Friday, March 27, 2009

Tubeflypalooza!


JD joined Greg Senyo of Steelhead Alley Outfitters recently to do a program for Folly's End Fly Shop in Girard, PA. The interest from attendees focused on switch rods and swinging for steelies. Shown here is a selection of tube patterns tied by Greg accompanied by a Scott A3 1108/4 11' 8-wt., teamed up with a Nautilus CCF 8 reel and Scientific Anglers Supra Skagit Spey 6-wt. line.

Tubin' Time!


The spring steelhead fishing is in "full swing" right now! Here is a recent participant that ate a baitfish pattern tied on a Eumer conehead tube swung on the Grand River.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Classic Ties


Dog Friend, Peter Humphreys, from Grand Rapids, MI, loves to tie and fish classic, Scandinavian-style tubes. Here are a few of his recent ties. Peter is on Pro Staff for Guideline Products and in addition to being a great fly tyer and angler, he is also a FFF certified Two Hand Casting Instructor. Peter works with the Great Lakes Spey Shop out of Rockford, MI.

New Creation




Dog friend and Patagonia Fishing Ambassador, Jeff Liskay, had the creative juices turned on at the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo. He tied an updated version of his Super Nuke tube fly while doing a demo with Eumer components. Here is the final version, rigged and ready to fish- we call it the Super Nuke with Meatball.




Recipe




Body- Eumer Ballhead tube, orange or yellow. Tie on a dozen or so orange Crystal Flash and Mirror Flash fibers and pull back. Wrap orange Estaz. Wrap a few turns of orange saddle in front, then finish of with a few turns of yellow marabou just behind the ball.




Meatball- Orange Ice Dub in a loop and wrapped around size 4 Octopus-style hook.




To rig- Run leader tippet through the liner of the tube and the eye of the hook. Double the leader over at the hook eye and tie a Double Surgeon's Loop knot. The loop should be about an inch and a half long. Pull the Knot back into the junction tube and the meatball will be a free-swinging behind the body.




Add water, a few steelhead and hang on!




Midnight Bandit


Was relaxing on the sofa in the family room after getting home from the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo last night. All of a sudden I heard all kind of racket behind me and saw this guy at our back window. He was tearing into the bird feeder we have there. Guess he woke after a hard winter and needed some high energy seed.


We scared him off a couple times, but finally gave up after a final close range, face-to-face staredown through the window.