Weekly Meeting Schedule

In person meetings resume Tuesday September 21st at 7:00 pm College of DuPage in the TEC Building room 1038B.

What you need to know…

Pursuant to the policies of the College of DuPage, until further notice by DRiFT’s Board of Directors, masks must be properly worn at any such meeting and participants will be asked to provide proof of having had a complete COVID-19 vaccination protocol.

DRiFT will also be streaming, via Zoom, all upcoming in-person meetings for those of you who cannot attend.

The pattern was originally developed for the saltwater Red Drum, but it works equally well for freshwater fish of the sunfish family. It's also effective on the only native subtropical fish to the United States the Rio Grande Perch. It also fools Carp and Catfish. It's versatile and easy to tie, but most of all it catches fish.

Materials:

Tan thread 140 denier

Small hour glass lead eyes

Standard wet/nymph hook sz. 8-12

Barred red legs

Peacock herl or similar synthetic

Speckled tan legs

I’ll be using the following recipe:

Hook:  Umpqua U002 size 14 dry fly hook.

Thread: gray Veevus 14/0

Tail:  brown and grizzly hackle fibers mixed

Body:  Super Fine Dubbing- Adams Gray

Hackle:  brown and grizzly hackle mixed.

The Black Ghost fly pattern comes from Maine and was developed by Herbert Welch in 1927.  The pattern quickly grew in popularity among those  targeting salmon, steelhead and trout.  It can be tied in several styles and sizes and is most often tied on a 2xl or longer streamer hook.  The tyer can use marabou, deer tail hair or strung hackle for the white wing.

Materials: 

Thread:  6/0 Black

Hook:  #6, 2xl streamer

Tail: Yellow strung hackle barbs

Body: Black floss, dubbing or yarn

Rib: Oval tinsel, medium

Beard:  Yellow strung hackle barbs

Wing:  White marabou

The version shown is tied to mimic European Bullheads which are multi-colored.

The US version should be tied in local Bullhead colors, usually solid black or dark grey.

This is a European pattern used for trout and could be substituted for a sculpin.

It is fished on the bottom or the swing and stripped.

Materials:

Hook: 3X or 4X long streamer hook, size 2 or 1/0

Weight: Non-lead wire with partial double wrap  .20 inch wire

Tail and Fins: pheasant hen or grouse body feathers

Body: Medium-stiff synthetic fibers (EP Trigger Point)

The fly we will be tying is well known in the upper regions of New York state on rivers such as the AuSable.  The Usual is a fly designed and tied by Fran Betters at his Adirondack Sports Shop in Wilmington, NY.  This is one of those flies that once treated with floatant is very hard to sink.  It is simple to tie, using only thread and a hare's foot.  Loosely based on Mr. Betters' Haystack pattern, the Usual makes for great attractor pattern in your fly box.

Materials:

Hook: Dry fly size 12 to 22

Thread: Grey (Traditional) or Fluorescent orange

Tail and wing: Cream (Traditional) or other color snowshoe hare foot

Body: Dubbing of the same color snowshoe hare guard hair

The Murdich Minnow is considered by some to be the best Fly for Smallmouth Bass. It works great to cast against the bank and then strip back to simulate a fleeing bait fish.

Materials:

HOOK: TMC8089 size 10

THREAD: White 6/0 thread (GSP can be used )

TAIL: Silver Flashabou over pearl Flashabou over white bucktail

COLLAR: Silver Flashabou over white Ice Fur

BODY/HEAD: Pearl Estaz, top colored with cool gray Pantone pen. 

EYES: 3-D molded, size 5.0

GLUE: Super glue gel, or E6000

An alternative to spinning deer hair. The Gurgler was developed by well renown Jack Gartside for saltwater strippers and blues.  It has emerged as a popular pattern suitable for many different top water variations targeting many fish species.  This is a Gurgler ‘meat eating’ pattern by Paul Noble.

Materials:

Hook:  1/0 heavy stinger wide gap hook.

Thread:  Brown or tan to match foam, 280 UTC Ultra Thread, UNI 6/0 (or similar thread that can be flattened to secure foam without cutting, black can also be used). 

Body: 2 mm brown or tan foam.

Underbody: 4 strung saddle feathers; 2 brown and 2 grizzly brown or tan for contrast.

Tail: rubber band or suede leather strip.

Keith Fulsher started experimenting with a baitfish pattern with a larger head and eyes than the traditional thread head in 1962.  In 1972 he published “Tying and Fishing the Thunder Creek Series”. 

The key feature of this pattern is the oversized bullet head which imitates baitfish fry, allows larger eyes, and pushes more water exciting the lateral line. 

Materials:

Thread: White and Red, 6/0 or 8/0

Hook: 4xlong / 6xlong ring eye, size 2-10

Body: Tinsel, flat or embossed

Belly: Bucktail, white

Wing/Head: Bucktail,  Light brown, Dark brown or Black

Eyes: painted black over yellow or small stick on 

Epoxy/UV cure: medium. 

Options on wing/head:

Any of a variety of synthetics, marabou, calf tail on smaller sizes.  Any color combination to serve the fishing situations. 

This pattern was designed by US tyer Doug Swisher for attractor fishing in the Rocky mountains. The advantage of rubber legs in an attractor pattern is that the create maximum movement in the surface, ideal for searching out fish with both free drift and stripped across the surface. The large amount of elk hair and the bullet head make the Madam float well but low, using bleached elk hair also makes it easier to keep visual contact with her as she floats over rapids at a distance! Madam X can be tied in several color combinations with bleached elk hair, as here but also natural and dyed black. You can also change the color of the body and rubber legs. The bullet head construction should be very compact. If you think the head is too little or too loose you can build up a dubbing ball under the head, see my earlier post ‘Thunder creek’ for this technique. This pattern should not be underestimated, especially during caddis fly hatches in fast flowing rivers and streams.

Materials:

Hook:  Mustad R43 Size 10 3x long

Tail:  Natures Spirit Humpy Deer hair  bleached

Body: yellow silk

Head: deer hair bleached

Thread: yellow g.s.p. or dyneema and yellow marker

Legs: white round rubber

Tim Scott is a co-founder of the Tie-a-thon program which has gently nudged fly tyers from all over the world to donate over 184,200 flies to various good causes; who use fly fishing for educational or therapeutic causes. 

Sixteen years ago Tim Scott and Terry Wittorp came up with the idea of the Tie-a-thon, when the Kalamazoo Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited Youth Camp did not have enough flies. That first year, Fly Fishers International and Trout Unlimited club members in Indiana and Michigan donated 2,500 flies.

Tyers had such a good time, they asked to do it again.

With this Tie-a-thon, tyers have donated over 184,200 flies or over $552,600 to non-profit groups using fly fishing for education or therapy. 

The Tie-a-Thon has gained attention among tyers donating from 48 states, four Canadian provinces, as dwell as American Samoa, Australia and Scotland. Recently, the Tie-a-thon was featured in the 2020 Summer Edition of “Fly Tyer” Magazine, twice in the TU national newsletter and FFI’s newsletter.

Materials:
Hook: 33909 Mustad Kink-shank hook, sizes: #6-#2

Thread: UTC 70 denier 

Eyes: Spirit River Real Eyes, 7/32 (Yellow (brown trout), Red (smallmouth), white (bait fish)

Tail: Larva Lace, Angel Hair - Black Olive

Body: White small sparkle braid, or Gudebrod Electra Braid, white (Black hologram for bait fish)

Gills: Larva Lace, Angel Hair - Red

Body Top: Larva Lace, Angel Hair - Rusty Olive and Black Olive 

Body Bottom: Larva Lace, Angel Hair - Pearl Gold 

Markings: par marks, brown, olive and gold or yellow

Special Tool: Thinning Shears and Super Glue

Longtime DRiFT friend Jeremy Spaccapanicca with DuPage Fly will be in the house Tuesday night December 14th to entertain us the week before our holiday break. Be sure to attend the in person meeting to partake in our largest meeting raffle of the year.

Denton was nice enough to put together this great tie for us last minute while we temporarily go back to zoom only meetings. We'll discuss and tie the classic "Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear nymph". We'll start with a discussion of the history and classic materials followed by a contemporary tie that is a real producer on trout streams.

Materials:

Nymph hook (straight, but curved is fine) size #10 to #18
Gold bead (or whatever you have)
Lead-free wire
Tan or olive thread
Pheasant tail Gold wire
Hare's ear dubbing (any tan wet dubbing will work in a pinch)
and a bit of UV epoxy to finish.

Hunter grew up in Lodi, WI where he rode his bike to the local trout streams and out to Lake Wisconsin. At 12, he bought his first canoe and at age 19, he bought his first drift boat. After transplanting a couple times to Montana, Colorado and Michigan he found himself drawn back home to Wisconsin. Now, after decades of fishing and guiding in Wisconsin, he can't imagine spending life any other way. In 2014 Hunter married his beautiful wife and fishing companion Laura Dorn, and they started Wisconsin Fly Fishing Company. Most recently, in October of 2016, they welcomed their amazing son and Wisconsin's next generation fly angler, Eddy Wilder. 

At Wisconsin Fly Fishing Company, our primary goal is to show our customers as well as the angling community the outstanding fishing opportunities that Wisconsin has to offer. 

Materials:

Hooks: Gamakatsu B10S size 4, Ahrex TP610 size 4

Ripple Ice Fiber: Golden, Olive, White

Senyo’s Intruder Wire

3/16 Bead

Craft Fur: White, Sand

Eyes: 6mm

UV Polar Chenille: Gold UV

Thread: Veevis GSP 200D

The Mickey Finn was originally tied by Quebec fly tier Charles Langevin sometime in the 19th century. It was first known as The Langevin, and later renamed to The Assassin. It was popularized by outdoor writer John Alden Knight. In the 30’s or 40’s Knight took Canadian Greg Clark fishing and he proclaimed that the fly was as dangerous as a Mickey Finn. The name and the fame stuck, and the fly has been popular ever since. Apparently several million of them sold after and article was written about it in Field and Stream.

Materials: 

Hook: 4X to 6X long shank streamer hook  (I will be using TMC300 6X long Heavy Wire Hooks)

Thread: Black 8/0

Rib: Medium oval silver tinsel

Body: Flat silver tinsel size 12

Wing: Yellow over red over yellow bucktail

Eyes: Jungle cock (optional)

Head: Tying thread

Materials: 

Jig Head Rainbow Warrior

Hook: Umpqua XC400BL-BN 60 degree Jig Hook, Barbless (Size 16)

Thread: Red Uni (8/0)

Body: Veevus Pearl Tinsel Large (~1/8")

Wing: Rainbow (Pink) UV Dubbing

Tail: Pheasant Tail Barbs

Head: Slotted Tungsten Bead (3/32")

Partridge and Orange

Hook: Straight Eye Scud Hook, Barbless (Size 12)

Thread: UTC Fire Orange (140D)

Body: Hareline Fine Dubbing (Orange|Amber)

Wing: Hungarian Partridge

I first heard about the thin mint bugger from the Wisconsin Fly Fishing Board. It is a a popular and effective fly in the Wisconsin Driftless. It’s basically a modification of the wooly bugger. Instead of using one color for the tail it uses a black, brown and olive marabou tail. The fly was created by Jim Misiura of Pennsylvania.

Materials:

Hook - 3x or 4x streamer hook, sizes 6-12

Thread -Black 6/0

Bead - Black or gold 

Tail - olive marabou (bottom), brown marabou (middle), black marabou (top) flashabou for the side of the tail

Rib - small copper or gold wire and flashabou

Body -peacock herl

Hackle -brown saddle hackle