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how many are committed to something besides egg patterns ?

5K views 31 replies 12 participants last post by  flytyer 
#1 ·
I was wondering how many anglers here are committed to fishing/tying something besides egg patterns & bead head nymphs most of the time for Steelhead ?Be it streamers, buggers,wets,soft hackles,speys...............just wondering.

Second question - who is still using a single handed rod besides myself for the above ?
Third - do you prefer to fish sink tips when possable ?
 
#6 ·
I "Prefer" to fish beadhead nymphs and wets on a floating line and long leader, but have found myself switching to the eggs after spells of fishlessness and have hooked up more on the eggs. As a consolation to this I reward myself for not seeing my spey rods as "Fine, expensive long crawler poles", although I'm sure my catch rates would soar with a bit of garden hackle on the hook.

Should we start a thread on how to keep a worm on a hook while executing a snap T and 80 foot forward spey? I'm thinking a few whip finish turns and some Zap-a-Gap. :whoa:
 
#7 · (Edited)
O.K. I am in the right spot. This site was dead a year or so ago, haven't been here since, glad to see it picked up.

Yea, I have done some step programs myself there is one for everything these days....................Why just the other day a stranger was telling me about a new self help group he joined............."paranoids anonymous" ............I asked him................"where are the meetings held"....................he would not tell me ........................lame joke (but I am not above that :p )


Kind of hard to fish egg patterns when you stop carrying them isn't it, been there done that. Not much of a fly from a tyers standpoint anywho.


Bob, I guess I used it as a pseudo....................but, isn't that some kind of fake seal dubbing or something :hihi:

I will be back.................
 
#8 ·
Speys & Streamers

I use mostly Speys and Streamers as well although I do carry a small box with eggs in it. That is mostly habit and my wife is now joining me steelheading. Since she is new and not as proficient at mending as she will be she does use egg patterns. I do use tips and sink tip lines sometimes in the winter.
 
#9 · (Edited)
pseudonym for "indicator" fishing?

indicator is a pseudonym for,,,,,,,,BOBBER :eek:

I find it more enjoyable to fish a traditional fly on a floating line and a long leader,,,,,,,even though my catch rate suffers.
One day I will get this thing figured out. A fly design that will get down without multiple wraps of lead. Where I can find fish in water that I can get the fly down far enough. When & where I can skate a fly across the surface.
Meanwhile, I take pleasure in being able to fish my fly in places that are out of reach of those that are trying to drift fish with a fly rod. :Eyecrazy:
 
#11 ·
I never fish egg patterns or nymphs, and I hate cating weighted flies on my 2-hand rods. I use my 2-handers for 99% of my fishing and only use a single-hand rod on one nearby river (actually a mid-sized stream not more than 40' across at its widest sections) and then it is an 11' 8/9 that use with spey casts to keep out of the brush and trees behind. I use floating lines in the lower and low waters of summer/fall and sink tips the rest of the year.

Spey, dee, G.P.'s, Ally Shrimps (in original orange-red, purple, hot pink/orange, and Andy Wren's Cut Silk versons), featherwing low water and full dressed, skaters, wakers, and several Irish Shrimp style flies are what I use because I like the way they look and prefer that action of feather wings over hair wings.
 
#12 ·
JDJones said:
indicator is a pseudonym for,,,,,,,,BOBBER :eek:

I find it more enjoyable to fish a traditional fly on a floating line and a long leader,,,,,,,even though my catch rate suffers.
One day I will get this thing figured out. A fly design that will get down without multiple wraps of lead. Where I can find fish in water that I can get the fly down far enough.
JD

Had some interesting experiences with fly hydrodynamics over the years. When I was playing around with float foam on the bodies of my streamers to get them closer to neutral buoyancy, one variant would leap out of the water, like a fleeing minnow, when stripped hard. Useless for catching fish but neat to watch.

Last year I was in NC on a fly flinger vs. bassing hardware chucker contest (me against two locals -- lawyers to boot -- I lost -- wonder why?) During one part of the trip, Jeffie the owner of the bay boat, announces that since the casting isn't getting us any stripers, we'll troll the river for them. They have rapalas on bass rods and I have a 10 wt. with a T-7 fullsink and a big clouser. Guess who was hitting bottom and catching the only fish? Me! The shape of the clouser nose was pushing the fly deep on the troll. I've since experimented with this method when pike fishing and have hung up on bottom at depths of 10'.

So, how about inventing a shovel-nosed spey fly? Tie a flatwing on top and spread some head cement over the front third or so as to have it holds its position and shape. Make sure there's some material just behind the flatwing so it holds it up at an angle to the flow of the current, producing a downward force on the fly. I have some unweighted flatwing speys already tied up -- gonna get the glue out tonight. :D
 
#13 ·
has this thought occured to anyone else?

I've been wondering about this but been afraid to ask. But most of you on this thread may be OK with this.
But I have to wonder if the situation up here on the Rogue, the indy, two fly, nymph rig, and more importantly, the type of water (slots) these guys prefer to fish, may have evolved from guys that used to fish the same "holes/slots" with drift gear? It seems to me, ('course I'm the new kid on the block up here) that very few employ any kind of a cross river swing. It's all slot fishing.
And no, it doesn't bother me how one chooses to fish. Just that they camp rather than rotate through a run. But if the above is true, then that is maybe not the right water to swing a fly through anyway.
 
#14 ·
Flat wing Speys

Hey Peter, I love it. Really, it's just an improvement, utilizing modern materials, of a Dee style fly. Ive tried Dahlgerg Divers, but probably haven't really spent enough time with them. Keep us posted on the "rapala" fies. :razz:
 
#15 ·
Flatwing Spey

This fly is a bit mangled from being in the fly box for about a year but it does give some idea of the general arrangement. There's no material behind the wing to get it to stand up and that would have to be changed on the next attempts. The fly was just an experiment in traditional spey hackling technique -- bought the "Spey and Dee Flies" book so I had to give it a whirl. It wasn't meant to be a fish catching fly, just practice, but this patttern has taken a few fish so I'll persist with it.

http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharles/flatwingspey-1.jpg

http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharles/flatwingspey-2.jpg
 
#16 ·
JDJones said:
I've been wondering about this but been afraid to ask. But most of you on this thread may be OK with this.
But I have to wonder if the situation up here on the Rogue, the indy, two fly, nymph rig, and more importantly, the type of water (slots) these guys prefer to fish, may have evolved from guys that used to fish the same "holes/slots" with drift gear? It seems to me, ('course I'm the new kid on the block up here) that very few employ any kind of a cross river swing. It's all slot fishing.
And no, it doesn't bother me how one chooses to fish. Just that they camp rather than rotate through a run. But if the above is true, then that is maybe not the right water to swing a fly through anyway.
JD, While many float fishing guides became cross dresser's and added fly-float guiding to the "can do" list of services provided, I doubt it "evolved" from float fishers alone. In one form or another it has been around many,many,many years............it just reared its head again. They "prefer" to fish that type water because a) it works and they don't know how to do anything else or b) in frog/swing water they don't know that you can toss a tight looped downstream mend with the flyline, lift the butt & drop the tip of your fly rod, wave the rod tip a little, feed line, .............the loop "sets" after about 20' and then its feed & auto go for a 90' drag free drift. They set with a tug of the line with the float,bobber,indicator way down stream. Thats what you have to look :Eyecrazy: forward to in the prime swing water when the seasoned float & fly number counters move in............sorry. Yea and they do hole sit, because they can keep pounding them on that dead drift just by making small adjustments to fly's, shot, depth, etc. All you can do is hope they get bored fishing that way.
 
#17 ·
Peter,

A fellow by the name of Don Kaas of Port Angeles (who may no longer be alive) showed me the same style of wing on spey flies back in 1991. Don used G.P. breast feathers or dyed G.P. saddle feathers doubled and laid flat for the wing. He also usually put 3 or 4 strands of Krystal Flash of the fly body color under the wing and tied the wing very slightly elevated above horizontal while having the wing go slightly beyond the hook point.

I tie and fish three flies winged in this fashion.

Don Kaas's Red Knight [tip: silver oval; tail: hot pink G.P. tippet; tag: florescent flame floss (1/3rd body length); mid- 1/3rd body: florescent flame dubbing; front 1/3rd body: hot pink dubbing; rib: oval silver; hackle: blue eared pheasant or other dark dun spey feather (whiting spey hackle in dark dun is excellent in you don't have blue eard pheasant); under wing: hot pink Krystal Flash (4 strands); face hackle: teal or gadwall; wing: hot pink G.P. saddle under G.P. breast feather tied flat; head: red thread]. This is one of my favorite clear water flies during winter/spring and I fish it exclusively on Alec Jackson Spey Hook #1.5

My own fly that a friend of mine named the Redwing Black Bird [tip: oval silver; body: black dubbing; rib: oval silver; hackle: black spey feather; face hackle: dyed scarlet grey mallard, teal, or gadall flank; wing: two dyed scarlet G.P. saddle feathers tied flat; head: red thread]. I tie and fish this one on Alec Jackson Spey Hooks in #3, #5, and #7. The #3 is used in cold, clear low water in winter, and the smallest is used during the low water of late summer/early fall.

And the third is another of my flies that has no name. It was developed for my friend Bob Arnold's Royal Flash marabou spider and used the same red and blue coloration. [tag: oval gold; body: royal blue dubbing (it is easy to make from royal blue yarn if you can't find any pre-made. I like a product called Lazer Yarn, which I don't know if it is still on the market); rib: oval gold; hackle: red spey feather; underwing: 4 stands red pearlescent Krystal Flashface hackle: royal blue dyed grey mallard, teal, or gadwall (kingfisher blue, torquoise, or S.D. blue works nearly as well); wing: two dyed scarlet G.P. saddle feathers tied flat; head: blue thread.] This is the fly I will tie on first any time you get that low, cold, clear water in winter and I only tie it on #3 and #5 Alec Jackson Spey Hooks. It has worked very well for me in clear winter flows in #5 and is a favorite in glacial rivers that are clearing after having gone out from rain.
 
#18 ·
I wish

I wish I was committed to it but it has started to become integrated into my bag of tricks. I guess, because I have to drive 2 1/2 hours to hook a steelhead, I want to hook a steelhead and if that takes a mcfly foam egg to do it, that's what it takes. I usually spend a good amount of time trying popsickles and speys and the like but, since I have been using spey rods for only a year, the confident level isn't too high yet,.

Geoff
 
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