This pattern was one of the bugs that I was messing around with on the Deschutes River in the middle of a some serious golden stone and salmonfly hatches. I tied them up in orange and yellow and had success with  both. The poor fly did not really have a name, but after Eric landed a really nice fish, I yelled over to him and asked him what he caught it on. His response, “That big splashy-thing…” Fun to tie and when the big insects our out, a ton of fun to fish. Enjoy…

If you would like to purchase this pattern, head on over to the Arizona Wanderings Shop and check out the Splashything Stonefly.

(Material List at the bottom)

Pierce a 1/4″ wide piece of 2mm thick foam onto the hook.

With the foam rotating freely at the front of the shank, tie in two goose biots for the tail of the fly.

When the biots are thoroughly tied down slide the foam back over the tied down portion of the biots.

Secure the foam with several wraps.

Tie forward about 1/2 or 3/4 of the way up the hook creating segmented sections of foam. Clip back section of foam.

Wrap thread back to roughly the center of the hook.

Tie in back legs.

Clip front portion of legs off.

Dab of superglue.

Tie in front section of foam.

Tie in hair. (I prefer deer, but elk will work fine.)

Dub all the way forward but work your way back to roughly where you tied in the hair. Tie in legs. Add a drop of glue on top of all the dubbing .

Secure foam.

Secure top indicator foam if desired. Whip finish.

I tied up several variations with different colored foam and dubbing and found that all seemed to do the trick. I think the fish on the Deschutes were more interested in the splash and silhouette of the fly rather than the actual colors.

Materials:

– #4 Terrestrial Hook (but any size will do)

– 2mm foam in yellow (or orange) and brown

– 6/0 Brown Uni Thread

– Dubbing (I used the Haretron Golden Stone, but many colors will work…)

– Sili Legs

– Deer Hair (but elk will work)

– Goose Biots

– Superglue

The post Fly Tying: Splashything Stonefly Pattern appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

Ben’s Salmon Fly

This is a variation of the Mini-Hopper that seems to have taken on the identity of a salmonfly. I would love to know what you think and I believe I will need a name.

Material List:

– Size 10 Hopper Terrestrial Hook

– 6/0 Uni-Thread

– Dubbing (my personal favorite is the Hare-Tron Dubbing

– Goose Biots

– Ribbing – on several I used a copper wire, but a few got some haloshimmer tinsel instead

– Orange Antron for the underwing

– Deer Hair for the wing

– Silly legs

– 2mm Foam

– Something for the post – foam or in this case I had some white polypropylene handy

Wrap the thread back to the curve.

Add a little block of dubbing for a base.

Tie in biots.

Tie in wire. Wrap forward and tie in foam (roughly a quarter inch wide).

Dub body forward.

Wrap rib forward and secure antron underwing

Tie in deer hair wing.

Dub rest of body and secure foam.

Add legs. In my demo I did not add the post. I think the post will help the fly to be more visible and I believe that foam or poly-yarn will do the trick.

If you tie some up, I would love to hear how they work for you. Thanks for looking.

The post Fly Tying: Smith’s Stonehopper appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

How to tie the Chubby Chernobyl…

In getting ready for a summer of fishing and a probable shot at the Deschutes River, I have started tying up some of the patterns everyone tells me to have in my fly box. The Chubby Chernobyl is at the top of everyone’s list and a half dozen different colors have made their way into my stone/salmon fly box.

Material List:

– #8 Hook

– 6/0 Uni-thread

– Crystal Flash

– Dubbing

– Polypropylene Yarn

– 2mm Foam

– Super Glue

– Silly Legs

Thread wraps back to the curve of hte hook.

Tie in a little crystal flash.

I am a cheapskate and this method doubles the amount of material I can get out of one batch of crystal flash.

I like a buggy look on my flies so I heavily dub the thread.

2mm foam strip wrapped securely into place at the point of the hook.

Tie in polypropelene yarn.

Tie in legs and dub over wraps.

Dub thread, wrap forward and secure foam.

Tie in longer bit of polypropelene wing. (double long as back wing)

Add legs, dub over wraps, whip finish under foam behind the eye of the hook.

I tied up a couple different color variations and hope these do the trick on the Deschutes.

The post Fly Tying: The Chubby Chernobyl appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.