What's in your vise?

[Norm Frechette]

Grahame Green

Mike Martinek Jr

Atlantic Salmon

Hook – Gamakatsu T10-6H or equivalent

Thread - Black

Tag – Copper tinsel

Tail - Golden pheasant crest

Body - Green sparkle braid

Wing – Black bear over green calf tail

Hackle - Black hen hackle

Shoulder - Jungle cock

 

[Norm Frechette]

Medicine May Nymph

Great Western Grey Drake Nymph

Hook - Mustad 9674, sizes 8 - 12
Thread - Black or dark brown
Tail - Barred teal flank
Body - Wide blue dun floss
Ribbing - Fine iron blue dun floss
Wing case - Gray goose secondary wing quill*
Thorax - Bronze peacock herl
Legs - V-section of grizzly hackle fibers**

*I used black antron yarn

**I used teal

Medicine May Nymph "Fly of the Week #99 - FAOL

Medicine May Nymph

www.flyanglersonline.com

 

[Mike Cline]

Unweighted Half and Half Clousers - Freshwater

Although saltwater versions of this fly have been a staple in my saltwater stash, I thought I’d whip out a few unweighted freshwater versions for use on the Yellowstone with the long sink tips. The CDL badger neck hackles provide a strong lateral line, great translucence and come in a wide variety of shades.

Hook: Firehole 860 #4
Eyes: Plastic clear dumbbell eyes
Thread: UTC 140
Tail: Four matched CDL Badger Neck hackles
Body: Flat Braid
Flash: Polarflash or Crystal Flash
Wings: Bucktail

 

[Scottp]

Gingerpus

hook - WFC Model 6 #10
thread - Danville 6/0 rust
tail - yarn gold
rib - small wire gold
body - hare’s ear bleached
body hackle - dyed ginger (1/4 Tsp Rit Tan, 1/8 Tsp Rit Golden Yellow/4 cups water)
1st shoulder - golden pheasant body red
2nd shoulder - hen pheasant body feather

Got the hackle color I was looking for by trying different times in the dye bath; this one was in for about 90 seconds. Longer and it takes on more of an orangish tinge.

Regards,
Scott

 

[SilverFly]

Goofy experiment to imitate a school of sauries. They're a small offshore baitfish that albacore can get highly keyed on. The potential (possibly imagined) problem is getting a 20# fish swimming 30mph to noticed a fly less than 2" long.

The idea here is to suspend small decoy flies on short fluorocarbon tags in front of the actual fly. Maybe 6 at most so nothing too elaborate, or unwieldy as in this crappy mockup using fibers granny knotted to 20# FC tags.



Here's a first attempt at a proper decoy tied on a short piece of doubled 20# FC. The idea here is to attach to a similar loop on the FC tag so it moves freely.



Finished decoy. Not much to it. A half dozen of these should be barely noticeable to cast on a 12wt.



Probably an exercise in futility, but don't want to see tuna boiling on these little suckers and not eating our standard flies.

 

[Scottp]

Black Octopus

Stygian

hook - WFC Model 6 #10
thread - Uni 8/0 chartreuse
tail - yarn chartreuse
rib - small wire chartreuse
body - Ice Dub black
body hackle - black
1st shoulder - pheasant rump dyed black
2nd shoulder - pheasant rump dyed chartreuse (1 Tbs Rit Neon Yellow/1 cup water)

Regards,
Scott

 

[Divad]

Goofy experiment to imitate a school of sauries. They're a small offshore baitfish that albacore can get highly keyed on. The potential (possibly imagined) problem is getting a 20# fish swimming 30mph to noticed a fly less than 2" long.

The idea here is to suspend small decoy flies on short fluorocarbon tags in front of the actual fly. Maybe 6 at most so nothing too elaborate, or unwieldy as in this crappy mockup using fibers granny knotted to 20# FC tags.

View attachment 29384

Here's a first attempt at a proper decoy tied on a short piece of doubled 20# FC. The idea here is to attach to a similar loop on the FC tag so it moves freely.

View attachment 29385

Finished decoy. Not much to it. A half dozen of these should be barely noticeable to cast on a 12wt.

View attachment 29386

Probably an exercise in futility, but don't want to see tuna boiling on these little suckers and not eating our standard flies.

I’m curious of this gimmick when in the water, a tangled mess might benefit a schooling look I’ll be watching for a success story.

Could always try a multitude of small tube flies, short section of doubled leader above the main fly maybe?

 

[Rio Grande King]

7-year old neighbor, Nora, displaying her first flies and seeing if our Red Devil likes one.

 

[Norm Frechette]

Antron Spent Caddis

Full Hackle

Hook - TMC 100, sizes 18-20
Thread - Brown or black
Body - Green spun fur or synthetic dubbing
Wings - Brown antron
Legs - Brown hackle (trimmed top and bottom if desired)

Trimmed Hackle

 

[Norm Frechette]

Henry's Lake Pupa

Hook - Mustad R74 or equivalent, size 8

Thread - Brown

Body - Tan Antron dubbing

Body/bubble/tail - Lemon wood duck flank

Hackle - Partridge, tied as a collar

Head - Brown dubbing

"Henry's Lake Pupa (flyanglersonline.com)

 

[Norm Frechette]

Henryville Special

Hook - Standard dry fly hook, sizes 12 to 20

Thread - Black

Rib - Grizzly hackle, palmered and trimmed on top

Body - Red floss

Underwing - Lemon wood duck fibers

Wing - Gray duck quill

Head Hackle - Dark ginger

Scott Cesari's Fly Tying - The Henryville Special, Original Version ("No Name") (scottcesariflytying.com)

Henryville Special, "Fly of the Week #184 - FAOL" (flyanglersonline.com)

 

[Kado]

Goofy experiment to imitate a school of sauries. They're a small offshore baitfish that albacore can get highly keyed on. The potential (possibly imagined) problem is getting a 20# fish swimming 30mph to noticed a fly less than 2" long.

The idea here is to suspend small decoy flies on short fluorocarbon tags in front of the actual fly. Maybe 6 at most so nothing too elaborate, or unwieldy as in this crappy mockup using fibers granny knotted to 20# FC tags.

View attachment 29384

Here's a first attempt at a proper decoy tied on a short piece of doubled 20# FC. The idea here is to attach to a similar loop on the FC tag so it moves freely.

View attachment 29385

Finished decoy. Not much to it. A half dozen of these should be barely noticeable to cast on a 12wt.

View attachment 29386

Probably an exercise in futility, but don't want to see tuna boiling on these little suckers and not eating our standard flies.

So will this be cast out and jigged? I'm still ignorant as to how the tuna flies are presented once the fish show. I gather topwater flies are stripped, but the full sinking flies....I've been told to slowly strip them up shallower with a quick strip and long pause motion so they sink a little on the pause. ??

 

[Scottp]

Wake-em Up Crippler

hook - WFC Model 6 #10
thread - Uni 8/0 fire orange
tag - Orvis saltwater fluoro orange/resin
rib - small wire gold
body - dubbing peachy pink
body hackle - hot orange/fuschia
1st shoulder - golden pheasant rump dyed hot orange (1 Tbs Rit Golden Yellow, 1/4 Tsp Rit Scarlet/1 cup water)
2nd shoulder - pheasant rump dyed neon peach (2 Tsp Rit Golden Yellow, 1/8 Tsp Rit Coral/ 2 cups water)

Regards,
Scott

 

[SilverFly]

I’m curious of this gimmick when in the water, a tangled mess might benefit a schooling look I’ll be watching for a success story.

Could always try a multitude of small tube flies, short section of doubled leader above the main fly maybe?

So will this be cast out and jigged? I'm still ignorant as to how the tuna flies are presented once the fish show. I gather topwater flies are stripped, but the full sinking flies....I've been told to slowly strip them up shallower with a quick strip and long pause motion so they sink a little on the pause. ??

I'm curious too. Having seen schools of these tiny sauries puttering around, I'm envisioning casting and retrieving slowly, fairly shallow or at the surface.

Tuna keying on "micro bait" is apparently a thing in other tuna fisheries, not just albacore. Some years bluefin and yellowfin in SoCal get so focused on tiny anchovies they become extremely difficult to catch on the usual baits and lures. A similar thing happens with Longtail tuna in Australia which is one reason why surf candy type patterns are extremely popular there.

Even so this experiment is probably overkill but just feels like something I want to mess around with.

 

[Norm Frechette]

Green Skating Caddis

Hook - Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp LO59S or equivalent

Thread - Ultra thread waxed

Body - Green (brown or yellow) foam strip

Rib - Gold wire

Hackle - Two grizzly rooster feathers, palmered together

Flash - Krystal flash, 4 – 6 strands

Wing - Elk body hair

"Green Skating Caddis" - FAOL (flyanglersonline.com)

 

[SilverFly]

OK, here's a 1st attempt at an actual mini-baitfish school imitation. A bit rough but not seeing how this would problematic casting or retrieving. Probably half the total material in a normal baitfish pattern and nothing to snag or tangle. The "decoy" flies are attached to 20# FC tags via loops secured with thread and flexible UV resin.

 

[Dr. Magill]

The eyes on this have a rattle inside:

 

[SculpinSwinger]

 

[Norm Frechette]

Detritus Cased Caddis

Hook - TMC 3761 or equivalent, size 10 ~ 18
Head - Black glass or metal bead
Thread - Black
Detritus Case - Black and Natural ostrich herls and peacock herls
Body - Insect green dubbing
Legs - Brahma hen fibers

LoJ Ramblins': Detritus Cased Caddis (lojsflytyingbugstuff.blogspot.com)

 

[Norm Frechette]

Oscar-Mike Caddis

Hook - 3X-long nymph hook, sizes 6-12

Thread - Brown, fluorescent green and black

Underbody - Lead-free wire

Abdomen - Spanflex, light brown and dark brown

Rib - Spanflex, black

Thorax - Fluorescent green thread and black rabbit dubbing

Legs - Mottled golden straw Brahma hen feather

QUICK FLY: The Oscar-Mike Caddis | Fly Tyer