Category Archives: Classic

October 27, 2017 · 10:19 am

Babine Special

Greg Senyo tied a modern version of this classic steelhead fly and it caught my eye on Instagram. The classic was a steelhead, salmon egg pattern that was originally tied for use on the Babine River located in British Columbia. It was meant to resemble roe of spawning fish. The white wing was meant to mimic milt that has covered the eggs. From what I gather, it catches steelhead and salmon, just about anywhere.

Senyo’s Babine Special rendition

Materials listed by Greg:

cut 4x hook
Senyo wire
Ice Dub
Marabou
Ostrich
Lateral Scale
Pearl Braid
Orange Chinese Hackle
8mm Tangerine Beads

classic Babine Special

Tied by Global Fly Fisher website:
Hook: #4 or #6
Thread: Black
Tail: White marabou
Body: 2 eggs made of orange/peach chenile and two sections of hackle. One being red and the other being white.

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Filed under Classic, Salmon, Steelhead

October 24, 2017 · 9:28 am

Admiring Matuka Streamers

This morning I was doing some work and Googling some websites when I ran across a couple of beautifully tied Matuka Streamers tied by Dave Flint. Dave hails from Massachusetts and is known for his Atlantic Salmon flies. It appears these two streamers were tied for the book Forgotten Flies.

I then hopped on YouTube and noticed that Davie McPhail just made a video on tying a Badger Matuka. So for some reason, the Matuka gods were speaking to me this morning. Since I do not want to anger the Matuka gods, I thought I would post the Matuka Streamers by Dave Flint first giving their recipes. Then below you will find Davie’s video where he explains how to tie one of these beauties. By the way, the Matuka style streamer originated in New Zealand.
Enjoy!
-Paul

tied by Dave Flint

Materials list:
No hook given. I think a Mustad R74-9672 or similar in a size 8 would work well.
Rib: Medium oval gold tinsel
Body: Olive chenille or wool
Wing: Four dyed olive rooster or hen saddle hackles
Collar: Olive, as collar

tied by Dave Flint

Materials list:
No hook given. I think a Mustad R74-9672 or similar in a size 8 would work well.
Body: Flat silver tinsel
Rib: Oval silver tinsel
Wing/tail: Bittern wings feather or badger hackle
Collar: Badger hackle

Materials list:
Hook: Classic Lure Size 8
Thread: Uni-8/0 Black
Rib: Oval Silver Tinsel
Body: Black Chenille
Wing: Badger Hen or Cock Hackle, Badger Hen

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Filed under Classic, Streamers

October 16, 2017 · 8:50 am

The Fly Tying of Fred Klein

Grizzly King Bucktail Streamer

My name is Fred Klein, I am from Pennsylvania and started tying flies over 40 years ago with my mother’s wooden clothes pin and sketches from library books.

My family moved to an old farmhouse in the woods with a spring stream and cold pond full of brook trout. My first fly rod was a gift when I was ten years old over 40 years ago. What a gift that was! I started tying flies using a wooden clothes pin as a vice from library book sketches. We had several trout streams near home including the Schuylkill River (Dutch for Hidden River) as well as the Appalachian Mountains.

Being drawn to the wilderness I have pursued wild brown and brook trout with the fly. The beauty and artistry of the old flies as well as fishing with very old fly rods has been my passion.

Tying flies from painted plates from classic books such as Mary Orvis Marbury’s Favorite Flies’1892, and Ray Bergman’s Trout ‘1938 has been a captivating artistic endeavor bringing the beautiful, colorful flies from the golden days of fly fishing alive.

These old patterns are still as functional on the streams and rivers today as they were centuries ago. I have broken away from following the popular styles of today’s fly tying and fishing to pursue trout with the tools of yesterday.

If you want to see more of Fred’s flies and keep up on his latest, follow him on Instagram @haresear100

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Filed under Classic, Hairwings

October 13, 2017 · 10:04 am

Flies Around the Net – September 2017

Yes, I know, I’m running a little late with this. But here it is! Thanks for reading FrankenFly!

1 Comment

Filed under Classic, Dry Fly, Intruders, nymphs, Saltwater, Streamers

September 2, 2017 · 1:32 pm

Flies Around the Net – August 2017

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Filed under Classic, Deer Hair, Dry Fly, Foam, Hoppers, Pike, Saltwater, Streamers, Trout flies

June 13, 2017 · 8:57 am

The Fly Tying of Son Tao

I recently started to notice some beautifully tied flies posted by Son Tao. After seeing a friend from Indianapolis post that he was fishing with Tao, I was surprised to learn he was here in Indiana. I contacted him and below you can read a little about him. He has also been touched by Project Healing Waters, which is a fantastic organization that help vets. In a very short time, you can see by the photos, that Son has skills! Check out his work below!

From Son Tao:
“I’m 44 years old and currently live in Indianapolis, Indiana. I grew up in Pennsylvania but have bounced around for the past 16 years since I am active duty Army. My current rank is Master Sergeant.

I’ve been tying for 14 months now. I was first introduced to tying by a Korean War vet as a way to deal with post traumatic stress. I’ve been deployed 5 times and have seen some unimaginable horrors around the world. After dealing with numerous surgeries and the horrors of war, I was in a dark place. Fly tying provided me with an avenue to escape those memories. It relaxes my mind and focuses my attention in a positive way.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoy tying classic patterns. I’m a history nerd and find the story behind Flies as interesting as fly fishing itself. So when I got started, I naturally was drawn to Catskill style dry flies.”

Stimulator with Elk wing

Fan Wing Ginger Quill

Lady Benson

Foam Back Humpy

Size 20 Griffith Gnats

6 Comments

Filed under Catskill, Classic, Dry Fly, nymphs, Trout flies

April 20, 2017 · 7:38 am

Joe Fox ties a Catskill style Red Quill

NOTE: I’ve had the honor of tying flies for Dette Trout Flies and Joe is a pleasure to work with. It’s awesome to be able to tie for a fly shop with so much history surrounding it.
-Paul

Joe Fox of Dette Trout Flies in Roscoe, NY, demonstrates how he ties a classic Catskill style Red Quill dry fly.

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Filed under Catskill, Classic

December 6, 2016 · 9:22 am

Bradley Special – Ricky Bassett

Bradley Special

Bradley Special

Ricky Bassett tied up this beautiful Bradley Special. This was an old dry fly pattern tied by the Dettes of Roscoe, New York. The fly shop, Dettes Trout Flies, is still there and ran by their grandson, Joe Fox. I think the body of this fly is especially interesting.

According to the book, The Founding Flies, “In the late 1930s, William Bradley, an early member of the Beaverkill Trout Club, requested that the Dettes custom tie this fly.”

Ricky is a skilled fly tier that continues to practice the Catskill dry fly style of tying. He did a great job on this one!

Materials list:
Bradley Special Size 14
Wings: Mallard
Tail: red brown spade hackle, rooster
Body: sparse amount of red fox squirrel spun between two strands of red silk.
Hackle: Red brown rooster
bradley3
bradley2

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Filed under Catskill, Classic, Trout flies