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.

Working with Foam Tying Class 12/18/09

Foam flies are some of the easiest flies to tie. This class is designed to make it fun and easy to tie durable patterns. Learn to tie the Club Sandwich, Hopper Juan and Amy’s Ant. These patterns are fun to tie and even more fun to fish. The Club Sandwich is a bigger fly that passes as a hopper or stonefly, the Hopper Juan is a hot new hopper pattern that works well as an attractor and stonefly pattern. The Amy's Ant is a great general all around attractor that passes for a caddis, ant, stonefly or hopper. The class will cover types of foam, how to cut foam bodies and how to glue and make sandwiched foam bodies. This will be a fun class to take and make sure you bring your kids. They tie for free. Limited to 6 students so call Gary to sign up. Step by step flies projected on HDTV. Cost $25.00

Ghillies Fly Shop
719-531-5413

The One Eyed Hopper Juan

Using a Unibobber for the parachute post, I have created a spinoff of the Hopper Juan. I'll have to give these a try this summer and see how they work.

Bullethead Hopper Juan

Here is a new twist on my Hopper Juan that I have been playing around with. I added a deer hair bullethead to this fly to give it a bit different look. I have fished with a couple of these and they work just fine. The body is still that of the original and can still be changed according to what color you want it to be. You can add knotted hopper legs if you like or just keep the barred legs tied in X-style as the original. Tie some up and let me know what you think.

The Hopper Juan Tying Steps

At last, the blueprint for my Hopper Juan. The Hopper Juan was created in a desire to have a highly visible hopper pattern that covered a few criteria of mine: First, I wanted a pattern that I could call my own; I didn’t want to copy something already out there. Second, it had to look nice. I wanted to create a pattern that was simple and attractive, a reflection of my tying style. Third, it had to float well and be able to hold up a nice chunk of iron and tungsten. Fourth, it had to be high-viz for my clients that have trouble seeing a small duck on the water, and lastly, it had to catch fish and be durable enough to catch a bunch of them. I often fish a hopper dropper most of the year on a variety of different water. The Hopper Juan can be tied in orange, to reflect the bigger salmon flies or used in tan/brown for golden stones.
I have been fishing the HJ, for a few years now and it has been going through the modification process during that time. Many changes have been made, but the final product is what you see here. I make sure to treat each fly with Watershed, even though it is foam. It definitely makes a difference throughout the day as it soaks up less water. I usually follow the HJ with a heavy beadhead of some sort to make sure I offer the fish a second option. I will also follow that nymph with a third fly, usually a smaller, more imitative fly. Depending on seasonal hatches, it could be a BWO, midge or PMD nymph or emerger. John Barr calls this the "bait and switch". Bring them in with the attractor and they take the smaller fly. I like his thinking.
Tie up some HJs and go and fish them this summer. They are really not that complicated to tie and I am very proud of that. Let me know how you like them or let me know some suggestions for the fly. I plan to list some of my other patterns that I tie to drop from the Hopper Juan later down the road. So here it is, the Hopper Juan

Original Hopper Juan

Hook: 2XL such as TMC 5262 or MFC 7026 size 6-10
Thread: UTC 140 denier to match foam
Foam: 2mm foam, cut to shape with chernobyl taper cutter.
Glue: Krazy glue with brush
Underwing: MFC wing material, brown, cut with wing cutter.
Wing: Nature's Spirit early season cow elk
Flash: Krystal flash, pearl or U.V. pearl
Legs: Med. rubber legs, color to match body
High-Vis: MFC Gator Hair

Layout of materials. I use a Medium* chernobyl cutter for this size fly, a # 8*
*=EDIT

Foam colors you can use. Mix and match.

Start by making a layer of thread on the hook. Measure the hook gap and pierce through the bottom piece of foam. This is the tapered side.

Position bottom piece of foam and make three wraps to secure. Place a small dab of crazy glue on to hold to hook shank.

Lay top piece of foam in position. Make three wraps to secure. The glue will help hold it together. Make sure the tapered ends of the two foam tips match up.

Make thread wraps to next segment point and tie down bottom piece of foam. Place a small amount of glue to hook shank and foam. Make sure you estimate where you want the segments to be. If you don't, your 3rd and 4th segment will be squished together and look funny.

Continue to make segments using just a dab of glue on each segment. At this segment will be all your hair and additional wraps to finish the fly so don’t overdue it here. Only make enough wraps to secure the foam. The glue will help hold it together.

Make last segment and leave a little room to make a cut and to be able to cover foam with thread.

It is very important that you have micro tip scissors to make a clean, close cut. You will end up with some little “nubs” that you will have to trim and then cover with thread warps to make a clean head.

See the "nubs"? This is why we use the UTC thread. It lays flat if needed and here, we need it to lay flat to cover the nubs.

At this point, I have covered the “nubs” under thread wraps. Notice my frayed thread? This is the only disadvantage of using UTC thread. It important to use UTC 140 though.

At this point, make one wrap over the top of the foam to the first segment.

Montana Fly Co. wing material cut to shape using a wing cutter. This step is optional.

Tie in wing material so it extends just past the back of the foam. Tie in some flash material. I usually use midge pearl krystal flash. On this fly, I used U.V. pearl. Tie in some good cow elk hair that is somewhat stiff. I love good elk hair!

Tie in some legs. I used Hareline’s barred rubber legs here but you can use what ever you want.

Place some glue on the top of the foam where you made a single wrap of thread.

Pull the foam down over the glue and thread wrap. Tie down using only two wraps to secure. The glue will hold it down.

Tie in some hi-vis material. This helps the older generation to pick up this fly on the water easier. It is optional, but I tie it on all my flies and I am still in the younger generation. Leave some of the material sticking out the front as in the photo. This helps lock it in there and is harder for it to fall out.

Trim to finish up and make sure all your legs are even and your body is straight and tight.

View from the back and top. Nice wing.

View from the front.

Fish's view.

Make sure to check out the HD tying video!

http://vimeo.com/8552463

HOPPER JUAN MATERIALS KIT
e-mail me for more info.  juan@anglerscovey.com