Fly Tying

Guest Blogger: Mike Cline, Bozeman, Montana An inshore Gulf Coast flats trip to Florida in the Spring of 2021 was very successful save one frustrating morning. As I paddled the kayak in the early dawn across a shallow flat at low tide, I encountered several dozen tailing bull redfish. It was quite a sight as large pods of fish slowly meandered around the flat stirring up breakfast. I wasn’t really set up fly wise for redfish, but quickly changed flies and started chucking various stuff in front of fish. For whatever reason, they were not the least bit interested nor spooked and I never connected before the pod slowly moved away. So when I returned home, I started thinking about what flies I needed if I wanted to be successful in the tailing redfish scenario. One of the options was the traditional spoon fly, a redfish staple. I had never really tried to tie spoon flies before primarily because I was never keen on all that slow drying epoxy and braided tubing hassle. But times had changed and with a little research it was easy to discover the advent of new methods of tying spoon flies with purpose constructed cutouts, hooks and UV resins. As I ventured down the spoon fly road, I came across a unique shrimp fly design—the Shrimpadillo.  Half shrimp fly, half spoon fly, the Shrimpadillo was a hybrid design that captured the essence of a shrimp fly pattern as well as the wobbling nature of the spoon fly which might represent a baitfish or crab pattern. The Shrimpadillo is the original creation of brothers Steven and Alan Kulcak of Sightcastfishing.com, a south Texas outfit. The inspiration for the Shrimpadillo shrimp fly came after a day on the water sight casting to redfish along Texas Gulf coast. Alan had the original idea but both brothers worked through many variations until they felt they had the shrimp fly pattern nailed down in terms of effectiveness and durability on the water. Steven told me the name came to them almost instantly as the fly looked like the head of a shrimp with the shell of an armadillo—an abundant resident of the South Texas countryside. Rumor even has it that one version called for the urine stained belly fur of a female armadillo, but I couldn’t verify that. Tying the Shrimpadillo is really a two part build. First all the components to build the shrimp fly head are attached to the bend of the hook. Then the dumbbell eyes, body and spoon fly cutout are attached to build the “armadillo” portion of the fly. The addition of silicone legs at the hook eye helps create the impression of a crab when the fly is moved or sinking slowly along the bottom. I’ve tied a couple of dozen Shrimpadillos and the design is wide open for variation and adaptation to more than just redfish. Tying the Shrimpadillo Shrimp Fly Pattern Material List Hook: Spoon Fly Hooks - [SFH20] or equivalentLight wire saltwater hooks from Gamakatsu can be easily shaped into a spoon fly configuration to match cutout size Thread: Danville 210 or mono Weight: Dumbbell eyes, Bead chain or no weight Antennae: Krystal Flash or Moose Mane Legs: Silicone legs Carapace: Fur, Long strand dubbing, Polar Chenille, Mallard or Teal Flank Eyes: Shrimp eyes Body: Polarflash or equivalent Spoon: Spoon fly cutout sealed with UV resinPremade cutouts are available from several suppliers but can be homemade from thin/stiff mylar. Tying Steps The build sequence—antennae, legs, eyes, carapace-- for the shrimp head can be varied but the most important aspect is the positioning on the hook bend to properly accommodate the length of the spoon cutout. Once the all the components of the shrimp fly head are in-place, the spoon fly cutout is attached with the narrow end tab. The hook shank is then covered with Polarflash and the dumbbell eyes tied in just behind the spoon fly cutout. This is where mono thread has an advantage since thread wraps essentially disappear when the fly is finished with UV resin. Coat the spoon fly cutout top and bottom with UV resin (dyed or glittered if using clear cutouts) and seal with Sally Hansen or equivalent. Tie in the front silicone legs after finishing the fly with UV resin. The Shrimpadillo test drive will happen in late November early December on the inshore flats of Tampa Bay. If I encounter tailing redfish, I’ll be ready, but I am counting on other species to tackle the Shrimpadillo in channels, potholes and deep grass when fished with the long sink tips. The creation of Steven and Alan Kulcak of Sightcastfishing.com is easy to tie and looks promising.

About the Gurgler Fly Fundamentally, there couldn’t be a more straightforward, simpler fly to tie than a Gurgler Fly.  Conceived in the 1980s by fly tyer Jack Gartside for New England stripers, the Gurgler has been adapted to just about any species in fresh, salt or tropical waters that will respond to a top-water fly.  Australians have an idiom—Down the Gurgler—that characterizes efforts that have been a waste of time and/or money or items lost, never to be found again.  In the case of the Gartside Gurgler fly, efforts in tying and fishing this simple fly will never go “Down the Gurgler”. The original gurgler fly was tailed with white bucktail with a bit of flash, a under body of palmered grizzly hackle and a 3mm white foam body.  The classic folded foam body with a short lip in front of the hook eye hasn’t changed in the 40 years this pattern has been around.  What has changed however is the adaptation of the myriad of synthetic flash materials available today to this versatile pattern.  Most of my experience with the Gurgler pattern has been on saltwater flats in Florida for Speckled Trout, Snook and Redfish but it is easy to see how the pattern has been adapted to bass, trout, panfish, and northern pike to name just a few. Any Gurgler Fly is fundamentally a three part fly—tail, foam and body—and as far I as can tell, always tied in that order.  It is a simple recipe. Tying the Gurgler Fly Hook: Any freshwater or saltwater streamer style hook sized appropriately to the desired pattern.Thread:  Thread can be any color, weight appropriate for the size and purpose of the fly.Tail: Any combination of fur, feathers, flash in an appropriate length and color for the desired pattern. (Shrimp eyes can be added to simulate a floating shrimp, i.e. the Shrimp Gurgler Fly)Underbody: Palmered hackle over dubbing, polar chenille, Estaz, cactus chenille, rubber legs etc.Foam: 2-4mm closed cell foam in any appropriate color for the desired pattern  Whatever tailing material is used, it becomes the first step in the Gurgler Fly tying sequence and is typically tied in at the top of the hook bend and secured up to two-thirds forward on the hook shank. After the tail is secured, the foam is attached to the hook shank and secured on top of the tailing material.  The foam tag can be short or long but the final wraps should be at the top of the hook bend. The actual shape of the foam can be varied but the most typical form is a narrow piece of rectangular foam slightly narrower than the hook gap.  Usually the length of the rectangle should be twice the length of the hook shank.  One end of the rectangle is then trimmed to create a narrow attachment point for the foam.  There are cutters available from River Road Creations for the Gurgler Fly foam body that have a long narrow attachment segment and indentations for the front of the Gurgler Fly foam tie down but they are sized for specific hook sizes.  Once the foam is attached, body material can be tied in and wound forward for about two thirds of the hook shank and tied off.  Wrap a thread base to the hook eye and back to the body material tie off.  The final step in Gurgler Fly construction is folding over the foam to tie down behind the hook eye. Generally, depending of the overall size of the fly, the tie-down point should be at least 1/8” behind the hook eye. The foam is usually loosely humped up over the back of the fly to create a tear drop profile from the side.  This actually adds to the buoyancy of the fly and gives the body materials some room to move around in the water.  Once the foam is tied down, it is usually trimmed to leave about 1/8 – ¼” of foam beyond the hook eye.  This lip causes the fly to “Gurgle” when the fly is moved across the top of the water.  Some gurglers are tied with this lip folded back to create a larger, more blunt head. Gurgler variations are essentially infinite as various tailing materials, body materials and foam colors can be combined on just about any size hook to create a unique fly.  A good example of this adaptation of various materials is the Shrimp Gurgler.  Instead of a more traditional baitfish tail, shrimp eyes, a short carapace of fur and some long crystal flash antenna form the tail of the fly.  Body material and foam colors are suitable for typical shrimp patterns.  Bass anglers can add rubber legs, rubber tails and weed guards to the gurgler to create a more traditional bass popper style gurgler that can be fished in weed beds and tight cover.  Gurglers tied on small dry fly hooks can be used for bluegill and other panfish.  One effective variation is the addition of a glass rattle under the rear of the body.  This creates a very noisy Gurgler that can be enticing to fish focusing on topwater targets. Fishing a Gurgler is not much different than fishing any sort of topwater lure or fly for your target species. Typically the fly is cast out and slow twitched back with short strips while allowing it to sit idle for a bit between strips. All that said, the target species and conditions will dictate how your gurglers are fished. One of my favorite methods of fishing the Gurgler for Speckled Trout along the Florida Gulf coast grass flats is a “Hopper-Dropper” clone. I tie a 2-3’ dropper from the Gurgler with a lightly weighted shrimp pattern. This mimics the Popping Cork setups bait anglers use for Speckled Trout. The Gurgler attracts the attention of the trout which then targets the easy prey of the suspended shrimp pattern. The Gartside Gurgler pattern has not only proven itself effective for decades, the simplicity of the pattern makes it an easy choice for fly tiers.  Regardless of your target species, if you like to fish topwater patterns tie up some simple flies – the Gurgler. 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The Mighty Myakka Minnow was born out of frustration. I’m sure you’ve been there. Imagine a day on the water with fish busting minnows throughout the morning. But after several hours, you still have nothing to show for your efforts. You cast into the spray of minnows, but your offerings are ignored repeatedly.

Guest Blogger: Joe Dellaria, Woodbury MN Over the years I have made friends with numerous people who hunt birds, small game, and large game. Many of them have invited me to join them. In every instance I have said no emphatically. Most look at me and say, “Why?” My answer is always the same, “I don’t need another expensive, time intensive hobby!” Inevitably this leads to a weird smile followed by an “Oh.” It’s not that I don’t like the idea of hunting. Rather, I know I will like it. If I start, it will be the first step off the proverbial cliff leading to new equipment, learning how to use it, and trying to figure out the best places to use it well. I don’t have the time, and don’t have enough money to spend on new hobbies as my other time-intensive, expensive hobbies, fishing and woodworking, do an excellent job of depleting my hobby spending account. Fortunately, my hunting friends have not disowned me and we have retained good relationships over the years. This can provide a productive source of feathers and fur. One day I was talking to my new neighbor asking about his hobbies. His favorite hobby was pheasant hunting. Off he went on a long description of his latest exploits. I had never seen anyone field dress a pheasant so I asked how he did it. To my horror I found out that he pulled out the breast meat and disposed of everything else in the garbage. I could hardly contain myself thinking of how many flies I could tie with just a couple of those skins. I kept my cool and casually asked when he planned his next pheasant hunting excursion. As fortune would have it, he was going the next month. As nonchalantly as I could, I inquired if he could save a few skins for me. To my great delight he quickly retorted, “How many do you want?” To which I replied, “Well, how many will you have?” He was going with a group of guys so he thought it could easily be as many as 20-30 birds. So, I said, “Five or six would be fine.” He knew I trout fished and finished with, “For a couple of trout dinners, I can get you double that.” I quickly responded, “Done! A few weeks later a huge garbage bag of pheasant skins showed up next to my garage door overnight. I have to warn you, it can be pretty ugly when you open bags like this. He had taken no precautions and just kept tossing the skins into the bag until he could just barely carry it. It was fall so it was cool enough that the smell was not completely repulsive when I first opened the bag. After sorting through the bag, I kept 4-5 skins and all the tail feathers that were usable. Disclaimer: I am not an expert. Others may have better ways to do this. I did a little searching on the internet to get going and went with the easiest thing I could find. In the end, this will provide preserved skins for small animals and birds that will last indefinitely if they are kept dry after the process is completed. The process I describe below can be used to preserve any small game pelt or bird skin. Their skins are much thinner and easily dried. Larger animals have thicker skins and require a different process to properly preserve the skin and fur. I have done part of a deer skin once. It takes 3-4 weeks to go through the process. I am glad I did it, but will probably not try to do it again until I deplete my stock. First, I will give the general steps. Afterwards I will provide some details for each step. Start quickly: Begin the process as soon as you can. Hours are better than days. Clean it first: Use soap and water to wash all of the blood, dirt, etc. off Rinse thoroughly: Thoroughly rinse with warm water (mostly so your hands don’t get cold) Partially dry: Let it dry until the skin is still moist and pliable Stretch and pin: Stretch and pin the skin with the fur/feathers on the down side Remove any tissue or fat: Scrape off any remaining flesh or fat Apply the drying agent: Liberally cover the flesh side of the skin with borax Wait: Wait until the skin is hard Remove the drying agent and pins: Carefully remove the borax and the pins. Start tying: The skin is ready to store or use! COMMENTS ON EACH STEP Start quickly: The longer you wait, the more likely the skin or pelt is to shed the fur or feathers; this is referred to as casting. A good friend of mine had a squirrel problem at his house and saved several squirrel tails for me over the summer. When I grabbed the first tail and pulled it out, all I got was a naked tail. All the hair fell off. Not one tail was usable. Clean it first: Nothing fancy here. Simply wash in warm water to remove blood, dirt, etc. You may need to use a little dish washing detergent to get everything off. Rinse thoroughly: if you use any soap, make sure to rinse thoroughly with warm water. Partially dry: Allow the piece to air dry until it is moist and still pliable. If you let it dry too long it usually curls and becomes brittle. You can soak it in water and let it partially dry without ruining the skin (unless you wait too long, in which case the fur/feathers may start falling off). Stretch and pin: If the skin is pliable it is time to stretch and pin the skin. I use the foam boards you use for presentations to stretch out the skin or hide using sewing pins or push pins. Put the feather or fur side down and the muscle side up.  I prefer sewing pins as they make smaller holes and lead to less tearing. If you use sewing pins, I like to grip the pin in a needle nose plier when I push the pin through the skin into the foam board. You don’t have to use the pliers, but if you are doing more than 20 pins, I find my hand gets pretty sore. I place the pins 2-3 inches apart and try to get the skin taught but not too tight. The skin will shrink as it dries. If you get it too taught when you are pinning it down, the skin may tear as it dries. Try to place the pins within ¼” or less of the edge. This helps to prevent the skin from rolling up as it dries. Remove any tissue or fat: Using a putty knife, scrape off any remaining muscle tissue or fat. Usually you will find a membrane between the muscle or fat and the skin. Try to get all of it off. Start scraping gently and increase pressure until you start removing muscle, fat, or the membrane. You can scrape firmly, but be careful not to scrape too hard or you will tear the skin. It’s not the end of the earth if you do, but it makes applying and removing the drying agent easier and less messy if you don’t tear the skin. Apply the drying agent: Coat the muscle side of the skin with 1/16” to 1/8” thick layer of Borax (you can buy still buy Borax 20 mule team – I googled it and it looks like Target has it. One box lasts a long time – I am still on my first box.). Borax is a boric acid salt, it serves as a dehydrating agent (it removes all moisture from the skin). You can use table salt too. However, you want to use non-iodized salt. I prefer borax as it is a finer powder which covers more evenly. It is also less corrosive than salt. I recommend using disposable gloves to apply the borax/salt. This prevents drying out your hands. If you don’t use gloves, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly with water after you are done. Wait: This is the easiest step but the hardest to do. I always want to see the finished product so waiting is painful. It can go as quickly as a few hours if the skin is thin or up to 1-3 days for thicker skins. You can tell when the skin is dry as it gets very stiff . Make sure there are no moist spots left. Remove the drying agent and pins: This is straight forward. Take the pinned board to a waste basket or garbage can and tip the board until all the salt comes off. You may need to lightly brush the skin with an old paint brush to dislodge any salt that sticks to the skin. Remove the pins. Start tying: The skin is good to go you can start tying. As long as the skin remains dry, you should not have any problems with bugs, mold, etc. Some of the pieces in the pictures of my stash below have been stored for over 10 years without any loss in quality! I find doing this fun. It also saves some money so you can buy other things at J. Stockard for your fly-tying or fly-fishing arsenal. There is another big benefit. As you examine the pelts and skins you are likely to find some unusual feathers that can lead to some productive flies. One example of this is the fine marabou feathers found at the base of many of the turkey feathers on the skin. I decided to use these to palmer the body of a bead head nymph. It looks great in the water, and better yet, it catches fish.  So, give it a try. For an hour or two of work you can get a lifetime supply of some pretty amazing tying supplies. In addition, now you have a reason to make friends with people who hunt. WARNING: There are certain feathers and furs that are illegal to have in your possession unless you are a registered dealer (Eagle feathers most notably). Be sure to check your state DNR regulations for possession of whatever you intend to dry. Also, selling certain furs and feathers can be illegal. Be sure to ensure whatever you intend to sell is permissible. State DNR penalties can be quite stiff for violations in either of these instances.

As the air crisps, the leaves start changing color, and the baitfish abound, fall creeps steadily upon the rivers and lakes. The fish start feeding and bulking up as they prepare for the harsh winter ahead. For me this means one thing, the pike rush into the shallows. I love chasing these toothy freight trains as they inhale any meal that happens to be unlucky enough to swim within their territory. Pike have always fascinated me with their sheer predatory abilities. I have encountered numerous pike sitting with their belly resting on the bottom and a very large sucker sticking out of their mouth. The fish don’t seem to mind as I walk by and watch them try to digest their prey. They just have this mystique about them, as if they can just appear and crush a fly when you are about to recast. They strike with such brutality and speed, it has startled me on more than one occasion. When fall approaches, the bigger fish come out of the depths and vegetation and are center stage for flinging half a chicken’s worth of feathers at these magical freshwater barracudas.

There really are no bad bugs, just bad humans. Infestations of Japanese Beetles, Gypsy Moths, Emerald Ash Borers, and a host of other alien invaders are all the result of humans introducing insects to places far removed from their natural range, whether by accident or intent. In the absence of the predators and diseases that normally keep their numbers in check, they can run amok and reproduce explosively.

I couldn’t find any reliable information as to when we anglers started calling the free swimming larva of Rhyacophilidae caddis “Rock Worms”. In late 19th and early 20th century literature, such worms were lumped into a category called “creepers” and there weren’t to my knowledge any specific patterns to replicate them. However, in Montana Flies (Grant, 1981) George Grant gives Franz Potts of Missoula, Montana credit for the term “Rock Worm”.

The Cahill Frenchie is a pattern that attempts to bridge the gap between jig nymphs and emergers, if such a place exists! At first glance, the inclusion of pale yellow dubbing may appear to be a hot spot or trigger, but there's more than meets the eye. Even better, this pattern can be varied to "match" various mayflies in the waters you fish. Before we get there, let's briefly investigate the fly's design, a variation of the ever popular Pheasant Tail.

These rather bizarre fly patterns come to us from the reservoir trout fisheries in the U. K. An Internet search of “Blob Fly” will reveal an array of information on tying these patterns, the materials used, how to fish them, and also a lot of controversy—which is not unexpected.