Category: Albies

Smallie class #3

3/25/2013

Well, you can not have a Smallmouth tying class without some kind of Crayfish pattern. This week we tied TP's Brandywine Crawler. The issue with many Crayfish patterns is that there are just too many steps and the patterns take too long to tie. On the flip side there are many "speed" crayfish patterns out there but, many of these seem to be lacking the important features. The pattern we tied last week is a great blend of detail, functionality, and tying time. The class seemed to agree as I believe the completed flies were the best we have seen across the board.

First lets take a look at some Ska-opper, homework from the prior week. I was happy to see several great Ska-opper's come in last week.

Here are the flies "One Boot" Ed tied last week

Some nice homework from Paul R

Dale F has a couple of nice patterns here

Paul R decided to use yellow deer and a diamond shape head.

Although not technically part of the class I wanted to share this mouse tied by "One Boot" Ed. The hair work on this fly is exceptional and anyone who has spent any time spinning Deer hair can appreciate the work that goes into a fly like this. Great job Ed, this was too good not to share!

The Speed Pattern for last week was the Rubber Legs. A true speed tie that can be used in many situations. Chris R came with a beautiful box of flies. He says he has been using this for a Stonefly pattern for years.

Here is Chris's box. The verigated chenille looks awesome!

Some nice homework from Dennis Z. I am curious how that pink one in the middle is going to do.

As mentioned you just can not have a Smallmouth class without a Crayfish pattern. Many people don't realize when those big ole' Browns decide to strap on the feed bag right at dusk a Crayfish pattern can be deadly. This pattern can be fished as a nymph, swung on a tight line or stripped like a streamer. It is a very versatile pattern and does not take to long to tie.

Here in the first step the marabou has been threaded through the Pro Tube junction tube and tied on each side of the shank. We have also added the dumbbell eyes on the top of the hook shank.

Here the Furry Foam has been cut to length, pushed over the hook shank and folded in between the "claws" to split them and make them lay out to the sides.

This is Davede's fly. The chenille has been tied in as well as the pumpkin neck hackle that we use for the legs. We are coming down the home stretch.

Here is a great example of what the palmered legs should look like. This is Paul R's fly. While looking at his fly from the other end of the table he said "man, it really looks good from here" I must say I agree.

After palmering the legs the last step is to fold the Furry Foam over the top to form the top of the fly.

Once you get the progression of this fly down it is really a 10 minute tie. Not bad for a semi-detailed Crayfish pattern. There are many others out there that take much longer to tie and don't have the versatility of this one. I think the boss hit one out of the park with this one!

Speaking of progression the second pattern of the night was "Gary's Albie Fly". Simple in design and materials (Ostrich Hurl and Cross Cut Rabbit) This fly is right at home on the Smallmouth river as well as on Martha's Vineyard searching for Albies.

Marblehead note; I fished this fly on a wild Trout river all day Sunday. the results were great. Stay tuned for the next fishing report to read about it.

Simple yet effective. Does it get any better?

Well, another week and two more great patterns. One more week left and we have a good one on tap for the final class. See you all on Wednesday.

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Week five of fly tying classes

2/17/2013

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The Tuesday night class moved from under the water's surface to on top of it this week as we tied the Elk Hair Caddis by Pennsylvania's own Al Troth. For many in the class this was their first attempt at a dry fly and the results were outstanding. We can really see the progression and improvement by the tiers in this class. Before we get to the Caddis fly lets take a look at some homework from last week.

Cory missed a a couple of classes and came in for a few private lessons to get caught up. By the look of his block he is doing a great job of making up for lost time. For more information about private lessons click here.

I failed to get a picture of some flies Jim R tied. He did not have the pearl mylar at home so he decided to use silver tinsel for the wing case. I must say these were some of the coolest flies we have seen in a while. Good job with a material substitution Jim.

A few shots of the class intro.

Here Robbie is getting ready to wrap the hackle over his dubbed body. Good to see he is giving that new Regal vise he got for Christmas a good workout.

Here Terry is putting the stacked wing on top, the last step to finishing the fly.

A pattern that is just too versatile not to have plenty of these in your box. You can drift it like a normal dry, you can skate it, or you can even drown it with split shot and fish it under the surface. Tied in black it is a great match for our early black Stoneflies that we usually start to see in March. Just a great all around pattern, we are happy you guys now have the skill to tie it.

It was hatch night in the Wednesday night class. We have had a few requests to "tie through a hatch" so we decided to tie a 3 stage Sulphur life cycle consisting of an nymph, emerger, and a sparkle dun. The flies were received great by the class and this is something we will do more of in the future. I was really excited to see the homework from last week. Here you go.

Here are two flies tied by Terry D. I am really excited about this pattern and cant wait to get it on the Smallmouth river this spring. Ed, Paul, Jimmy T, Nelson, Brian and Chris all had GREAT homework samples. I guess they looked so good I forgot to photograph them, Sorry guys.

Biot bodies was the theme of the night as all 3 flies we tied used Turkey biots for the bodies. A Pheasant Tail is spot on representation for the Sulphur nymph. The pattern we tied was very PT like, but we added an Ice Dub thorax.

Here is a shot of Paul R's nymph after he wrapped the biot body

Terry getting ready to dub the thorax.

Here is the finished fly. I really like the look of biot body flies!

For the emerger we followed the same tying progression. Instead of the Pheasant fiber wing case we did a "sighter" using a dubbing ball of Ice Dub on top of the shank. A really cool technique that has a ton of possiabites for many other patterns.

The nymph is in the hackle pliers on the bottom and the emerger is in the vise on top. Two great patterns for Sulphur season.

For our third pattern of the night we followed the same tying progression as the second, we just replaced the sighter with a poly wing. This pattern could represent many different stages of a Mayfly's life; late emerger, dun, or spinner.

This class was a blast. We tied three flies and showed the guys how using similar techniques and similar materials you can tie your way through an insect hatch rather quickly. Hopefully you guys will apply this system to other flies and insects. Who knows, you all might be carrying "hatch boxes" this spring.

It was a three fly night in the salt class this week also. We tied a Schminnow, Gary's Albie fly and a Andros Bonefish fly that was showed to us by our good shop friend Andrew Neithe. All three of these flies have crossover potential and can be fished in our local waters. I have caught many a Smallmouth on the Schminnow, originally designed by Norm Ziegler as a Snook fly. The Andros Bonefish fly could be a Crayfish and I am sure a big 'ole Flounder would have no trouble trying to eat one of them. Gary's Albie fly is an all around great bait fish pattern, quick to tie and effective everywhere. Lets take a look at the class.

Looks like the Ostrich is already on the tail and Jim is getting ready to palmer the cross cut Rabbit up the hook shank.

The finished fly. K.I.S.S. method at its best here. Why is it that the most versatile, effective patterns are usually the fastest and easiest to tie?

The next series of pictures shows the guys going through the progression of the Andros bone fish fly.

The finished fly.

Last but not least was the Schminnow. Again a simple yet extreamly effective pattern that can be tied with only 3 materials. You can make these as simple or as elaborate as you want and the color options are endless.

As a capper to a great week of fly tying Jim shared with us the plaque he won for taking first place honors in the tying contest held by the Salt Water Fly Anglers of Delaware a few weeks ago. Congratulations Jim.

Smallie class #3

Week five of fly tying classes

Very cool video of Stripers and Albies feeding

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