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 ;) ...
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 . 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 ) |