MikeH

Here's my fly. It's sort of a mash up of Granato's Chubby Muffin and Brian's craft fur variation of Strolis' Headbanger.

I'm in again. -Mike

They were holding deep and nymphs were the way to go. I did well with a rubber leg hares ear, a cased caddis and a little bubble back nymph I tie. I'm sure I caught fish on other flies but most were on one of those three. I can snap a pic of the flies when I get home. -Mike

Fished all day yesterday at Baptist. The river is in great shape, just a little color to the water and the best flows we've had in a long time. Fishing was great. Caught a handful of really nice browns and tons of rainbows in between. I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

A pile of poppers and a mouse. -Mike

I did pretty good on little stuff but skunked on the streamers in the morning. Report over on the Current page. -Mike

I arrived at the river yesterday before the sun with plans for a day of big flies, bigger fish and 60 degree weather in my head. Things didn't pan out like I was dreaming but still ended up being a good day. The water was a little off color like I had hoped so I rigged up to chuck some big streamers like I had planned. The forecast was around 60 but that was a long way off. Icy guides and frosty fingers made for a rough morning. I managed a handful of follows and an all too brief hookup but a little before lunch I decided to switch out the big stuff for my 4WT. Partly because I was sick of casting half a chicken into the wind, plus, there was a caddis hatch starting to come off. The hatch still wasn't coming off much so I euro-nymphed. My anchor flies got flat out ignored all day instead they wanted the little stuff I had on dropper. I never got a bite on anything bigger than a #16. My best decision all day was to tie on a little Sawyer style pheasant tail. It's the simplest fly I carry, just wire and pheasant tail, not even any thread. The same fish that ignored my fancy streamers were all over it, including three nice browns. The caddis finally started showing in numbers and there were risers here and there. Unfortunately I had waded all the way past Ashley creek and didn't have too much daylight left. I had time to pick off a half dozen or so on a CDC and Elk(another super simple fly) on my way back but I couldn't spend much time at any one spot. Hiking out in the dark is not fun.

I did a sbs of it's completely un-castable big brother over at FTF sometime last year. More or less the same fly but double articulated and way overdressed compared to how I do the CR now.

I think Brian might be doing a video of it, although I haven't heard anything about it for a while. If that falls through I'm sure I can cobble together a picture sbs. -Mike

Heading to the Current tomorrow. Hopefully the rain/snowmelt makes for some streamer friendly conditions. Crafty Rabbits Fish skull peanuts Headbangers Big eyed hallow bucktail contraptions -Mike

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I don't think I'm getting them any denser than my old method but the packer makes it way way way easier to get them really dense. Plus I'm less likely to stick another hook through my thumb. -Mike

Hair for the pond, jiggy pheasant tails for the trout. In the mail shortly. -Mike

Finally bought a fugly packer. -Mike

I stacked it and trimmed it then added the lead. I super glued a doubled over piece of wire to the belly then epoxied over it to make sure it doesn't go anywhere, painted the epoxy and a coat of hydro for good measure. Since the shank is off center on those hooks wrapping lead on the shank should do the same thing but when I tried it the gel spun thread kept cutting through the lead when I was stacking the hair. From what I could tell it's going to dive under when stripped then pop back up. All the weight is in the back half so it seems to sit a lot like you're saying the real ones do. I guess I'll find out this spring how it really performs.

Just for the fly. That worm hook isn't getting anywhere near my worm while I'm in the tub.

It's tied on an Owner worm hook so most of the hook's weight is on that side of the eye and to help it flip even more I hid some lead wire in the belly. It swims right in my bathtub.

An upside down deer hair frog. 4/0

Nice! I think you're going to regret not tying the tail in first though.

Yep, I do the tail, then the hair. Once it's completely trimmed I glue in the fins, mohawk, etc. with gel super glue. On those I did one clump on bottom three on top. So on the second one it went one big chartreuse bundle on bottom, a blue bundle about half that on top, then a thin bundle of orange and a bundle of black about the same as the blue, then I repeated four times down the hook. That fourth set was a real pain to get on the hook. The trick is to have your top bundles add up the the same thickness as the bottom bundle to make your center line actually in the center. Believe it or not I just pack the hair with my fingers. -Mike

I'm using a TMC 8089. If I tie any others I'll probably use something cheaper like a Mustad 3366. Here's another one, brighter this time. -Mike

It's basically Pat's punk rocker with pheasant instead of peacock. I haven't seen his book or dvd so I just tied it on the fly. I tied it for a Christmas present to the guy that runs the monthly fly swap club I'm in. I've got another tied up in my vise ready to get a haircut sometime today. -Mike

Playing with deer hair and a pheasant skin. -Mike

I'll do both. -Mike

I'm always up for a swap if you're looking for more people.