What's in your vise?

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While maybe not in the vise for all these photos, smallie pre-spawn season is upon us, and we are salivating at the mouth for big, nasty eats on these big, nasty flies. Yeah, you can catch 'em on poppers and smaller bugs, but there is something much more enjoyable about watching these articulated patterns jerk through the water column, aggravating and enticing big smallies to violently eat.


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About two decades ago, I was visiting YNP and stopped in Parks Fly Shop to pick up a few flies for the lower Gardner River. It was early summer, and runoff was just tapering off. The lower Gardner is rough and tumble pocket water and the favorite nymphing technique in early season is free lining large stonefly nymphs in the pockets behind boulders and along the edges of the river. At the time, the shop put me on to a very slender pattern that worked extremely well. Don't know if its got another name, but I call it the Slender Stone. The slender profile and tungsten bead gets it deep quick while the mylar body provides a lot of visibility in turbulent water. When I no longer had any in my stash, I went back to Parks several years later to get a few samples, but they no longer carried the pattern.
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Slender Stone
Hook: Firehole 718 #6, #4
Bead: 3/16" Tungsten
Thread: UTC 140, Black or Brunt Orange
Tail: Black or Yellow goose biots
Body: Saltwater Flashabou
Rib: UTC BR Wire Copper or Yellow
Thorax: Peacock herl
Wing Case: 1/4" Scud back Black or Brown
Legs: Barred rubber or vinyl

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Last edited:
Mike Cline said:
View attachment 150745

About two decades ago, I was visiting YNP and stopped in Parks Fly Shop to pick up a few flies for the lower Gardner River. It was early summer, and runoff was just tapering off. The lower Gardner is rough and tumble pocket water and the favorite nymphing technique in early season is free lining large stonefly nymphs in the pockets behind boulders and along the edges of the river. At the time, the shop put me on to a very slender pattern that worked extremely well. Don't know if its got another name, but I call it the Slender Stone. The slender profile and tungsten bead gets it deep quick while the mylar body provides a lot of visibility in turbulent water. When I no longer had any in my stash, I went back to Parks several years later to get a few samples, but they no longer carried the pattern.
View attachment 150733

Slender Stone
Hook: Firehole 718 #6, #4
Bead: 3/16" Tungsten
Thread: UTC 140, Black or Brunt Orange
Tail: Black or Yellow goose biots
Body: Saltwater Flashabou
Rib: UTC BR Wire Copper or Yellow
Thorax: Peacock herl
Wing Case: 1/4" Scud back Black or Brown
Legs: Barred rubber or vinyl

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Is the entire topside coated in UV cure ? Just the top? Just the thorax forward?
 
Mike Cline said:
View attachment 150745

About two decades ago, I was visiting YNP and stopped in Parks Fly Shop to pick up a few flies for the lower Gardner River. It was early summer, and runoff was just tapering off. The lower Gardner is rough and tumble pocket water and the favorite nymphing technique in early season is free lining large stonefly nymphs in the pockets behind boulders and along the edges of the river. At the time, the shop put me on to a very slender pattern that worked extremely well. Don't know if its got another name, but I call it the Slender Stone. The slender profile and tungsten bead gets it deep quick while the mylar body provides a lot of visibility in turbulent water. When I no longer had any in my stash, I went back to Parks several years later to get a few samples, but they no longer carried the pattern.
View attachment 150733

Slender Stone
Hook: Firehole 718 #6, #4
Bead: 3/16" Tungsten
Thread: UTC 140, Black or Brunt Orange
Tail: Black or Yellow goose biots
Body: Saltwater Flashabou
Rib: UTC BR Wire Copper or Yellow
Thorax: Peacock herl
Wing Case: 1/4" Scud back Black or Brown
Legs: Barred rubber or vinyl

View attachment 150734View attachment 150735View attachment 150736View attachment 150737View attachment 150738
Click to expand...
Those look terrific! I bet these would be effective in lots of places around here too.
 
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