Similar Disclaimer to Last NAHOOP Post:

Ok, I haven’t fished these exact flavors of these either but if I were a betting man, I’m betting that these will do the trick. Ok, there’s a bit more content NOT directly related to flies and fly tying in this post folks – so be warned!

Would You Like Your Flies Featured Here?

While I will be back in the area to open up our place before the first SRS Membership meeting on March 26th, I’m not sure if I’ll be posting another NAHOOP episode till I get back home or not. If I can create one there, I’ll try to post. We’ll see. If anyone wants to contribute flies for me to photograph or pictures to feature here in Friday Night Flies, please shoot me an email at slaterunsportsmen@gmail.com and we’ll make something happen to feature your ties here.

First Things First!

Winter is displaying it’s cruelty. We’ve had a 1st and 2nd spring so far, and I’m sure we’ll have a few more before it decides to really take hold. So Old Man Winter decided to throw ” 1″ – 3″ ” of snow on us last night. One to three was what the weather guys were predicting and I was wanting to so believe them. It ended up more like 5″ to 6″! They’re fired! I won’t be fooled by them again… this year.

Don’t laugh too hard it’s all coming your way PA, and you’re going to get it a bit harder than I did. (as of Friday evening 5:34pm)

And then there’s Monkey Butt… (shoulder)

I have not mentioned or featured any semblance to partaking of alcoholic beverage, to my knowledge or recollection, in this blog to date. I beg for forgiveness if I have already mentioned and have forgotten here to this point. I was introduced to Scotch by my friend Floyd many years ago. I miss Floyd as he passed away in 2007. We had many years of fond memories fishing here and he taught me about the shooting sports of trap and skeet and… Scotch. Recently an ‘associate’ in the Pine Creek Valley introduced me to a Scotch called Monkey Butt (aka Shoulder). It’s a very smooth adult beverage and if you are ok with a blended version of Scotch, you may want to try it out. I would say that it’s a ‘Spey-side’ style Scotch. But this is just my opinion. Thank you SRS member Dave B. for introducing me to this maker. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it at the store today and I bought a bottle.

I hope Dalmore 12 year old Scotch will forgive me for sampling the Monkey Butt.. I mean Shoulder in it’s glass. It sampled just fine in it I’ll say.

NAHOOP Continues…

I thought I’d do some easy tying and tie some emergers – an olive variation and a couple of March Brown version.

Wow, pictures don’t lie do they? Talk about ‘not a hair out of place’ – that beadhead MB pic sure shows the stray hairs doesn’t it? Even that olive one shows strays too. Well, fire me if this gives you heartburn. Maybe someone out there can provide pictures or flies that are much better tied and we won’t have to suffer looking at such monstrosities.

Because they’re beadheads, they aren’t going to float – most likely they won’t be high up in the water column either. I suppose I could tie some without beads if I want them to float in the film or if I wanted to fish them on top – I just didn’t tie any like that this time. I don’t have the pictures but I did tie some Olive Emergers with a tungsten bead and black wire – just for a different look/flavor.

N…E…X…T… (no, I’m not referring to The Sensational Alex Harvey Band song)

This yellow emerger (above left) may look a little unusual. I forget if I’ve shared this here before – it’s a variation on something called a ‘Bleeding-Heart’. I tied the Bleeding-Hearts a couple of years ago. One Mr. Bob Stanton shared his recipe for the Bleeding Heart with me when I asked about the fly over on the website Rivertop Rambles – Walt Franklin’s webite. It was shown in a post over there and I thought it looked really interesting – something I’d like to try (click on Rivertop Rambles and it should take you to at least one of the posts with that fly in it). Walt got Bob to share the recipe and I tried to tie some of them a few years ago. I just thought I’d try it here and since I didn’t have any orange beads, I tied yellow as that’s what I had/have. I did give a few MB – ‘Bleeding Heart’ Emergers to my fishing buddy and he had caught some with with them up the runs last year.

Lastly, I’ve been wanting to tie some small black stoneflies as they are some of the first flies to show up there in the valley. I have been saving any clear plastic-like packaging materials over the past several years – much to the chagrin of the boss of the house. You know when stuff comes with a clear plastic covering – that sort of stuff. Well, do you think I can find that stuff now? Nope! It’s somewhere here and I’ll have to consult my ‘Where Things Are’ list and hope that I’ve catalogued it there. However I did find something to experiment with. The result… (I have located a store of material as I write this section).

Don’t get your panties in a bunch folks, I used two different colored backgrounds trying to get a better exposure on the photos above. Same fly left and right – just a little more of a ‘from above’ shot on right. Well, if you find your plastic-like stuff, just cut it to shape and I trimmed a point on the one end of the material where I tied it onto the fly. I also scratched a few lines in the wing and tried to color it with markers which I rubbed off somewhat before I had cut it to shape. The cut point might help but the Zap-A-Gap, or the cyanoacrylate glue of your choice, will contribute more significantly in retaining the winging material. I took and put a drop or two over the thread wraps after I had tied the wing into place. I think the glue soaks down into the thread and secures the wing well enough. But I suppose time and fishing this fly will tell.

So this is some of what I’ve been up to since the Semperfli Mouse. I’ve got more plans for tying but our first SRS General Membership meeting is coming up on the 26th. So I’ll have to fit some tying arranged around that and the opening of the cabin.

Take care All – as I write this We had gotten 5″ – 6″ Thursday night and PA is bracing itself for 6″ – 8″ in the Pine Creek Valley Friday night. Stock up folks, be safe and think SPRING!

Till we see each other again, I’m an Unintentional Blogger… aka UB