Hot Spot Flies with Bernie Peet

Every year, I can always count on Bernie Peet to do a fly tying presentation. I think this may have been the 10th year Bernie has spent an evening with our club sharing some great fly tying techniques and ideas. Bernie's theme tonight was hot spot flies. The presentation was very well thought out. We tied flies with a hot spot tag, two hot spot thoraxes and finally a hot spot rib! I know I will use all 4 patterns that we tied tonight. It is so refreshing to have such a diversity of fly tying skills within our club! Bernie's British background that includes so many different fly fishing experiences allows our group to embrace these different perspectives and apply them to our fly fishing adventures!

...some thoughts from Bernie on Hot Spot Flies

Sometimes, the addition of a brightly coloured “hot spot”, which could be a tag, rib or thorax, can make a huge difference to the effectiveness of an otherwise drab fly.  Whether this makes flies more noticeable under lower light conditions, or whether a bright colour triggers an aggressive response is open to question.  However, experience suggests that, under certain conditions, hot-spot flies do work well, both in rivers and in still water.  Nymphs and wet flies can benefit from a “hot spot”, using colours such as fluorescent green, chartreuse, orange, red or white, in addition to pearlescent materials.  It’s worth tying flies with varying degrees of “flash” because sometimes an over-flashy fly will put fish off whereas the same fly, but a bit less bright, will give results.

Next week the theme is chernobyls. Steve Leuthi and Bob Vanderwater will share photos from a cool backcountry fly fishing trip in Banff National Park. We will then tie some chernobyls. It will definitely be a fun evening!

We still have a few spots left for the all day fly tying workshop with Phil Rowley on Saturday February 2nd. Check out the poster in the margine for all the details. It will be an awesome day of fly tying!

Remember that Pub Night is Friday February 1st starting at 7 pm at Tiffany's Restaurant. We will be in the pub!

Pepper’s Lake Special (Bernie Peet design)

Many years ago, after a frustrating few hours casting at rising fish at Pepper’s Lake, I fished this fly on a clear intermediate line and caught one fish after another. Each time I fished at Pepper’s this fly was successful when many other patterns failed to score.

Hook:  Size 10 – 14 curved

Bead: Copper or gold, 7/64th

Tag: Fluorescent orange thread or floss (can be coated in UV resin)

Rib:  Copper wire

Body:  Pheasant tail

Hackle: Reddish brown cock or hen

Hotspot Black and Peacock

A combination of a black fly with a fluorescent green tag or thorax seems to work well in many situations. This pattern can also be tied with a bead head or with some lead wire under the thorax.

Hook: Size 12 – 14,  2x nymph

Thread: Black

Tail: Black cock fibres

Rib: Silver or gold wire

Body:  Peacock herl

Thorax: Fluorescent green thread or floss, coated in UV resin

Thorax cover:  Black pheasant tail

Hackle: Black cock fibres, tied separately on each side of the head

Okey Dokey Buzzer (Makflies, YouTube)

This style of brightly coloured chironomid, which bears no resemblance to anything natural, is very popular in the UK and is tied with the head in a variety of bright colours such as chartreuse, orange and pink. The profile is thicker than one would normally use for a chironomid pattern.

Hook: Size 12 – 16, chironomid

Body: White fluorescent thread or floss

Rib: Silver blue or light blue coloured copper wire (or silver/gold) – tied with 2 – 3 touching turns at the bend of the hook

Head: Fluorescent green thread or floss

Finish: Coat whole fly with brushable UV resin

Red and Gold Diawl

The Diawl Bach, Welsh for “Little Devil” is a popular British fly that has spawned hundreds of variations.  It is used as a dropper fly and fished static or very slowly, imitating a range of aquatic insects such as chironomids and even small fry.  This particular pattern was described by Rob Denson in January’s “Trout and Salmon” magazine and combines a small amount of gold flash in the dubbing with a holographic red rib.

Hook: Size 10 – 14, 1x nymph

Thread:  Red

Tail:  Ginger cock

Rib:  Red holographic

Body:  Squirrel and hare’s ear mixed 50:50 with a pinch of gold Ice Dub

Throat hackle:  Ginger cock

A Mouse, the Frenchie and a Baetis Pattern with Dan Reaman

Hi Everybody! 

West River Fly Shop was jammed to capacity to take in Dan Reaman's fly tying presentation. Dan is a passionate fly fisher. He loves to tie simple patterns that are fish catchers. Dan has become quite addicted to mouse fly fishing for big browns after dark! He has designed a fly similar to a Morrish Mouse but the main material is rabbit instead of deer hair. You could tell how exciting this type of fly fishing is. Don't set the hook too early! Now that is hard when it is pitch black on a warm summer evening! Dan also showed us a great little baetis nymph that is easy to tie but you have to tie them small, right down to size 24. Finally we tied the Frenchie. A real fish catcher. Dan loves to fly fish with the Frenchie. It is a fly he uses with a lot of success!

Great presentation Dan. What a fun evening!

Next week, Bernie Peet is our guest tyer. Bernie is a very experienced fly fisher and awesome fly tyer!

Finally, we have room for about 7 more tyers for the all day fly tying session with Phil Rowley. Phil's all day workshop is only $45 and you will learn a lot about tying techniques and leave with a great set of flies! Contact Bob Vanderwater (bob.vanderwater@rdpsd.ab,ca) to sign up! Take a look at the poster beside this post!

Dan's Floating Mouse

Thread: 6/0 brown or UTC 140

Hook: 5 or 6xl size 2 or 4 streamer hook

Tail: Rabbit or Pine Squirrel

Body: Rabbit or pine squirrel

Shell Back: Foam, 4 mm (2 mm foam glued)

Dan and his cousin catching browns with a mouse fly in the wee hours of the night!

Baetis Nymph

Hook: 3906 size 18-24

Thread: Olive 70 denier or 8/0

Body: Olive thread

Rib: Fine gold wire

Thorax: Olive thread

Shellback: Brown antron

Legs: Brown antron

Frenchie

Thread: Red UTC 70

Hook: size 16 jig hook

Bead 3/32 copper slotted bead

Tail: Brown hackle fibres

Body: pheasant tail fibres

Rib: Fine gold wire

Hot spot (optional red thread)

Thorax: Ice Dub

Destination Paradise, Bora Bora...Doug Pullen

Christmas in Alberta is nice but we thought we would switch it up this year. So a vacation to Bora Bora was planned. Three planes and a boat ride took us from freezing weather to broiling weather in the heart of French Polynesia. Even though this was somewhat of a honeymoon vacation, I took my fly rod along just in case. Bora Bora has a reputation as being one of the most beautiful in the world. The infinite shades of water from blue to turquoise to sapphire, surrounded by a string of islets, waving coconut palms and white sandy beaches made up this tropical dream. Snorkeling allowed us to see many different tropical fish species including sting rays, lemon sharks and manta rays. The coral reefs was breath taking. Fly fishing opportunities were somewhat limited due to the amount of coral which resulted in broken off fish due to frayed leaders. Some species were landed including Needlefish, Jacks and Blue Fin Trevally.