The Tungsten Slim Shady Baetis

By adding two beads to a Slim Shady, it now becomes a heavy dropper fly or a heavy single baetis nymph that can be used in a nymph rig with no weight. Looking for a small euro nymph? Yep, that too.

Hook: Daiichi 1270, TMC 200R, Size 18-20
Beads: 2-1.5mm Tungsten Beads
Thread: MFC 8/0 Light Brown
Tail: Micro Fibbets, Split or Hackle
Rib: Juan's Slim Rib, Brown-e-mail me to order
Thorax: Thread/beads
Wingcase: Brown or Black Medium Holographic Tinsel
Legs: 12 Fibers of Flouro Fibre, Shrimp Pink, Black or Brown
Resin: Deer Creek Diamond Fine

Tungsten Slim Shady from "Hopper" Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.

BWO Time!!

After spending some time on the water the last few weeks, now is the time to get moving and make sure you have those patterns you rely on.  Right now, it's BWO time.  You have to make sure you have the lifecycle of this bug, from nymph to emerge to dun.  I've had a couple days with fish looking and feeding on duns on the Arkansas River.  They were also feeding well on nymphs and emergers too, so don't ignore that stage of the lifecycle.  I've attached a video of the CDC Sparkle Dun.  It's a go to pattern for me on top and it's an easy fly to tie.  I used a TMC 2488 hook on this video, but you can certainly use a standard TMC 100 or 101 hook.  Get out and have fun!
CDC Sparkle Dun from Juan Ramirez-Hopper Juan on Vimeo.

The Foam Back Emerger

The Foam Back Emerger is one of my favorite flies to fish year round.  It's proven it's self time after time.  I used to fish them a lot in size 20, but recently, I have been using them more in size 26.  They are still pretty easy to tie in that size.  Everything is just a bit smaller and there is less space to place it on, but it's doable.  A great fly to use during the BWO hatch, I only tie them in chocolate color and have found that a trailing shuck may be useful and I do add that to most of my bigger (#20!) flies.