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Fly of the Month – The All Night Diner

Guest Blogger & Fly Tyer: Bo Wentworth of Pennsylvania, Find Bo @: https://www.instagram.com/bo_wentworth/

The flies that I tie are made out of necessity, the necessity to create art, and the necessity to create fishable flies. Sometimes both of those driving forces combine and align, The All Night Diner is a great example of this. Named after one of my favorite Modest Mouse songs, The All Night Diner is fun to tie and an effective dry fly. This pattern is a great example of how the tying art flies leads to new techniques for effective fishable patterns. I first tied this pattern late at night on a long project fly using a VKsteelworks hook.

I tied a parachute post and added a few goose biots for extra dimension and aesthetic appeal on the back of a salmon fly. The idea then came to me to add goose biots in various colors onto the parachute post for added visibility. Being able to use multiple colors like pink, orange, yellow, and blue on the same post allows the angler’s eye to pick up the differentiating color easier than a solid color post. Though a solid color is certainly easier to tie, the All Night Diner is easier to see deeper into the night.

The flies pictured are tied with moose mane, but can be tied with any body material or dubbing to match whatever insect you are trying to replicate. The goose biots on the abdomen of the fly are tied to match the post for aesthetic appeal, but when I fish this fly I will match those biots to the body material. The thorax is composed of peacock herl and can be substituted for any other material of your choosing. The parachute post pictured shows my use of a calf tail, which is a favorite material of mine wrapped in whiting farms hackle.

Here is a material List for this fly with Links:

Hook: Firehole: 317 BL Nymph Emerger Hook, TMC 200R Nymph & Dry Fly Hook
https://www.jsflyfishing.com/firehole-sticks-317-nymph-emerger-barbless-hook
https://www.jsflyfishing.com/tiemco-tmc-200r-nymph-dry-fly-hook

Body Material Moose Mane:
https://www.jsflyfishing.com/hareline-moose-mane

Goose Biots:
https://www.jsflyfishing.com/hareline-stripped-goose-biots

Hackle Whiting Farms Golden or Silver Badger or any color:
https://www.jsflyfishing.com/whiting-farms-dry-fly-saddle-bronze
https://www.jsflyfishing.com/whiting-farms-100s-saddle-pack-size-14

Thorax Peacock Dyed Peacock Strung Herl:
https://www.jsflyfishing.com/natures-spirit-dyed-peacock-strung-herl-

Parachute Post Calf Tail White:
https://www.jsflyfishing.com/hareline-calf-tail

All Night Diner Fly Tying Instructions

Step 1: The Hook
Place your hook in the vice and tie in your thread. It is important to get a nice even thread base so later our moose mane body will lay flat and even on the hook shank. On this pattern my favorite thread to use is Semperfli Nano Silk 18/0 in white.

Step 2: Parachute Post
The First material we are going to apply is the calf tail post. Take a clump of white calf tail about as long as the hook shank and lay down on top of the hook with the ends facing forward. A couple of secure wraps and trim of any excess hairs on the back end. Next wrap slowly around your clump of calf tail to orient it vertically to make your parachute post. I take a small amount of Solarez Thin Hard to the post at this point to make it a little stiffer to easily wrap our hackle later on.

Step 3: Moose Mane Body
Take two strands of moose mane one white and one black and align them so their tips are the even. Lay them down on the side of the hook shank facing towards you and slowly wrap them down with your thread. Return your thread back up the shank to the point that your calf tail has been seated. Slowly wrap your two strands of moose mane up the shank until you reach your thread and secure it down with a couple of solid wraps. This material is relatively brittle and if you are having difficulties with it breaking or cracking it can help to soak it in warm water for a few minutes before using it. For some more info on working with moose mane check out a detailed discussion on my website. Applying a uv resin over this material will help it stay in place and last longer on the water. For this application my favorite resin by far is Solarez Bone Dry.

Step 4: Thorax
Select two goose biots of any color of your choosing. For aesthetics I will match these biots to the ones we later use for the post. Tie them in right where your moose mane body ends and secure them with a few steady wraps just as you would on a pattern like a prince nymph. Next take two pieces of peacock herl and tie them in and return your thread to the eye of the hook. Wrap your peacock herl forward to the eye, whip finish and cut your thread.

Step 5: Parachute Post
Adjust your vice so it is face towards you and your fly is oriented horizontally. This allows us to take the time and easily tackle this post. Now select your goose biots of any color and begin adding them to your post. I like to add one on each side first and then the back and front. As you add each biot be mindful of their orientation, and trim the bottoms off and make sure the post is staying clean for our next step of adding our hackle.

Step 5: Hackle
Select your hackle and prepare to attach to your post. The size and color of your hackle is up to you, and there are some amazing colors to experiment with from Whiting Farms. Strip off a small amount on the side that will be wrapping around the post to keep the post looking clean. Wrap your hackle down your posty and tie it off close to the bottom of your post. A careful whip finish to not trap any fibers down and cut your thread.

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Fly of the Month – Brain Dead Popper

Written by Paul Beel: J. Stockard Pro Tyer Team Leader and owner of FrankenFly

For this Fly of the Month I explain how to tie a simple Brain Dead Popper. This is a simple popper using the new Brain Dead Popper heads. You can tie them fairly quickly and they are a real fish catcher!

Brain Dead Poppers are block style poppers. Please see the previous blog on more information on these poppers, because you can turn them different ways to achieve various effects in the water. In this post I am just explaining the popper way.

Materials list:
Hook: size 2/0 Ahrex PR330 Aberdeen Predator or TP615 Trout Predator Long
Tail: Marabou Blood Quill
Tail: Legs of your choice
Body: Chocklett’s Filler Flash
Eyes: 8.5mm Surface Seducer Dragon Eyes
Head: Brain Dead Popper

Tying Instructions:
1. Place a hook in your vise.

2. Use Zuddy’s Leg Puller or a bodkin to poke a hole in the Brain Dead Popper so you will be able to slide the popper on the hook shank. It is better to put the hole lower so the popper will pop in the water column better. Please see photo to see the direction you need to place the popper on the hook.

3. Slide the popper on the hook shank temporarily. We are just doing this to mark the position of where the popper will be so we can tie our materials up to that point. Once you have the popper on, just wrap some thread up to the back of the popper. You may have to slide the popper out of the way and hold the position with your thumb or something.

4. Now you can slide the popper off and move your thread back by the barb to begin to tie in the tail. (You will have some bare shank near the front where the popper will go later.)

5. Take a marabou feather (you can use two if you want) and lay it flat on top of the hook shank with it extending from the bend. I usually make it as long as the hook, but you can make it a little longer if you want. Make thread wraps to hold it in place and cut off the stem if it extends pass the mark in the front.

6. Take two rubber legs and tie them on the side of the shank behind the marabou. If you make wraps in the middle of the legs, you should have enough to fold them around to the other side. The ends should extend to about the length of the marabou. Tie both sides down so you have two rubber legs on each side of the marabou.

7. Take your Chocklett’s Filler Flash and tie the end down behind the marabou and legs on the shank and then run your thread up to the front where your bare shank starts. Start wrapping your Filler Flash in wraps that butt up against each other all of the way to the front where your thread is. It may help to use your fingers to brush the Filler Flash back each time you take a wrap. Once you reach your thread tie it off and snip off the excess.

8. It’s time to make some thread wraps in the blank shank area you left so you can have something for your popper to slide over to be held in place. So build up some thread wraps and cover all of the bare shank to the hook eye. Keep making wraps back and forth so it builds ups a bit, but make sure your popper can still slide over it snugley.

9. When you are ready, make a whip finish and cut off your thread. Get ready to slide your Brain Dead Popper on, but first take some Krazy Glue or Zap-A-Gap and brush some over the thread wraps you made. As soon as you put the glue on slide the popper in place. Do it quickly, because the glue will dry fast and won’t allow you to slide the popper all of the way on. Make sure your popper is level.

10. Now take a Zuddy’s Leg Puller or needle, whatever you are using to help you pull legs through and make a hole in the back of the popper. You can see in the photo where I put mine. Stick it through. Put two or three legs through the hole of the leg puller and then pull them through the popper. You can put a spot of glue near each side to make sure they never come out.

11. All that is left to do is put your eyes on. I use Loctite Gel Super Glue for this. Just put a little dot on your eye and stick it on.

12. Your popper is now finished.

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Fly of the Month – The Frosty Girdle

by Paul Beel: J. Stockard Pro Tyer Team Leader and owner of FrankenFly

This is a mishmash of several flies including Michigan Wet Skunk, Girdle Bug and Pat’s Rubber Legs. I’ve been toying with this for about a year and a half and added some materials to make it a bit more flashy, but white is definitely the main idea here. This was also just a fun fly to play around with. This is a fly that could be used for many species.
When you fish this fly it works the best if you throw it out and twitch it a bit here and there. The tail wags and you get a lot of movement from the legs as well. You can also swim this fly slowly if you wish.

Materials list:
Thread: Ultra Thread 140 denier – White
Hook: Firehole Outdoors 516 BL 60 Degree Heavy Jig Hook – size 6
Shank: Spawn Fly Fish Articulated Shanks – 20mm
Connection: 20lb Monofilament
Tail: Calf Tail
Legs: Round Rubber Legs
Rib: VEEVUS Iridescent Thread – Silver Snow
Body Dubbing: Hareline Hare’e Ice Dub – White
Weight: 0.015″ Lead Wire
Bead: Wapsi Painted Tungsten Bomb Beads – 5/32″ – white or any other similar size white bead

Tying Instructions:
1. Start with the 20mm shank and put it into your vise.
2. Wrap a thread base down on the entire shank closing the small gaps in the shank in the meantime.
3. Now tie in a small clump of calf tail on the back of the shank. This should be as long as the shank.
4. Next cut a piece of Round Rubber Leg that is two shanks in length. Line one end of the leg up with the end of the calf tail and tie it down on the shank. Now take the other end and move it over to the other side of the shank and tie it in. Both sides should be near the same length as the calf tail.
5. Take your Veevus Iridescent Thread and tie in one side of it right behind the calf tail on the shank. Leave it there and move it out of your way.
6. Now make a dubbing loop and put in your Hare’s Ice Dub. Use your dubbing loop tool to start wrapping it around the shank. Stop when you get to the middle of the shank.
7. You stop here so you can tie in a Round Rubber Leg on each side of the shank. These pieces of legs should be about the same length of the shank. Tie them down in the middle of the leg and put one on each side of the shank.
8. Now take your dubbing loop and continue wrapping it up the rest of the shank and tie it off with your thread.
9. Now you can take the Veevus Iridescent Thread you left hanging off the back and rib the fly by wrapping it over the dubbing leaving spaces in between each wrap.
10. Tie it off and whip finish.
11. Take your hook and slide your bead on. Put it in the vise and wrap a thread base across the shank.
12. Use your lead wire and wrap about 8 wraps up near the bead.
13. Now you need to use your monofilament and cut a small piece and run it through the eye of your shank. Take the two end pieces and line them up on top of the shank and make about 2 or 3 wraps. Pull the mono by the ends to pull the shank up near the hook bend. When it is close to the hook bend, start wrapping it down and just leave a small loop so your shank can move freely. Cut the ends of the mono off.
14. Do the same thing here as on the shank, tie on the end of the Veevus Iridescent Thread and leave it hanging out of the way.
15. Once again make a dubbing loop and use the Hare’s Ice Dub and wrap it until you get to the middle of the hook shank.
16. Tie in two more Round Rubber Legs on each side of the shank like you did on the back shank. This time make them a bit longer than the back ones.
17. Continue wrapping your dubbing up to and against the bead and tie off.
18. Take your Veevus Iridescent Thread and rib the fly just like you did on the back. Tie it off near the bead.
19. Whip finish and put a spot of glue or cement to help secure it. If need be you can place a little dubbing on the thread to help cover the thread wraps before you whip finish.
20. I like to use a dubbing brush and run it over the fly to make it more buggy.
21. Finished.