Fish and Flies - from the Great Lakes

Here are some photos of my last trip to New York with a very special client and friend. Matt Grove and I decided to bag a smallmouth camping trip to try our hand at intercepting a few large browns on their run up the rivers from the lake. Over a simple breakfast conversation and some insight from a few locals we made the decision to head to a smaller creek instead of one of the big name creeks. We had 2 days that we will never forget, Matt got his first steelhead, and largest brown trout on a fly. We had fish working and moving the whole time, we managed to get multiple steelhead, lots of browns, and a few very large salmon. It was a trip that will be hard to repeat, but worth trying to every year :)

Now for the good stuff, here are a few new and or variations of some flies that I have been woking on.

Squirrely Stone, a new fly that has worked wonders in the great lakes so far this year.

Egg in the Basket Sculpin, new twists and tweaks to an old staple.

Sculpin Fly Pattern. A great way to fool some steelhead!

Featured Fly - Steelhead Lip Ring

I have to say, this is not my personal fly creation, this one was found pages and pages deep into the internet. I saw a picture of it while looking for new Tube flies, pulled the vice out and started tying right way. This is a perfect combination of flash, and movement, I do not have any pictures with it hanging from a fishes lip, but I am hoping to very soon.

Materials:

Hook: TMC 2303 or 200R

Bead: Tungsten Bomb Beads - Black 

Tails: Goose Biots - Black 

Body: Mirage Tinsel 

Rib: Ultra Wire - Black

Thorax: Ice Dub - Brown Olive 

Wing Cases: Goose Biots - Black 

Collar: Partridge - Natural or Black 

Step 1: Make a thread base, stopping at the bend of the hook

Step 2: Make a small dubbing ball, where you stopped your base. This helps spread the biots.

Step 3: Tie in the biots.

Step 4: Wrap the thread forward, I like to tie the rest of the biots forward, this helps keep the fly tapered.

Step 5: Tie in the tinsel and ultra wire.

Step 6: Wrap the tinsel forward, tying it off about half way up the shank.

Step 7: Wrap the wire forward, making a nice rib and securing the tinsel down.

Step 8: Make a small dubbing ball.

Step 9: Tie in two more biots, these will be your wing cases of sorts.

Step 10: Make another dubbing ball in front of the biots.

Step 11: Tie in two more biots.

Step 12: Tie in the soft hackle.

Step 13: Fill the rest of the thorax with dubbing.

Step 14: Wrap the partridge feather forward.

Step 15: Once the feather is tied off and trimmed, make a small collar of ice dub. Whip Finish and cut off.

Finished Fly