It’s been a while hasn’t it? And this evening’s submissions are contributed from ‘The Neighbor’. My tying den is a wreck and I need to do some serious cleaning out before I start to tie. Hopefully I’ll accomplish this and display/contribute a few ties in the next installment.
I preface tonight’s selection by saying that I acquired these fine samples last Fall. So these selections are geared toward what would have been a good selection for fishing at that time of year – Autumn 2021.
Ants are good from Summer through the fall I think. The Neighbor saw to it to provide me with several variations but I am only sharing a couple here. Parachute ants have been in my fly boxes for years especially when I know trout are starting to select them. I’ve heard it said before that trout may think of ants a ‘trout crack’. I don’t know about crack but I do know trout like ants… a LOT!
These next two, above, are rather interesting. I’ve fished, only recently, a midge and was able to bring to net a big Brown Trout Club Brown trout! It can be a very stressful situation as I was using 6X or 7X tippet and a size 22 or 24 midge sort of tie. Now some of you may think ‘Well, use a larger tippet!’. Well, that would be great if you can get a 5x tippet through the eye of that 24, 26, 28 sized hook eye. I cannot! I think this specimen above and left could pass as a cluster or a couple of midges doing the dance. If it doesn’t fool a trout as a midge maybe as a pair of ants?
Do all ants come in black? No! Now I’m not sure what’s going on as this one seems to be half black and half cinnamon – but I got to think it’ll fool a fish or two for sure.
Beetles? Who said beetles are good for trout? I don’t know but I’m guessing many.
I do not remember if I’ve ever tied a beetle. This looks like hair is tied in ‘pointing’ aft (butt ends that is) and then after the body is dubbed, it is pulled forward and over top of the dubbed body. To me, the tricky part is pulling some of the butt ends of the hair to the sides to create legs. It may just be me, but I think THAT is a technique that might take some time to perfect. Looks like ‘The Neighbor’ has got it though!
Lastly…. a cricket/hopper!
Who cares as long as it catches a trout eh? I didn’t get a ventral shot so I don’t know if this is ribbed with anything. I just remember that the entire thing was black and then those either goose or turkey biot outrigger ‘legs’ appear like a brown color.
I think (based on only the picture) the legs (the goose or turkey biots) were tied in and some dubbing wrapped over the leg tie-in point before the butt ends of the hair was then pulled aft and tied down – maybe. A great looking tie!
Well, I hope to get the den cleaned up enough that I can get to the vice and start tying over the next week or so. It’s time… ‘that’ time of year! If you want any of your ties to show up here, shoot me an email (slaterunsportsmen@gmail.com) and we’ll arrange to get your flies here to get their picture taken and featured here. If you take you own pictures and just want to send those along, by all means do so.
Until we see each other again…. I’m an Unintentional Blogger… aka UB!
Slate Run Sportsmen 
Thank You
George
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You’re welcome…. and I thank you for reading and the comment George! UB
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Reading NAHOOP in the depth of winter is like enjoying the words of Theodore Gordon in his “Little Talks on Tackle” while at fireside. The Neighbor’s flies take me to a similar place as I dream forward to a warming creek with artificial ant or beetle such as these. Oh, those Cinnamon Ants (a favorite at times) and those Black Beetles (whatever their construction) in the sweet old summertime!
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My goodness! I don’t think my skull cavity is large enough to process the comparison of my little post on flies to Theodore Gordon! Ha! I agree that terrestrials and ants do take us to a time of the season which we are not in the grips of currently! I really do need to get things in order in ‘the den’ of tying! Looks like cinnamon will have to be added to the arsenal and thus must plan on getting some of those tied soon. I really do need to share some of my humble attempts with ‘The Neighbor’ as he’s been very gracious to me with his flies. Don’t know if they’ll stand up to his level but, they may catch a fish or two. Thanks for the comment RTR …. Winter weather, crackling fire in the fireplace/woodstove, tight thread. fur and feather… I’m sure life is better in some aspects outside the fly fishing/tying world but…not sure if life gets much better. š UB
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Tiny midges can be very effective when the trout are being picky. I always tie a small midge or baetis (like an RS-2 in Size 22) onto a tag dropper for my Euro Nymphing rigs. There have been times when the dropper is the only thing that gets taken. I even have a few small midge dry fly patterns that work well during midge hatches. A Herter’s Bastard Midge in Size 20 is one such fly. I was once fishing near someone who noticed I was having a lot of action and then he admitted he had NEVER caught a trout on a dry fly. Yikes! So I gave him a Herter’s and he hooked up within a few minutes. I even took a pic of him with a trout in hand using his camera. It definitely made his day.
Keep in touch,
-Darrell
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You have A LOT of info in that blog post! Here are a few thought that came to mind while I was reading it:
1. Ants are definitely good in the summer and fall. I tie and fish with Fur Ant and Foam Ant patterns in both black and cinnamon. They definitely work when ants are on the water.
2. An old rule of thumb is to divide the hook size by 3 to get the tippet size, rounding down. For instance, a #18 would require 6x tippet but so would a #20. When you get down to a #22 you’d need 7x. However, if I’m using “big eyed” hooks I can go at least one tippet size larger.
3. Beetles are definitely good for trout! I usually use a foam beetle but those hair beetles look pretty sweet too. If you search the web for “Hi Vis Beetle” you should find what I use.
4. That last photo looks like a hopper to me and it’s amazing – pretty simple but pretty realistic too. I normally use an even simpler pattern called a Chaos Hopper but I’m also trying to tie Dave’s Hopper. It’s more realistic but it’s a lot harder to tie.
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Thank you so much for leaving a comment…. How shall I refer to you? Mr. Classic? or Darrel? just let me know… I’ll abide!
It’s interesting that I haven’t fished a midge much but when I did, I had some success. Thank you for commenting on these ties as they were gifts to me from ‘The Neighbor’. I’ve only been neighbors with him for a few years but I think it’s the beginning of a ‘beautiful relationship’….albeit a fly fishing one! I’ve gone in both directions with fly tying… i.e. I’ve tied complicated things that were really enjoyable to me to tie and fish. And I’ve tied simply but ‘impressionistic’… which are quicker to tie and no doubt just as effective as the more difficult ties. It seems that the fish may not care at times either way. We are charged with figuring out when those times are and fish accordingly. Thank you … again… for commenting! UB
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