By my third day in Colorado, my soul was ready to fish, but my body was beat from two solid days of fishing. We slept in and made a late start of our float. After a fantastic BBQ platter loaded with baked beans and potato salad at Moes Original BBQ in Eagle, Colorado, we dropped the SUV and trailer at the takeout and headed back upriver to the boat.

The float started slow and it took me a while to get into the swing of things. After some rerigging, Jay suggested the Eagle River standby – a Pat’s Rubber Legs and a pheasant tail. That did the trick and soon fish were coming to the net. After a couple of tangles, snags, and lost flies, I could feel my blood starting to boil. Jay was kind enough to pull the boat over and let me rerig, and before we pulled back into the current I floated my two fly rig on the edge of the seam next to the boat. On the second pass through, my indicator dipped and I came tight on what I thought was the bottom of the river, until the rod started to pulse. After several minutes of wondering what I was hooked into and sweating the thought of losing it, a slab of a rainbow made its way to the surface and Jay quickly netted it.

My legs were shaking as I cradled the fish pictured above for a quick photo, before releasing it back into its watery home. I think the look on my face in the picture above kind of says it all. Colorado is slice of heaven.

The post Fly Fishing Colorado: The Eagle River appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

So I know that this pattern cannot be new, but unfortunately I don’t know a better name than “little stonefly pattern.” I was sitting down at the vise trying to tie just that – a little stonefly pattern and out came this. I fished these on the Ausable River back in New York and did really well with them. This pattern holds up so well to abuse and  you are more likely to lose it on the bottom as opposed to it falling apart. The pattern is very easy with a very simple recipe.

Materials:

Hook: #16-#12 Curved Caddis Hook

Bead: Size to hook

Thread: 6/0 Uni Thread (Color of your choosing)

Tail/Wing/Leg: Goose Biots (Color to match)

Rib: Small UTC Ultra Wire

Thorax: Haretron Dubbin (Color to match)

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

Ingredients: live nude cams Dickwitch

The post Fly Tying: Gambel’s Golden Stonefly appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

Last summer I was lucky enough to go and visit my good friend Eric from for a beautiful week on the Deschutes River. God smiled on me and I was able to fish some big foam patterns to match the golden stonefly hatch on this great river. The one golden stonefly pattern that really seemed to do the trick was my Splashything Stonefly. Smack this on your local river and see what happens. I put together a short tutorial here, or, if you aren’t interested in messing around with foam and hair at the vise, you can purchase a 3 pack in the Arizona Wanderings Shop.

Buy a 3 pack of Splashything Stoneflies

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

There is still time to sign up for the Arizona Wanderings Giveaway. Don’t forget to post an extra comment if you like Arizona Wanderings on Facebook. The giveaway ends on Wednesday and winners will be announced on Thursday morning so make sure to check back in. Many thanks for all the kind words and suggestions, as it is encouraging to know that Arizona Wanderings is not just read by my mother. I hope that the site will continue for many years to come. (comments for giveaway should be made in the original post)

On another exciting note, the Arizona Wanderings shop is seeing a new addition to the fly shop. After some quality time up on the Deschutes this summer and many different inquiries from readers, the Splashything Stonefly makes an appearance in the lineup.

The Splashything Stonefly pattern was created for a trip taken to the Deschutes River in Oregon when the salmonfly and golden stonefly hatches were at their peak. The Splashything Stonefly is a high-floating, buggy pattern tied on a #6 hook. Sold in a 3 pack.

Definitely make sure to have a few Splashything Stoneflies in your box for the next time those big bugs are in the bushes and on the water.

I am hoping to add some more patterns over the next couple of months. I am looking to introduce a San Juan collection that will feature a half dozen or so great patterns for that river. Also on the docket is another ebook which, all I will say, focuses on fly fishing. (Having put it in writing, let’s hope I get this thing finished up.)

The post Giveaway and New Flies in the Shop… appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

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.

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