"I am 30 years of age and hail from Craig, Colorado or Craig, America as it is affectionately known by the locals.  In this area one is always confronted by mother nature.  Drive in any direction and you'll be in some of the best fly fishing waters on earth.  You can hunt 20+ pound pike, ambush 4-pound smallmouth bass, or chase trophy trout on the same river - the Yampa River or Bear River as translated from the native designation. If it swims in this watershed I chase it.

At the FRA Saturday morning clinic I would like to briefly talk about piscivory.  Some data suggests that when a fish of any species becomes piscivorous (a fish eater) it rarely eats anything else.  The upper end of a trout’s predatory limit is one-fourth of their total body length though their preferred slot is one-third.  With this in mind think of a 30 inch fish, its upper limit would be a 10 inch fish.  More surprising would be thinking of a 15 inch fish and the upper limit of its predatory scale is 5 inches.  As trout fishermen we rarely think of fishing with offerings this big.  That’s why I want to focus on this upper range for these piscivorous predators.

I will be tying some of my foundation minnow patterns, along with other large food prey items.  With my KMA Minnow I want to introduce you to stacking materials.  I think stacking dubbing is a great way to familiarize ourselves to this art which the pinnacle is stacking deer hair.  We have all seen these beautiful deer hair flies but if you’re like me I had no idea where to start.  Only after a very good friend of mine and deer hair guru, Jason Goodale, showed me the nuance of deer hair did I feel comfortable enough to attempt to use this advanced tying technique. In my opinion this is the perfect missing link in the transition to deer hair.  Essentially, stacking material is stacking material; we are all a lot more familiar with dubbing than some with deer hair.  I will go into more detail on Saturday, hope to see you all there."... Caleb

Check out this video from our friends over at MidCurrent. It has some great tips on tying small flies. Worth a look!
Copper Zebra Midge from Tightline Productions on Vimeo.
Detailed instructions for tying a Copper Zebra Midge.

Boulder Flycasters is working through one of its long term members, Ron Donahue, to assemble flies for use by two very worthy organizations.  Project Healing Waters who sponsors outings for military personnel and veterans.  Their program is specifically  designed to help our American heroes get back on their feet physically and/or emotionally.  Reel Recovery that helps men with all forms of cancer share their stories, learn how to fly fish, form lasting friendships, and gain renewed hope as they confront the challenges of cancer.

"We started out a month ago with Project Healing water and the response was very strong.   As such, we decided that it would be appropriate to extend the coverage to another group, Reel Recovery, that the BFC has helped in the past....Ron Donahue"

Ron is doing his level best to match every 6 flies or more flies tied by the participants.  If you are interested in helping Project Healing Waters click here or Reel Recovery click here.  If you want to do something for both just signify this in the comment section.  The value of this kind of gift is immeasurable.

IF YOU DON'T TIE FLIES AND WOULD STILL LIKE TO PARTICIPATE, WE CAN SECURE A SELECTION OF 1/2 OR 1 DOZEN PATTERNS FROM A COMMERCIAL SOURCE AT COST.  SIMPLY FILL OUT THE SAME FORM AND DESIGNATE THIS INTENTION IN THE COMMENT SECTION.  YOU WILL RECEIVE A CREDIT CARD BILLING VIA EMAIL FROM THE BFC.

When fishing the Chubby or a large hopper/stimulator with droppers in fast water I want my nymphs to drop quickly through the water column and stay there.  I don't like or use split shot and was interested in using small flies on heavy wire hooks in size (12 & 14) to achieve this requirement.  My solution ended up being a product brought into the shop in the spring of this year from Spirit River,  Tungsten Tear Drops in 2.3 (14) and 2.8 mm (12) (available in black nickle and gold).  They were the just the right fit on a Tiemco 3769 (2X heavy).







Here is a 2.3 mm teardrop on a 3769 size 14 hook.  They are slotted so they can fit around the bend.  I apply a thread base and a drop of superglue to bind them to the shank.









I wanted these flies to be pretty indestructible so I coated the wraps with UV Clear Fly Finish from Loon (Clear Cure Glue works just as well).  They were to sit in the middle of the rig and their primary job was to sink the trailing fly, size 16 to 18 beadhead (non-tungsten).  The fish loved these flies and they proved to be just as effective as the trailing pattern.

I used thread and or krystal flash on the bodies and tied in florescent orange hot spots.

The teardrop shape made out of tungsten added a huge amount of weight - over 2X a standard tungsten bead.

The Teardrop Nymph is now SOP in the fly selection I carry with me.  I haven't used them on still water yet but I have a feeling what the result will be.

Couple of weeks ago Randy Hanner pointed out that we had just received some black Chubby flies with a purple underbody and they were definitely "hot".  I tied some in a size 10 and took them out for a trial run this morning.  My first fish was an 17-inch rainbow who thought the fly was just the ticket.  He was the best of the day but I caught another 1/2 dozen on the black chubby plus quite a few on the two droppers. One of these flies I'll post on the blog in the next few days.  It's a great new pattern I've been fooling around with lately.