Dave's Elk River Trout Candy Patterns
"Flies Tied by an Elk River Fly Fisher , for elk river fly fishers ,
that actually catch elk river trout :) !"

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 The Elkfisher's Elk River Patterns   aka   Elk River Trout Candy                 
In this section you will learn about and how to tie the patterns I have used here with such success all these years . Most are the result of the ongoing collaboration between Ken Yufer and myself . You can purchase them by visiting our Online Fly Shop  . Whether you prefer to tie em or buy em we've got you covered ;) ...


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Magic Bunny Emerger

History : This is a "Usual" variation that has been used here for many years or more correctly my version of it . It is a fantastic catcher of fish during the Sulphur hatches !

Hook : 2488 Tiemco or equivilent
Thread : Light Cahill Unithread
Dubbing : Snowshoe foot underfur
Wing and shuck : Tan or yellow Snowshoe foot
Useful sizes : #14 - #22

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CDC Black Stone Dry

History : This one was born as a result of my frustration with the spotty effectiveness and un-natural appearance of elk hair stone patterns . It is extremely simple to tie , floats well and presents a very realistic silhouette ! I have fished it for around 20 years .

Hook - 94840 Mustad or equivalent .
Body & tail - Black Ringneck Pheasant Tail Fibers
Thread - 6/0 or 8/0 Black Uni-Thread
Wing- Natural Mallard CDC Feathers
Optional Palmering - Dun dry fly hackle
Useful Sizes - #16 - #24




Elk River Little Black Midge Pupae

History : This was the 1st fly Ken & I came up with together . I originally fished it strictly on top as a verticle emerger and it proved to be an extremely good producer of fish . Ken started xinking it and dropping it into the film and the extremely good producer became a killing pattern . It has caught 10's of thousands of fish on the river .

Hook - 94840 Mustad or equivilent #28 and larger 518 Tiemco for 30's & 32's
Body - Fine & Dry gray dubbing overwrapped with black thread
Thread - Black 8/0 Uni Thread
Tuft - Natural Mallard CDC feathers or puffs
Useful Sizes - #20 - #28




Elkfisher's Cream Caddis Larvae

This Trout Ranch era pattern resulted from another of Ken's areas of interest which was mayfly instars . These are nymphs that have just molted and are white or cream . I tied some cream mayfly nymphs , we fished them , they worked . Next I started to see what I could leave out and still keep the effectiveness . 1st the wing pad , then the legs and finally the tail were removed from the tie and it still worked ! I had an idea about a different way of "dubbing" a fly body that being to lay a strip of dubbing on top of the shank and "cinch" it around the body . Upon trying it I realized that the cream nymph was now a very simple and realistic caddis larvae and a 45 second tie that smacked fish !

Hook -1120 Diaichi or similar
Body - Light Cahill Fine & Dry dubbing with an Adams Gray Fine and Dry head
Thread - Primrose 8/0 Uni-Thread
Useful Sizes - All sizes from tiny to huge 

      CDC  V-Wings

History : These easy to tie , tiny , dries were just something that popped into my head one day while tying a batch of tiny Bwo spinners after finishing a batch of tiny CDC "clump wing" duns .
 It occured to me that if you circled the down wings on the spinner and "pulled" them up you had a fly that would profile and imprint like a no-hackle but float like a little cork . I have used them constantly since to immitate a variety of midges and tiny mayfly duns . All you have to do is change the color of the thread and the CDC used . You will wish to set the wing back a bit on a #20 or add a fibbet tail .

Hook: Standard Dry Fly Hook #20 - #28 ,
518 Tiemco for 30's & 32's
Body / Thread - Vary to match the insect
Wing - CDC feather ( not puffs) vary color to match the insect
 Useful Sizes - #20 - #32



Tiny Baetis Spinner 

 History : I can't remember anymore when we started using /refining this one but I guess that means its been awhile .... This is the one that turned into the V-Wing series . It is so simple and so deadly and it is the one people tend to miss late May - June . The rise of fish on the FRC bug show was to these little spinners as the Sulpher spinners hadn't hit yet . They get blanket heavy .

Hook : 94840
Body/Thread - Rust Brown Uni Thread 8/0
Wings- 1 Natutal mallard CDC feather .  
Useful Sizes - #22 - #32





White Feather Fly

History :This is one of the patterns that was featured in "Midge Magic" . It was tied to fish the film during the "White Ghost' events mid-summer . It is about as simple as it gets and catches fish :) .....


Hook: Tiemco 518
Thread : White 8/0 Unithread
Body : White duck feather fibers
Useful Sizes: #30 - #32





Coffee Cup Coffin Fly

 History : This one came about as a result of the one bad characteristic of the "Haystack" pattern which is an awesome catcher of fish during a Coffin Fly fall . That characteristic  being that after a couple fish they sink and are quite hard to restore to buoyancy once they do . An 8 2-xl is a lot of steel to float . I was thinking about the issue (having been plagued by it again the night before ) , drinking a cup of coffee in a styrofoam cup when I realized the answer was literally right in front of me :) . 

Hook : 94833 Mustad or Equivalent 
Thread : Primrose Uni Thread 
Tails : Dun Micro Fibbetts 
Abdomen :  Styrafoam from a white coffee cup
Thorax : Light Cahill Fine & Dry dubbing
Wings : Gray Coastal Deer hair  



 Copper Sulphate

History: This One is a fairly recent creation . I started tying and fishing these a couple of Sulpher seasons ago .You can think of it as the emerger version of a Copper John :) .....

It rides deeper then most emerger patterns and is therefore an excellent choice early in the hatch when most of the action is still low in the column . It is a killing pattern during Sulpher season !

Hook : 2488 tiemco or equivilant
Thread : Primrose 8/0 Unithread
Trailing Shuck : Pheasant Wing Feather Fibers
Abdomen : Fine Copper Wire
Thorax : Sulpher Rabbit Dubbing
Wing : CDC Puff Natural Mallard

 

The Black Bear Ordinary

History : This pattern developed out of a desire for a snowshoe - like wing material in a natural dark brown gray color . Dyed snowshoe simply wasn't cutting it for me .... I noticed that the underfur of a black bear not only met the color requirement but possessed many of the same charteristics (course , crinkly ) as snowshoe . The name "ordinary" is a reverent nod to the late Fran Betters "Usual" patterns , perhaps my favorite series/style of dry fly of all time .

The ordinary is a VERY simple tie (like most of my patterns) . It has been featured on a FRC "Focus on the Fly" segment .

Hook : 94840 Mustad or Equivilent
Thread : Black 8/0 Unithread
Wing/Tail : Black bear underfur
Dubbing : Black Spirit River Fine & Dry


     Elk's Black Soft Hackle

History: Not much to tell here , just my attempt at re-inventing the wheel ;) ..... This is the go to fly during the winter stonefly hatches here !

Hook : 94840 Mustad (or whatever is handy )

Thread : Black 8/0 Unithread

Dubbing/Body : Black Fine and Dry

Hackle : Mallard wing feather



 

The Conspiracy Theory  

History : Necessity is the mother of invention . 6 or 7 years ago a regular client called late in the season wanting me to take him out the next day .I told him there wasn't much hatching but that I was certain we could do some business with various bead heads . Got off the phone and sat down to whip some up and found I was out of beads . I told my wife I needed some 'flash' and she handed me a strip of aluminum foil ! What am I supposed to do with that ? She says "oh you'll think of something .... and I did :) .

It is basically a soft hackle Hare's Ear with a "tin foil hat" or strip up the back . It worked , very , very well ......

Hook - Standard Nymph hook

Body - Hare's Ear Dubbing with the tin foil strip on the back

Thread - Tan 6/0 Uni-Thread

Hackle - Hen Back

Useful Sizes - #16 - #8 (at least )









 


   

  



 



  

 

 

 



  

 

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  • Home
  • Guided Trips
    • Elk River Trips >
      • Slaty Fork
    • Small Stream Brookie Trips !
  • River Conditions
  • The Elkfisher's Corner
  • Online Fly Store !
    • Fly Assortments
    • Micro - Patterns
    • Sulphurs , etc ...
    • Spinners
    • Gift & Guide Certificates
  • Elk River Video Gallery
  • The Elk River Gallery
  • How Do I Do That ?
  • Elk River Trout Candy
  • Contact
  • What's a Day With The Elkfisher Like ?
  • Category