Tying the Puddle Jumper

Puddle Jumper

The Puddle Jumper is a killer warm-water pattern when fished along the edges and lily pad shallows. With the wet body materials and large foam head, It suspends just below the surface when paused on retrieve before starting a slow decent. That has been it's trigger on bass, big gills and  especially pickerel. Plop it down, give it a 3-count, then retrieve with 6" strips pausing for a second between strips. Then watch for the boil.

Puddle Jumper Recipe 

Hook: #4  Gamakatsu Stinger

Thread:  6/0 Black

Wire:  Medium Gold Ultra Wire

Tail:  Brown Micro Pine Squirrel Strips

Abdomen:  Sculpin Brown Cabelas Wooly Bugger Chenille

Legs:  Brown Centipede Legs

Head:  Black Razor Foam

Tying the Mohair Nymph

The Mohair Nymph

The Mohair Nymph is a Fall pattern in my box, but fishes well season long as the base pattern in a tandem rig. It's buggy attributes and the translucency from the Canadian Mohair lends to it's success both fished as-is, or with a trailing shuck picked out. This pattern never gets "too chewed" to work.

Mohair Nymph Recipe

Hook:  #12 Caddis Emerger

Thread:  Black 6/0

Bead:  Copper Tungsten

Weight:  10 wraps .015 lead wire

Body:  Brown Canadian Mohair

Wing-case:  Wild Turkey Tail

Biots:  White Goose

Profiling a Pond with Glass

Johnson Profile 800

Recently, I was able to trade for a Johnson/Phillipson 8' 7wt Profile 800 glass rod in a search for  a glass bass rod, and tonight was the first chance to get it on the water,  Rigged with an LLBean Angler 2 and WF6 Orvis Warmwater line, it proved to be an awesome trade.

The first fish to christen the rod was a fat little Gill, and why would I expect anything otherwise.  The rod proved to be unbelievably accurate. Allowing me to drop my fly into the smallish pockets free of August algae.

The casting stroke was a perfect fit and exactly what I was hoping for, with plenty of backbone yet not too much. 

Late summer, small ponds, poppers & glass. 

A perfect combination with  bit of 1963 renaissance thrown in.

Putting a SPIN on Family

First Morning

      There are a few times each year that I put the fly rod away and grab the spinning gear. The largest of those is the family vacation on LBI, NJ.  Once there, the world turns to everybody gathering on the water whenever the tide is right, to toss cut bait into the surf. The goal is not aimed at measurable fish as-in Stripers, Blues, Fluke, etc. Instead, the goal is to get everybody present on a given year hooked into a fish. The most common being small sandsharks, skates and cow-nosed rays. 

First sunrise on the island

I was able to make the first sunrise and have a little bit of action in the solitude

5-to -10 pound skates were the catch of the day while watching the sun rise over the water.

Beneath July's Blue Moon

Not all the fish are small. Nor the fishermen.

And the fun lasts into the night.

You cannot put a price tag or gear type on the smiles that are had each year. The memories are better than any other. And where folks doubted they were fishermen.....they soon learn otherwise. And the old guys get to recall how it was they came to the rod and reel in the beginning. 

Queen of the Waters

Queen of the Waters

Catskill Style

The "Queen of the Waters" as history has it, was originally tied in wet fly fashion by the brothers Professor John Wilson and Professor James Wilson. The pattern is said to have its roots in the "Professor" pattern as well and accepted history is that it was also the pattern (in wet) that Theodore Gordon caught his first fish on.

The Queen of the Waters has been tied in just about every style that fly tying has to offer. Due partly because it lends itself artistically in style, and also as a testament to that fact that it has continued to catch fish through generations.

Queen of the Waters

(As tied by Ray Bergman)

Courtesy of FlyAnglers OnLine

This pattern is my personal benchmark in tying Catskill style patterns. It is the most difficult of all the Catskills (for me) to tie correctly and consistently. Whenever I feel the need to tie in that style, I sit down at the vise and knock out a 1/2 dozen or so Queens. Once I get my proportions right, I know I am ready to move on.

But don't let history fool you into thinking this patterns effectiveness is lacking. It has proven itself on both western and eastern pocket water, bringing many of both Cascade Cutts and Northeastern Brookies to hand over the years. 

Give this pattern a try at the vise....then put it in your box.

Queen of the Waters Recipe

Hook: #10 Mustad 94831

Thread:  8/0 Tan Uni-thread

Tail:  Medium Pardo CDL

Abdomen:  Orange Floss

Rib:  Small Gold Tinsel

Body Hackle: Greenwell

Wing: Mallard Flank

Hackle:  Greenwell

Quill Gordon (Slate Drake)

Quill Gordon

(Slate Drake)

The Quill Gordon is a pattern known by all with a history embedded deep within the roots of the Catskill history generations deep. Recently, many have walked past it in their tying lives however, thinking it's use is surpassed by more recent patterns. Sadly, it's effectiveness on the water as well as the style of tying is lost to those same people.

I have found the Catskill patterns to be both very effective over the years along with being a joy to tie. My favorite being this particular variation of the Quill Gordon when fishing over Pennsylvania's Slate Drake hatch. I hope it adds to your box as well.

Image Courtesy  of "Flyfishingconnection"
Isobychia (Eastern Slate Drake)

Quill Gordon Recipe

Hook:  #14 Standard Dry Fly

Thread:  8/0 Dark Brown

Tail:  Medium Pardo CDL

Abdomen:  Stripped Peacock Quill

Wing;  Mallard Flank

Hackle:  Golden Speckled Badger

Following Storms

Slow night following the storms

 Hit a local pond last night that usually brings fish to the surface. But the water was up a bit from the storms of the past few days and a little cooler. I probably saw only 5-6 bass boils over a 3 hour period. I'm stubborn on warmwater and stuck with surface flies, and it proved my undoing for the evening. Patience paid off in the last 20 minutes of daylight at least, with 2 small bass and this one gill coming on a blonde Foam-butt Caddis. I took the pic of the gill because of the brilliant colors it was showing, but the flash killed the blues in the low light. All the fins and gill-plate were rimmed in a neon blue, and the breast and pectoral fin were a bright orange.  A beautiful fish.

Still, a good night on the water.