It is the time of year when a young man’s thoughts turn to…sulphurs. Well, at least if he’s an eastern fly fisher. Again I’m presenting an experimental set of flies. This time I’m focusing on the sulphur hatch through a tenkara colored lens. Make it what you want, but in my opinion tenkara angling really shines for fishing unweighted (or lightly weighted) wet flies and nymphs, after all that is how it evolved. Sure you can fish heavy nymphs – but the wispy tenkara rod tip is just not great at handling these, it can be done but it is not aesthetically pleasing (it’s sort of a round hole/square peg thing). I don’t prefer it for dry flies – although tenkara handles dry flies beautifully and I don’t hesitate to fish dries with the tenkara rod. Some tenkara anglers may disagree with me but I find t difficult to create the “snap” necessary to really dry out a soggy dry fly with the tenkara rod. Sure that’s a small complaint, and you can always squeeze the water out with a shirt or whatever – but nonetheless…I will stick with my assertion that wet fly fishing is my favorite application of tenkara.
With that in mind I turned an eye to my sulphur box and tried to create some tenkara inspired flies based on old favorites. These are not tried and true patterns but I have no doubt that they’ll fool a few fish anyway. Once I give them a try on the hatch – I’ll report back on the results.
This is a selection of soft-hackle emergers, all but the bottom left fly are tied with biot bodies. They represent a range of emergence states.
A couple of more traditional sulphur wet flies tied with bunny fur bodies and grouse hackle.
Sulphur nymph wet fly: This is based on a basic sulphur nymph pattern with a black wing-case to suggest a nymph about to “hatch”. In this version I simply used black fur abdomen and a wet fly style collar of grouse hackle instead of a wingcase and legs.
Sulphur Sakasa Kebari: This bunch is perhaps the most typically “tenkara-esque” of the flies that I tied. I’m pretty new to the whole reverse-hackled sakasa kebari style wet flies, so I’m anxious to give these a whirl.
I enjoy fly tying as an end unto itself. So, lately I have had the desire to concentrate on tying flies that I like to tie and that I like to look at. I think that the desire to catch fish and to tie elegant flies do not have to be mutually exclusive.
I haven’t talked to him about this, but Jean paul Dessaigne may have a similar viewpoint regarding his flies. When I started clicking through his website it inspired me. I think his flies are just beautiful and elegant. Some are very naturalistic, others more flamboyant – but all of them make me want to get the fly tying vise out and get to work. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but the flies that he ties are just refreshing.
I especially like the use of hare’s fur that he presents – using hare guard hairs for soft- hackle in this fly:
This fly from Jean Paul Dessaigne uses hares' fur for the soft-hackle. Click pic to go to Jean Paul Dessaigne's tutorial for this fly.
Using hare guard hairs for legs on this nymph:
La Dyna: Using hare guard hairs for legs on this nymph. Click pic to go to Jean Paul Dessaigne's tutorial for this fly.
This nymph below is just a unique fly – I haven’t seen anything quite like it before.
La boumboum: I just love the look of this nymph. Click pic to go to Jean Paul Dessaigne's tutorial for this fly
Please go check out Jean Paul Dessaigne’s Website – there are beautiful pictures of his flies, step-by-step tutorials and instructional videos. The only “problem” is that it is all in French. If you don’t speak French, you can use Google Translate, to get a pretty good translation of the web pages. This won’t help with the videos though.
Hook: Standard Light Wire Dry Fly or Stout Wet Fly Hook, sizes 10 to 20 Abdomen: Yellow Floss Rib: Fine Copper Wire Thorax: Hare’s Ear Dubbing Collar: Hungarian Partridge
Notes: Use light-wire standard dry-fly hooks for some and stout wet fly hooks for others. This will give you the ability to fish in the surface film, or deeper depending on the hook.
The thorax of hare’s ear dubbing should be dubbed large enough so that it can support the soft hackle -the thorax is there primarily to prevent the partridge hackle from collapsing against the body.
I like the effect of using a copper rib for the appearance of segmentation – not all tyers do this. I feel more confident fishing it with the ribbing though.
Make sure to tie the partridge in very sparse – stripping the hackle fibers from one side of the feather can help to keep it sparse.
Fishing Notes: I haven’t fished this color variation as much as the Green and Partridge. I include it though because I’ve had success with it during yellow crane-fly activity. I haven’t yet used it for the Sulphur Hatch, however Dave Hughes in his book Wet Flies, recommends it for this.
Hook: Standard Light Wire Dry Fly or Stout Wet Fly Hook, sizes 12 to 20 Abdomen: Green Floss Rib: Fine Copper Wire Thorax Hare’s Ear Dubbing Collar: Hungarian Partridge
Notes: Use light-wire standard dry-fly hooks for some and stout wet fly hooks for others. This will give you the ability to fish in the surface film, or deeper depending on the hook.
The thorax of hare’s ear dubbing should be dubbed large enough so that it can support the soft hackle -the thorax is there primarily to prevent the partridge hackle from collapsing against the body.
I like the effect of using a copper rib for the appearance of segmentation – not all tyers do this. I feel more confident fishing it with the ribbing though.
Make sure to tie the partridge in very sparse – stripping the hackle fibers from one side of the feather can help to keep it sparse.
Fishing Notes: I’ve used this fly successfully for both Blue-Winged-Olive and caddis hatches. In the case of the BWO hatch, I fish it dead-drifting just below the surface – generally with no added movement.
For caddis hatches I fish it in more varied ways: dead-drifting, swinging, rising. Let the situation dictate the action – try different tactics till you figure it out.
Visited Pennsylvania’s famed Spring Creek on Monday April 12, 2009. It was a good trip. The first place we hit was the former McCoy Dam location just downstream of Bellefonte, PA. Prior to the removal of this 12-ft high dam in September of 2007, there had been a dam in this location for over 200 years. The removal of the dam restored approximately 1/2 mile of stream to its natural condition. The removal will allow for more natural movement of trout up and downstream and importantly, for fly-fishers, it allows us to fish for trout in a “new” section of stream.
The "Old Ranger" checks out the former McCoy Dam Location on Spring Creek
The Pennsylvania Fish Commission has already evaluated the effect of the dam removal by conducting post dam-removal electro-fishing surveys and comparing the results to pre-removal electro-fishing results.
From the PA Fish Commission
Wild Brown Trout Surveys and Monitoring – An important component of the project has been monitoring changes in the wild brown trout populations before and after dam removal in both treatment and control reaches. With the help of partners, PFBC staff conducted electrofishing surveys at the dam removal site in July 2007 before the dam was removed and again in July 2008 one year after removal. Crews also sampled upstream and downstream control reaches in both 2007 and 2008. Similar to other dam removal projects where monitoring has occurred, trout populations are responding positively to the improved habitat, with biomass (weight of trout per surface area) showing about a threefold increase following dam removal
The full report can be found at Fish Commision website site: (click HERE for the report).
The Water Directly Upstream of the Former McCoy Dam
The water directly upstream of the former dam location is tough water to fish at this time of year. The channel is not wide at this point but it is fairly deep and the water is a torrent. The stream is maybe 30-ft wide and averages 2 to 3 feet deep through this section. It is great holding water full of rocks of all sizes that provide great lies for the fish. That said, it is tough to fish because of the swift current. It is great water to employ the ever-popular Czech Nymphing or High-Stick Nymphing techniques.
I nymphed upstream for about 50-yds and picked up 4 fish. Two were on the Walt’s Worm (size 10) and two were on the Pass Lake Wet Fly (size 12). All fish were caught on the dead-drift.
Pass Lake Wet Fly
The Pass Lake is fast becoming a favorite pattern of mine. Spring Creek fish are 100% wild, and to fool two within a few minutes blind with a Pass Lake, puts a stamp of approval on the fly for me. Of course I’ll probably try it again next time and catch nothing on it. Check out my recipe for the Pass Lake HERE. There wasn’t any surface action in the area to speak of – so in hopes of finding some rising fish we moved on to a different spot.
Nice Brownie on a Walt's Worm
We headed to the section of Spring Creek along Spring Creek Road not far upstream from the Rt. 550 Bridge. Blue-Winged-Olives were still hatching – in the late afternoon. Quite a few fish were rising in the pools. We didn’t have much luck though. I managed two on a BWO Barr Emerger – but they must have been the flunkies. The other fish rising were not interested in my offerings. Maybe my casting is a bit rusty from the winter too. So if you plan to get there soon be prepared for size 18 BWO’s.
Hook: Wet Fly Hook, sizes 6 to 14 Body: Burgundy or Red Floss* Rib: Peacock Herl* Tail: Golden Pheasant Tippets, Ringneck Pheasant substituted here Wing: Female Golden Pheasant Tail (traditionally), Turkey used here Throat: Partridge or Similar *Other recipes call for a peacock herl body with a floss rib. The effect is similar, and maybe a little more robust.
Created in the 1870′s by James Hardy of the Hardy Brothers tackle company. I guess it was his favorite. I liked this pattern as soon as I saw it. It has that combination of red and peacock herl that fish seem to love. It may become a favorite of mine as well. I could imagine it with different color floss bodies and maybe an antron wing.
I originally found this pattern in The Art of Fly Tying by Claude Chartrand. This is a nice little book. I wouldn’t reccomend it as your first fly tying book however. But it makes a nice addition to your library. I particularly liked the a section on extended body techniques. Also I was inspired by the good selection of classic streamers and wet flies in the pattern index.
Hook: Wet Fly or Streamer Hook, sizes 8 to 16 Body:Black Chenille (use ultra-chenille or dubbing for small sizes) Tail: Brown Hackle, alternatively golden pheasant tippets Wing: Calf-tail (traditionally), antron used here Collar: Brown Hen Hackle
Need some Tenkara flies? Check out the TenkaraBum for flies by myself and others, as well as Tenkara lines, nets, other accessories, reviews, how-to and more...
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This is a selection of soft-hackle emergers, all but the bottom left fly are tied with biot bodies. They represent a range of emergence states.
A couple of more traditional sulphur wet flies tied with bunny fur bodies and grouse hackle.
Sulphur nymph wet fly: This is based on a basic sulphur nymph pattern with a black wing-case to suggest a nymph about to “hatch”. In this version I simply used black fur abdomen and a wet fly style collar of grouse hackle instead of a wingcase and legs.
Sulphur Sakasa Kebari: This bunch is perhaps the most typically “tenkara-esque” of the flies that I tied. I’m pretty new to the whole reverse-hackled sakasa kebari style wet flies, so I’m anxious to give these a whirl.
Sunken spinner wet fly – this is based on Pa angler/writer/guide Eric Stroup’s pattern as seen in a Rise Forms Studio TV fly tying video.
