Followers are all coming in

As I am writing this I now have 26 followers!  That is more than I thought I wold ever get lol..  I know I was shooting low but I mainly made this to keep my pictures and just remind me down the road what I was doing. As I get more followers I feel I need to keep updating this more and more. I need to learn how to use the widgets and all of the other functions. I will be updating 3 or 4 flies every week so keep your eyes open people.  Thanks EVERYONE! for following

Season Opener Emerger

 This was a fun fly to tie. I had a buddy in Oregon that wanted and emerger that had a red body and an olive head to use for opening day. I looked at a ton of pics and really didn't see anything that would work so I came up with this and he loved the pattern. I really liked how it turned out so here we are. I also tied some for an emerger swap and these were them. I found some hooks I had that were designed for bead flies.  It was designed by Dennis Brown of Logan Utah.  I really like the barbless offset wire. It also has a bigger gap.

Hook : Daiichi 1250 Size 16
Thread : Olive 8/0 Uni Thread
Body : Small red vinyl rib
Shuck : Olive Z-lon
Mid Body : Olive Spirit River Dazl-Tron
Head : Light Olive 11/0 Glass Seed Bead

Stalcup Style Damsel

The picture really does not do this fly justice but I am sure it will be a lip ripper. I found some pre-made tails which I found out later were stalcup tails and this is what I came up with. I used some old school dumb bell eyes and then just wrapped the body with barred marabou and made sure that it sweep towards the back. Let me know what you think

Pebble Cased Caddis

 This is a rather simple tie. I tied up several dozen of these for a swap and ended up having to resend all but 3 I had left.  These represent the caddis below. I will revamp it with multiple color sand on the next round.  These as usual were tied on Allen Fly Fishing Hooks

Hook : AFF200R Size 10
Thread : Olive 8/0
Head : Yellow Yarn
Legs: Mallard Flank Dyed Wood Duck Color
Under Body : Yellow Yarn
Outer Body : Super glue and then rolled in sand

Charlie Boy Hopper - By Charlie Craven

 I got really interested in this pattern last month. It was originated by Charlie Craven of Charlie's Fly           Box in Colorado. It is what got me started tying with foam. There is a real good tutorial at http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=164   He is an amazing tier and I suggest everyone check out his tutorials!

Hook: TMC 100SP-BL #8-10, or TMC 5212 or TMC 5262 #4-8 A note on hooks: I use the 2xl TMC 5212 and 5262 for larger sized hoppers and have recently switched the smaller Charlie Boy Hoppers over to the standard length, wide gaped TMC 100SP-BL to improve the hook gap while still making a smaller sized hopper. The nominal length of the size 8 100SP-BL is the same as the 5212 in a size 12, but with a much bigger hook gap. In small sizes, the narrower gap of the 5212 is filled in by the foam body, where the 100 SP-BL leaves plenty of bite. Thread: Tan 3/0 Monocord "Binder" Strip: 2mmX2mm Piece of foam Body: Tan 2mm Thin Fly Foam Legs: Brown Medium Round Rubber Legs Underwing: (Optional) Mottled Tan Web Wing Wing: Natural Deer Hair Glue: Zap-A-Gap CA Glue Double Edge Razor Blades

 Here are some examples of variations in colors you can use to simulate the hopper or a stonefly

 From this information I took it farther and started doing the extended bodies with multiple colors

 Here is a black and yellow with an orange butt.  This one is the single cheek and below is the double cheek. At the very bottom is a little collection of all different colors and variations

Dustin's Not so Famous Hornet

 This fly still needs to be refined. I used olive thread because I ran out of black which is what I would have normally used. I used my bubble but concept and put black foam in the middle and then closed it off. I ran the rubber legs in the front forward and in the back I put a little super glue on a bodkin and shaped them to have a bend.

Material List: Hook : Allen Fly Fishing - AFF 5212
Thread : Danville Black 6/0
Body: Black and Yellow Hobby foam
Legs : Yellow Rubber Legs
Super glue the whole fly

 As you can see here I shaped the bottom yellow foam into a V where it touched the black for a little more life like appearance.

When the fly was all said and done I covered the whole thing in super glue to make it shiny and also pretty much to make the fly protected from the teeth. While it was drying I bent the foam of the tail upward to make is more life like as well.  Thanks for checking this one out. It really is not economical because they do take forever to dry and you need to hold the tail for about 15 minutes to get it into shape.

Bubble Butt Stonefly

 I was looking at a stonefly from pictures and noticed some cool stuff. With the wings the way they are it makes the back end almost bubbleish.  Hence this pattern is born. I splayed the deer hair on the side as well for a bigger presence on the water. I made a bubble with the foam and before I closed it I put lite bright from Spirit River. I tied that in and closed the bubble over the top of it. The material then spreads to the sides and looks like a wing on both sides.  This thing really floats well and lands perfect everytime!



Material List: Hook : Allen Fly Fishing - AFF 5212
Thread : Danville Black 6/0
Body: Black Hobby Foam for half body and full tail, Orange foam the front half and head
Lower Wing : Black Lite Brite
Middle Wing : Black deer hair
Upper Wing : Dark orange deer hair
Legs : Black rubber legs
Markings : Black Sharpie

 You can see from the last picture how the lite bright is in the bubble and goes out to the side as well. Give this one a try when the hatch goes off and hang on :)

Dustin's Not so Famous Chernobyl Ant

 Here is another foam extended body fly I have been playing around with. This one turned out pretty great. The legs on the tail were supposed to have eight but when I was moving them around I ended up breaking off one. So I cut the other off and really liked it the way it turned out so I kept tying them like this. This pattern can be used to imitate several different bugs.

 Material List: Hook : Allen Fly Company -- AFF 5212 Size 10 -- BEST HOOKS EVER!

Thread : Olive 6/0
Body : Tan/Brown Foam
Indicator : Chartreuse Foam
Legs : Black Rubber Legs
Eye: Black Marker

Hope you guys enjoy tying this one since it is very easy to tie and can be cranked out quickly!

Dustin's Not so Famous Stonefly

 Here is some more foam fun I have been playing with. It uses the same concepts as my hopper but just different colors to make the stone. Here is the material list

Material List: Hook: allenflyfishing.com AFF 5212 -- Size 10
Body -- Orange and black foam
Lower Wing -- Spirit River Stonefly pre-cut wing
Middle Wing -- Dark Red Deer Hair
Upper Wing -- Orange Deer Hair
Legs -- Black Rubber Legs
Markings -- Black Sharpie

 The wings are a material I don't know if is still available. I got it from a estate sale and was made by spirit river. It was pre-cut and this is the caddis cut.

The below picture is a hopper before the real tying begins. You can see how I did the extended body and the use of the two colors of foam

Support your local fisheries!!! or Charity

As I get more and more into this sport I have found some amazing people and life long friends. This post is to bring attention to programs that help people in fishing and fly tying. The organization that I am supporting is cast for recovery. If you don't know what this program does it is take woman with breast cancer or survivors of cancer out fly fishing. If you do send out flies they distribute them through out the country with all their programs! They are always in need of donations or even just sending them flies helps many!  www.castforrecover.org  There is also tons of local organizations that may be close to you!  Heck even just take a kid or friend out fishing or show them how to tie! This hobby has changed my life and you never know, you might be able to change someone elses life!  If you are interested in sending flies please send to address below.  Also make sure to state your information and that you are part of the www.flyfishingforum.com (which I hope you all are) and we can bring some more recognition to the site and let people know as fisherman we are supporting their cause!  Here is a box that I sent out early this week to cast for recovery. You guys always have spare flies just hanging around and really all you need is an altoids can and some heart and you can help others!  Their is local water clean ups or conservation you can be a part of as well!  Just help protect this sport for your children and their children. I am eternally grateful to some members on this forum and feel I need to bring this to attention cause just a little helps a lot! If you guys know some local organizations please post them so everyone has a lot of options.

Casting for Recovery
PO Box 1123
Manchester VT 05254 (if coming by postal service)

Casting For Recovery
3738 Main Street
Manchester VT 05254 (if coming via UPS or other carrier)

My Flies were put on the allenflyfishing.com blog

If you guys don't know Allen Fly Fishing is a company that manufactures high quality reels, rods, and hooks.  I have been using some of their hooks for a little while and love them. For the price of $6.95 you get 100 hooks and also if you spend $25 you get a very high quality fly box as well. Also there is no shipping on them, even for the smallest order.  This was really the first time I have had industry interest in my flies. Thanks Justin from Allen Fly Fishing for putting that up.  It also links to www.flytyingforum.com so hopefully that gets more views too.

Here is a link to the blog post on their website
http://www.allenflyfishing.com/blogs/news/2577092-fly-tying-creations