Dragonfly Wings

I uploaded my first video today.  It is about how to build dragonfly wings, for tying a "dragon-fly".  I started my own YouTube site, to coordinate with this blog.  Pictures are great, and so is writing a how-to.  Thing is though, I believe that videos explain a bit better than pictures.  Watching videos on YouTube is how I learned how to fly fish.  I watched 100's of different videos to learn what I needed to become moderately successful.  I watch videos still to learn about fly fishing and fly tying.  I will get an idea about something and I go to YouTube to see if there are any amalgamations of my idea.  My main motivation for creating the first video came from the fact that there were no how-to's on building dragonfly wings.

I'm excited about sharing some ideas and sharing my creations.  I will be sharing other videos as well.  I have a great one from the ghost tour last night at Church Street Station.  I also have a waterproof video camera, that will make for some fun perspectives of the natural springs, when I venture to them in the coming weeks.  This is going to be a fun adventure and I hope you come along for the ride.

My first video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmfaaNPa3hQ check it out and leave a comment if you want.

Fishing and Ghosts in Orlando

I'm in Orlando doing some Bass fishing and taking in some quality family time.  Notice I said, "fishing" first.  I am enjoying the quality time, don't get me wrong, but the water temperature in and around Orlando has dropped a few degrees, so the bite is on.  I'm a hopeless addict.  I knew where the family would be staying and started calling around on Tuesday.  I found out through a local guide that Lake Toho was on.  It's a shallow lake, and if I was into poling the edges, "which I am", it would be an ideal place to crash some grass. So I brought my canoe, my pusher pole, a pair of waders, a couple different poles, a cooler and all the rest of my fishing necessities.  My girlfriend brought one bag.  When I finally had the car fully loaded with all my gear, she snidely asked, "is there even room for me"?

The guide was right, Lake Toho was hopping.  Early this morning I got a couple strong hits on top-water   I was using a heavy frog pattern, with a double weed-guard on it.  It's my mouse pattern, made out of spun deer hair, with a couple of tied legs.  It's an ugly fly, it lands with a huge slap, no grace, no finesse just power and double haul it, til gets away from you. It's not a delicate, drop gently on the water type of fly, it's a scare-the-crap outta what ever is around it beast of lure.  If there are fish around, and they are keyed in on movement and are using their lateral lines to hunt with, not their eyes, which is generally the case in low light situations or early morning.  The frog or mouse pattern are essential and will lead to low light, top-water action.

I switched over to streamers as the day warmed up.  I didn't have any luck with both streamers and glass minnow types.  It's tough to match the hatch when you don't know what the hatch is.  So I switched to shrimp/scud, bottom swimming types, again no luck.  I had zero takes from 7 til almost 10.  I blame that on user error and not knowing the area.  I saw plenty of movement, but had no hits or interest shown to any of my flies.  I honestly think it was from poling and making too much noise in the canoe.  I may have been fishing an area that had been heavily fished the day before as well, I wasn't sure.  I hit the docks and started to have better luck.  I crashed the docks with popping style top-waters and caught 2 little bass around 10:30.

I need to come back out again in the morning, or even this evening to see what is going off.  I doubt that will happen though since like I said, this is family time.  I believe we are checking out a ghost tour tonight in downtown Orlando?  I may have some ghost stories to tell later along with the fish stories.  I have feeling though, the ghost stories may be a little better because they are being told by a guide and not left for me to discover on my own.  I'll check back in later if there is a story to tell about the ghosts of Orlando.

Fahrenheit 451

The Ray Bradbury book, Fahrenheit 451 is now a play.  Here in Tampa it is playing at the Straz Center for preforming arts.  I'm not going to give a full review, but I will say that if you are in any way, shape or form fed up with today's socio-economic climate?  Pick up a copy of 451 or if you have the opportunity, go see the play.

Fahrenheit was written in 1953 and is more relevant today than it was then.  It involves futuristic technologies such as television walls and content devoid of context.  It tells of how "factoids", partial facts, wrapped in no context have served to dumb down society as a whole.  Firemen have now been tasked to burn books, instead of preserving life.  The book will give you pause and make you think of Nazi Germany, but the play transports the audience to a future that is not too distant any more.  Fahrenheit seems to be speaking directly to today's society, screaming and clawing at the faces of the audience to, "wake up".

"Give the people contests they win remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year.  Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information.  Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving.  And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change.  Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with.  That way lies melancholy (Fahrenheit, 61)."

 Our so called news is just this, crammed full of useless, uncorroborated facts, that are used to legitimate something that is not even relevant   We are inundated with fluff and posture, assaulted with statistics and gaff's, shocked and horrified, but never inspired or aroused.  News has become ratings orientated, instead of contextually substantiated.  We are being deliberately duped into passivity by taking the surface value of a claimed fact, espousing it as truth, and later in conversation  speaking as if the idea is ours alone.

The actors in the play give Ray Bradbury's book a voice that is haunting and so very well deserved.  The characters leap off the stage and call to the audience to take notice of what they are willfully giving up.  The actors challenge and assault the senses of the audience with quotes that bring chills to even the steeliest reserve.  I found myself welling up with emotions as I heard the actors giving a new voice to old characters. I found myself captivated, drawn in, and completely seduced.

The voices and humanity that the actors gave the characters, compelled me to think critically about the words and how they were delivered.  The line in the play that has stuck with me and continues to wreak havoc on me is; "the moment a man goes from wanting to know how something works, to wanting to know why", "that is a dangerous man, a thinking, questioning man is dangerous man".  The play commands the audience to ask why?  Ask why they have willingly given up so many freedoms for supposed freedoms?  To ask why facts are more important that context, because after all a fact is plucked from context?  The full frontal assault of Fahrenheit 451, is a must see/read for anyone who feels "news", has become an indictment of our society as a whole.

The Golden Coyote Crazy Charlie

One of my favorite flies is the Crazy Charlie.  It's my favorite because of its versatility.  It's has so many variations and applications that variations are virtually limitless.  Not only does it represent different foods withing the food chains, but it represents food in both salt and fresh water.  It is a unique creation because the same design and color scheme can draw strikes in both waters.  This is truly matching the hatch at its best, because if your not sure of what is swimming around.  You can try to match the body color, or hair color to the bottom of the water column.  You can sit and watch types of bait fish and where they swim in the water column and and choose your pattern accordingly. 

The fly goes back to a gentleman in the Bahamas that created it named Charlie Smith.  He was the original tier according to fly fishing lore.  Since then it has been tied on all shapes, sizes and kinds of hooks with no limit to color or panache.  The simple originals with a little flash on a stainless hook, wrapped up and overlaid with with a little calf tail for some action.  Simple, clean, able to be dropped on a bone-fish's nose without spooking him down the flats.  The small presentation but big profile make these a deadly variety of fly.

This one is tied on a Size 4, Mustad.  I like the size of the 4 for bass as well as saltwater fishing.

After I put the hook in the vice, I bend it slightly up.  I do this because it rides upside down, barb facing up because of the barbell eyes.  When the hook is bent up slightly it allows for an easier strip-set.  I only bend it a little, a mm and that's about it, nothing drastic.

The lower hook is the one that's bent.  You can see it is barely perceptible but it is enough to give me a better strip-set.

I like to wrap the length of my fly with a tinted Mono line.  I like mono because it sinks pretty quick, it's translucent to light, and it adds durability to the fly.  It gives the fly a natural looking segmentation as well.

Wrap the hook back to the barb and stop.

Add in 4 or 5 pieces  of crystal flash, that's it.  Keep them semi-short and trim them off later.

Wrap down the tag ends.  Run the thread back to the barb again. Lay in the tinsel, I like gold this time of year and on clear days.   Gold is just a good base color anyway for anything lure related.  Fish and men can't seem to be able to resist it.

Put a couple wraps around the tinsel and cinch it down. Run the thread back to the barb again.

Lay down the Mono so it is about 2/3 the length of the shaft. Get about 10 wraps on the mono and then thrown 2 under it.  I'll repeat that process of 10/2 until I get to the end of the mono.

When I get to the end of the mono, I cover it and throw in a half hitch.  This is when you want to inspect to wrap job and make sure everything looks even and nice.

 When everything looks good, put a drop of crazy glue on the threads over the mono.  Smooth in the crazy glue and let it dry.  You want your base to be tough and able to withstand the rigors of saltwater fishing.

I have a string of bead-chain and nip my own eyes.  I bought 9 feet of it on Ebay and paid about 4 dollars for it.

The eyes go right in front of the Mono. They get lashed in with figure 8 loops.

Here's an overview, but you can't really tell.

After you lash the eyes in, bring the thread forward to the eye and throw in a half hitch.

Grab the tinsel start wrapping.  Don't be concerned about having everything perfect.  If the tinsel bunches up in one area and is sparse in another, but is still covered, leave it.  It may throw some good flash?  It may be that little something different.  This is all going to be covered with the 25 pound Mono, which is going to add another dimension on top of this, so don't worry if it's not perfect.  I don't.

Bring the tinsel past the eyes, I figure eight wrap it around the eyes to keep the flashy nature from tip to tail.  I wrap the tinsel to the eye to make it reinforced by thread on the back wrap.  Wrap off the tinsel and secure it with a half hitch.

Wrap back from the eye to the eyes in preparation for the Mono.

Begin wrapping the mono the same way you wrapped the tinsel.  Keep a pretty steady tension on the mono as it is being wrapped.  The idea is to make tight, concentric, wraps around the hook to suggest a segmented body.  The tinted mono suggests pink over gold and adds depth to thin body.

Bring the mono around the eyes once.  Make a single figure eight around the eyes with the mono.

When the mono is on the top of the hook, by the eyes, tie it in.  Since that is the side that will be riding down and wont be seen for the most part, it makes sense to cut and tie it off there.

 You can see the segments running the length of the body creating depth.

Turn your fly upside down, so the barb is facing up.  In front of the eyes, towards the eye is where I tie in my fur for the movement of the fly.  Run the thread back to the eyes and throw in a half hitch to keep everything in place.

I use coyote hair, fox hair, or buffalo for the movement part of the fly.  Here I am using coyote and have to comb out the under-fur, which makes fantastic dubbing for other flies.  Synthetics are great, they work really, really well.  I have tons of them, I just prefer the natural furs.  There is something in the motion and undulation of the natural hairs that the synthetics lack.  This is merely my humble perspective, of course.

Here are the long hairs I combed out.  There aren't a lot of them, maybe 50 or 60, it's just enough for some good motion.

Pinch the ends and cut them square.

Pinch the ends down on the shaft and put in a couple of light wraps.  Gently, pull back on the hair, away from the eye, to get it away from the eye.  It saves trimming later and makes the overall appearance neater and cleaner.

When the ends are clear of the eye and everything looks good, lock down the fur.  Make as many wraps as necessary to make sure it is good and snug.  It should take about 9 or 10.  After the fur is secure, make a nice neat head.  Make the wraps deliberate and precise, the neater the head the better it'll fish later.

Once the head is done being wrapped, lightly paint the thread with crazy glue to make sure everything is as strong as possible.  Put a little of the crazy glue on and around the eyes to make sure the mono secure as well.  Use the glue sparingly, it is used to make sure everything is strong, don't go overboard.

Elk Hair Dragon Fly

So I have been thinking about building a dragonfly.    I wasn't sure how to approach it from both a durability / realistic point of view, and as a stinger style of fly, not just a single hook with a long body. Fishing with hoppers is great, but they haven't been nearly as effective as they were a couple weeks ago or even in years past.  I think it has something to do with spraying?  I am not sure what the issue is?  I do know matching hoppers, when there aren't any.  I s a dead give away to the fish, what's floating above hime, is fake.  

 I had fished some foam creations, some hair creations and a couple hybrid combinations.  I was never really satisfied because of all the missed strikes and all the takes at the tails, hence the stinger. I'm pretty happy with the design, they are pretty durable but really, pretty bulky and tough to throw.  They're effective and in the afternoon when nothing seems to be alive but the bugs, plopping one of these on some glassy water is sure to wake up even a sleeping gator.  Well, maybe not but they sure do work and with that little nymphing size 12 stinger on the back, those sipping, gentle takes are now guaranteed hook-ups.  

The stinger is tied on frog hair 3x and the knot is glued with guerrilla glue.  Where the tail is tied onto the shaft of a size 6 or 8 (long shank or not),  is also locked down with guerrilla glue.  The tail, once spun, is lightly coated with guerrilla glue, which makes it one durable son-of-a-gun!  I'll be making it a hybrid soon with foam and  weed guards.  For now though, I'm looking forward to crashing some lillie pads, some banks and some cat-tail stands. You gotta match the hatch!

I start with about 30 long elk hairs, maybe from the chest or the back of the thighs.  The hair needs to be stiff, buoyant and have a little character to its coloring.  I like to use brown 6/0 thread, I'm sure black can be used and even 8/0 could be used. 

Tie the nymphing hook, a size 12, 14 will work.  I use 3x Frog Hair because the stuff is insanely strong.  It's got a little stiffness to it but not enough to make it too tough to work with.

I shave down a toothpick so I can place small drops of glue, precisely where I need them.

Once I tie the hook I use a tiny drop of glue to make sure it's set.  It's over kill but why not? 

Before you line the end up the elk hair, make sure you put an overhand knot in your thread.  Trust me, it makes spinning the hair and leader easier.  While spinning the tail make sure the leader is incorporated and roll the whole thing together.

As you spin you want to make nice, neat rotations up the length, from the butt ends to the near end.  You want to stop about 1/2" to 3/4" from the tip.  The few hairs in the tip with the stinger hook, should ride just within the surface film. 

When you reach the butt ends, take a couple wraps for strength, and criss-cross the loops down the shaft.  Odds are you will cut it off, but again, why not?

Pull the tag end of your leader to tuck your hook-knot just against the the end.  How you want to apply the coating of glue is totally up to you.  I use my fingers and clean up after, I have yet to get stuck but I'm sure my day is coming. 

Set the tail aside to dry, and make another one.  Here's the thing, don't glue and make another one.  Leave the gluing until the very end.  Make a bunch of tails, it's a great way to kill a couple of hours.

Lay the tail out so it's about 3 inches long, give or take.  I make some longer and some shorter just because you don't know what's hovering sometimes.  

I lock the tail down on the hook for about 2/3 of the hook.  When it's initially locked down on the main hook shank, I loop 5 to 10 times around the tail and 2 under the tail, then repeat the whole length 10/2, 10/2.

When the tail is fully tied I glue the whole thing.  Make it tough, because you never know what is going to sip the tail or crash the fly!

Run the thread back to bend of the hook.  You want to start dubbing from around the barb and work your way towards the eye.

I make a pad for the wings on the area where the cut tail ends.  I build up the dubbing and make a decent thorax for the wings.

Now the wings are kinda goofy. I make mine out the plastic that my crystal flash comes in.  I'm not really sure what it is?  I don't know what its name is?  Maybe Staples would know?  That will have to be something I blog about at a later time.  I'll have to find a replacement soon anyway.

Here's the other goofy part.  I know all of us fly fisherman look at things differently so this should be no surprise.  I use Popsicle sticks, that I shaped into the form I wanted to use for wings as a template.

What's cool about this is it eliminates the need to trim the wings.  I cut the plastic and pinch it between the sticks.  I then burn the edges with a lighter.  It reinforces the edges with a bit more plastic and it makes things simple. Burn one side, flip, repeat, simple.

Locking the wings onto the wing pad is not fun.  They do not seem to line up right, they crinkle and fold and are all the way around annoying.  Locking the second set in is just as tricky if not more than the first, be careful.  They are locked in with figure eight style loops and a couple drops of glue.  It's something you have to take your time with, there is no easy or simple way to do it.  If you pull too much, you cut the plastic, if you don't pull enough it wont be cinched in.  The glue is just a redundancy against wind resistance.

Once the wings are locked in I like to tie in my piece of purple chenille for the head.  I don't think any more than two or three wraps is necessary to build up the head.  I suppose the nose can be whip finished, but I usually just throw in a couple half-hitches and glue it down.

Once the fly is tied, I put a couple streaks or some kind of scribble on the wings to break them up.  After that, the fly is in essence done.  Nothing needed now but to try it out and bring along a couple friends.

Good luck!