Played with some colors, which worked pretty well in the last years….
Some more small Zonker-fish
Antworten
Small Zonker-Baitfish
I like….no, I love streamers, which are easy to tie, but they always have to play nicely in the water. Zonker stripes are one of my favorite materials since a long time. It’s durable, easy to tie in and most important, it moves in the water like hell.
This little fellow is only about 5 cm long (less than 2 inches). The front part with dubbing and the eyes is coated with uv-resin, in this case I used Clear Cure Goo (CCG) which works really well. First I used CCG Hydro, which is fluid like water, to fix everything, than CCG Tack Free for the final coating.
It’s an all around baitfish pattern, which can be used for any type of predators. I tie it on a saltwater hook and nip down the barb, when using in freshwater. So I use often the same fly first in spring for seatrout and later in the year for brown trout.
Materials:
- Hook: Gamakatsu SC 15 # 4
- Weight: Lead Wire
- Ribbing: Mono
- Body: SLF Prism Dub in tan
- Back and Tail: Zonker Stripe
- Eyes and Head: 3 D Eyes, SLF Prism Dub and Clear Cure Goo
Wind the lead wire around the shank and secure it with super glue.
Tie in a piece of mono for ribbing.
Split the thread, put the SLF Prism Dub in the gap and spin the bobbin to twist the dubbing and the thread.
Wind the twisted dubbing around untill you reach the middle of the shank.
Tie an piece of zonker stripe.
Rib the Zonker with the mono and catch the mono with your thread.
Here you can see the nice profile of the zonker.
Dub the head in the same way like the body and brush it with your velcro brush.
Put some eyes on the head and and secure it with Clear Cure Goo Hydro. Then put a final coating of Clear Cure Goo Tack Free on the head.
No bubbles like with epoxy, just clear resin so you can see the hot twinkle of the Prism Dub.
tight lines
Holger Lachmann
Poor Mans Pattegrisen
The famous shrimp fly „Pattegrisen“ is one of the most popular seatrout patterns of the last years for the fly fishermen at the Baltic sea. It’s a very large fly with a great movement in the water. The key-material are Rooster Spey Hackles from Whiting dyed in the colour salmon. The long soft fibres pulsate, when retrieving with some stops . Lovely!
But there’s a little problem…. the original Whiting Rooster Spey Hackles are expansive. Some years ago you payed about 35,- € for a bronze grade cape, now about 80,- to 90,- €!
That’s the reason I tied the „Poor Mans Pattegrisen“. This pattern is much cheaper, easy to tie and, believe me, it looks really nice in the water! The main ingredient are Whiting HEN Spey Hackles dyed in salmon. They are much cheaper and softer as rooster hackles, but not as long as the original.
Just give the Poor Mans Pattegrisen a try, maybe also in different colours, it’s worth it!
Materials:
- Hook: Partridge CS 54 # 6
- Weight: Lead Wire
- Feeler: Whiting Hen Spey Hackles, Fluo Fibre, Krinkle Mirror Flash
- Ribbing: Mono
- Eyes: Black Shrimp Eyes
- Body: Whiting Hen Spey Hackles, Spectra Dubbing
- Roof: Whiting Hen Spey Hackles
- Hot Spot: UTC Thread fluo. pink
Wind some lead wire around the front part of the hook shank and secure it with super glue.
Tie in a spey hackle with the tip first.
Wind the hackle towards the hook eye and catch it with your tying thread.
Tie some strands of fluo fibre on each side of the feeler.
Tie in a strand of krinkle mirror flash on each side and form a little dubbing ball.
Tie in the shrimp eyes. The dubbing ball helps to split the eyes nicely.
Tie in a piece of mono and a spey hackle.
Dub the first part of the body, wind the spey hackle around it and catch it with your thread.
Tie in another spey hackle and dub the rest of the body.
Wind the hackle around the dubbed body and secure it with your thread, then rib the body with the mono to make it strong and durable.
Brush the fly with your velcro brush, so the dubbing fibres are mixed with the hackle fibres.
Tie in another spey hackle…
… wind it around and secure it with your thread.
Take 3-4 spey hackle and equalize the length.
Tie in the spey hackles as a roof of the fly.
If you want, you can create a little hot spot with fluo tying thread.
Varnish the head or put some uv-resin on it. Voilà! The „Poor Mans Pattegrisen“!
tight lines
Holger Lachmann
Tying after walking in the cold
At noon, I decided to do a little walk next to my home river Weser. It was – 7°C and it was snowing. A lot of ice floes were drifting down the river. It looks pretty impressive. I passed a little creek which flow into the Weser and my thoughts were flying into the future summer month, where hungry trout and grayling were rising constantly….
Back home I tied some quick dry flies size 12 with duo colored CDC wings and quill bodies, secured with uv-resin. Looking at these little creatures, I can’t await casting a dry fly to a rising fish again….
Quill CDC Emerger
A simple, but quiet effective mayfly emerger.Tie it in different sizes and colours to match the hatch. The body of the emerger should hang deep in the surface. Never put some floatant on the body, only a bit on the thorax and the wings if necessary. With the amount of uv-resin on the quill, you can control, how deep the fly should hang in the surface.
This pattern often made my day, when other patterns were ignored.
Materials:
- Hook: TMC 212Y # 13
- Abdomen: Stripped Peacock Quill and UV-Resin (use tack free resin, if not, you have to coat the resin with nail polish)
- Thorax: Alpaka Dubbing
- Wings: CDC and for splitting some Yarn
Tie in a stripped peacock quill.
Wind the stripped quill around the hook shank and catch it with your thread.
Put a layer of uv-resin around the quill body to secure it.
Tie in a piece of yarn.
Tie in a bunch of CDC fibres.
Spin the dubbing around the thread.
Dub the thorax.
Fold the yarn to the front to split the CDC and catch it with your thread.
Whip finish the fly and cut the CDC in shape.
View from underneath.
tight lines
Holger Lachmann
Biot CDC Parachute
Turkey biots are very good for tying dry fly bodies. They swim really well.
I don’t discribe every tying step here, because they are the same (except the biot abdomen) as you have seen at the quill body CDC parachute tutorial.
Materials:
- Hook: TMC 100 # 16
- Tail: Micro Fibetts
- Abdomen: Turkey Biot
- Wing: CDC
- Hackle: Whiting Genetic Dry Fly
- Thorax: SLF Masterclass
tight lines
Holger Lachmann
Wiggle Fox step by step
Material:
- Hooks: Gamakatsu F 314 # 6
- Tail: Fox Tail Hair
- Body: SLF Saltwater Dubbing, SLF Prism Dubbing and a Hackle
- Ribbing: Mono
- Weight: Tungsten Bead or Lead Wire
- Optional: 3 D Eyes secured with UV-Resin
Put a hook in the vise and tie in some fox tail hair. Put a strand of krinkle mirror flash on each side and tie it in.
Mix the dubbing. I used SLF Saltwater Dub in pearl and ginger and a little bit of SLF Prism dub.
Tie in the mono for ribbing, split the thread, put the dubbing in the gap and spin the bobbin to twist the dubbing and the thread.
Wind around the dubbing, tie in a hackle next to the hook eye and wind it backwards, then wind the ribbing to the front to secure the hackle. Catch the ribbing and do a whip finish. Use a velcro brush to comb the fly.
Cut the hook bend.
Put another hook in the vise and wind some lead wire on the front of the hook.
Tie in a piece of mono for the connection between the two pieces.
Connect the two pieces like above. Use super glue to fix everything.
Tie in another piece of mono for ribbing, then split the thread and put the dubbing in the gap. Spin the bobbin to twist the dubbing and wind it around to the front.
Wind around a hackle and rib it with mono like you’ve done with the first section.
You can finish the fly or dub a little head, put some 3 D eyes on each side and secure them with uv-resin.
tl Holger Lachmann
Wiggle Fox
The principle of articulated flies is very old. I don’t really know the reason, but it’s not really common to fish articulated flies for seatrout in the Baltic Sea. I always like the movement of fox tail hair in the water, but there was always a big problem. The tail was raveling behind the hook bend when casting in many times. It was annoying to strip in the line, to see on the last meters, that the flies doesn’t swim correctly.
One and a half year ago I had the the idea to tie articulated flies with long hair from a fox tail. After some tests, I realized, that the flies swim perfectly in the water, without raveling during the long casts you do.
The movement of the long tail together with the joint gives the fly a maximum of flexibility. Especially, when you put some weight into the fly at the front.
I would recommend to retrieve the fly quiet fast with some stops .
Wiggle Fox for Seatrout fishing in Argentina
tl
Holger Lachmann
Fast CDC Dun
A fast to tie mayfly dun pattern made out of CDC. It floats very well and is durable. I like to fish it in semi-fast running water. Micro fibetts, 2-4 CDC feathers (colour of your choice) and a bit yarn, that’s all you need. I don’t know who invented this pattern, but I think it was Marc Petitjean.
Materials:
- Hook: Maruto D04 BL # 12
- Tail: Micro Fibetts
- Abdomen: CDC Feather
- Thorax and Wing: CDC Feather, Yarn
Tie in a loop of thread and 3 micro fibetts. Split the fibetts with the 2 piece of thread after cutting the loop.
Tie in a CDC feather with the tip first. Twist the feather and wind it around the shank. Then cut all little fibres, so that you’ve got a nice tapered CDC body.
Tie in a piece of yarn.
Preparing the CDC
Split the thread and put the prepared CDC in the gap. Then spin the bobbin to twist the CDC and the thread.
Wind the twisted CDC around the hook and pull it up with your fingers after every turn.
Seperate the the CDC with the yarn, to create the two main wings of the mayfly. Catch the yarn with the thread.
I like to fold the yarn back again, tie it in and cut it, so I make sure I’ve got a nice free hook eye.
A whip finish to secure the fly. Take your scissors…
…and cut the fly in shape. That’s it! If you tied some of them, you need less then 4-5 minutes to tie it.
Fish view
tight lines Holger Lachmann
Quill Body Parachute with CDC Wing
A superb all around mayfly pattern, which lies nicely flat and realistic on the water. Tie it in different sizes and colours to match the hatch. Personally I like to use CDC for the wing instead of polypropylen on the smaller sizes. It just looks more naturally.
Materials:
- Hook: TMC 100 # 16
- Tail: Micro Fibetts
- Abdomen: Stripped Peacock Quill, UV-Resin
- Wing: CDC
- Hackle: Genetic Dry Fly Hackle
- Thorax: SLF Masterclass Dubbing
Tie in a loop of tying thread and the end of the fly.
Tie in 3 micro fibetts, cut the thread loop and seperate the fibetts with the 2 pieces of thread.
Tie in a stripped peacock quill.
Tie in the tips of some CDC feathers as a wing.
Wind the peacock quill around the hook shank and catch it with the thread next to the wing.
Put a drop of tack free uv-resin on the quill body to secure it. Make sure, that there’s just a thin coat on the body.
Tie in the hackle as shown.
Dub the thorax.
Wind the hackle around the wing post and catch it with the thread underneath the hackle.
Cut of the hackle and do a whip finish underneath the hackle. A little drop of really thin varnish secures the whip finish. Ready to go!
View from below aka „the fish view“.
tight lines
Holger Lachmann
Fancy streetwear for fly fishermen…
.. two friends presented their new street wear at our fly tying meeting on Friday and Saturday. No, they are not what you think…, both got girlfriends! ;-)
If someone is interested in those t-shirts… let me know.
Golden CDC Seatrout Fly
Most people use CDC for all kinds of dry flies, but it’s a good material for streamer or for example shrimp pattern, because of the movement under water.
This is an easy pattern, which works really great for seatrout, especially when you’ve got sunny, calm weather. Works well for the baltic garfish too.
This fly doesn’t immitate a specific animal, it just looks like food for the seatrout. A little bit like a shrimp, a small baitfish or a mysis.
Materials:
- Hook: Partridge CS 54 # 10
- Tail: golden CDC and 2 fibre Micro Chrystal Flash
- Ribbing: Mono 0,14mm
- Body: SLF Saltwater Dubbing Pearl and Ginger
- Body and Front Hackle: golden CDC
- Weight: Lead Wire
Wind thin lead wire around the front part of the hook shank.
Use some CDC fibres for the tail.
Add two fibres of Micro Chrystal Flash.
Tie in some mono for ribbing. It’s imortant to fold the mono back and catch it with the thread, so it can’t slip when pulling tight for the ribbing.
SLF Saltwater Dubbing in Pearl and Ginger before mixing
Mixed dubbing.
Split the thread and put the dubbing in the gap.
Spin the bobbin to twist the dubbing.
The first part should be 3/5 of the shank.
Bring the thread to the front.
Again, split the thread, put the dubbing between…
… and dub from the front backwards to the beginning of the already dubbed body.
Split the thread and put CDC fibres in the gap. To prepare the CDC i like to use the Marc Petitjean Magic Tool.
Spin the bobbin to twist the CDC.
Wind the CDC to the eye of the hook, whip finish, brush the whole fly with a toothbrush and varnish the head. The fly is finished.
I tried to show you how the fly looks in the water. The SLF becomes semi-transparent. Together with the CDC looks the fly like it’s alive and yummy.
tight lines Holger Lachmann
Extended Body CDC Caddis
When it’s getting dark on the river, the caddis often become very active. It’s really fun to fish a big caddis fly surfing over the surface. Sometimes the trouts go mad and take the fly very aggressively.
I don`t want to check all the time, if the fly is floating well. The fly should float like a piece of cork all night long. That`s why I like to use materials like CDC and foam for those kind of flies. If you want to treat the fly with fly floatant, you should use a highly fluid floatant like Water Shed. Very important, Water Shed must be completely dried before fishing.
Materials:
- Hook: Maruto C47BL # 12
- Extended Body: Foam
- Wing: CDC and Moose Hock
- Top: Pheasant
- Body and Legs: CDC
- Antennae: Moos Hock
Put a needle in your vise and tie a layer of thread. Very important: Use NOT a waxed thread. If you do, you may get problems pushing the finished body from the needle.
Put a 3 mm wide strip of foam on the needle.
Create some nice segements with your thread. If you got problems creating the body, just google „extended foam body“. There you find some nice videos.
Finish the body behind the last segment with a whip finish.
Pull the extended body from the needle and tie it in.
With a permanent marker you can give the body a nice colour.
As a wing, tie in three CDC feathers. They should be longer than the body.
Over the CDC wing, you should tie in some moos hock hair in the same length like the CDC. It push the CDC down, so the wing is always flat over the body and it increases the floatability. Then tie in some fibres from a pheasant tail. Split the thread, put in some CDC and twist the the thread by rotating the bobbin. I like to work with the Petitjean Magic Tool when preparing the CDC.
If necessary, repeat spinning the CDC and wind it around a second time.
Fot the antennae I used two hair of moose hock.
Pull the pheasant fibres foreward and catch it with the thread.
Spinn some CDC as dubbing around the thread and create a little head, then fold the pheasant fibres back, cut it and whip finish the fly.
To secure the thread and the pheasant use a bit of varnish or really thin uv-resin, which makes the fly very durable.
Finished fly from underneath, or „the fish view“. ;-)
tight lines
Holger Lachmann
Closer look at: Senyo’s Laser Dub
Some month ago I started playing around with Senyo’s Laser Dub.
I don’t really like it for the normal dubbed bodies, but for creating 3-D heads and bodies of flies, it’s really cool stuff.
You can put it in a dubbing loop, brush it with a velcro-brush and wind it around or stack it like you do with deer hair, which works best for me do get really compact bodies.
The combination with a zonker stripe works really great. The flies got a lot of volume and the zonker stripe moves really nice in the water.
I gave some friends baitfish patterns tied with Senyo’s Laser Dub for some tests. The results were really good. Perch, trout, asp, chub and seatrout (biggest one was around 70 cm) were caught. When you fish those patterns in strong currents, you should put some weight in the fly or fish with a sinking line.
Here are some examples.
Tangloppen
I like to use a dubbing mix made out of some nice dubbings. Choose whatever you want. One part of the dubbing should be a little bit spiky.
Mix the dubbings together. Here’s my result.
Other materials I use for the Tangloppen (scud in the baltic sea).
Tie in the short marabou tail. Most common hook sizes are # 12 – #8.
Tie in the mono ribbing and the body stretch.
Dub the body.
Turn over the body stretch and catch it with the thread next to the hook eye.
Rib the body with the mono.
Tie in the antennas, make a whip finish and varnish the head. At least brush the dubbing body with a velcro brush to imitate the little legs. Voilà! A nice little easy to tie Tangloppen. Sometimes this small fly is really, really good for seatrout.
I like my Tangloppen unweighted, so I can fish it very slowly and in really shallow water over beds of seaweed.
I posted this step by step instruction already on my Facebook page, but I think it’s an important pattern for seatrout, so it should be part of the blog.