Well, it’s damn COLD! I say this with a grin as it was quite a cold day today given the wind that accompanied a thermometer that struggled to reach 55. I attended a Pine Creek Watershed Council meeting that took place at pavilion #1 in Colton State Park this morning. That was a bit nippy! I am glad to see that organization exist as it deals with issues surrounding the entire Pine Creek watershed. They discussed many issues and I’m not going to get into that here as ‘Friday Night Flies’ implies something else and I don’t want to get too far on a tangent if I can prevent it. If you want to get in touch with them, shoot us an email at slaterunsportsmen@gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do to get you in touch with them.

I have taken on the task of organizing my flies. I can see all of you (with the exception of ‘The Neighbor’) … you are giving me that deer in the headlights kind of look! It had to be done. I’ve gotten way too out of hand regarding fly boxes I carry. Hopefully this organization will identify that I really don’t NEED to tie any more Slate Drakes (it’s obvious if you could see what I see). This has led me to tie some Blue Quill parachutes today. Got 6 tied up.

Recipe: Trailing shuck, a few strands of Z-lon, peacock herl (bleach stripped some time ago and soaking in water just before I tie – for about 36 hours), Z-lon post, Superfine Adams Grey dubbing, Uni-Thread 8/0 – Whiting 100’s I think it was a medium dyed dun.

I should mention that I have an old Metz #2 neck that I stripped a few of the larger quills down and used that as the body material on a couple in the bunch. If you can tell which ones those are, I’ll…. I’ll do something for you. I coated each quill with a ‘watered down’ or thinned head cement. This really helps them last a bit longer especially after you catch a fish with it. (Note: I am NOT….. repeat NOT a production fly tyer).

Timeline reset – my friend and fishing buddy for the past many, many years has been Harry Finkbiner. He went up the runs last weekend and I thought did pretty good. He didn’t catch many but this one isn’t anything to scoff at.

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This is not a bad fish in my book! But what made me smile a little wider was the fly he caught it on.

I had tied this fly along with a couple other versions, a year or so ago and had sent Harry a few. I forgot I had sent him these and so when I saw the fly used I thought it looked vaguely familiar. Fellow SRS member and author over at Rivertop Rambles, Walt F. should recognize this pattern. I saw it on his website and I believe he got the recipe from a Mr. Bob Stanton. I thought it looked like a winning fly. Harry just proved it here in the Pine Creek Valley! And that’s all the proof I need. I’ll be using it here over the next several weeks.

Well, here we are mid-April and it’s been running a little cooler than average. The creek, in my opinion, seems a little low for this time if year. Let’s hope we’re not heading into a year like 2020, Covid-wise, or Pine Creek water level-wise.

Time will tell.

Afterthoughts:

What’s this doing in ‘Friday Night Flies’? Chill, and get over it! 🙂 I didn’t feel like making a separate entry. Hey, if YOU would like to run this operation, just shoot us an email.. at (you know how to get a hold of us by now I hope) … :).

I saw these deer a few days ago across the creek. I was astonished to say the least. I saw what I thought was a fawn without spots. This can NOT be so what I saw was a fawn that made it through the winter, that is almost one year old with, I am presuming, it’s Mother.

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Deer 1. is the ‘fawn’. Number 2. is the Mother I think. It (number 1.) is astonishingly, significantly, smaller than the adult doe. I can’t believe it made it through the winter! But it did. 🙂 You’ve got to admit, 1. is so much smaller than 2.! Keep chugging little one – it should be getting easier now that things are starting to grow again.

As always, shoot us an email at slaterunsportsmen@gmail.com if you would like to submit fly pictures, or flies that I’d take pictures of to feature here. Thanks!

Reporting from Slate Run……till we see each other again…. I’m an Unintentional Blogger.