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Post by cane on Jan 11, 2004 13:21:38 GMT -6
Hi I added some Stillwater patterns to www3.mb.sympatico.ca/~wmilne/Stillwater/just hit Parent Directory to see the other folders. The patterns in Stillwater are all flies we,ve had success on McHugh with. The McHugh Brown has been our best deep sunk line pattern.
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Post by Dale Martens on Jan 11, 2004 16:51:52 GMT -6
Very nice....
I really like the peacock hearl on the McHugh brown. Next time I tie up some brown Wooly Buggers, I'm going to add a little peacock hearl like that.
Also, your soft hackles look incredibly fishy. I think I've just been inspired to expand my soft hackle collection by copying a couple of your creations.
(Although I'm going to need a bit of time before mine reach the same level of "fishiness".)
How do you usually fish your soft hackles on a stillwater? What sizes do you usually tie them in? What size do you usually tie the Brown McHugh in?
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Post by cane on Jan 11, 2004 17:18:46 GMT -6
Hi Dale
The McHugh we tie in on a long shank size 8 standard Mustad nymph hook. It started out somewhat like a wooly bugger without the palmered hackle and a dubbed body and no peacock head. It worked ok but adding the head made it much better and changing the body to brown phentex ribbed with gold wire made it REALLY work:). We then added the extra Maribou above and below the hook shank and in front/over the brown collar hackle . Not sure if it makes a diff but it does add more movement up front.
The Dabbler( old Irish pattern) is a deep water pattern usually size 10 or 12 we do that in Olive as well but the Claret is more effective generally. Claret in Scotland is very predominant in many Brown trout specific patterens. The olive version seems to work well when the water is cloudy/perturbed. Haul a Gwynt and Golden Olive Bumble (12/14)are general top water patterns cast to rising fish or fished Scottish Loch style- short casts and bounced back over/through the wavetops. Both are very old Welsh/Irish patterns Mr Softie( 10 wet fly hook)- we noticed on Mchugh particularly near the cliff face in July/August some huge submerged clouds of what we thought were daphnia/very small freshwater shrimp( guessing here but..) In the UK the usual approach is fishing yellow or hot orange patterns under the clouds. We went back armed with Mr Softies( it has a foam back so stays supended well) two days after we first spotted the clouds and dang they worked:) and seem to work whenever we have spotted the clouds Wet Daddy(12)- is a general top water/in the film pattern that just catches fish:))
hope that helps
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Post by yaffle on Feb 4, 2004 20:05:48 GMT -6
Cane, yaffle from thunder Bay here. I like your flies. I fish rivers and streams a whole lot. I plan on doing a lot of still water fishing this year and have been tieing up some patterns for lake fishing,
You tie some of you soft hackle creations very similar to my Key flies. I use an undersized stiff hackle to palmer the lenght of the body as well. I don't think I have seen any other soft hackles that way, but They sure look fishy and are among some of my best producers.
Again, very nice flies. -Yaf.
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Post by cane on Feb 4, 2004 20:58:46 GMT -6
Hi Yaffle:) and ty- though i cant claim authorship of 99% of those flies, i just tied them. That style with the soft hackle up front is a very old Scottish/Irish/Welsh lake/loch style that works:))) I,m not familiar with the Key patterns? you have some examples i,m always interested in new patterns
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Post by Dale Martens on Feb 4, 2004 23:29:37 GMT -6
Just finished tying up a half dozen or so flies based on the McHugh Brown. Thanks, Cane, for the info and the inspiration... I'm just itching to cast them into somewhere fishy.
Now on to the next project... I think I'll try a few of those foam body streamers that Rob was talking about. Any last minute hints or advice before I dive in, Rob?
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Robert Burton
Fly Fishing Zombie
Eventually all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.
Posts: 4,744
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Post by Robert Burton on Feb 5, 2004 9:46:26 GMT -6
Dale: You can tie em "crease" style foam cut "match box" style" which would be to take 1/16 -1/8 foam and cut it so when you fold it on a crease along the hook shank it has a minnow profile. Put in tails etc before and the trick is that the body is glued on to the hook and to it's self. And you have to paint on eyes etc a little too artistic for me
The other way is to cut some high density foam in a conical shape slit it and tie/glue it to the hook shank. Pull some mylar tubing over the shape a tail and gloe some eyes.
ON a floating line these look like minnows on their last legs but on a sinking line they look like a wounded and/or stunned minnow.
They work for all fish but am sad to say are not very durable for pike so i have none right now to show but if I can find one on the net i will post.
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Robert Burton
Fly Fishing Zombie
Eventually all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.
Posts: 4,744
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Post by Robert Burton on Feb 5, 2004 9:58:20 GMT -6
Crease flies: Like the Crazy Charlie these started out as salt water flies but were too good to stay there. Lucky we are Manitobans but some would not call these flies but "lures" (but these "purists" are still calling bead head flies "jigs")
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Post by yaffle on Feb 5, 2004 19:41:36 GMT -6
Cane, the Claret Dabbler and Wet Daddy are very similar to the Key flies. I tie them with a very small stiff palmered hackle, a tail, reverse rib, tapered/dubbed seal fur body and a grouse or partridge hackle. I called them Key flies because I hadn't seen flies quite like these before so I stuck that name to them.
I tie one with an amber body and one with a brown body. One I found to work very well on rainbow, so I dubbed it the Bow Key and the other very effective for Specs, I dubbed it the Spec. key.
I suspected this wasn't something new, but The choice of material combinations may be unique. I would post a picture but I do not have a digital camera, let alone one with good macro capabilities. If you are interested in a sample I'll gladly tose a couple in the mail to you. -Yaf
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Post by Dale Martens on Feb 5, 2004 22:45:58 GMT -6
Thanks Rob, I finally know exactly what a crease fly is now. I with you on sliding over the foam, though; that does sound easier... It also sounds pretty effective... Like I said before, a few of those will be my next tying project.
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Post by cane on Feb 6, 2004 15:49:18 GMT -6
Yaffle- no need send some down- I will tie some up from your description- but ty:)))
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Post by yaffle on Feb 7, 2004 10:14:19 GMT -6
Cane, if you are interested in tying them, I forgot to mention the tail material to be Ring Neck pheasant center tail fibres. Also, I believe what makes all the differance for me is the seal fur dubbing for the body. Also as I mentioned the body is tappered, the same as tying most mayfly type nymphs. I really don't mind sending you a couple if you like. Robert, they sure look like lures to me . -Yaf
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Post by flyfisheranonymous on Feb 9, 2004 9:06:03 GMT -6
It doesn't matter what material is used to tie flies they are still flies. If you are a purist then any fly with foam, bead head or weight is not a fly but a lure. I don't think any one of us is a purist but we are fishermen that want to catch fish. The flies we tie do just that and I am amazed at the amount of different materials that people use to achieve a certain movement of what we are trying to duplicate. This is the greatest hobby in the world and we should keep on experimenting with anything and everything.
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Post by yaffle on Feb 10, 2004 15:06:26 GMT -6
Can it be a lure and still be a fly?
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Robert Burton
Fly Fishing Zombie
Eventually all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.
Posts: 4,744
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Post by Robert Burton on Feb 10, 2004 15:46:42 GMT -6
Ya if ya think about it if you could only use flies you'd be screwed out there.
No atractors, streamers, WB's and no nymphs (as they aint flies yet)
BTW Cane:
If i was to start tying some soft hackle wets for still water where should I start?? ie...which one first??
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Post by cane on Feb 10, 2004 18:21:22 GMT -6
Hi Robert- not quite sure how to answer you without getting long winded:) So here goes... The top water patterns like Haul a Gwynt and Golden Olive Bumble( theres a huge list of them) rely on dyed materials so unless you have an interest in dying materials they are not that practical. They are also designed to be fished three fly cast Loch Style--- Bob fly( Golden Olive Bumble/Bibio/ Kate McClaren/Haul a Gwynt...) Dropper fly( Teal and Green/ Mallard and Claret/ Fiery Brown...) Point fly ( Butcher/Invicta/Alexandra....) . So here we have a two fly limit so a Bob/Dropper combo or Bob/Point combo. Its a windy /choppy water day.. short cast upwind radially covering the water 20/25 ft casts. dance the Bob fly back through/over the wave tops, your now fishing Loch style:))) Its a style of fishing with patterns suited to the style and as I mentioned many require dying your materials.. There are basically two types of " soft hackle" Loch flies, those with a collar hackle like Partridge or Grouse ala Sylvester Nemes soft hackles and those that use a collar hackle of very soft and long basic cheap hen( those are more accesible r to tye with local ( the Hole)store bought materials), Both collar types are meant to create movement when fished as Bob flies fished Loch style. I'll bring some Bob flies for you to look at on Thursday if your interested. I,m a big fan of dying materials:)) buy a high grade cape and you can dye it a lot of different colours for cheap, its easy, takes 5 mins to dye a bunch of hackle plus time to dry... hmmms where else can you get Golden Olive palmering hackle or high grade Dark Claret? . Buy a Grouse Skin dye some Fiery Brown some Teal Blue some Brown Olive very cost effective. Hope that was,nt too obtuse an answer:))) There,s basically two other types of soft hackle flies- the Dabbler style( theres one in my Stillwater folder) meant to be fished deep as shrimp/scud/baitfish/whatever) and also the standard thread and Soft Hackle North Country/Syl Nemes types which work just a well on lakes as rivers probably being taken as emerger or nymph imitations.
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Post by cane on Feb 10, 2004 18:28:51 GMT -6
sorry probably was,nt clear- the Bob/Dropper/Point combo fly = Bob/emerger or nymph/Attractor combo:)
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Post by cane on Feb 10, 2004 18:33:19 GMT -6
So to finally -whew- answer your question it all depends what type of soft hackle flies/fishing style you want to approach:))
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Robert Burton
Fly Fishing Zombie
Eventually all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.
Posts: 4,744
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Post by Robert Burton on Feb 10, 2004 20:04:29 GMT -6
Well I was just thinking that those flies that work on the pressured lakes there would kill here....
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