Baetis/BWO Pattern

Now that “Baetis Time” is upon us here is another Baetis/BWO pattern. 

Give this pattern a try (YOU can't have too many Baetis/BWO patterns) it has served me well. 

When tied in the appropriate sizes it is an excellent Baetis/BWO as well as a General Purpose Mayfly pattern.

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Iron Bridge Olive Mayfly V1 (aka Iron Bridge Baetis V1)

By: Larry Jurgens

Hook: Dai-Riki #280, TMC 100/101/501

Size: 16 ~ 22

Thread: Olive Dun 8/0 UNI Thread

Tail: Medium Pardo Whiting Farms Coq de Leon Tailing Barbules

Wing: Medium Dun Float-Vis

Abdomen: #9 Baetis Nature’s Spirit Turkey Biot Quill “Vane”, See Notes

Thorax: Blue Wing Olive Superfine Dubbing

Hackle: Olive Dyed Silver Badger or Olive Dyed Grizzly Whiting Saddle, See Notes

Head: Tying Thread

Notes:

The “vane” barbule is from the opposite side of the biot on a primary wing feather or a barbule from a secondary wing feather.

This pattern can be tied with or without the “standing rib”. The fish don’t seem to mind one way or the other!

 The hackle is one size under-sized e.g., size 18 hook equals size 20 hackle.

Send me an email for tying instructions

One of my "Old" 1960s patterns

This is the modern version of the original “Cutthroat Candy” pattern that I developed in the 1960’s for fishing the creeks and lakes in the Derby Flattops area. The United States Congress designated this area the “Flat Tops Wilderness” (map) in 1975 and it now has a total of 235,214 acres. All of this wilderness is located in Colorado and is managed by the Forest Service.This pattern is my #1 pattern when fishing the forks of Derby Creek along with several others that I fished. It is also effective on the more accessible creeks feeding into Stillwater Reservoir and the Bear River outlet clear down to Sweetwater Reservoir (aka Yampa Reservoir). My “Original Recipe” used the following materials; Mustad 94840 hook, Black tying thread, Barred Lemon Wood Duck tail, Red four strand rayon floss for the abdomen, Muskrat dubbing for the thorax, Grizzly hackle and Yellow Bucktail for the post indicator (for visibility) and the Trude type wing.Even though I call the pattern “Cutthroat Candy” it also works great for Rainbows, Browns, and Brookies!  ~ Larry O Jurgens

The Original Cutthroat Candy

Originated and Tied By: Larry O Jurgens
Hook: TMC 100 (Originally Tied On A Mustad 94840)

Size: 12 ~ 16

Tying Thread: Light Cahill 6/0 Danville Fly Master

Tail: Barred Lemon Wood Duck

Abdomen: Red Danville’s Flat Waxed Nylon

Indicator/Wing: Bright Yellow Polypropylene

Thorax: Light Cahill Superfine Dubbing
Hackle: Grizzly

The Venerable Cooper Bug

Peacock Cooper Bug

By: Jack Cooper

Tied By: Larry O Jurgens

Hook: Hook Is Tyers Choice

Size: 10 ~ 20

Thread: Tan or Black UTC 70

Tail, Shellback and Head: Elk Body Hair, Bleached or Natural

Body: Peacock Herls

Notes:

This is a very old pattern and has been called devil bug, doodle bug etc., etc., depending on the location.

The following is excerpted from The Perfect 10: New England Natives by William G. Tapply at

URL; http://midcurrent.com/flies/the-perfect-10-new-england-natives/

Downeaster Jack Cooper invented this simple deer-hair bug back in the 1930s to catch the brook trout that gobbled caddisflies off the surface of his local ponds. The fly worked so well that Cooper applied for a patent. He was denied on the grounds that his bug was too similar to Orley Tuttle’s Devil Bug. Bob Elliot, for decades the official spokesman for Maine’s angling tourism and an expert on eastern brook trout, gave a handful of Cooper’s bugs to my father (Tap Tapply ~ loj). Dad gave ‘em a try and declared the Cooper Bug his favorite all-round searching fly. We fished them dead-drifted upstream, both to rising trout and to likely pockets. We cast them down and across and twitched ‘em back. We caught a lot of brookies both ways from the streams we floated in Dad’s canoe.

 Gary Borger’s Devil Bug is tied differently and is a more complicated tie. To view his tying instructions got to URL; http://www.garyborger.com/flies-and-fly-tying/devil-bug/

I have tied, and tried Gary Borger’s Devil Bug and it works well and it floats a little higher and longer before becoming water saturated.

Send me an email for tying instructions.

A Small Productive Streamer Pattern

This streamer pattern has been very productive for me. I fish it on small streams as you would fish a “BIG” streamer on a larger river. When I fish the Li’l Trigger Sucker on large rivers it fishes best (for me anyway) by working the edges and back-eddies. I fish the Li’l Trigger Sucker with a floating line and to represent an injured minnow trying to survive.

Li’l Trigger Sucker

By: Larry O Jurgens

Hook: TMC 9395, TMC 5262 or TMC 5263

Size: 8 ~ 10

Thread: Olive UTC 70

Body: Root Beer Flat Diamond Braid

Wing: Sculpin Olive Pine Squirrel Strip

Collar: Micro Olive Pine Squirrel Strip or Sculpin Olive Pine Squirrel Hair Dubbing Loop

Trigger: Red 1/64 Holographic Mylar Motion (Simulates A Bleeding Gill Blood Stream)

Head: Olive or Black 5/32” Cone Head

Optional: Super Glue

Note:

I tie this pattern several different ways; see optional Steps 4, 13, 15 & 16.

The optional steps I use the most are Steps 4 & 13 using a Micro Sculpin Olive Pine Squirrel Strip.

At Optional Step 13 use a dubbing loop of Olive Pine Squirrel Hair or a Micro Sculpin Olive Pine Squirrel Strip and make two to three wraps for the collar.

Tying Instructions

    1.  Slide the cone head on to the hook shank.

    2.  Wrap a threadbase so that the cone head is tight on the hook shank.

    3.  Cut off the thread.

    4.  Optional: Apply super glue to the threadbase.

    5.  Slide the cone over the threadbase to behind the hook eye.

    6.  Restart the thread and wrap a thread base to above the hook barb.

    7.  Tie in the strip above the hook barb leaving enough to reach the cone head.

    8.  Tie in the body material in front of the strip.

    9.  Move the thread to behind the cone head.

 10.  Wrap the body material to behind the cone head. Tie in and cut off excess.

 11.  Pull the strip forward and tie in behind the cone.

 12.  Tie in 1~2 trigger strands on each side of the hook shank.

 13.  Optional Step: See Note. Tie in and cut off excess.

 14.  Whip finish behind the cone head with a minimum number of wraps.

 15.  Optional; Apply water-based head cement to the thread wraps.

 16.  Optional; Cover the thread wraps with dubbing from the Olive Pine Squirrel strip.

 17.  Cut the tail to equal the hook shank length.

 18.  Cut the trigger Mylar to length of your choice. 

Four Caddis Patterns

These patterns have been tested over the last two years by myself and others in various rivers on the Western Slope and Front Range in Colorado. They have also been fished in California and Idaho with good results.
I tie these in a variety of colors and they have all had some success. The Tan, Brown and Chartreuse colors have produced the best results.
Send me an email if you would like the recipes and tying instructions.
Tie some up and let me know how they worked for you!

Hogans’s Red-Headed Stepchild Pattern

The Real “Hogans’s Red-Headed Stepchild”
Visit Hogan Brown's website at URL;http://www.hgbflyfishing.com/hgbflyfishing/Trout_Nymphs.html

Hogan's Red Headed Stepchild

By: Hogan Brown of Chico, CA

Source: Hogan Brown’s Website 

Hook: TMC 3761, Daiichi D1560, Dai-Riki #060

Size: 12 ~ 18

Head: Red Silver Lined Glass Bead

Thread: Rusty Brown 6/0

Tail: Pheasant Tail Barbules

Abdomen: Tying Thread

Rib: Red Ultra Wire

Flashback: Pearl or Opal Tinsel

Thorax: Peacock Herl

Legs: Red Krystal Flash 

North Park Skeeter/Midge

North Park Skeeter/Midge 
(Montana Midge by us "Old-Timers")
By: Larry O Jurgens
Hook: TMC 100 or TMC 101
Size: 12 ~ 18
Thread: Iron Gray UNI-Thread
Abdomen: Natural Canada Goose Biot or Vane
Wing: White or Light Dun Float-Vis
Thorax: Adams Gray Super Fine Dubbing
Hackle: Natural Grizzly
Head: Tying Thread

Notes:

When fishing in North Park especially the Delaney Buttes and Lake John areas there are two very pesky critters that are constantly gathering in gigantic clouds around you. These two critters are the Mosquito that feasts on you and the “Montana Midge” (this is what we called them in bygone days) that you feasted on as they were constantly being breathed in as you are trying to wave them away. As all North Park fishermen well know both species of critters are impervious to any and all repellents.

In my younger days the most effective repellent was smoking a very bad smelling cigar. One of the most effective was the rum soaked “Mississippi Crooks” which, if I remember correctly a box of five sold for 25 cents and were about three to four inches long and about one half inch in diameter. And they were NASTY little things. The price was the same as a full pack of Camels, Lucky Strike etc. cigarettes in those bygone times.

Smoking a pipe with strong tobacco like “Prince Albert and Sir Walter Raleigh” was also an effective repellent.

A “Prince Albert” tobacco can was used by my “Dad” for his fly box. 

See my blog for this story at URL; http://lojsflytyingbugstuff.blogspot.com/2010/07/old-fly-box.html

Tying Instructions

1.    Start the thread behind the hook eye.

2.    Wrap a smooth threadbase to above the hook barb.

3.    Tie in the biot and wrap a smooth threadbase forward to the 1/3 hook shank point.

4.    Wrap the biot to the 1/3 hook shank point.

5.    A “standing or no standing” rib is tyers choice.

6.    Tie in and cut off excess.

7.    Tie in the wing at the 1/3 hook shank point.

8.    Tie in the hackle at the wing tie in point.

9.    Dub the thorax to one eye length behind hook eye.

10. Wrap the hackle forward to one hook eye length behind the hook eye.

11. Tie in the hackle and cut off excess.

Note: Trim a “V” notch in the hackle on the bottom of the fly to allow the fly to ride low on the water’s surface.

Trim the hackle flat on the bottom if you want the fly to ride flush on the surface.

Midge Pattern

Black Biot Midge

By: Larry O Jurgens

Hook: TMC 102Y

Size: 17 ~ 21

Thread: Olive Dun 8/0 UNI Thread

Abdomen: Black Goose/Turkey Vane (See Notes)

Shellback: Black Foam

Wing: White Float-Vis

Thorax: Black Superfine Dubbing

Hackle: Black

Head: Tying Thread