Friday, April 29, 2011

In the words of Bob Dylan -- EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED

No I am not talking about drugs or a religious act, but stoneflys. Stonefly nymphs to be exact. I have collected some cool patterns over the last little while and been playing with some new patterns as well. I have tied some for an order and wanted to show my progress in stone patterns. Let me know what you guys think. I don't know the name of most of them. If you guys want more info on a pattern or a step by step let me know.










Who would have guessed?? A ski resort next to vegas - and the Hoover

Yesterday I was in glee. I found out there was a ski resort right next to vegas. Just a 30 minute drive from my house is a small yet steep ski area.  I wish I would have know that last winter. I took a trip up there to check it out yesterday. It closed 3 weeks ago but excited for next season. Some amazing view were had on the drive up.

 You would never guess the little things you miss until you see them again. I have not seen an evergreen in the longest time. The smell of them and just reminded me of home. So being the tree hugger I am I had to give the tree a little love.

 I would have never guessed we would have seen deer on the way up but we did.
 One of the lifts. I was amazed to see how much snow it still had.

 Lake mead from the top of a hill.
 The new bridge they finally got finished. You might be able to see people on the top of it.
This is from the top of the bridge looking at the Hoover damn


If you look really close you can see the fish at the top of the picture.  Still don't know what was on the rock.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Not fishing related but damn was it sweet

I never knew in the Imperial Plaza there was a cool car showroom. Most of the cars there were for sale. Some were one of a kinds worth millions others were just fully restored and completely cherry. They had over 200 cars in the place. They took over 2 floors of the parking garage. Granted living in vegas I see Ferraris, lambos, and Aston Martins on a daily basis but this was really cool to check out. I am a big time car buff so when I found out about this place I was ecstatic. It is called The Auto Collections.  Sorry for not being fishing related but I think other car lovers would appreciate it.  I took a ton of pictures but I just randomly selected some.













 This was elvis's car


Yellow and Black Floating Leech -- Step by Step

The floating leech was one of my first patterns I learned to tie. It is a great beginner pattern and an even better producer. Give these a try on the vise and throw them at your favorite fishing hole.  You won't be disappointed.  I tie these in all sorts of colors

Yellow/Black Floating Leech

Hook: Mustad 9671 #6
Thread: Black UTC 140
Tail: Yellow Marabou with Gold Widow Flash
Body: Yellow Chenille 
Hackle: Brown Saddle
Shell Back: Black 2mm Foam

 I use Fly Tyers Dungeon Gold Widow Flash mixed in with the tail. It is a cool synthetic mixed with gold flashabou
I have a couple of these cheaper brown saddles that I use for the hackle. They are perfect for buggers or anything that needs a little bigger hackle.


Start your thread and tie in the tail and flash. The tail should be the length of the shank.


Tie in your hackle and then the chenille. On the body of this fly I really don't care about keeping an even taper.  It really doesn't matter nor effects its performance.


Cut your foam and the length is up to you. I always make it a little longer so I have room to work with. The width should be from the hook point to the shank. Then cut it into an arrow shape.

That arrow shape is where you tie it in. Make sure to pull the foam to the front of the eye to make sure you wont have any thread wraps behind the foam at the tail. Once that is tied in then put some super glue over the all the tie in areas. I do this because if you don't the foam will tend to move around on the hook.

Wrap your chenille and tie off. Next wrap your hackle over the chenille. I usually do 6 wraps but it all depend the length of the shank.  Clean up the head and add a little bit of cement.

Pull the foam to the front. Don't make it really tight. Leave it a little loose. You can trim the hackle on top but I just pull it right over the top. Once that is tied in cut the front foam to about a 1/5th of the hook shank.  Whip finish and add cement, then you are done!!  Simple tie and a lip ripper.  Give this one a try and see for yourself.

Blog shout out week 2 -- Fly Waters Edge and Mysteries Internal

Keeping up with my blog shout outs here is this week installment. I have been following Fly Waters Edge for a little while and kept up with what was going on. He has now started a couple more blogs. One is fly patterns where he puts recipes and AMAZING detailed instructions on how to tie them. He also did a hatch guide and talks about the hatches he observed.

Fly Waters Edge Home Blog
Fly Waters Edge Fly recipes
Fly Waters Edge Match the Hatch


Here is an example of a pattern you will learn to tie on his blog.







Erin's blog Mysteries Internal has been a great read. She is a VERY good writer and just has a way with words and is very witty. She is learning to tie right now and doing a great job. Also on her blog you will see her fishing trips, cooking, and just about anything else you can imagine. Its going to be really cool as the months go by to see her tying progresses. Click below and give her a look. If you like what you see I would suggest following



Lastly I wanted to share a website.  Some of you might have seen it already but a lot have not. This site has patterns from famous tiers and gives you a 360 view of them.  Along with the picture you get full recipes as well.  Easily one of my favorite sites to get lost in. I have spent hours on it just looking around in awe of how amazing some tiers are.



Couldn't sleep last night so I had a date with the vise

I couldn't get to sleep last night so I sat in front of the vise and cranked out some flies. I tried a couple patterns I have never tied before and worked on some of my order.  By the time I couldn't keep my eyes open and my flies were starting to look sloppy it was 4 in the morning. Thanks for taking a peek.





White Madonna






Black/Yellow Floating Leech






Yellow Floating Leech





A Worm of Some Sort





Lava Emerger





Parachute Olive Hares Ear