Some food for trout and grayling

Autumn is almost over and the winter is coming… I already miss to fish for trout and grayling, which I’ve done this year not often enough….

Freshwater Shrimp with the new Gammarus Foil by Pro Sportfisher – Step By Step

This is a really natural looking freshwater shrimp. Easy to tie and very durable. It’s tied with the new multi colored Gammarus Shrimp Back from Pro Sportfisher and Bug Bond.

You can get the Gammarus Shrimp Backs in different colors and sizes. Here, I used the brown color in small.

It was never easier to tie a super realistic pattern in such a short time. I believe, that it’ll catch fish from Finnland to Italy!

 

 

Materials:

  • Hook: Tiemco 2487 # 12
  • Weight: Lead Foil
  • Ribbing: Mono 0,14
  • Back: Pro Sportfisher Gammarus brown # small and Bug Bond UV Resin
  • Dubbing: SLF Squirrel Spikey Dubbing mixed with Hends Spectra Dubbing
  • Tail: CDC Feather
  • Thread: Dyneema

 

Take the hook, push down the barb and put it in your vise. Cut a stripe of lead out of the lead foil and create a nice lead body.

 

Take a CDC feather and cut off a „V“ from the tip. Tie the feather in as shown.

 

Take a shrimp back from the sheet and tie it in at the end. Tie also in the mono for the ribbing.

 

I used for this Gammarus a mix made out of Squirrel Dubbing and Spectra Dubbing. A natural color with a little bit of flash. Dub a not to slim body.

 

Fold the Gammarus foil to the front and catch it with you tying thread. Then, rib the body with the mono. Catch the mono, cut it off and finish the tying with a whip finish.

 

Now, take your Bug Bond and coat the back of the shrimp and cure it with the Bug Bond torch.

 

Pick out some beards and fibres with your dubbing needle to imitate the legs.

 

The finished shrimp, ready to fish.

 

The shrimp when wet. I don’t think, that a fish can resist.

Tight lines

Holger

Pissed Off Shrimp

I tied a smaller shrimp on a Partridge CS 54 # 8, using the Pro 3D Shrimp Shell in XXSmall clear on pink base. The shrimp is weighted with a small tungsten shrimp weight. The legs are made out of CDC, the antennas are Whiting Rooster Spey Hackles. It’s not a really a complicated pattern and I’ll tie some more in different colors for my seatrout fishing in the Baltic Sea.

Quill Body CDC Emerger No. 2 – Step By Step

It’s the end of April and the trout and grayling season will start soon.

Here’s another very good emerger pattern, which imitates some different may fly species, depending on the colour and size. It’s tied on the new Daiichi 1167 Klinkhamer hook, designed by the famous dutch fly tyer Hans van Klinken.

The Daiichi 1167 got a stronger wire compared to the Tiemco 212Y for example, which makes sure, that the abdomen hangs deep in the surface. That’s really important and that’s the reason, why this pattern got no tail or a trailing shuck, to make sure, that the abdomen is hanging deep in the surface.

The quill body is covered with a thin coating UV Resin.

 

Materials:

  • Hook: Daiichi 1167 # 14
  • Abdomen: Polish Quills &Tack Free UV Resin
  • Thorax: Oliver Edwards Master Class Dubbing
  • Wing case: CDC
  • Wing: CDC
  • Legs: Partridge

 

Put the hook into the vise, do a layer of thread and tie in a stripped peacock quill. Wind the quill around the hook shank and catch it with the tying thread.

 

Put a little drop of Tack Free UV Resin on the stripped peacock quill and spread it on the abdomen. Cure it with your UV torch.

 

Tie in two CDC feathers for the wing case. Then tie in the tip of another white CDC feather as a crippled wing.

 

Dub the body and tie in some partridge fibres to imitate the legs. Fold each CDC feather to the hook eye and catch it with the tying thread. The CDC wing should be exactly in the middle of the feathers.

 

Cut the CDC feathers for the wing case and do some turns with your whip finisher to create a little head. Varnish the head, if you like. That’s it, ready for fishing. ;-)

tight lines

Holger Lachmann

Cellphone Shrimp

Last night I wanted to tie a CDC-Shrimp. I’d just done the first few wraps with the tying thread, when my cell was ringing. My buddy Aik was calling. So, what to do? Stop tying? No way! :-) I clamped the cell between my ear and my shoulder and continued tying with this „special“ posture…. When I finished the telephone conversation, the fly was finished too, including the back with Clear Cure Goo.

To be honest, I was concentrated on the call and was wondering, that the fly looked no too bad either. I should always tie without thinking! :-D

 

 

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

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

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