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.

PMD Sparkle Dun video

I've been tying a lot of these lately and I think I have it down.  The Sparkle Wings are excellent patterns to use during any hatch.  Tied in a PMD, as shown here, or a BWO pattern, it's hard to beat.  I threw in a little extra to try out.  Enjoy.


PMD Sparkle Dun from Juan Ramirez on Vimeo.

Make the Best of It.

When I thought about fishing the Ark today, I imaged a dark, cloudy day, occasionally spitting snow and about 1:00 or so the BWOs would come off and the fish would rise to them in the clear, low water.  Well  today was not quite what I had imaged.  After a few days of warm weather, some of the lower elevation snow was melting and made it's way to the river.  While it was slowly dropping and clearing, it definitely  was not how I had hoped it would be.  The day started clear and cold.  The wind was blowing as it always does this time of year.  The water was higher and off color and the fishing was a bit harder than usual.   After about an hour of fishing I had a terrible thought.  Could a skunk be coming?  I haven't been skunked since leaving the Rio Grande in New Mexico where on any given day it could happen, but on the Arkansas?  Really? I realized this is possible but not for me.  I have invested way too much time in this passion and since this was not the Rio Grande, I didn't have to worry.  The fish would come.  Soon the first fish and second fish were found in a usual spot and on a usual fly, the cream caddis larva.  With the weather hot and cold, snow and bright sunshine, the fishing was still slow.   I kept telling myself to throw on a woolly bugger, as I love to fish them in this type of water and in these conditions.  When I did, it was pretty intense.  Follows right to the rod tip and then they were gone.  I knew I would see lots of fish this way and also assumed I could hook up with 1 out of 4 or 5 follows and I did.  The rest of the day was spent this way all the while I was waiting for the BWOs to start emerging.  I saw about a handful and that was it.  The sun would come out after a few minutes and the bugs would disappear along with the clouds.  I didn't see a single rise all day long and after a good day on the water and some testing of new patterns, I called it a day and headed home.  Some days, no matter how bad, are just plain better than sitting in front of a computer at work.    

Love the old cars in the canyon.  Do they ever move them?

First fish on the bugger.

Lots of these in the water.  

Pretty little things.  

Although I see these the most, I still throw a cream colored one and they eat it.  Hmm, I wonder if they would eat an olive one????

About a size 14

There were only a few of these out today.  I didn't see a single rise today.  

Caddis are out, but not many.

Testing out a new hopper pattern.  It floated well but it needs to be tweaked a bit before summer.

This is a cool pattern that I want to use more on this river.  It's a Jeremy's Arizona Prince.

I eventually hooked up with a few of these.

 Currently my favorite fly on the Ark. My cream caddis larva.

Upcoming Fly tying Class, March 26, 2010

Randy's Baetis Nymph, #20

Randy's Baetis

Start by tying in wood duck /mallard tails and dub body.

Tie in some legs by using same material as tail.  Cut to length about even with the hook point.

Tie in the wingcase.  Use black colored Tyvek material.  This is about 2mm wide.

Cut to length.  Again, about even with hook point.

Dub over the tie in point to make head.

Finish off with whip finish.

Tie a dozen of these and wait for a cloudy day to take to nearest stream and try them out.  

Pretty Little Things

Let's just spend a minute thinking about a few things.  In southern Colorado, we are about two weeks away from some of the first Blue Winged Olive hatches on the Arkansas River. They generally start around St. Patrick's Day--maybe a week after--depending on the weather and water.  On some of our local tailwaters like Deckers and Cheeseman sections, the BWOs are not far off either.  Fish are rising to midges pretty good right now and that will continue with the BWOs.  On the Arkansas, BWOs will continue to hatch when the caddis show up around April 15th or so in the Canon City Area.  When the water comes down the hill around May 15th, we can hit the area reservoirs for some chironomid eating fatties.  Before we know it, we will be well into the early summer fishing and the best is yet to come.  So hang in there just a bit longer and those bugs will start popping and we will once again be standing in our favorite water, casting our favorite rod and hoping the day doesn't end too quickly.

Flys and some more flys

Hopper Juan

Green Drake

Go 2 Prince

Bullet Head Foam Stoned Hopper

Juan's Holo. Baetis

Orange Stimulator

RS2

Furmisky Caddis

Juan's Baetis Nymph

Mini Hopper Juans. ( Juanitos)

Belly shot

Hopper Juan belly shot.

BWO Emerger

BWO Barr Emerger using floure fibre wings.

BWO parachute

My Beatis Nymph

Barr Emerger using Flouro Fibre

Here is a simple modification to a great fly that will increase tying efficiency and will not change the fly's effectiveness. Plus, with this one change, it is still a Barr Emerger.

Barr Emerger
Hook: Dia-Riki 125 #18-24
Thread: Uni 8/0, Iron Gray
Tail: Brown hackle fibers. (use only about 6-8 fibers)
Body: Olive Brown Superfine Dubbing
Thorax: Adams Gray Superfine
Wingcase: Spirit River Gray Floure Fiber

Arkansas River, April 04/11/09

Before the massive caddis hatches showed up, I was able to fish on a cloudy, dark day. Perfect for a BWO hatch, I was sure it was going to be a dry fly day. Well, not quite. I mostly fished a hopper/dropper set up all day and had a blast. I used the Hopper Juan and my BH Glossy Back Baetis. That did the trick for the morning hours but later in the afternoon, fish were feeding hard on caddis larva. I switched to a chartreuse hot Wired Prince, one of my favorites for the Ark. That pulled fish out left and right. Finally, the BWOs started to come off and I saw some splashy rises to them. Most of the rising fish were smaller, with the bigger fish probably still in the riffles and feeding on caddis larva and baetis nymphs. It was a fun day, even though the BWOs came out for about an hour.

I even caught my first fish of the year on a hopper.

These little guys were what I wanted to see. They just weern't out all that long.