FLYMPH FORUM

zen leecher,

Your question about the '52 Buick reminded me of one of my favorite lake flies closer to home for you. The TDC (Thompson's Delectable Chironomid) is one of my go to flies for smashing takes in Alkaline lakes in Eastern Oregon.
Hook-Mustad 9671 #10
Body- Beaver dubbing dyed Black
Rib- Silver thread
Gills-Ostrich



Is this one you fish? I started tying it with a mink body back in the "80s after getting Flies of the Northwest from the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club.

I use either a Chromie or a color version of the Black Sally. Both are Phil Rowley patterns and I'll try to post a link to both. The first trip in March usually is a bloodworm or a chromie and I let the fish determine which is better. As March turns into April I will switch to a color version of a Black Sally in either green or a red butt and then green or black as the main body.

The bloodworm can be a very simple fly to tie as I'm switching to a short piece of red spandex or what ever the stretchy stuff is called and lash it to a hook similar to a Tiemco 200 in a 12 or 14. I've made them more complicated and the stretchy stuff lashed to a hook has the body shape of the actual worm. I've also done red wire wrapped around a hook and a bead for a head and done ok on those.

I don't use much of the TDC style chironomids any more as I've drank the koolaid about chironomid pupa having gasses under the skin and giving the body a shiny sheen. Actually trout will suck in just about anything under the surface as I've caught them with cigarette filters in their stomachs. I also remember one plant years ago I got up around Rising Sun, Maryland (for Bill Shuck) that had a triangular shaped rock covered in moss in it's belly.

Your TDC is a good looking fly. It's actually not oversized as some might think given it's on a 2xl #10 hook. I've tied some on #6 regular shanked hooks for fishing up in BC. Those may have been a bit oversized as the fish weren't overly appreciative.


Chromie: http://www.flycraftangling.com/index.as ... ticleID=24

Black Sally: http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/an ... ally.phtml

The ice is off a fair number of our little lakes now and Moses Lake is waiting for a good wind to pile up the thin surface ice. March 1st is our basin lake opener and the prime lakes should be open. One year about 30 years ago the ice wasn't off until the 3rd week in March. Last year the ice was off sometime around the 1st or 2nd week of January. It was not a good year for fishing or wildfires.

Bill

Yep. This looks like a killer. Nice tie.

I have tied the TDC up to a 9672 #8 with good results. Some tyers are using ice dub for flashier bodies. I also have several colors of Buzzers which are more like your Sally...


In the smaller sizes I use the Diamond Midge for more sparkle. On my simple dubbed fuzzy nymphs that Marv Taylor refers to as Stick Flies, I have used many colors, shapes, sizes, and weights of flash ever since I first started tying. Here is a 9672 #10 with a Muskrat body ribbed with silver wire...

Bill - Is that last fly a Polly Rosborough pattern? You've got his style down to a science. Really nice.

Ray,
It is the first fly I learned to tie in 1959 before Polly's Book Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymphs was published in 1965. I only got the book in 1988 and just like TAoTTWF&FTF I loved it on first sight. My first tying lessons from an accomplished flyfisherman were about these simple dubbed nymphs that I had learned to fish with him for the previous two years. I learned how to make my own dubbing felt and color blends at my first lesson. Most of the tyers I met collected many of their materials like me with a .22 rifle or a shotgun. He also taught me about stopping into a Furriers shop and asking for scraps. I still have some that he gave me that first day as well as a supply from some great Oregon fur dealers that I frequented in the 80's.

I regret that I never met Polly. I stopped by his shop in Chiloquin several times in the late 1970s when I was passing though on work near Klamath Falls but he was always out fishing. His Muskrat Nymph is one of my favorite go to flies.

I am really loving the short ostrich herl collar. I can see that being used for all kinds of applications. Wow can't believe I never thought to do that just fantastic thanks for sharing.

fishhead,

I use the ostrich herl as a hackle on some of my midge dries.

Bill - That is an interesting comment. I too, have thought of the herl as hackle on small flies, where the fibers of the herl begin to get close to the hook gap.