Anyone who has been tying for a while has probably developed some tying ideas that help him out on the stream. Here are some ideas that I believe have helped me at Putah:

- Use bead head flies. Many flies can be tied either with or without a bead. Almost always I prefer the beaded version (preferably a tungsten bead). I was slow to adopt bead head flies, but as soon as I began using them, my success rate went up.

- Use dark colored beads (black, black-nickel) for mayfly nymphs. When was the last time you saw a natural mayfly nymph with a gold head? I know of at least two well-known anglers who have said that gold bead head flies are so overused that fish not only ignore them, they move out of the way when they see one. The one exception I've found at Putah is the Copper John. For some reason, a dark bead head Copper John has not worked as well for me as a gold bead head.

- Use crystal flash to add sheen to your mayfly nymph wing case. Hal Jansen, a Hall of Fame angler, suggests using clear epoxy on the wing case to give it more sheen. Instead of epoxy, I use several strands of pea**** crystal flash tied on top of the wing case. The crystal flash not only provides sparkle, it gives the impression that the wing case is ready to break open.

- Heavily weight your flies. For mayfly nymphs I not only use over-sized tungsten beads, I also wrap several turns of lead under the thorax. Most large Putah creek trout are down deep so you have to design your flies accordingly. To secure the lead wire in place, use thread to build up a "ramp" behind the lead. Also, put a drop of super glue on the lead and the thread ramp. If you don't secure the lead, the tungsten bead is so heavy that it can make the whole body slide down the hook shank.

- When winding on lead wire, make sure that both ends of the wire you break off are pointing up. This will ensure that the bottom half of the fly has one more turn of wire than the upper half. The added weight on the bottom half of the fly will help keep the nymph drifting upright.

- Take advantage of all the available colors in body materials. Dubbing comes in many colors and can be blended to get the exact shade you want. Wires for midge nymphs come in a variety of colors. Pheasant tail also comes in many colors. Changing the color of your nymphs is a very simple way to distinguish your flies from what others are using.

- When tying a PT nymph, put some Dave's flexament on the hook shank before winding on the pheasant tail. Pheasant tail can be brittle and the flexament helps secure the material to the hook. Also, don't use too small a wire for the rib; too small a wire can cut into the pheasant tail.

- For the Fox Poopah, use marabou and pea**** to create the fly's collar. The marabou adds movement to the fly while the pea**** adds iridescence. Before tying the collar, twist the strands of marabou and pea**** around your tying thread. This will add durability to the collar.

- Take advantage of wide gap hooks. I tie most of my mayfly nymphs on a #16 3769 Tiemco hook. It has the gap of a #16, but the length of a size 18. For my midge nymphs, I use either a 3769 or a #16 2457 Tiemco hook. When I have tried smaller flies with normal gap hooks, I found that I lost a greater percentage of hookups.

- When tying a mayfly nymph, wrap one or two turns of the ribbing wire underneath the tail. This will elevate end of the tail. If you have ever seen a swimming mayfly nymph, it arches its back and its tail points in an upward direction. Elevating the tail more closely mimicks the natural's position.

- When dubbing the body of a nymph, I prefer to use synthetic dubbing. Synthetic dubbing can be found that is more translucent and shinny than most natural dubbings and more closely matches the natural's body. Most often you can obtain the color you want by blending several synthetic colors, but sometimes you'll need to blend in some natural dubbing to get the right color.

 

Final comment: Don't be afraid to experiment with your fly tying. Sooner or later you'll find things that improve your success rate. In thinking about my own personal fishing history, I realized that my biggest fish on a dry fly and my biggest fish on a nymph were caught on experimental flies. My biggest fish on a dry was a 22-inch rainbow and was caught on an experimental Callibaetis emerger on Silver Creek in Idaho. My biggest fish on a nymph was a 29 inch, 10 pound Cutthroat that was caught from Pyramid Lake. The fly was a chronomid pattern that I had modified. Both Silver Creek and Pyramid Lake are heavily-pounded fisheries and I truly believe that I wouldn't have caught these big fish if I had been using store-bought, generic patterns. Big fish are more selective than their smaller counterparts so the idea is to use your tying skills to trigger a larger trout's feeding response.