TPO's Triple Threat

Aaron Jasper shows us how to tie up the Triple Threat fly.  Keep an eye on the TPO Youtube page for the next fly of the month pattern.

How to Tie Al's Rat

Al's Rat is a fly originally tied by Al Miller, who frequently fished the Little Lehigh and created a bunch of patterns that fool fish there, as well as any where else I have fished them.  This is a great midge imitation and I fish it all different times of the year and at all levels of the water column.  This fly works great as a dropper off a bigger nymph pattern, in tandem with another midge pattern, as a dropper off a dry fly, or any other way you can think to fish it.

Hook: I'm using a size 24 Tiemco 100
Thread: 6/0 brown
Dubbing: Muskrat underfur

Step 1: Start the thread and wrap back to on the shank to a point even with the barb of the hook

Step 2: Wrap back up to the eye of the hook

 

Step 3: Wrap back down the shank, but stop short of where you wrapped down to the first time

Step 4: Wrap back up almost to the eye of the hook

Step 5: Pick out the underfur from the muskrat and spin onto your thread

Step 6: Dub a thorax

Step 7: Whip finish and cut the thread

Pop Fleyes by Bob Popovics and Ed Jaworowski

Ok, this book isn't anything new, it's been around since 2000.  But being a new entry into the world of saltwater fly fishing, I bought the book this winter at the Fly Fishing Show and was able to have Bob Pop sign it for me.  Along with his signature, he gave me some great advice about how to use the book.  What was the advice?  Buy the book and talk to Bob about it.

To say this book is great is an understatement.  Instead of simply giving flies, the materials needed and the steps to tie this fly, you are taking into the brains of two great saltwater anglers.  You are shown how they approach the problems faced, and the trials and errors they went through to get to the finished product.  With this method, you are not simply spoon fed flies and told to go tie them, but to actually think.  Observe what is happening on the water.  What baits are available?  What do they look like?  How do they behave?  Once you have an idea of what you want to achieve with your ties, get to the vise and start to tie up some of your own prototypes.  Test them, tweak them, and repeat.

That being said, will I simply copy and tie the patterns from this book?  Yeah, I'm lazy.  But eventually I will get to the point where I am looking to solve problems that arise because I've spent so much time on the water fishing to bass and blues and whatever else I have the opportunity to fish for.  I will search for the answer to my problems only to realize that I can solve the problems myself by designing my own fly.  Which may or may not be new to the fly tying world, but who cares.  As long as it fills the void I have created for myself and I am happy then all is well with the world.

In closing, thank you Mr. Popovics and Mr. Jaworowski for writing a book that is beginner friendly and can get me started fishing and hopefully catching saltwater prey on the fly rod.  Thank you for writing a book that will spur me to create new flies and new tying techniques as I progress in this game.  If you are serious about fly fishing the saltwater or you are serious about tying saltwater flies, please get this book.

Fly Box Essentials I - Frenchies

As you can see from the title, this will hopefully be an ongoing series.  I am going to show you how to tie flies that I always make sure are in my fly box.  The first pattern is a Frenchie, which is a spin off of the tried and true pheasant tail nymph.  These are much simpler and easier to tie, since they only really involve four materials not counting the hook: bead head, thread, pheasant tail, and wire rib.

Materials
Hook: your favorite hook, I use nymph hooks, scud hooks, whatever
Bead: brass bead or tungsten bead, your choice
Thread: match pheasant tail color
Body: pheasant tail in your choice of color (I carry natural, olive, black, pink)
Rib: ultra wire in your choice of color (I will use something that compliments for a natural look or go crazy with a contrasting color)

Step 1:
Crimp the barb on the hook and slide your bead on

Step 2:
Start your thread and tie your wire rib in

Step 3:
Tie in a tail using the tips of the pheasant tail fibers

Step 4:
Wrap your pheasant tail up the shank to create the body and tie off

Step 5:
Wrap your wire rib up the shank in the opposite direction of the pheasant tail.  This will help to create a little more durable body.  Tie off the wire.

Step 6:
Whip finish or half hitch and you are finished

Variations
Tail: Use wood duck for a tail (or coq de leon)
Hot spot: Add a collar of thread behind the bead head or dub a hot spot behind the bead head
Experiment with different color pheasant tail, wire rib, hot spot, beads, etc.  You are only limited by your imagination.  Every fly has its day!

Woven Anchor Nymphs

Well it is winter so that means I need to fill all the empty spots in my box.  When on the stream I am fishing a Euro nymphing rig more times than not.  I usually run two nymphs, one heavy anchor to get the flies down in the water column quickly and the other fly is a lightly weighted fly (or unweighted fly).  My anchor nymph box has a lot missing in it.  I decided to start working on some woven nymphs tonight.  I did three color combos: brown over tan, brown over yellow, and brown over olive. 

Woven Nymph

Hook: Size 8 nymph hook

Thread: Brown 6/0

Top: Brown DMC embroidery thread

Bottom: Tan/Yellow/Olive DMC

Rib: Various wire colors

Collar: Hare's ear plus or squirrel dubbing

Bead: Varies

Weight: Lead or non-lead underbody

Special Thanks go out to the guys who run Fly Guy's Guide Service for posting an awesome tutorial on how to do the shuttle weave that I used for these flies.  Also, thanks for Aaron Jasper for taking the time to show me how to do the weave in person.