Tungsten Glossy Back Baetis Tutorial

Tungsten Glossy Back Baetis

Hook: TMC 2488H or TMC 2499-SPBL #14-20
Bead: Tungsten bead 2mm-2.7mm #14=7/64" (2.7mm) #16=3/32" (2.3mm) #18=5/64" (2mm)
#20=1/16" (1.5mm)
Thread: UTC 70 denier, color to match.
Tail and legs: Hareline India Hen Back, well mottled.
Rib: X-small black UTC ultra wire.
Wingcase: Opal Mirage Tinsel or Lagarten Mini Flat Braid.
Thorax: Dubbing to match or peacock on Red G.B.B.
Epoxy: 5 minute Z-Poxy

Place Bead on hook and tie in tail material. The #16 TMC 2499-SPBL hook is used here. It gives this fly a sweet look, but also increases the cost per each fly.

Make sure your thread is flat and tie in wire rib and wrap back to the bend of the hook and return to behind the bead. The body should be smooth.

Wrap wire rib in even wraps to behind the bead. Tie down and break off wire. Tie in some flash material. I recently switched over to Lagartin Flat Braid for the wingcase. It is a bit wider than the mirage opal tinsel. The opal tinsel still has a rally good look to it and I will probably switch back and forth between the two.

Dub a thorax making sure you leave a bit of space right behind the bead for the legs. Prepare the legs as shown or simply peel off fibers from the stem. You can place them in one by one or by the method as shown in the photo.

Leg length and tie in.

Pull the wingcase over and tie off.

Finished fly.

Top view of the fly. When you are finished, cover the wingcase with epoxy to get a 3-D look to the fly.

Chocolate Glossy Back with MFC coffee color bead. The TMC 2488 hook is used here.

Red Glossy Back with gold bead.

Black glossy Back with silver bead and rib.

Olive Glossy Back with black bead.

Gray Glossy Back with black nickle bead.

Rusty Brown Glossy Back with Copper bead.

Cream Glossy Back with Coffee bead and micro barred rubber legs.

The tail and back are the same fibers. The fibers cover the cream colored body underneath.

Cream Glossy Back with small barred rubber legs. Back is medallion sheeting over cream thread.

Top view.

Rojo Midge and UV Pearl Jam Midge

These are on their way to the shop for you guys to purchase and catch fish on. I haven't been to motivated to crank out many flies lately, but I needed to get moving since it's that time of the year to throw lots of BWOs and midges. I also tied sparkle wing RS2s and Ice Emergers for the shop. Stop by and pick up a few the next time you go out.

One of my light bulbs went out so I am lacking light for good photos. I need to pick one up today.

Rusty Quill Body Parachute and a SLF Rainbow

Parachute Red Quill (#14 in picture)

Hook: TMC 14-20

Thread: UTC 70, Rusty Brown

Tail: Brown Spade Hackles

Body: Quill Body

Post: Turkey Flats, White

Thorax: Rusty Superfine Dubbing
Hackle: Whiting 100s, brown or Whiting neck hackle

SLF Rainbow

Hook: TMC 5263 #10

Thread: UTC 70 White

Underbody: Red Holographic Tinsel

Gills: Orange Poly on each side

Body: White SLF Hanks and Midge Krystal Flash

Olive SLF Hanks and Peacock Krystal Flash

Eyes: Hareline Adhisve Holographic eyes 1/8" Silver coated with Flexament.

Montana Fly Co. to carry the Ice Emerger

So imagine my surprise, when at the FFR last week, opening up the Montana Fly Company catalog and scanning over the new flies for 2010 and seeing the Ice Emerger! What the spank!!

I wish I would have known about this. Well, I guess that's not a totally bad thing, I just wish I would have been given some notice about it. My first reaction was, "they picked it up". "What about the Hopper?" The Hopper Juan was not in there and was not picked for production. Kinda like the overwhelming gold metal favorite sports star that never makes it past the Olympic trials. I thought for sure it would have a chance. My second thought was, "what a sh@&$ picture of the fly. Now honestly, it does look horrible and I wouldn't want to order this fly if I were a shop owner looking to order some new flies for the upcoming year based on this photo in the catalog and web site.

The finished product looked better and I was pleased with what was on display at the show. I made a few comments about this and that and we shall see if they make those adjustments. The variation that I sent in was the Ice Emerger Baetis-with a chocolate body and Callibaetis Ice Dub wing as opposed to the thread body shown above. So look for it in your local shop and make sure you try some out next spring on the BWOs.

Slacking!

I know that I have been slacking a bit and I hope to have some new stuff up soon. I will be at the 2009 Retailers Show in Denver this weekend and hope to have some new info for you guys out there to report. Until then, you will have to take a look at these photos of a trip to 11-mile Canyon with my friend John Gordon. We fished a heavy trico hatch and had a blast. Once we figured it out, it was good. Actually, I don't know if we did figure it out, but we did catch fish and had fun so that counts right?

The rod I want

I have finally found the rod that I have been looking for. I have been searching for an 8' 4wt. dry fly rod. I turned down the opportunity to buy a Scott G 8' 4wt a few yeas ago and now regret doing so. I have been searching for that model with no luck. I stumbled upon this site and my dream rod was right there. A Scott G2 8' 4wt. There is only one problem. It is made in Colorado, but only sold in Japan, part of Scott's exclusive partnership with Japanese dealers. I contacted my Scott rep and asked if one could be obtained, but no, they are not available in the US. The cost for these are 94,500 yen and that is roughly a little over 1,000 US dollars. A bit high for my tastes. So the search continues.

I came across this...

on a bar wall in Crystola Colorado.

Blonde and a bug

Wow! I never knew Paris followed my blog, but I am thankful for the shameless plug!

I am not sure which one I would rather take to the river.

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

Ever wonder what a fly would look like with a bead head?

Now I know the reason why I put a bead on my flies. Because the real bugs have helmets on their heads. This bug almost looks fake. Arkansas River, 2008

Some Small Thread

I was given this new thread by the owner of one of my local shops last week and I was surprised that I had never heard of it. I have all of the manufactures catalogs and scour the Internet for all items related to fly fishing and tying and have never seen this. All I can say is that this is pretty thin thread. Actually, it is not thread at all. It is very thin mono, as far as I can tell. I have played around with it a bit, but I have yet to finish tying a fly with it. It takes a very light touch with this. My main problem was I kept nicking it on the hook point and breaking it. I will continue to play with this "new" thread and report back.

Not enough fishing.

Well, I would love to report to all the followers out there that I have been so busy fishing, out traveling the roads, in search of that perfect hatch, that one big brown that showed himself right beside the over hanging grass eating PMD emergers, but no, that has not been the case. Fishing has taken a backseat to the more important things in life such as school shopping, family life, and grocery shopping. In between everything that should get done, I have been tying like crazy to keep up with demand for my flies. I have sent flies to Pennsylvania, and Denver with more to go out soon. It's amazing to think of how many fish have been caught on flies that I have tied. Some of my flies are carried in Ghillies Fly Shop and they have started to get in demand. I can hardly keep up with what is needed and not to mention of flies like BWOs that are needed in the Fall. I like to stay at least one step ahead, but right now, I am two steps behind! My own fly boxes needed a little attention a few weeks ago , so I sat down and tied for myself. That was nice to see all those empty slots filled up with new flies that I could catch fish on.

I was able to get out this past Friday to Cheeseman Canyon. It's a beautiful canyon filled with lots of fish. I caught a 19 1/2" Rainbow on a dry that I almost spooked. What an awesome sight it was to see him sllooowwlllyyy rise to the fly.

I was able to get into a good many fish that day using my BH Glossy Back Baetis. I will try to put up a tutorial of that fly soon. As soon as I can get one step ahead.