Restocking The Original

Original Version of the GRHE Tied and Fished

The first nymph I learned to tie

I learned this pattern, minus the bead and on a standard nymph hook, during a tying class in 1989.  It was the first nymph we were shown.  I still tie and fish it often along with a number of other GRHE variations.  I think after 30 years, it is here to stay. I was down to 2 of them in my box.....time to replenish.

Beadhead GRHE

HOOK:  #16-12 Scud

BEAD:  Gold

THREAD:  6/0 Black

TAIL:  4-5 Pheasant Tail Fibers

RIB:  Fine Gold Wire

ABDOMEN & THORAX: Hareline Haretron Natural Rabbit

WINGCASE:  4-5 Peacock Herl

The three variations I keep stocked in my boxes.
Rear to Front
(The Original GRHE, The C2C Nymph, The GRHE tied with Ginger Haretron and PT wingcase)

The C2C tying Video covers all tying steps required to tie all three patterns.

Let it rain!

Let it Rain

When you're 2 hrs away with only one afternoon to fish...and its raining?  

You fish.

It was my second trip hitting a new stretch of water, and once again high water.  Thankfully not off-color, but being shorter in stature the higher water limited my ability to fish most pools how I would have liked to.  But no fish has ever been caught by sitting in a living room complaining about the rain, so as my dad would say, "Fish don't mind rain Bud...cinch up your waders, pull up your hood and get in the water". 

The day would eventually prove a challenge. My line/rod proved to be not quite what I needed for a heavy nymph rig, which caused much more time untangling and re-rigging than normal.  Throw in a stumbling fall forward in knee deep water which my knuckles took the brunt of as I tried to save my rod. An event punctuated with a bit of colorful narration by yours-truly as the sleeves of my waterproof wading jacket quickly filled with trout temperature water.  Fortunately for us all, the rain had driven the ears of children from the stream. 

In the end, both due to a bit of diligence and a lot of pure stubbornness, I did manage to bring one nice brown to hand.  An event courtesy of the TC2.

My kingdom for a collision of time and nice weather!

Spring Bass on Top

Spring Bass on top

Courtesy of the X-Gurgler

Spring Bass are warming up along with the weather.  Cutting through the shallows and aggressive on top.

They are looking up.  Have to love that.

Just about time for the tube.

Spring Openers 2019

Spring Openers

The Spring openers for both warm and cold water have come and gone.

Trout season offered up a nice buttered-up brown that chose to take an Apricot and Steelhead Orange McFly foam egg.

While a few days strung together in the 70's brought the fish in the local shallow ponds to the top.

The X-Gurgler was the only thing that caught their attention

While no big bulls in the shallows just yet, they were  aggressive enough to keep the dinks away.

One lone bass at dusk decided to leave its lily pad shelter

Good luck to all on this year waters.

The Colors of Spring

The Colors of Spring

With Spring comes the reality of eggs and preparing yarn straws of your most effective color combinations.  Here are mine.

(Top-to-Bottom)

Iliamna Pink & Red, Apricot & Steelhead Orange, McCheese & Red, Steelhead Orange & Red

Spring is a time of fluctuating water levels and temps, making for tough fishing.  Quite often the result is fluctuating hatch activity or no hatch activity at all during fishable conditions.  The obvious solution is going subsurface, dredging nymphs and streamers which are very effective in their own right.  However quite often, the "hatch" that trumps them all is the egg in the current. like it or not it, regardless of the current subsurface activity, a trout will not ignore an egg. It is a fact of nature where a high-valued nutritional food source is identified and taken out of reflex. Quite often when visible, you will see trout move far greater distances to take an egg vs a nymph they are actively feeding on. 

I find McFlyFoam to do exceptionally well for me, and I tie them in 4 colors utilizing he "straw Method".   My best producer year in and year out is the Apricot and Steelhead Orange.  If you have not fished eggs in the past, give them a try.  You may be surprised.  

   Building an Egg Straw

Begin with 3 sections of the desired egg color, and 1 section of desired yoke color, a straw and a loop of wire longer than the tube.  

Align the McFlyfoam as such.  It will naturally cling together.  And run the loop of wire through the straw.

Place about 1" of material through the wire loop.

Pull the wire back through the straw

Pull about 3/4" through the other end.  That is about what you will need for each egg you tie. Tie your material in at the mid-point of the section extended out. When you cut off to form your egg. pull another 3/4" out for your next.

Tying The Rootbeer Caddis

The Rootbeer Caddis

The Rootbeer Caddis was tied last fall looking for a variation that would sink quickly, have a bit of flash along with good movement.  It proved very effective as the trailing fly on tandem rigs.  Hope it adds to your box.

Recipe

Hook:  Caddis Emerger #16-#12

Bead:  Gold Tungsten

Thread:  6/0 Dark Brown Uni-thread

Abdomen:  Rootbeer Body Glass

Thorax:  Wood Duck Dyed CDC

Wing-case:  Fire-brown Turkey Biots

See you on the water!

Using Your Indicator

Using Your Indicator

When fishing Indicators, we are all looking to achieve a "drag free drift" right? Well.....maybe a little drag can be a good thing. Especially when drifting streamers.

(Flies shown:  Little Crappie Fly, Guinness Trout, Golden Retriever, Ralph's Little Pine)

Dredging large weighted nymphs and Buggers with any mix of shot, anchor flies and any your choice of indicator is most commonly a pursuit aimed at attaining a dead-drift presentation. Meaning no outside influence is imparted on the fly. It drifts as naturally as possible along the bottom.  The fish are holding deep through the winter months, holding tight and not willing to expend unnecessary energy. They are selective....you want natural.  It is a very effective way to pull large fish through the cold months. 

But there are times when a dead-drift is not the most effective method, and managing the drift of your indicator to "apply" drag to the fly can be the ticket.  Many folks struggle to keep a wooly-bugger or small weighted streamer freely drifting under an indicator, but if you observe a drifting Bugger suspended, it will drift nose down  with some movement of the marabou tail.  Looks good and is effective. ....BUT.

Mend your line downstream and impart tension on the indicator and it becomes a manageable tool once downstream of your fly. Observe the fly in that position and the fly will "swim".  It now becomes a live minnow, struggling yet still swimming. The takes can become aggressive.

Once tension is applied to the indicator, any tailed nymph or streamer will swim  wherever you guide it through the water-column.  

While the majority of the time a natural drift is the way to go.  Just keep in mind when fishing  streamers beneath an indicator, applied drag can be as effective or even more so than stripping to impart action.

See you on the water!