Mr. Bubble TMC5263 #10

I got to thinkin’………

Most of the time this gets me in trouble except when I sit in my favorite little corner (well I guess it is almost half)of the lower level of my house. My trusty Renzetti vice sits upon one of 3 or 4 benches, tables and counters where I tie flies. I tend to move around depending on which pile of stuff I wish to tie from. It has been said that the lower level of my house looks like a tornado hit a fly shop. I must admit that it is not the tidiest space in the house but it is so hard to keep it clean.

Baby Snag Monster

Anyhow, I was thinkin’…. I am sick and tired of the Brule River Snag Monsters taking two flies from me on a regular basis. I have lost so many two fly rigs to these animals it is beyond my scope of thought. I know I must fish near the tentacles of danger that are the weapons of the monster but I needed to figure out a way to reduce my fly losses by half. No more extra food for the monsters!

It was early one morning when the first of three of these patterns was born. The idea was to combine egg and nymph since this is a standard rig of indicator anglers on the Brule. For years the a largish stonefly or mayfly nymph followed by an egg pattern was what I had the most luck fooling the Wiley Brule River Steelhead. The snag monsters feed heavily on this rig and grew to enormous sizes by seasons end. Most all who angle the Brule have lost these combos. If I could combine these two into one, maybe, just maybe, I could control my drift more accurately and navigate the edges of the snag monsters. It is on the edges where the silver bullets lie protected by the bevy of undulating hardware and flies.

Babby Bubble-TMC 2499 #14

This winter I explored the land of glass beads which brought me the Air Head Pink Squirrel, Pink Larva Girl, and the Red Headed P. Tail. A host of other great renditions using known patterns and substituting glass instead of brass beads also caught trout. Since most of these flies were trail flies is sizes 16 and smaller the weight difference I considered as a non-factor.

Mister Bubble was the first spin off from my winter tying. He is a weighted fly meant to be fished as a single fly or followed by a smaller trail fly. This creative combo of egg and nymph is tied on a TMC5263 in size 8 or 10. The bead is a large, color core glass bead in a variety of colors including pink, orange, chartreuse and blue(my favorite egg colors for the Brule). The front half of the shank is weighted with non-lead wraps about a dozen turns. By doing this I add the extra weight substituting for a big brass bead. The fly gets down fast. The non-lead wrap also helps with the taper of the body as it makes the thorax larger. This fly is basically a large soft hackle, with a tail. A dubbing brush of hares ear tan is wrapped with the rotary vice from back to bead to complete the body and thorax. The copper or stainless steel wire that the brush is made of also adds weight to the fly. I am sure a dubbed body would work fine as well.  A collar of Dave Whitlocks red squirrel thorax dubbing to add a bit of sparkle completes the thorax. A sparse brown partridge soft hackle completes the fly. I split the partridge feather and only make one to one and a half wraps. This fly is responsible for a number of landed steelhead and a least a half dozen other hook ups this year as well as a few skippy’s and a bunch of smolts.  I think that is pretty good in a year where the caching and hooking seems to be missing from many river reports.

Bubble Butt TMC 5263 #10

The next fly is called a The Bubble Butt. The same bead is use but is extended off of the back of another one of my favorite Brule flies a peacock woolly worm. The bead is threaded onto a short piece of 52 lb. test mono and melted on one end to form a stop for the bead. I super glue it to the mono so it does not move around. The woolly worm is tied with a rope of peacock twisted around my thread and wrapped forward. Palmering forward a brown hackle which was tied on after the egg(bead) stick completes the fly. Simple, and not as hard to loose to the snag monsters since not as much vice time is expended.

Breakfast Wrap-pink

The third fly is called the Breakfast Wrap. This is an egg nymph combo tied on a TMC2457 # 8. A tail of bared tan marabou is tied in first. Just use the tip of the feather. Next a mini brush or what is called Magic Dub(orvis)in hares ear tan is tied in and wraped for the body. At the front of the body a pair of brown spanflex legs are tied in, one on either side for the guys at the Superior Anglers. The x-legs is a popular creation of theirs and has been a standard on the Brule for years. Just forward of the body a yarn egg is tied into the top of the shank. The yarn is wrapped onto the shank and then parachute style to get it nice and secure and gathered. This one came off the vice this week and I can’t wait to try it in the coming weeks. There you have it. Call me crazy because that’s what I am. Just don’t call me fishless on the Brule, cause it ain’t true.

A quick Report. Nothing has changed condition wise on the Brule. The water has dropped a bit lower. If anything anglers are reporting tougher outings. My friend Jeff was up on the weekend. Many fishless reports. He caught a nice ugly brown.