Got silver?

[John L]

My wife said, no problem. So here is the pair of flies I was using at the end of today.

[Mataura mayfly]

John, thank your better half for us, fine photo.
Interesting your comments on cold conditions and position or feeding habits of your trout. I am seeing similar here with the early season and semi-flood conditions. Fish are laying in "easy" water and not being as selective as they are when the hatches really start as the Summer warms.
Your silver bead #14 is imposing (not an insult) the bead being a statement rather than a subtle addition of weight. This must be a major trigger for your fish, I might get hold of some silver beads and tie some up. Is that an 1/8" bead or bigger?

[John L]

Mataura, yes 1/8", tungsten. And right, nothing realistic or imitative looking about that fly. If it works so well here, and better here than most other places, it may be because the freestone waters in this part of Colorado have very abundant caddis hatches - and MAYBE caddis heading for the surface carry a silvery sheath of air. Now that winter cold is here the fish may still fondly remember hatching caddis, or they may be quickly forgetting.

[hankaye]

John L. Howdy;

Would you be so kind as to share with us the recipes
for those 2 nice little flies ?
Thanks,

hank

[letumgo]

Wayne - You sell yourself short. Your flies are terrific, and so are the photos. I am a fan of your flies, and these are no exception. Black and silver is such a classy combination. Kudos!

John - thank your wife for the photo. Tell her we welcome her contribution to the forum. She can shoot for you any time.

[John L]

Howdy, Hank. Sure.

The 14er: 1/8" silver tung bead on Tiemco 2487 -
Start red thread anyway you like -
Coil enough "medium" copper wire on shank so the bead is held forward and a little or lot of wire will show aft when the fly is done -
Snug the wire up front with the thread -
Then dub on any brand of Light Rainbow Scud Dub as a collar -
Probably nothing essential here except the silver bead, and some thread and dubbn that is light colored and shows a little red, and I'm not sure about even that.

The 16er: Brownish thread of your choice on 2487 -
At first leave a long thread tag out rearward; I make a tail out of that by twisting it, then letting a short length of it double back on itself (you will find that it then twists about itself to
make a "tail"),take a couple wraps of the running thread over the tag/tail, pull the tag until the tail is a length you like, and continue wrapping the body -
I put on a little weight and thoracic hump by layering three or so layers of copper wire on top of the hook in what will be the thoracic area, wrapped on any way that works for
you -
Last put some quick set two part clear epoxy on the thoracic hump to make it large, strong and shiny -
I haven't tried the fly much and haven't tried any other colors.

Letumgo, I don't want her to think she is my better half.

[DUBBN]

JohnL, I am guessing those patterns are 16 and 14's. Just a guess being thats a 1/8th bead. Tomorrow morning I am going to try and duplicate your patterns with sizes 18 and 20. I have found that when the fish get stubborn on the Winter it's a good idea to downsize. I do not have Silver beads at the time, but I believe I have a way to get around that. I will tye a few up with Brass aswell.

JohnL, send me your address and I will send you a couple dozen of my Winter patterns. They range from egg patterns to thread midges. I am very curious to know if they will produce for you on the Arkansas.

JohnP, quit being a stranger around here. I use the dubbings you sent me all the time.

[Mataura mayfly]

John, thanks for the recipe's and conformation of the bead size. I have some larger silver beads in stock, but not 1/8". I must admit to not having used silver beads much in fresh water, copper-gold and plain seem to work best for me, but silver will get a fair chance this season.

Oh.... they are always our better half, usually much better.... and they put up with us and all the fishing and tying gear we MUST have. The trick is not letting them find out we know they are better!

[John L]

About our better halves, that's it, trying to keep them from knowing what is pretty obvious. Probably a waste of time. Might as well go fishing.

Wayne, my address is 528 Greydene Ave, Canon City, CO 81212. I do suspect part of my poor results winter fishing as been due to seldom using flies as small as 16 and none smaller. I hate clumsily handling the little buggers, including using magnifying glasses and especially any device to hold them. Did I say I am a minimalist? Who stopped using a vest or tackle bag years ago and stopped using a reel two years ago? The bag in my pic over to the right was only for bringing home fish on a day I promised some to a friend. The other problem is I think I get a much poorer hookup rate with flies smaller than 16 and, because I use a Tenkara rod now and thus often have to fight bigger fish hard, I think I get too many pullouts with hooks smaller than 14. This kind of reasoning my wife calls whining. I will try your little flies and if I catch enough fish on them, I might maybe stop whining.

Silver is just my current gold standard. Copper was my gold standard. I wish I knew what the FIPS Eurofishers were wining with THIS year.

[hankaye]

John L. Howdy;

Thanks for sharing the recipes, look like some
effective flies.

hank