Spirit River Flies and Materials.

You may have noticed a new banner on the right side for Over the Edge Tackle.  This is the online store site for Spirit River products.  Most of you should be familiar with Spirit River and their products.  They produce some great materials as well as flies.  Spirit River has agreed to be a sponsor of some upcoming giveaways and if you like to order materials direct from them, click on the link below.  Stay tuned for the Spirit River giveaway as I am still awaiting them.

And the winner is..............

With post #3, John T. Is the winner of the MFC materials. John, please send me an e-mail with your contact info. Thanks to everyone who participated. More free stuff will be on the way. I think the next one will be for some Scott Fly Rod Co. Swag. Stay tuned!

John T--You have 48 hours to claim the prize!!!

2011 T.U. Donation box

Quick Update:

I heard that this box was able to raise around $250.00.  It was in a silent auction and all the cards in the deck were sold.  They could have sold more, but I don't know why they didn't.  So, with all the hard work, it made a difference.  It's a small amount in the overall scheme of things, but it's a big deal for me and for the people who helped out.  Thanks again!  

Well here is the finished product.  I didn't have a box that was big enough to fit everything and I put the bigger flies into another box, but forgot to take pictures of that box.  A special thanks goes to to Avril Anjers, Jerry Shin, Ben Copp, Nate Taylor, Dustin Hasha, Kevin Mahoney, Steve Perry and Conner Murphy for taking the time to tie and send out flies to help me fill up the box. Myself and Ghillies Fly Shop donated the box.  

The box is filled with worms, stoneflies, caddis parachutes, hoppers, emergers and more.  This will definitely get someone through the summer with lots of good patterns.  

This will be auctioned off tonight at the T.U. auction.  Thanks again to everyone who took the time to help out!

MFC Sponsored giveaway.

Here's the deal.  First, you first should be a follower of this blog.  On the right side, below the blog roll is a place to click and follow The Hopper Juan so you don't miss any upcoming announcements.  You then have to leave a comment here listing one off your favorite blog posts from where ever you choose to cruise the web.  Just make sure it is useful and something good to look at!  It can't be from your own blog either.  So what is the prize?

Some swag from Montana Fly Company.  MFC provided some really cool stuff and enough of it to last a few giveaways.  Included in this package is some Henry Fork Hackle, Midge Flash, Fish Eyez, Lucent Beads and a Small Waterproof Fly Box.  This is certainly worth the entry fee!

A random # will be generated so I won't be actually "picking" the best post or anything.  I will leave this open until next week and then do the drawing.

Thanks for tuning in and take a look at MFC flies & materials here.  Good luck! 


To insert a live link in the comment, which is very helpful, type this code (1st line only) in the comment window:  (sorry, you'll have to type it in) 

If I posted this in the comment box, the comment would only say "free giveaway"and when a person clicked on the link, it would take them directly to the Hopper Juan.   Like this:  

Sweet Hares Ear Fly

Some of the goodies!

For Reference:

The Juanna Be

As a follow up to the Royal Gorgeous, here is the Juanna Be Hopper Juan.  The little brother of the HJ, it's designed for the smaller streams and smaller fish that live in them.  It still has a good amount of foam and float-ability so it can hang with the big boys, or maybe I should say that it can hold up some big boys!  Throw on a Royal Gorgeous and fish some of the smaller pockets and seams and see what happens.  You might be surprised!


Tying the Juanna Be Hopper Juan from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.
This is the little brother to the full grown Hopper Juan.  It is designed for early and later in summer when fish have seen all the big hoppers that all the companies tie and sell.  It pretty easy to tie, give it a try.

Royal Gorgeous Caddis

Here is a video on how to tie the Royal Gorgeous Caddis.  It's a simple fly to tie, the hardest part is making the dubbing.  I use a mixture of 3 dubbings, but you can mix what you like and probably do just fine.  Take a look.


Tying the Royal Gorgeous Caddis from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.
This little caddis pattern works great anywhere there are caddis larva and pupa drifting around.  It is based off of the Cimarron Special, a pattern from Greg Faught, one of my favorite patterns of all time.  This is a very simple pattern to tie and the key is the buggy rubber leg dubbing.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.

Random Drawing 04.18.11 from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.
Here is the winner announcement for the first drawing of 2011.

A kick off for the upcoming random drawings.

I've waited long enough to do this, so I am going to kick off the Hopper Juan free random drawings with a small giveaway.  We'll start things off with a random drawing of some fly tying materials.  I am going to give away a Hopper Juan material kit and a small amount of Glamour Madera material.  The Glamour Madera is an embroidery thread that is all the rage in Colorado and it's not found in the usual spots.  There are only a few places to get it and nobody knows where those are! It works well as an RS2 wing and is used in the "Top Secret Midge".  I know, this isn't much, but what I have in store is product from Montana Fly Company and Scott Fly Rod Company.  They are the sponsors for these giveaways. So stay tuned because they sent enough stuff to do several months worth of giveaways!  Here are just some of the items that will be offered in the future.

So here is the deal.  Leave a comment here and a name and let us all know what 3 rivers you think are the greatest in the world.  They can be your home river or one that you want to eventually get on.
I will take the first 25 comments and randomly draw from the 25.  Thanks and have fun!

The 2011 Clave.

This Saturday, I will be in Denver to tie at the 2nd Annual Clave at Anglers All.  If you want to see some of my newer flies, stop by.  I will be tying at 11:00am.  There will be a lot more going on at that time also, so stop by and check it out.

Also, check out the new buttons on the right side bar.  I have added a button to e-mail me.   If you need to contact me or just want to say hi, click on the button and you will be able to shoot me a message.

Some people have asked where to buy my patterns.  I have made it easy to find them.   These are tied by MFC and sold by Dream Drift Flies, an online site.  Click on the button, and you will be presented with a page with all my flies offered and right there to add into your cart.  Easy huh?  So take a look and see if you need to add any hopppers to your boxes.  

Arkansas River 04/08/11

Arkansas River, CO

I was finally able to get out yesterday, the first time this year.  I used to be able to get out more, but right now my free days are filled with laundry, grocery shopping trips,  kids and fly tying demos.  My time on the river has been replaced with the time behind the vice.
I hit the Arkansas River with a couple of friends and it was pretty good.  The fish were eager to eat and there were even some BWOs coming off despite clear skies.  The wind wasn't as bad as I thought it would be although it was blowing all day.  The set up was a Hopper Juan on top, followed by a #14 Golden Stone and a #16 Royal Gorgeous Caddis (RGC).  The RGC was the early favorite with many fish eating it.  In a different stretch of water, the Golden Stone was the favorite.  As the day went on, I switched to an Ice Emerger as the last fly.  A few fish came on it, but the caddis was still the preferred fly, although my friends had success with a Barr Emerger.

The Three Amigos

The set up I used worked great on the water I was fishing.  I was usually running through knee deep water and both my bottom flies had tungsten beads to get deep.  I think this is the best way to fish the Arkansas River or any fast pocket water stream.  It's a lot of fun and I thought of switching to dries or a bugger yesterday, but they way I was fishing was producing so why not stay with it.  As summer rolls around, I hope to be able to provide more fish pictures and stories.  Today will be laundry day and grocery shopping day mixed in with some fly tying.  I am already planning the next trip!

A typical brown trout from the Ark. 

The Golden Stonefly

My Royal Gorgeous Caddis #16

#22 BWO Ice Emeger

I didn't tie this one. 

Closer.

Closest.

The Hopper Juan is a bit bigger and could take this dude.

My buddy Kent, wondering how to wind the reel when the reel is set up wrong! 

MFC showing some 360' images.

Check out this link for a great look at MFC's new flies for 2011.  It's pretty cool and shows the Hopper Juan, Floss Back Emerger, PMD Ice Emerger and the Midge Ice Emerger along with many, many more.    Take a look and enjoy!

Click here

Galvan Spoke Reel for Sale.

SOLD


Update:  I still have this and want to move it.  I am now asking $240.00+shipping.  Retail price is $410.00


I have a new, never been used, Galvan Spoke S-5 for sale.  It has a blue "spoke" and is made to hold a 5/6 weight line.  If you are interested, please let me know.  I need to purchase a smaller reel and I am asking $290.00 + shipping for this reel.  Please see the specs. below.   Warranty card included.

juan@anglerscovey.com

S5    .900"   4.45   WF5-6  125 yd/100 yd   20lb.  $410.00