The fly recipes thread

[gretch6364]

Great thread...must of mised this. Thanks for reviving AKami.

To make this thread more then just fly recipes, we should post a situation or two or tip for the fly that has been successful for the tier. The wife is going out of town next week, I will do some tying and post.

[TNKen]

My recipie:

#5 Swivel---4" of 65lb Power Pro (add 1oz sinker)--#5 Swivel--2' leader of P-Line Florocarbon--Options (1) #4 4x treble or (2) 1/0 Octopus single. Tip with 4" Gizard shad, 4" Threadfin shad or 4" Alewife. Wait on it....

[that dude who did that thing]

I'll try to get some pics later, but wanted to enter the fishing board with a real contribution. Anyone who fishes the rocky mountains or probably anywhere fishes an elk hair caddis. This simplified version is faster to tie, and catches even more fish. I tie about 6 dozen most winters, knowing that I'll just go through them like candy all summer.

CDC & Elk Caddis

Hook: Size 14 dry fly (I could care less what brand you like, I like cheap Tiemco's for this fly)
Thread: Gray/Dun, Black, Brown, Tan to match feather color
Body: CDC feather tied Palmer
Wing: Elk Hair

Four ingredients total. Start your thread and wind back to start of bend. Choose one CDC feather. If you buy bulk CDC you're looking for a feather that is approximately 1 to 1.5 inches long, avoid the tiny puffs, and try to choose one that has a rounded tip. Some CDC feathers have a square tip, these will work also. If you buy CDC in small packages, look for those with long, rounded feathers. Tie tip of feath in at bend, advance thread to 1/3 shank length behind eye. Palmer the CDC feather. As you make turn draw the loose fibers toward the rear of the hook, wrapping up to the point where your thread hangs. Tie in butt of feather, clip any excess. Clip a small bundle of elk hair, remove underfur, stack in hair-stacker. Tie elk hair in with tips to the rear, wing sized to just past the shank length. Take one turn of thread around hair only, then several turns around hair and hook, holding hair tightly to top of shank. Still holding hair tips, take one tight wrap to flare the elk hair. Lift 1/3 of the hair by the butt end and pass thread under this 1/3 but still on top of remaining hair, and tight to the previous wraps. Lift 2/3 of hair by butt, and take a wrap, finally lift all hair by butt end and take several wraps under the hair and around the hook. These wraps have the effect of lifting the butt ends and give you an excellent finished head once you clip the excess. Take w or 3 more turns around the hair tie in point, clip the butt ends to form your head, take 2-3 turns around hook shank just behind the eye, whip finish. When I'm tying a shitload of these I don't bother with head cement, I just don't care if they fall apart after catching a half dozen fish. But head cement will improve their durability.

For colors, I tie these mainly with natural dun colored CDC. You wnat natural dun, not dyed, as the dying process can strip oils from the feathers. I also tie with tan, and dark grey CDC. Variations have tan elk, natural elk, and black-dyed elk. The vast majority of these I tie in Size 14 and it replaces the elk-hair caddis for searching, attractor fishing, and fishing most caddis hatches. I tie a few in darker colors and smaller sizes for some of the micro-caddis hatches we see in Idaho, and very occasionally I tie them in a size 12 just in case I run into a larger caddis.

The trick to this fly is the CDC fibers trailing off the body. It looks terrible in the vise, but on the water thos efibers move around a great deal and imitate life. It's my single most reliable fly when nothing is hatcing, or when caddis are on the water. It's also my fastest tie, the only pattern I regularly tie that I can actually hit or exceed 12 flies per hour.

Have fun.

[AKami]

This is my version of the Stimulator pattern that's been working well for me the past few weeks. I stopped my the local craft store and bought a bunch of sheets of craft foam since it's a hundred times cheaper then buying tiny pieces from the fly shop. I cut out a narrow strip and wrap the abdomen. I also cut 2 small "wings" that I tie on under the elk hair. This fly really floats well and is ugly as hell.



Hook: TMC 200R or equivalent - size 8
Thread: 6/0 Uni-Thread - Olive or Tan
Tail: Deer Hair - Bleached
Body: Yellow Sheet Foam, Uni-French XS - Silver, Metz #3 Neck - Brown Natural
Wing: Deer Hair - Bleached, Yellow Sheet Foam
Thorax: Wapsi Antron Dubbing - Ginger Variant.
Thorax wrap: Metz Cape grd 3 - Grizzly