medium

Thorax: Aftershaft Grizzly Feather and partridge feather, olive

Thorax Shellback: Scudback, olive 1/8th

Balanced Marabou Damsel

Hook: Pro Tyer hook: size 14 asnd 16

Sequin Pin with 7/64ths tungsten bead or 3/32nd tungsten bead

Thread: UTC 70, Olive

Tail: MFC (Montana Fly Company) Rust/Olive Marabou OR Olive Marabou

Body: MFC (Montana Fly Company) Rust/Olive Marabou OR Olive Marabou

Rib: Copper wire, small