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[DC1980]

So my wife has agreed to let me spend more time (and money) fishing this year.  I have a 9ft 6wt rod spooled with floating line under the tree as well as a cheap fly tying vise.  I have been doing a lot of research (been really slow at work) but i still have a lot of questions  that I hope some of you may be able to answer.

I would like to keep things simple to begin so i thought i would limit myself to learning a couple of patterns first.  I plan on fishing lower mainland stocked lakes and a couple lakes in the 100 mile area.  So far i am thinking of chironomids and leeches...wow about thousand variables there alone.  Are chironomids productive in lower mainland lakes or are they primarily used in the kamloops/merritt area lakes?  Would they be a good pattern in the cariboo?  What would you carry in your arsenal if you only had 10-15 flies.  I plan on tying basic chironomids on size 12 and 14 hooks using thread, wire, bead and some sort of crazy glue/nail hardener.  I was thinking i will need some marabou, chenille, hackle and dubbing in black, brown, olive and wine for the leeches.

Also any good suggestions for where to purchase materials?

thanks for reading any comments or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

[HOOK]

my best pattern for local stocked trout is this :-


Hook - size 14 Tiemco 2499 SP-BL
Bead - copper size 3/32"
Thread - Uni-thread in red 8/0
Body - Black flashabou
Ribbing - red wire in XS

when you tie this make sure to add a "red butt" to the fly using the thread OR the wire. make your wire have 5-7 wraps evenly spaced up the black body. start the flashabou at the bead using 3 strands, wrap to the butt and back to the bead using it to taper the body as best you can.


Happy Tying

[TacoChris]

 Chironomids will work any where. It just depends on if the trout are taking them. They will be more successful during the big hatches where trout ignore almost any thing else. I always think depth is more important than the chironomid you use. If they are taking them on the bottom at 20 feet you need to get your fly there. There are more colours and sizes than you can possibly imagine so pick a couple and stick with them for now. Black is a definite choice which colour wire or bead you use is endless. Just keep it thin most new tiers make fat ones.
 I am guessing you are new to fly fishing if so keep flies small for now. You will find casting big heavy flies difficult with anthing but a very short leader until you become more proficient casting. But as you have only a floating line you need some weight or your fly will not sink very quickly. Practice and see what works for you. I would choice a mini leech they are my favorite pattern I use a 12 hook for mine.
 Four flies I would not leave without. A mini leech #12 3XL in black, a choromid #12 black , a shrimp pattern, and a green Doc Spratley #8
Find your local fly shop I use Michael and Young in Surrey they only deal with fly fishing

[HOOK]

Chironomids will work any where. It just depends on if the trout are taking them


not entirely true in regards to our local stocked lakes. I use that pattern and no deeper than 6 feet, normally more like 3 1/2-4 feet. Its tied very small and I think resembles a pellet. I also tie a green chironie that works well locally but this black one will take fish even in the heat of summer if you put in the time. I find these stocked fish locally are always looking up for their food. I think it may have something to do with the fact we don't have the hatch sizes of the interior lakes so they take longer to turn exclusively to bugs. I have also not seen any sort of chironie hatch locally unles you want to fish a size 20 or smaller.

[DC1980]

Thanks guys. That some great information.  How do you tie your micro leeches?  I was planning on trying one I saw in a video using just marabou, tie in the tail then twist the marabou and wrap towards the bead.  Seemed like a simple one to try at first. Also do you know of any good websites or books that you recommend for tying local BC patterns?

[HOOK]

I do leeches similar to these in small sizes (micro leeches)

http://goldenstone.ca/Fly_Tying_the_Micro_Leech.php

[sbc hris]

Leeches like the ones Hook supplied a link to above are great. They are about all I use now as far as leeches go. I usually use smaller gold beads though, and you can tie them in a variety of colors, (Black/red, green, maroon, brown, etc).

 I also carry a few wooley buggers, and they always work well in the colors mentioned above, as well as the pumpkinhead variety.

Small damsel nymphs in yellow and or green are great flies, along with their big brothers the Dragonfly nymphs. Gomphus patterns are great Dragonfly impersonators and fun to fish, but there are lots of dragonfly nymph patterns out there, so start with ones that are simple to tie.

As far as chironomids go, I'd start by making chromies and black sallys, in sizes 10, 12, 14, and 16. Those 2 patterns will definitely get you off to the races. A lot of days I start with these patterns and never end up switching. The fish will usually hit 1 or the other, or both.....

You will probably want a selection of dry flies as well, as they are the most fun to fish. Tom thumbs and Mikaluk sedges are a good place to start with dries, and you will probably want a few mayfly patterns in there as well.

A simple scud pattern like a shellback scud in a few colors is good to have as well. I don't fish them a lot, but they have been day savers before.

Also the old doc sprately will usually get you a few fish, red ones can be especially hot.

Halfbacks and fullbacks in different sizes are another few you'll probably want to carry, and are simple to tie.

One unnamed pattern I never leave home without, is tied on a streamer hook, sz 6-12, but usually on an 8. It has a short tail made of pheasant tail fibres, a medium, olive green chenille body, and a few wraps of short hackle around the head of the fly. This fly is tied with red thread, and is much more successful if you finish the fly with a prominent red head.

As far as patterns used for the local lakes, most of the flies mentione above will work, but one I've had particular success with is just a #10, 12, or 14 scud hook, with a dark colored superfloss body, a gold wire rib, and some short sparse hackle at the front. I fish it on a floating line and vary the retrieve until I find what works.

There are going to be more patterns to add to these of course, these are just a few standbys off the top of my head. You will also want to add a sinking line to your arsenal, for starters either a type 3 or 4 sinker or a clear camo intermediate line will work great.

Have fun and best of luck!

[Ian Forbes]

You don't need a lot of expensive materials to tie effective flies that will cover 75% of your fishing needs. One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to join a fly tying group where everyone can share with bulk items. You can create all the dubbing you will ever need by blending various synthetic wools together. Marabou is cheap and so is peacock herl. You can scrounge hackle from farm yards. Make friends with a hunter and he will supply you with feathers. The only real expensive item are the hooks and tungsten beads. 

[RalphH]

Trout in our local lakes will take pretty much the same flies as the fish in the interior lakes. Generally use smaller patterns & darker patterns. I find dark browns, black and copper hues (for chiros) effective. There are no scuds but there are daphnia in some lakes. Flies with hot orange or red tags can work in these situations.

Simple generate nymphs like halfbacks, zugbugs, a grizzly hackle are all good. Local trout love flies tied with peacock herl.

Trout raised in hatcheries and stocked are very aggressive and eat anything eagerly when first stocked in a lake. You don't need to imitate a fish food pellet etc. However they acclimate very quickly to their new environment taking natural foods selectively and even feeding on dries when available.

you might be best off going to a good tackle store to discuss where you want a fish and have them recommend some flies and buy the materials to tie these. Buy a few samples to use as models

[DC1980]

my best pattern for local stocked trout is this :-


Hook - size 14 Tiemco 2499 SP-BL
Bead - copper size 3/32"
Thread - Uni-thread in red 8/0
Body - Black flashabou
Ribbing - red wire in XS

when you tie this make sure to add a "red butt" to the fly using the thread OR the wire. make your wire have 5-7 wraps evenly spaced up the black body. start the flashabou at the bead using 3 strands, wrap to the butt and back to the bead using it to taper the body as best you can.


Happy Tying

Ok here is my first crack

[DC1980]

[HOOK]

From what I can see you may be using a bead slightly to large for the hook size. your thread based ones have really nice tapers, Flashabou is trickier to have a nice flat profile but you'll get it after doing a couple dozen I'm sure. I also hardly use peacock for the thorax but just use darker thread or something slightly off colour from the body.

trick for doing tapers with flashabou - first is to build the taper with your tying thread or something like Uni-Stretch making sure its smooth and uniform. Use the flashabou itself, this is harder and you need more strands of flashabou. ALWAYS start the flashabou at the head of the fly, wrap to the bend and then back to the bead. keep your wraps as tight as possibly without breaking it.

here is how I gauge how many individual strands of flashabou to use per hook size. keep in mind I also always taper using something underneath before the flashabou except on size 14, 16 where its just not necessary

16 - 2-3 strands
14 - 3 strands
12 - 4-5 strands
10 - 5-7 strands
8 - 6-8 strands

couple examples of my ties

Flashabou patterns --






Thread based patterns

[mastercaster]

James…you told him to use a 3/32 bead so that's why they are so big….LOL   You also forgot to tell him in your recipe to use white antron (or something similar) for the gills.  DC1980…the only time you do not want to tie gills in is if you're using the white beads so those that you did with that colour should be OK.  Work on tying your patterns with a slimmer taper.  That copper coloured one with the black rib that Hook tied above is what you're shooting for.

Personally, I never use a 3/32 bead for anything but large bomber patterns. I use 5/64 for everything up to size 14, maybe a 16 ….usually for 16 and 18's I use 1.5 mm.   AND all beads are tungsten.  Buy them in bulk from Kent from Canadian Llama and you'll save some money because anytime you buy small quantities you'll be paying through the nose.

These are all the same pattern tied with 3 different colours on tungsten beads:

[DC1980]

The beads are 5/32 so I guess I need to go shopping. 
As for the antron I was reading alot of guys just dab the bead with a white marker, that sounded much easier but I see neither of you do that so I will try some with the antron too.

Thanks for all the help!

[mastercaster]

Get yourself a spool of UNI-stretch (white) for the gills.