Portable Kit for Tying Salmon Flies "In-Hand"

Getting back into the swing of things  

     As a professional musician, a lot of time is spent waiting around. We wait before and after sound checks. We wait during travel. We wait for our perpetually tardy colleagues to show up for rehearsal. I figured there had to be a better way to kill time. With a little inspiration from Adrian Cortes, who seems to tie flies in the most unlikely places, I decided to make a portable kit for tying salmon flies "in-hand." 

Old fly box, repurposed

     I needed to use minimal tools and materials. The first step was portioning out materials that can be used in many different patterns. I gutted an old fly box, lined half of it with cork, and filled it with thread, tinsels, dubbing, floss, wax, etc. I can stick hooks into the cork and keep a pair of scissors, hackle pliers, tweezers, and a bodkin inside and still manage to close the box. If I know the pattern I want to tie, I pre-portion the materials, put them inside a small baggie, and store them in the fly box. This is truly portable.

Time to kill...

The main kit

     To store more materials, I repurposed a case for a portable DVD player. The DVD player is long gone, but the case is still useful. In it, I keep hackle, more hooks, feathers of all sorts, etc. The fly box fits inside this case, so everything is right where I need it. I keep the case in the back of my car, just in case I find myself waiting.

Portable lighting

      Since most of my work happens at night, one issue that has arisen is a lack of light. I bought a small USB power bank from Marshall's and a couple of small USB lamps from Ikea. They don't produce a ton of light, but they're not too back as long as the fly is held directly beneath them. The power bank and lamps fit in the DVD player case. 

Small and very portable

     Viola...a better way to wait around. I'd rather fish in those waiting times, but I'm not usually near bodies of water. Tying can be done virtually anywhere...in the car, backstage, or at the train station. I can even stash the kit in my cymbal bag. I wish I had thought to do this sooner! 

   

Black Silk and Rosy Dawn...ready to fish!

Connecticut Broodstock Atlantic Salmon Season: Favorite Flies, Month by Month

A Green Machine, fished wet, accounted for three salmon in 30 minutes this October day.

     Following on the heels of last week's post, this week's post is about my favorite fly for each month  of the fall, plus a bonus winter and spring fly. I like tying almost as much as fishing, so it is difficult for me to narrow it down to one fly for each month, but I will do my best. Since fly selection is dependent on conditions, try not to think of these as the best flies to use as much as they're flies to always have on hand.

German Snaelda tied on a brass tube

September: My fly of choice is an unusual one for an unusual month. I have only experienced broodstock salmon fishing in one September (2013), but it was a great month. As expected, the water was low and relatively warm. As such, any angler would expect small flies to work well under those conditions. They did, but a surprising revelation was that a small German Snaelda, tied on a heavy brass tube, worked like a charm when the salmon wouldn't rise for the usual stuff. Since the fish were holding in the fastest water, a heavy tube fly got through the chop quickly and I hooked several salmon on the Snaelda that September. Actually, I got my clocked cleaned by one that took off like a banshee and cartwheeled all over the pool. It was one of three fish hooked on the tube fly that afternoon. Though I would always try a small wet fly first, I wouldn't be without the German Snaelda in very early season fishing.

Buck Bugs in various color schemes

October: It's a tough call, but I have to choose a Buck Bug, which is the most versatile fly of them all. Tied with a body of spun deer hair, a Buck Bug can be fished like a traditional wet fly, fished with the riffling hitch, or greased and fished as a dry fly. My favorite is the Green Machine with a white tail.  If you tie your own flies, make sure you don't pack the deer hair too tightly. 

Mickey Finn var. with fluorescent red bucktail

November: Now it's time for the king of all broodstock salmon flies, the Mickey Finn. Really, there is no bad time to fish a Mickey Finn. I could have made it fly of choice from September through December, but that wouldn't be much fun. I have had success on Mickey Finns from size 2 down to size 14. My favorite sizes are 6 and 4, particularly the latter for fishing in November. I like to tie it with a couple minor variations. I use a flat braid for the body. I find it holds up better than flat tinsel because it shreds rather than breaks. Sometimes I use regular red bucktail and red Krystal Flash, other times I use fluorescent red bucktail without Krystal Flash. I am particularly fond of the fluorescent red variation. It's almost a magenta color. When in doubt, use a Mickey Finn.

The Gold Body Willie Gunn is a great big fish fly

December: Early December is a great time to target big salmon. Without a doubt, my favorite fly for these big brutes is the Willie Gunn, tied with a gold body. In late November and early December, large fish might still be holding near the heavy current. Tied on a copper tube, this fly gets down fast. A sinking tip or line helps keep the fly down. It is an aggressive presentation, but it often times effective. One of the largest broodstock salmon I've ever landed took a gold Willie Gunn, one of three fish on that fly that December day. It is a very easy fly to tie and a good one for those learning to tie tube flies. 

The Grape tube fly, tied with lots of flash

Winter (January-March): This time of year is all sunk line work with a slow, mobile, aluminum tube fly. What is more mobile than marabou? The lethargic winter fish usually follow a fly from behind and nip at its rear end. Because of this, I like to use an exceptionally long piece of junction tube with the hook extending beyond the back end of the marabou. It helps to hook the "nippers". Other color combinations work well, but I have caught most of my salmon with the Grape. Any big, fluffy fly should work, but keep that hook way back.

The Sugerman Shrimp, my all-time favorite salmon fly

Spring: Now it's time for my all-time favorite salmon fly, the Sugerman Shrimp. Honestly, I've had plenty of luck with it in all months. I like a big size 2 or 4 Sugerman when the water is cold, but the air is warm, fished on a floating line. The largest broodstock salmon I've ever hooked took a big Sugerman Shrimp variation. Like the Grape, it's mobile, but the fish will nail it with more authority in the spring, so there is no need for a hook set way in the back. In the spring, the salmon are hungry and a big Sugerman Shrimp looks like a yummy meal. It is definitely one not to be without. 

Brilliant colors, both fish and fly

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     Hopefully this gives you some non-Mickey Finn options, even though the Mickey Finn is as good as any and better than most. Most eastern fly fishers are intimately familiar with this iconic bucktail pattern. The rest of the flies might not be as familiar, especially those tied on tubes. There's no reason to be scared off. All these flies, and many more, can be found in my ebook "Flies for Connecticut Atlantic Salmon: How to Tie and Fish Them," available for both Apple iOS devices and in universal PDF form. Get tying, fall is almost here! 

My Best Guide Trip Yet

M's first trip - 2013 (4 mos. old)

     A few months after my son, "M," was born, I was ready to get on the water. 2013 was a brutal winter and I had a pretty serious case of cabin fever. Even if it hadn't snowed so much, I just needed to get out of the house. Seeing how a newborn would be confined to his carrier, I figured a quick fishing trip might be possible. I timed it for the Quill Gordon hatch on a local river. 

     Things didn't go according to plan. As a baby, M demanded to be held and walked around almost all the time. It was exhausting. I thought he might be distracted enough by the sights and sounds of nature for me to catch a fish or two. I had only made a few casts before M cried. He didn't want to be in the carrier. He wanted to be held, just like at home. So much for my brilliant plan. 

    After the first trip, I decided to wait a bit before trying again. A few months later, a stroller trip to Connecticut's Salmon River ended pretty much the same way. After that, I decided to pull the plug on fishing with M in year one. In his second year, we made a couple successful trips to the Naugatuck, largely due to the novelty of a toddler carrier backpack. By the time M was old enough to run around, he had gotten sort of wild, that way little boys often do. He was too wild to bring fishing. It just wasn't enough action for him and it would have been dangerous to leave him on the bank. I fished on my own for the next two years. 

The apprentice

     This winter, four year old M developed an interest in fly tying. I showed him some basics and he soon asked, "Where are all of my tools?" I laughed, but he didn't let me off the hook. I had to get him his own set of tools. I had enough of the basics at home, but we made a special trip to UpCountry Sportfishing to fill his box with tools and some bargain bin materials. It was still too cold to fish, but the seed had been planted...

     ...Fast forward to last Friday. The weather had been warm enough to make a local Quill Gordon hatch a possibility. I had a much needed day off and had planned on fishing alone that day. However, my plans change suddenly,  as they often do. I called an audible and brought M back to the original river. We returned to the pool he last visited when he was four months old. I told M that I would do the casting and he would fight the fish, just like we had practiced in the basement two weeks prior (on the rod and reel he claimed were his). 

Fish on!

     As expected, there was a Quill Gordon hatch, albeit a light one. We hooked up on a cripple pattern, but lost the brown trout early in the fight. The other trout didn't have much interest in a dry fly, but they nipped at a sz. 14 Hare's Ear wet fly. It seemed too small, so I switched to a larger wet fly, a sz. 10 Leading Coachman. 

     Bingo! It wasn't long before we hooked up in the tail of the pool. I handed the rod to M. He reeled the wrong way at first, but got it right after I offered some expert advice. It wasn't long before I netted M's first trout, a nice little brookie. Unfortunately, the fish slipped out of my hand when I tried to take its picture. Shortly after the excitement of landing his first trout, M dropped my 20-compartment dry fly box into the river. I fished it out of the current with the tip of my rod. 

M's second trout

     After laying the fly box out to dry, we went back to it. It wasn't long before we hooked up again. After another urgent lesson in which direction to reel, M brought his second trout close, this time a little rainbow. After landing the first fish, M really wanted to net a fish himself. That wasn't going to happen, so I handed him the net with the rainbow in it. The fish kicked, startled M, and he dropped the net into the river. I jumped in after the net and the water went over my hip boots. Like my fly box, my right leg was totally soaked. It was a small price to pay for the memories. 

     We had to leave shortly thereafter, so we packed up and headed out. I took off my soaked socks and put on a pair of flip flops. After putting M in his car seat, I congratulated him on a job well done, catching two of the three species of local trout. He whined loudly,  "But I wanted to catch a brown trout, too!" 

The lucky fly, set aside for safe keeping

Deploying the Troops

Headed to the Queen of Rivers, Norway's Alta

     This coming August marks my tenth wedding anniversary. It has been a great ten years. I couldn't ask for a better wife. Due the milestone, I think I'll be on the outside looking in this salmon season.

     My favorite kind of fly tying is tying for a trip. If it's not for my own trip, second best is someone else's trip. After taking a fishing/tying break in January and February, I have been busy tying for anglers taking some interesting trips in 2018. Among the more interesting orders was a dozen Governors, headed for the big, powerful, early June salmon of Middle Camp's pools on the Cascapedia. Another few dozen are headed for the Rivers Tay, Spey, Nairn, and Ness in Scotland. I've  never fished in the UK, but would love to someday. 

Governors for outsized Cascapedia salmon

     The order that got me the most pumped was a dozen tubes, headed to Norway. There are many great Norwegian rivers, but none as revered as the River Alta, home of the world's largest strain of Atlantic salmon. While tying the other orders, I watched some Dave Chapelle specials and listened to a podcast about crime and corruption in Providence, RI (some familiar characters!). While tying Alta flies, I watched Alta videos. Sometimes I stopped tying to give the videos my full attention. I realized that it's a place I need to see at least once in my life.

    Fueled by over an hour of huge salmon videos, I marched into the room my wife was in and declared, "I'm going to start entering the Alta lottery. If I actually win water, I'll figure out what to do later. But I'm telling you right now, one day I'm going to say that I'm going to Norway. It might be next year. It might be fifteen years from now. But it will happen eventually. I have to fish this place before I die."

     She was sort of caught off guard by how abruptly I delivered my "serious" message, but she got it. I think she'd actually like to come along for that trip, which is great. I tried to pitch a tenth anniversary trip to Iceland, but she saw right through it. She knows next to nothing about fly fishing, but I think she understands how this river is different from all the rest. 

Willie Gunns, headed home to Scotland

     I'll probably be living vicariously through some of you guys this season, but that's okay. I still have to tie a bunch of Miramichi flies. It has been a few years since I was last there. Maybe I'll tie a few extra Undertakers and Butterflies for myself. Maybe I can sneak away for a quick trip if the opportunity presents itself...

Cockburn Shrimp for high water on the Miramichi

Governor & "Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies" by Paul C. Marriner

This is one Governor for whom I would vote. 

     Last June, while I was fishing the Cascapedia, my friend sent me an update on his trip there the week prior. He did well, but his boat partner crushed it. I can't remember the exact details. I think his partner landed seven or eight fish. I can't remember how many were over twenty pounds, but I think it was most of them. I believe two or three were over thirty pounds. There are two details I distinctly remember. First, his partner's largest salmon topped the forty pound mark. Also, the Governor was the killer arrow in this angler's quiver. 

     Created by Motel Restigouche proprietor Peter Dubé, the Governor is a primarily Matapedia/Restigouche fly. I have not yet fished either of those rivers and had not been exposed to the pattern prior to my friend asking me to tie him a half dozen for next season. Being a "book guy,"  I tend to research the old fashioned way before I do a Google search. 

Marriner's book is on my "must have" list.

     When I need to find the recipe for a Miramichi fly, I have several places to look. I like Stewart & Allen's book, Flies for Atlantic Salmon, Fulsher and Krom's book, Hair-Wing Atlantic Salmon Flies, and Col. Joseph Bates' book, Atlantic Salmon Flies & Fishing. When I need the dressing for a more recent Miramichi tie, I consult the Dieppe Fly Tying Club's book, Atlantic Salmon Flies. In my opinion, there are no shortage of resources for Miramichi/New Brunswick salmon fly patterns. 

     Fly recipes for the other provinces are not as well documented. The other provinces are represented in the first three books mentioned above but, since these books are old, the patterns are fairly old. Of course, new flies are being created all the time and it is impossible to keep up with all of them. For the most diverse selection of contemporary Canadian salmon flies, my go-to book is Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies by Paul C. Marriner.  

     When I needed the recipe for the Governor, Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies is where I found it. Marriner's book is the best source for many of the patterns used in Canadian rivers right now. Each fly has some biographical information and some tips on when and where it works best. Best of all, many of the flies pictured were tied by their creators, so we can see the flies' exact dressings and proportions. When the fly wasn't tied by its originator, it was tied by an expert known for tying that particular type of fly.  Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies is the only book I know of in which the reader can see a Jones Special tied by Marc LeBlanc, a Carter Bug tied by Bill Carter, or a Ghost Stonefly tied by Todd Cochrane. 

     Unfortunately, the second edition of Marriner's book is out-of-print. There are probably a few copies out there for sale somewhere. The good news is that a new digital edition is now available. I highly recommend this book. As many times as I've read it, I realize that there are some patterns I've glossed over which inevitably surface in the future (i.e. the Governor). Actually, it's probably time I look the book over again, so I am going to put it on my bedside table as soon as I'm done here. 

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Governor on a size 2 Sprite double

Anyhow, back to the Governor. Here is Dubé's dressing from Marriner's book (with my substitutions in parentheses):

Governor

Hook: Partridge CS10/1, sizes 3/0 - 8 (Alec Jackson Steelhead Iron, sizes 3/0-7)

Thread: Black 6/0 Uni-Thread

Tag: Gold oval tinsel and rust floss

Tail: Rust floss

Butt: Black ostrich herl

Rib: Gold oval tinsel

Body: Gold embossed tinsel (gold flat diamond braid)

Throat: Mixed bucktail (arctic fox), half orange, half chartreuse 

Wing: Mixed, three-quarters black bucktail (arctic fox), one-quarter gold Krystal Flash 

Cheek: Jungle cock

The only thing left to do is to find a fresh forty-pounder! 

Ghost Stonefly (var.): Video Step-By-Step

A lucky Ghost Stonefly

     Happy belated New Year! I want to start 2017 off with a video that might be helpful to some. I've received a few questions about tying various Atlantic salmon stonefly patterns. There's no mystery to it, as you will see in the video above. I have my own way of doing things that differ slightly from Todd Cochrane's original dressing for the Ghost Stonefly. My way isn't any better or any worse, just the way I like to do it. As always, feel free to ask any questions you might have.

Naugatuck River - Fall 2016 - Summary & Observations

It was a short fall, but not without its highlights. 

     This was definitely a strange fall. With water levels at historic lows, we were lucky to have a salmon season at all. I'll admit, I was not optimistic. I canceled my guide insurance policy in early October only to request it be rewritten a few weeks later. This was the first season I guided significantly more hours than I fished. Once the season started, I had only a couple of days to get my bearings before my first trip. After that, it was a whirlwind of activity until Thanksgiving weekend.

     The ultra low water made the salmon behave in ways I wasn't used to seeing before. When river was at its lowest levels, the fish seemed to favor depth over all else. If they could have moving water too, that was preferred. If the moving water was too shallow, they seemed to hide out in any deep depression they could find. A lack of rain stalled their usual movement into the secondary pools. The few times it did rain, fish moved out quickly. Since we had a low number of salmon in the river this year, they became harder to find once they spread out.  

     I figured we might have epic dry fly fishing given how low and clear the water was. This was not the case. It was the first fall in a while I haven't at least moved a fish with a dry fly. I think they were too freaked out to come up, though maybe I just had bad luck. I don't think I tried fishing a hitched fly at all this season. 

     Luckily, the salmon were still happy to take wet flies. As the water dropped, our flies got smaller and smaller. After watching several people lose fish on larger flies, I switched to flies tied on very fine wire hooks. It worked and the vast majority (90%!) of the fish either my clients or I hooked were landed. In the lowest water, a size 14 Mickey Finn did the trick! 

The infamous sz. 14 Mickey Finn

     I had several clients hook, land, and release their very first Atlantic salmon. That is always exciting for me. A couple of them said it was the largest fish they had ever caught on a fly. I was very happy to be a part of that. It is one of the highlights of the job. 

     I guided two clients into the same fish in the span of nine days. The salmon had a very distinct tail. The first time I saw it was in an unstocked pool in Naugatuck on November 8. Six days later, we had enough rain to move fish around. The salmon turned up again, this time in Beacon Falls, on November 17. It moved about five miles on one relatively small bump of water. Assuming it hasn't already been eaten, that fish is probably in the Housatonic now. Practice catch and release so others can enjoy the sport! 

     The fishing seemed to slow down as we got into late November. I pinpointed some salmon in a pool that is very difficult to fish with a fly. Unfortunately, my unorthodox presentation experiments didn't pay off. I have some ideas for next year, though. 

     As always, there were many anglers who refuse to follow rules. Some of them seem legitimately ignorant of the seasonal regulations. Others just don't care. There is a definite lack of signage on the river, especially pertaining to salmon season. Because of this, some conservation officers let people off with a warning instead of fining them. If there is no fear of consequences, what is stopping offenders from breaking the rules again? I'm getting pretty sick of this and I am going to write letters and emails over the winter. It is time to be proactive. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and I plan being very squeaky. If I have to, I will print my own signs, bring a ladder, and hang them up around the river. 

This guy put on a show his first day of salmon fishing!

     I used a two handed rod less this season than in any other season since I started fishing with one. There just wasn't enough water for it. Fortunately, I got some time with a switch rod at the end of November and the beginning of December. I sure do miss the good old days of normal water levels and fishing with a two handed rod.

     The last day I fished was December 8. I went out for a couple of hours, but had no luck. Last year, fishing was productive into January. That was a lot of fun, but the warm temperatures were the main reason why our season was so short this year. I guess it balances out over time, at least hopefully it does. The cold weather came the second week of December. If these fish fought like fresh springers, I would go throughout the winter. They get too lethargic for me to bother, so I felt okay hanging it up early. I had the best action I'm likely to get and I'm satisfied with how the season went. I might give it another shot if we have a warm stretch in the winter or spring. We'll see how bad cabin fever gets...

Ally's Shrimp caught the lion's share of my own salmon this fall.

Top Flies

     Since I guided more than I fished this season, I should factor that data in with my personal top flies. In past years, I didn't include the flies used in guide trips, but they are a large part of the data now. Here are the top three:

Mickey Finn - 10 salmon

Ally's Shrimp - 6 salmon (5 conventional, 1 tube)

Cascade - 6 salmon (3 conventional, 3 tube) 

     Between myself and my clients, we hooked almost 50% of our salmon on flies between sizes 10-14. I've had small fly years before, but never 50%. Conversely, we caught fewer on tube flies this season than during a normal fall. Almost every fish we hooked was while using a floating line and untapered mono leader.  

     My typical "Hail Mary passes" (Sunray fished fast or Snaelda fished slow) didn't work at all. This fall, it seemed like they either wanted a fly or they didn't. If they wanted it, they usually wanted it on the first pass. As such, we moved around quite a bit to find "players." Really working a pool seemed to have either no effect or a negative effect (you lose valuable time) this season. "Run and shoot"...like the 1990 Houston Oilers. 

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     I will have some gear reviews coming up soon, as well as some fly tying stuff over the winter. I already have a couple orders of flies to tie for the upcoming season in Canada, so I might post a few of the interesting patterns here. In the meantime, thanks for reading this blog. I got a lot of great feedback this year. Have a happy holiday season! 

Revisiting the Orange Parson

Dr. Pryce-Tannatt's Orange Parson

         For as long as I can remember, orange has been my favorite color.  Probably without coincidence, Dr. T.E. Pryce-Tannatt's Orange Parson has long been my favorite classic salmon fly. Though I have tied this fly several times before, I had never tied it with 100% genuine materials. I always used substitute materials for the Cock of the Rock throat and wing veil as well as the Blue Chatterer cheeks. I have a small stash of both that have been sitting in my closet for too long. The other day, I decided I couldn't hoard them forever and it was the right time to use them. I have been redecorating my basement practice/teaching studio. I have an empty frame that should fit this fly well. Best of all, I still have enough Cock of the Rock left for one more, should the urge ever strike again.

An "after shot" of a previous Orange Parson (tied with subs)

Some Recent Ties

Blue Picasse (sz. 7) and Tiger Ghost var. (sz. 3)

     Here are some recent ties. I finished tying wet flies for summer fishing. I still have to tie a few tube flies and a some dry flies. I'm glad I started early and worked fairly quickly. There is no historic information or stories in this post, just pictures.

     Dressings for any of the flies pictured here are available upon requests. I will probably take a little break from my usual weekly blog posts. Once the spring runs of fish start up, I will (hopefully) post some reports. As always, if you any questions, don't hesitate to contact me or leave a comment. Thanks for reading!

Green Spey (sz. 1.5)

John Olin Longwing (sz. 12)

Black and Red Frances (sz. 10)

Silver Rat (sz. 2)

Rusty Rat (sz. 1)

Green Butt Blue Charm (sz. 4)

Ghost Stonefly (sz. 2)

Green Butt (sz. 4)

Summer 2016 fly box (singles)

Summer 2016 fly box (doubles)

Small doubles

Bugs & Butterflies (and Mesmerizers)

Out-to-Lunch & Jones Special

Out-to-Lunch & Jones Special (sz. 1.5 & 3)

     As I'm sure many would agree, tying for a trip is the most fun kind of fly tying. Often times, I look at a fly and think, "Yeah, this is the one." Out of a pile of the same fly pattern, one particular one will jump out at me and earn a prominent place in my fly box. Sometimes a fly stands out to me for other reasons. These variations on Marc LeBlanc's Out-to-Lunch and Jones Special looked like flies I should consider using closer to home than the Gaspé Peninsula river for which they were designed.

     The Out-to-Lunch is one to try for Connecticut's broodstock Atlantic salmon. Last season, I fished and guided a few days during high, dirty water conditions. Those are exactly the conditions for which this fly was designed. As you can see, this is a highly visible fly, if not obnoxious looking. I am going to put a couple in my early spring fly box and see what happens.

     The original Out-to-Lunch dressing calls for embossed silver tinsel for both the tag and the body. I substituted oval silver tinsel for the tag and silver flat braid for the body. LeBlanc uses oval green tinsel for a rib on his Out-to-Lunch. I have no idea where to find that, so I subbed medium sized green Ultra Wire. The original dressing calls for a wing of lime green or olive Krystal Flash. I used lime green Krystal Flash, but topped it with yellow arctic fox to beef up the profile of the fly. Finally, LeBlanc uses yellow and black dyed heron hackle collars. I didn't have any yellow, so I subbed yellow marabou. For the black heron, I used a dyed golden pheasant rump feather. Not counting the hook and the thread, I used more substitute materials than I did original materials. I think the overall effect is similar enough to work fine when the fly is needed.

     Of the two flies, I prefer the look of the Jones Special. LeBlanc created the Jones Special to represent the silver smelt, a favorite food of sea run brook trout. Eventually, it became an effective Atlantic salmon fly. Before I tied a Jones Special, I thought it would be confined only to my salmon fly box. After tying my first, I looked it over as it sat in the vise jaws. Then it hit me. This will be a killer fly for spring sea run brown trout and striped bass. I can't wait to try it in the coming months.

     I stuck closer to the original dressing of the Jones Special than I did with the Out-to-Lunch. The only substitution I made was in the wing. I subbed fox fur for bucktail, a common substitution in modern salmon flies. Other than that, the dressing stays pretty true to the original.

     This winter has been short and mild. I can't really say that cabin fever has set in. I'm having a great time tying flies. It will be nice to get out on the water soon, though. When I do, I will have these two flies with me.

Out-to-Lunch (var.)

Out-to-Lunch (var.)

Hook: Alec Jackson 2065 (steelhead iron, gold); sz. 3/0-3

Tag: Oval silver tinsel

Tail: Peacock sword 

Rib: Green Ultra Wire (size Medium)

Body: Silver flat braid

Wing: Lime green Krystal Flash under yellow arctic fox 

Hackle: Yellow marabou, followed by golden pheasant breast dyed black (shorter than the marabou)

Cheeks: Jungle cock

Head: Black

Jones Special (var.)

Jones Special (var.)

Hook: Alec Jackson 2062 (steelhead iron, nickel); sz. 3/0-7
Tag: Oval silver tinsel
Body: Pearl flat braid
Wing: White arctic fox, under pearl blue Krystal Flash, under red fox tail
Hackle: Long gray heron-type spey hackle, followed by silver pheasant body feather
Cheeks: Jungle cock
Head: White w/blue band