Bugs A Fly'n

No matter what stream or river you head to right now, you will have no doubt, Spring is here. The bugs are flying. Two nights ago Joe and I took a short trip to the Tully, we were amazed at the bug activity. Stoneflies, Midges and maybe even a caddis or two, were everywhere. Its no surprise with the winter we had, and the warm 70 degree days that we are having right now, its going to be an early year, so get your dry fly boxes back out, fish are rising.

 I was fishing a small wild brown stream about a week ago and the same things were happening. Caddis and BWOs were everywhere, I grabbed a couple Olives as they lifted off the water, I was amazed at how big they were already.

Reports from Valley Creek are they same, Olives everywhere. Lenny and Jared from the Bryn Mawr store have been getting into fish on small BWO patterns down to 22s. Here are 2 fish Steve and I got last year on BWOs.

Featured Fly - Double Feature

For my feature fly this go around, I decided to do two simple yet effective dry flies that work well all winter long. The first one I did was a Blue Winged Olive or BWO, this Mayfly can hatch throughout the winter months. When these little guys are flying around your favorite limestone or spring creek, it is a great time to see fish rising regularly. The second one is the Griffiths Gnat, this is a super easy pattern to tie, yet very effective. It mimics multiple midges clustered together; what better reason for a fish to rise "an easy, filling meal" than to a Griffiths gnat.

CDC BWO

Material:

Hook: TMC 100 - sz. 14 -22

Thread: UNI Thread 8/0 - Olive 

Thorax: East Coast Dubbing - BWO

Abdomen: Goose Biot - BWO or Olive 

Wing: Super Select CDC - Dark Dun or Light Dune

Tail: Wapsi Mayfly Tails - Lt. Dun or Dun

 Step 1: Make a thread base back to the hook bend, Add a small dubbing ball, this helps split your tails.

  
Step 2: Tie in your mayfly tails, tie them back to the start of the dubbing ball, they will split apart making your tails. Cut off extra.

 Step 3: Wrap thread 3/4 of the way back to the hook eye. Take 2 CDC feathers, aline the tips together and tie down. Make a few wraps forward, trim the extra.

Step 4: Tying back to the tails; tie in your goose biot.

  
Step 5: Wrap your goose biot forward until you are right behind the CDC feathers.

 Step 6: Dub behind the CDC feathers making 2 or 3 turns, wrap thread forward and make a small thread dam helping the CDC stand straight up. Add 1 or 2 more wraps of dubbing.

Step 7: Whip Finish and cut thread.

Griffiths Gnat

Materials

Hook: TMC 100 - sz. 18-24

Thread: UNI Thread 8/0 - Olive or Black 

Body: Peacock Herls 

Wing: Grizzly Saddle 

Step 1: Make a thread base, Tying in a single grizzly feather from the butt end.

Step 2: Tie in 2 peacock herls, making sure they start at the hook bend with the grizzly feather.

Step 3: Wrap the 2 peacock herls forward, making the body. Tie off right behind the hook eye.

Step 4: Palmer the grizzly feather forward. Also tying this off right behind the hook eye.

Step 5: Whip finish and cut thread.

Finished!

 

Here are a couple fish that fell to one of these flies: