What’s Coming for Fall 2022

In the next several weeks I will add some of the activities I engaged in after my last post. Some new Midge Patterns, trips up to the Eastern Sierra this past Summer and HERO & Ally stuff…

Here’s a taste:

216 flies when completed…

Cairo & Michael up in the mountains…

Miles and a Rainbow at LVL…

Cairo’s first Brookie…

…to be continued…

 

 

PT/TB

 

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A Perdigon Box…

These are the first flies that I have tied in quite awhile. Some of them were tied with the assistance of my Grandson Miles, who really seems to enjoy tying and has some nimble moves. Hopefully, I will be able to use  these patterns with Michael and Miles later this Summer when I recover from my last kidney stone surgery…

That’s HERO, in my header above, on his great canoe adventure at Dworshak Reservoir, Idaho…5.21.2022

Blue on Blue Perdigon…

HOOK: Hanak 403 BLG, #10-#16

THREAD: UTC Fl. White, 70 Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Ginger Speckled

ABDOMEN: Glimmer Thread, Blue – ( Cascade Crest Tool Co. )

RIB: Flat Tinsel, fine, Blue Pearl or Silver ( Hends )

HOT SPOT: UTC Fl. Fire Orange, 70 Denier

WING CASE: Wet n Wild Fast Dry – Black, 2 coats

 BEAD: Slotted Tungsten, Black – sized to hook

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, fine

Materials

This is a large heavy pattern in a color that has proven to be effective almost all seasons in the Eastern Sierra…These, like most Perdigons , are simple and easy to tie…

WET N WILD …Black Nail Polish

COPPER / SILVER PERDIGON…

HOOK: Tiemco 113 BLH, #12 – #16

THREAD: UTC Fl. White, 70 Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Dark Speckled

ABDOMEN: Hemingway Micro Glint, Copper

HOT SPOT: UTC Fl. Fire Orange, 70 Denier

BEAD: Tungsten Nickel, sized or oversized to hook

WING CASE: Wet n Wild Nail Polish, Black

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, fine

MATERIALS

Copper is an interesting color to use. I tie several midge patterns using copper Holoshimmer and they are very effective in the East Walker and Lower Owens River…

MOO’S GREEN GOBLIN PERDIGON…

HOOK: Firehole 551 Jig Hook, #10- #16

THREAD: UTC Fl. White, 70 Denier – Under Abdomen

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Dark Speckled

ABDOMEN #1 : Hemingway Mico Glint – Peridot

ABDOMEN #2 : Micro Tubing , Peacock

HOT SPOT: Veevus, 8/0, Chartreuse

BEAD: Hanak Tungsten slotted, Metallic Chartreuse sized or oversized to hook

WING CASE: Wet N Wild Nail Polish

UV RESIN: Deer Creek – Fine

Materials

This is a good place to try out that Green Goblin, with my Winston Super 10, 5WT…on the East Walker River just below the dam…

LITTLE OLIVE QUILL…

HOOK: Hanak 280 BL, #12 – #16

THREAD: TMC 16/0, Olive

TAIL: Coq De Leon Barred Speckled Aconchado

ABDOMEN: Veevus Body Quill, Olive

RIB: UTC x-sm Copper Wire

HOT SPOT: UTC Fl. Fire Orange, 70 Denier

BEAD: Tungsten Copper, sized to Hook or oversized

WING CASE: Wet N Wild, Black Nail Polish

UV RESIN: Deer Creek – Fine

MATERIALS

 LIL’ MOO’S RED PEARL PEPPER PERDIGON JIG…

HOOK: FIrehole 551, #14-#18

THREAD: UTC Fl. White, 70 Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Ginger ( *not pictured in materials )

ABDOMEN: Hends Red Pearl 1/69 spooled tinsel

RIB: Hends Bright Brown, flat fine wire

HOT SPOT: UTC Fl. Fire Orange, 70 Denier

BEAD: Firehole stone Sterling Silver – sized to hook or oversized

WING CASE: Wet n Wild, Black nail polish

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, Fine

MATERIALS

COPPER AND PEARL PERDIGON…

HOOK: Tiemco 403BLJ, #10-#16

THREAD: UTC Fl. White, 70 Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Dark Speckled

ADOMEN: Pearl Glimmer Thread ( Cascade Crest Tool Co. )

RIB: Hends, flat fine, Bright Brown

HOT SPOT: Danville, 6/0, 505 Fluorescent Fire Orange

BEAD: Faceted Slotted Tungsten, sized or oversized to hook

WING CASE: Wet Wild black Nail Polish

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, fine

MATERIALS

Below, just above $3.00 Bridge, on the Madison River, would be a good location for using the Copper and Pearl Perdigon…

PERDIGON #47…

HOOK: Hanak 470BL Jig, #10-#16

THREAD: Danville #47, Tobacco Brown 6/0

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Dark Speckled

ABDOMEN: Danville #47, 6/0

RIB: Hends Fine Flat Wire – Gold

HOT SPOT: Danville 503, Fl. Orange, 6/0

BEAD: Hanak Tungsten, Metallic Orange – sized to hook or oversized

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, fine

Materials…

The Perdigon #47 would be a perfect bright, heavy pattern to use in this section of the East Walker River in the Eastern Sierra. Some very large Brown Trout hang out here…

CREAM MONTANA BULLET…

HOOK: TMC 2499SP-BL, #14- #18

THREAD: UTC Cream, 70 Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon- Light Speckled Pardo

ABDOMEN: Working Thread

RIB: UTC Copper wire sized to hook

BEAD: Copper Tungsten, sized to hook

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, fine

 

MATERIALS…

This is a Blue Ribbon Flies pattern  . It was designed for the moving waters around West Yellowstone. I also believe that it would be successful in other Western waters, including many in the Eastern Sierra…

BROWN AND BLUE PERDIGON…

HOOK: Orvis Tactical Barbless, #12-#16

THREAD: UTC Cream, 70Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Light Pardo

ABDOMEN: Hends Brown Tinsel

RIB: Hends fine, flat Blue Wire

HOT SPOT: UTC Fl. Fire Orange, 70 Denier

BEAD: Tungsten Silver or Nickel, sized to hook or oversized

UV Resin: Deer Creek, Fine

MATERIALS…

EWR BLACK BULLET…

HOOK: TMC 2488H

THREAD: UTC Black, 70 Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Light Speckled Pardo

RIB: Hends, Fine, Flat Silver

BEAD: Silver or Nickel Tungsten, sized or oversized to hook

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, Fine

MATERIALS…

This pattern is a natural for the East Walker River… 

ORANGE AND OLIVE PERDIGON…

HOOK: TMC 113BLH,  #10-#16

THREAD: UTC Light Olive, 70 Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Medium Speckled

ABDOMEN: Working thread

RIB: Hends Fine, Flat Brown wire

Hot Spot: UTC Fl.Fire Orange, 70 Denier

BEAD: Gold Tungsten sized to hook or oversized

WING CASE: Wet n Wild, Black Nail Polish

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, fine

MATERIALS…

Orange is a good attractor color. I would not hesitate to use it anywhere…

PURPLE AND CHARTREUSE PERDIGON…

HOOK: Firehole 609, #14 – #18

THREAD: Veevus, Chartreuse, 8/0

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Light Speckled Pardo

RIB: UTC sm Purple Holo Tinsel

HOT SPOT: UTC Fl. Pink, 70 Denier

BEAD: Firehole Stone, Silver sized to hook or oversized

WING CASE: Wet n Wild, Black Nail Polish

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, Fine

MATERIALS…

BLACK AND SILVER PERDIGON…

HOOK: Hanak 450BL, #14- #16

THREAD: UTC Black,70 Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Ginger Speckled

ABDOMEN: Hends Black Tinsel over working thread

RIB: (* NOT PICTURED) Hends fine flat silver wire

HOT SPOT: UTC Fl. Fire Orange, 70 Denier

WING CASE: Wet n Wild, Black Nail Polish

BEAD: Slotted Silver Tungsten sized to hook or oversized

MATERIALS…

Small and simple similar to the ubiquitous  Zebra Midge that may be fished anywhere there is moving water…

…like here, above $3.00 Bridge on the Madison River…

RAINBOW WARRIOR OPAL PERDIGON…

RAINBOW WARRIOR BLACK HOLOGRAPHIC PERDIGON…

HOOK: Dohiku J, #16-#20

THREAD: UTC Red, 70 Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Light Speckled Pardo

ABDOMEN: Working thread covered with Opal or Black Holographic Tinsel

BEAD: Silver Firehole slotted Stone…sized to hook or oversized

Hot Spot: UTC Red, 70 Denier

WING CASE: Wet n Wild, Black Nail Polish

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, Fine

MATERIALS FOR BOTH RAINBOWS…

Flashy little Perdigons that would suffice in almost any moving water…

PURPLE AND PINK PERDIGON…

HOOK: Firehole 551, #12-#18

THREAD: UTC Purple, 70 Denier

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Light Speckled Pardo

ABDOMEN: Working thread

RIB: Pink Holographic Flash. flat and thin, Cascade Crest Tool Co. sample pack

BEAD: Pink Slotted Tungsten…sized to hook or oversized

HOT SPOT: UTC Fl. Fire Orange, 70 Denier

WING CASE: Wet n Wild, Black Nail Polish

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, Fine

MATERIALS…

Purple…because it works…

COMBO THREAD PERDIGON…

HOOK: Dohiku HDJ, #18-#20

THREAD: Combo 6/0 thread (Yellow / Brown ) Cascade Crest Tool Co.

TAIL: Coq De Leon, Light Speckled Pardo

ABDOMEN: Working thread

HOT SPOT: Veevus, Fl. Orange, 8/0

BEAD: Firehole slotted Sterling Silver Stone

WING CASE: Wet n Wild, Black Nail Polish

UV RESIN: Deer Creek, fine

MATERIALS…

A good spot for all of these Perdigons…Lower Owens River, Eastern Sierra…

Completed Perdigon Box with magnetized bottom…

Cairo…at the George Creek sand trap,Owens Valley, near Lone Pine, CA…4th. generation fishing at that spot and a first for the little guy…5.28.2022

 

…a shout out to the two guys that inspire me to keep tying, because they will lose a lot of flies…

Next: A box of small for late Summer 2022

 

PT/TB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Year and my guys…

After a year of basically not tying flies, I am trying block blogging…It’s new for me and will take some getting used to… I have also been dealing with a host of surgeries related to kidney stones. It started in mid-June, 2021, and continues through the present with 6 completed surgeries and at least one or two more to go. (UPDATE 4.15.2022) I will probably have mini PCNL surgery performed sometime in May …Having a stent in one’s Ureter, for prolonged periods of time, is not a pleasant experience.

Waiting for surgery #5…ugh…

Big Moo and RoRo

So this year we will try and get RoRo into fly fishing up in the Eastern Sierra. This past Summer he did some exploring at Virginia Lakes…

This is the little guy at Virginia Lakes, CA…

This is a Perdigon box that I am working on that will be featured in my next post. – ( 4.15.2022 )

RoRo and Michael…up in the Sierra…

Ally and HERO – somewhere in Idaho…

Nick with a Steelhead at Heller Bar, on the Snake River…

Nick on the Clearwater…Steelhead madness has set in…

HERO …ready to roll…

Some new stuff to tie with…

Gearing up the “old guy” with some new Patagonia Waders…

Miles…out behind the Orange Curtain…

Because there’s something in it for him…

GMa and RoRo in da’ hood…

Some improvements on the Madison at $3.00 Bridge  ( from Blue Ribbon Flies)…

The three amigos on a 2 day drive down from Pullman, WA …4.12.2022

 

 

PT/TB… *edited (4.15.2022)

Starting again someplace…

I last tied flies in October of 2018. After all of the medical experiences I have gone through since May of 2019, there just has not been a lot of motivation to begin again…well, that’s over…

Back at the vise…

A few items I picked up at Bob Marriott’s Fly Fishing Store on 4.16.2021. Most of what I had on my list was not in stock. I suspect it’s sitting in cargo containers somewhere off-shore West of Long Beach, CA… if at all…😓

 

…setting up today to fill a box with some patterns Michael and I will use when both of us have received our Covid 19 vaccinations. I am getting mine in February and Michael has to wait awhile longer…

HOT VACS – the thread version a BRF pattern…

HOT VAC – TMC 2488H, #16…

MONTANA BULLET – TMC 2499SP-BL, #16…

UV OLIVE / PEACOCK – Dohiku HDJ, #18…

B-UV PEACOCK ZEBRA PUPA – TMC 2499SP -BL, #16 – #18…

PEARL / INSECT GREEN FLOSS MIDGE – Firehole 637, # 18- #20…

WHITE HEADED MIDGE (Gray) – Freeman/Variant, Daiichi 1130,#18-#22…

So this is a beginning. I will do a dozen of each pattern with individual, group and materials used – as I have always done…

PT/TB

 

BACK TO TYING…

So…Michael and Ally provided me with some incentives to get on the vise again…

My other light like this is attached to my desk in Pullman, WA…

Ally provided me with some tungsten beads, Dohiku Jig Hooks and 18/0 thread from Semperfli…All from my friend Jacob Adamovich at The Competitive Angler…

Ally, HERO and Nick’s visit out to Rock Creek, WA got my juices flowing again…

 

 

NEXT: Some fly patterns I have been thinking about…

 

 

PT/TB

From THE DESERT to THE MOUNTAINS – Palm Desert / Idyllwild, CA…

Nadia, Miles and Planettrout took a ten day trip down to Palm Desert and its environs to fry in the the 116 degree heat and visit a place( Idyllwild, CA )in the nearby mountains to cool off…

Base camp…one simply does not go outside in the heat of the day…

White reflects heat…built into Nadia’s design of this house…

Pretty Bougainvillea ..at dusk…

While we were there, I went through a collection of photos I had not seen since 1977. Most of them will appear a different places in this BLOG soon…

Nadia cooked up some great meals while we were in Palm Desert…Prochuitto and melon…

Lamb Chops and mashed potatoes…

Miles , John Wayne and Omi…

Palm Desert sunset…

Puffy clouds at midnight in Palm Desert…

The route from Palm Desert to Idyllwild, CA…depending on traffic, it can take awhile to get up there…did I mention complete halts and flagmen ???

Up da’ mountain, Palm Desert below…

Cloud lake , had me fooled, up in the mountains…

A pretty meadow close to our destination…

Looking South at the opposite end of the meadow…

Masked guy in front of Mountain Mikes…he scored some neat stuff there…

Some necklaces for Lil’ Moo…

A leather bracelet with a magnetic closure for Big Moo (Michael Barker)…

A local bakery…

Miles wanted me to buy this ride for him…

The obligatory visit to the candy emporium…

Red Vines…Mmmmm

Masked Banditos wait for their order of Submarine sandwiches…We decided to drive down to Hemet Lake and have lunch by the water…

Waiting for the flagman…on the way down the mountain…

Some of the mountain homes in the area…Arriving at Lake Hemet…need to purchase a day pass to park at the lake…

This looks ok…

Miles decided to get his feet wet after lunch…

Flowering trees along the road on the drive back down to Palm Desert…

More flowering trees…

 

Miles…sporting his necklaces while we stop for some photos in this really spectacular environment…

Panorama of Lil’ Moo and the mountains…

Miles and Mama (Nadia) posing…

Cairn in the clouds…and NO…I don’t ever put these things up…I detest them on Trout waters…

Mountain view…

Desert cactus…

More sharp vegetation not suitable for sitting on…

A final look North of the mountains…

Back at the Casa to watch the sun go down…

 

NEXT: Some RETRO stuff…

 

 

PT/TB

 

 

 

 

 

The Little North Fork of the Clearwater River…

Ally, Nick and Hero and their friend Blaine took a short trip over to the Little North Fork of the Clearwater River this past weekend (August 22-23) to camp and look for some Cutthroat Trout. Their trip was cut short on Sunday by the appearance of a rather large bear which necessitated a hasty pack-up and split…🤪

HERO… on the look out…

A view of driving up in the mountains…

Are we getting close yet ???

More mountain road…

Almost there…

On the other side of the bridge.

This is the spot…but not enough space. So just before dark, a move further upstream…

Where they woke up to this sight…

Nick wades in… but not with the 9′,5wt. Winston Nexus fly rod and Tibor Clearwater reel I gave him to use along with a bunch of leaders, tippet and flies…doh…old habits die hard…

Nice hole…loaded with fish…Another view of the tail end of the hole from above…

Nick hooks up … using (gasp) worms…

A look upstream…with right kind of rods leaning up against the tree…

A confab with Ally & HERO…

A Cutty in hand…Nick caught ten fish out of this hole…

HERO …after being unceremoniously tossed in the 4X4 after the encounter with Mr. Bear – which no one documented…

 

NEXT: …a trip with Nadia and Lil’ Moo from the desert to the mountains and back…

 

PT/TB

 

 

 

 

ANIMAL HOUSE…

So Ally sent me this photo last night which pretty much sums up her life in lockdown in Pullman, WA while she is attending Washington State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine. Just about everyone in her 2nd. year class has animals, including cows and horses. This is why we have great Vets. !!!

Ally and “Tater Tot”, HERO’s new best friend. “Tater Tot” is blind. She belongs to one of Ally’s study partners and likes to perch on Ally’s shoulders…

HERO in his usual mode when friends don’t drop by…

 

NEXT: Working on a tying SBS…

 

 

PT/TB

Another year…but who is counting ???

On June 18th, I celebrated 26 years of sobriety. Which is a big deal for someone who could not stop starting. I celebrated this year’s cake tour with my family at home where – it was most most appropriate considering the experiences I went through in the last year and being made acutely aware of my limitations by some very good doctors…

The medallion…

Cake from my family with Lil’ Moo…just grateful to still be above ground and breathing…

 

Next: A tutorial I never posted on the Retro Caddis and a fish or two by Michael on the East Branch of the Croton…

 

 

PT/TB

Finally…The North Fork of the Clearwater River…

It has been a long Winter and Spring. None of the family have gone anywhere except frequent Zoom meetings to keep up with what’s going on and the rapid growth of my new Grandson Cairo, who is not ready yet to make his appearance on this BLOG. Ally, HERO and Nick broke the ice with a brief venture over to the North Fork of the Clearwater River in Idaho to wet a line…

Somewhere in Idaho where it’s real green…

An anticipatory HERO on the road…

The North Fork of the Clearwater River in Idaho…looking upriver…

Looking down river…

HERO and Nick doing their thing…

A Cutthroat Trout to hand in net…

Ally’s butterfly feet…

A pooped HERO….

The view around here for the last two months…Lil’ Moo (Miles) and Mom (Nadia)…

 

 Next: I will come up with something to fill the void…

 

 

PT/TB