Revisiting the worm

If you don't remember or you're new here, last winter I came up with a meal worm imitation that drove the fish bonkers.

I must have tied about 300 of them for orders for people. Well, I'm starting to get orders again, and get asked about how they are made. I just thought repost this, especially for our new readers. Here is a video tutorial I made on tying them. All you need is some lead, some thick mono, a rubber glove, and a few markers. Sally Hansens can be substituted for the Clear Cure Goo. Enjoy.

Happy Mealworm - Hyperspeed Fly Tying Video

This video didn't turn out as great as I wanted. It's a new camera and I'm going to have to tweak the lighting a little on my next vid, and zoom in a little more. It's also my first time editing in Adobe Premiere, but it will give you an idea on how to tie it. I also apologize for the mangled zombie hands. It's cold here and they are dry and cracking/bleeding like crazy. Let me know what you think.


Music:
Skatalites - Phoenix City
Black Moon - Who got the props?

A quick trip to brown town

The weatherman lied once again about the beautiful weekend we were supposed to have. I don't think it broke 50 and stayed foggy and drizzled all day yesterday, but a quick one hour trip to the stream turned out to be pretty damn productive. Four browns and a bow came to hand, all beautiful wild browns too. Griffith's Gnats, a Slumpbuster, and those new mealworm patterns were all productive.

Also, while I'm on the subject. I've gotten quite a few inquiries about these flies, and have a bunch of custom orders in. SBS and video coming soon. If you're interested in ordering some, I'll add them to the shop section of the site shortly.

When your hands stop working....

You're off work for 7 days. The first day of vacation, your area gets clobbered with rain, and the normal flows of 100 turn into quasi-lakes running at 800.

Three days later, 2pm rolls around and you get the itch to get out of the house. Three days after the onslaught, it's running at 250. Tough, but fishable. You check the weather. 35 degrees. Urgh. Still fishable. You also notice sunset is 4:28pm. Not much time to fish.

You first sort it out with the wife, and make sure the kids are going to be ok. You then run as fast as you can, gathering your gear. You only grab the 6 weight because streamers should do the trick.

You head races with thoughts of water that's not quite muddy, but more of an emerald green as it starts to clear. Trout just have to be on streamers. They'll work.

Half an hour later, you're at a red light in a gauntlet of holiday traffic, tying up a leader and knotting on a big black bugger you just tied with some oversized grizzly hackle. It looks fishy as f*ck. You won't have much time so rigging up now will get you five more minutes on the water. You also realize your car is on fumes. 22 miles to Empty. You can make it.

When you finally get to the stream with only 4 miles until your car dies, it's just as you imagined. That deep emerald green, with just a tinge of leftover muddy brown, still running a little high and fast. There are only two other anglers. One you pass as you're getting your gear out of the car. He mentions he was there all day and only got two on buggers. He wishes you luck. You know this guy from fishing this stretch and he always does well. If it took him all day to get two, you have your work cut out for you. The other guy said he missed two. Great.

On the way to the run, you realize that you're an idiot because you checked with weather, but dressed for it to be in the 50s. This windbreaker is not cutting it. By the time you get to the fishable water, your hands are already numb and your nose is running. The sun is starting to drop below the trees and it's only going to get colder.

First cast. Strip, strip, strip. Nothing. Repeat. Repeat. Move 5 feet downstream. Repeat.

OK. You decide to swing. Swing, twitch, swing. nothing. Repeat Repeat. Damn it. Your hands are getting cold. The gloves are on the car but there's no time. Swing. Strip. Swing. Strip. Nothing.

It's getting dark, and you realize that if you have any chance in hell of catching a fish, it's not going to be on a streamer.  You then also realize once you clip off the bugger, your hands have stopped working.

It's something we've all been through. Your hands just are too damn cold to do what you want them to do. It feels like someone has injected ice cubes in your knuckles and they are locking up. You fight through it and after fumbling for 5 minutes, you have an 11 foot leader setup with a big nymph, and a worm pattern you came up with a year ago that's heavily weighted. You also opt for a strike indicator, sensing that if they do take, it will be subtle today. You second guess yourself with the indicator since you rarely use one, but you continue on anyway.

Your cast in a run that you KNOW must contain fish. It's getting darker. A giant brown trout comes up, and gingerly slurps up your strike indicator, pulls it underwater for a foot, then releases it. He does it to spite you. This is why you never use indicators. You consider an egg pattern the size and color of the indicator, but then realize your hands have the dexterity level of 0 and there would be no light left after trying to tie one on.

At least you know for sure a fish is there. Four more casts through the run with nothing. You're frustrated, cold, hungry, and you aren't looking forward to standing in the cold and getting gas.

One more cast. You decide to cast closer to the bank. The indicator gives a little nod. You think it's a snag but you set. All of a sudden a silver bullet shoots out of the water, shaking it's head. You bring it to hand and marvel at all 15 inches of it's beauty. It's really chromed out and could pass for a small steelhead. You then smile as you release it with ease because you remembered to crimp your barb.

You head back to the car and want to warm up a little bit before driving off, but there's no time. Only one thing left to do.

The fly shop is open for business!

I've had a fly shop tab at the top with really no content for some time. Well, I've finally gotten around to starting it off. I'm going to keep it fresh, and only have unique patterns for sale for a limited time. I've got some new worm patterns available now to start off, and I've already sold a few. Click on the fly shop tab up top and get em' while you can! Everything is safe and secure through Paypal.

P.S. If you wanna win this streamer, head on over to our facebook page. I'll be selecting someone based off the best comment later this evening.

Sacramento, Senkos, and HOLY SH*T

My car is in the shop, along with my 5/6 weight rod and fly boxes. Forgot to take them out. My 4 weight has a broken tip and will be heading back to TFO headquarters for a fix up.

I wanted to fish tonight and I didnt' want to string up an 8 weight or a switch rod, so out came the St. Croix Ultralight and some Senkos.

It amazes me how well Senkos work. There is something about these things that just drive bass nuts. I caught about five 10-12 inch smallmouth in 20 minutes, and this monster fat rock bass.


I've tried to mimic Senkos through fly patterns, and these bugskin wigglers have been doing great, although not quite as great as a real Yamamoto one.


In other news, I just booked my flight out to Sacramento for a wedding from 9/13 through 9/16. I've heard about a Salmon run in the Sacramento River. Luckily, the wedding reception is right on the river and yes, I'm not beyond swinging a spey rod in a tuxedo for a chance at a real anadromous salmon. Anyone have some suggestions? Looking for places to fish, patterns, and hell, even a fishing partner to show me around.

Before I go, I was browsing the Chive today and I came across this. HOLY SH*T.

Sloppy flies on a Friday night

I had quite a few beers tonight while at the vise. The results aren't beautiful, but I'm still going to try and fish them.

Some size 20 generic micro nymphs






I picked up some barred olive CDC the other day and decided to whip up some CDC and Elk caddis. These are size 20 and really sloppy, but they look to be a perfect match for the bugs I saw last weekend. My experience last year with CDC on caddis patterns is that the longer and bushier the CDC, the better they fish (and float)


The ammonite nymph. I'm still out of nymph skin and scud back so I used ziplock bag. I didn't realize I had a tear in it until after I took the pic. I'm still gonna post it for the hell of it. I do really like this technique of folding a partridge feather over the thorax and pulling down the fibers for the legs.


And finally, Craven's Pigsticker. I picked up some Mustad 37160 hooks for dirt cheap this week and when I googled them, this was one of the first patterns that came up. Quick and easy to tie. (I will admit, I tied these earlier this week but they were still sitting at my vise so I took a pic.


If you'd like recipes or instructions for any of these patterns, feel free to let me know in the comments and I'll be happy to provide them. Back to drinking. Happy Friday!

Amateur Hour

I was really excited today. I haven't really fished in two weeks (unless you count a quick late night run to the local creek in search of stockies. Lost one, but that's a whole other story).

Nick, Bob, Jack, and I decided to hit the Pohopoco, a tailwater at the foot of the Pocono Mountains. I checked the gauges, and I knew it was going to be tough fishing. The water level was the lowest it's been in weeks, and it was only 34 degrees. We were going to have to work for them.

The spot that Becker had shown me last fall was now posted, so that lead us to another spot we had success at before, although it was all with small fish and somewhat boring water.

Did you ever have those days where you just suck at fishing? It happened to me today. It was cold and windy. My hands were freezing, even with my half gloves on. The fish were holding tight against the far bank under lots of mountain laurel and low hanging branches so it required some casting skills and proper presentation to avoid getting caught up. The wind kept fouling my cast and I'd wind up stuck in the tree about every 4 to 5 minutes. After checking my fly box, I lost two Czech nymphs, three Vladi worms, a Copper John, three San Juan worms, a CDC n' Elk Caddis, a Griffith's Gnat, and two Baetis nymphs. Yep, it sucked. It was amateur hour all day, at least for me.

None of us had any luck all morning, besides a few hit and misses. Nick and I decided to hike up this small trib to check it out. It was really beautiful and I did see a few fish, but they were spooking when you got within 20 feet of them.



We decided to head back upstream to the starting point and fish for another half hour. We saw some greyish-tan midges coming off but rises were extremely sporadic. I missed two in a row on a Griffith's gnat, only to get it stuck in a tree a few casts later. I was about to give up and I heard Nick holler from upstream. Someone finally got a fish. Nick landed a wild brown on a size 14 Czech nymph. He then caught a wild rainbow a few minutes later. That would be the only action we saw all day.


Congrats on the fish, Nick. I dig his new Columbia chest pack, but with the yellow fishing license in the front, he kinda reminds me of Plex from Yo Gabba Gabba. (Sorry, but he caught the only damn fish all day and needs his balls busted)


Well, I have to get my fly boxes restocked with some of these. Goodnight.

And the winner is...

I said I'd give it a week to announce a winner from the "name that worm pattern" contest. Well, it's been a week and with all pun intended, the early bird got the worm. I'm going to go with Monoworm! That was the first reply, and I think it just fits. The winner is Cofisher, author of Wing Knots and Tangled Lines. Shoot me your address and I'll twist up some bugs to send your way. I'm also happy to say that the worm did kind of work on Saturday. I had a bow take it but he spit the hook when I got him close.

A bigger post will be coming tomorrow, including a tying show and fellow blogger road trip recap, my first shot at pseudo-guiding people on my home water (which resulted in failure), and bugs. Lots and lots and lots of bugs. Stay tuned.

Realistic Worm Pattern and a fly giveaway contest

The idea for this pattern came to me on Sunday. I was fishing for some SUPER SPOOKY stocked rainbows in the creek behind my house. There's about 4 of them left and they dart under a bridge into slack water that's impossible to catch a drift though as soon as they see you.

I crept up and waited the 15 minutes for them to get unspooked and then started drifting eggs and san juans in front of them. I hooked in to a couple on eggs, but didn't get solid hook sets. After that, I was literally bouncing flies off their lips and they weren't taking them. I then tried caddis larva, mayfly nymphs, midges, and even some buggers with no luck.

I was about to pack it in when some guy sets up immediately across from me with a spinning rod and a container of drift worms. First cast and SMACK!, a rainbow takes the worm. He lands the fish (and kudos to him for releasing it) and casts again. Second cast, same thing. He hooks and lands the biggest of the 4 fish, also released.

This made me realize that maybe coming up with a realistic worm wouldnt be such a bad idea. I was at Dave's in Doylestown earlier in the day digging through their clearance bin, and I found a pack of Orvis bright red nymph skin with glitter flakes in it for $1. I bought it thinking I could maybe use it on some steelhead patterns.

Well, something made me try it tonight. I took a 4X streamer hook and bent it, Vladi worm-style. I made a fat clitelum with some .30 lead wire and built the body with some 3/0 monocord. I tied in a strip of the nymph skin and some 5X mono tippet. I made loose wraps with the nymph skin, and then ribbed it with the mono. After whip finishing, I colored it up with a brown Prismacolor marker, and hit the fattest part with some bright orange. Then I slapped on a coat of Hard as Nails and that's it. I think I need to find maybe a lighter colored tan marker instead of the dark brown, but I think this fly is gonna work.



Now I just need a name for it, so here's the deal. Post your name suggestions in the comments and I'll mail out 3 of these patterns (and some bonus surprise flies) to the person who came up with my favorite suggestion. I'll let this run for a week before announcing the winner.

So yeah, back to Sunday. I didn't catch anything, but my god, it was a gorgeous day on the water. I walked away with some nice pictures.