I’ve watched many a tier struggle with articulated patterns due to the addition of the stinger hook . Many tiers will often start with the front hook, tying on the backing first followed by the tail. This works fine if the tail is not tied to the stinger hook. If the tail is tied to the stinger, starting the fly this way is a recipe for a frustratred tier attempting to whip finish around 7 inches of fly and front hook when it comes time to tie the tail to the stinger. The solution is simple
1) Measure out your tail and backing
2)Attach the backing to the stinger with a handshake loop
As many of you tiers are feverously tying for your upcoming Alaska trip ,here is a Humpy variation tied by AFA guide Levi Hohl. Tied in a Wulff fashion with long calftail wings and elongated moose body hair tail, this pattern with the addition of a foam back floats high and is easily visible.
Perhaps it should have been, “Alaska on my mind”. This pattern, which essentially is an articulated egg sucking leech, is best fished on the swing or slowly stripped through slots, holes and tailouts. I like to tie mine with a circle hook as trout generally set themselves when swinging big articulated streamers.
Hook: Gamakatsu 208408 sz. 4 ,attatched via 30lb backing material to any straight eye streamer hook with the hook bend cut off.
Thread: Black 6/0
Tail: Black Rabbit Strip
Body: Crosscut Black Rabbit
Eyes: Spirt River Real-Eyes Plus 7/32″ Nickel Pearl
Head: STS Trilobal Dub Red- tied with a dubbing loop and teased out
A lifelong Alaskan, Steve Kahn moved at the age of nine from the “metropolis” of Anchorage to the foothills of the Chugach Mountains. A childhood of berry picking, fishing, and hunting led to a life as a big-game guide. When he wasn’t guiding in the spring and fall, he worked as a commercial fisherman and earned his pilot’s license, pursuits that took him to the far reaches of the Alaskan wilderness. He lived through some of the most important moments of the state’s history: the 1964 earthquake (the most powerful in U.S. history), the Farewell Burn wildfire, the last king crab season in Kodiak Island waters, the Exxon Valdez oil spill and cleanup, even the far-reaching effects of the 9/11 attacks.
The landscape of the essays in The Hard Way Homeextends from the tip of Admiralty Island in the southeast to the Teocalli Mountains of the interior, from the windswept Alaska Peninsula to the author’s present home on Lake Clark. These essays offer a view of Alaska that is at once introspective and adventurous. Here we find the state’s plants, animals, people, geography, politics, and culture considered from an intimate perspective, leading to hard-earned lessons about conservation, sustainability, and living well. Ever the irrepressible guide, Kahn invites readers to share his experiences and discoveries and to consider questions about a place, and a life, that are disappearing. Courtesy of University of Nebraska Press
Sight Fishing Flesh Flies to Big Rainbows in Skinny Water
I am still amazed at the tenacity of fall trout gorging on flesh. When the last eggs drift down stream, many trout do a “menu 180″ and begin to solely key in on drifting pieces of salmon flesh. Often these fish will push up into water you would never expect to see a trout. As water levels drop in the fall, carcasses will accumulate in back channels and side braids. Don’t let shallow water scare you. If a trout can keep the top of it’s head under water, it can utilize the water to feed. Watch the water, often you can spot a trout’s spotted, olive back breaking the water surface as it feeds on a salmon carcass. Like a wolf on a winter killed moose, they will tear and shake a carcass to dislodge salmon flesh. Approach these fish slow, present your fly close to the fish and hold on. An 8lb trout in 6 inches of water will explode like a cannon. Hopefully that tippet holds.
When the rivers and lakes are locked in ice here in Alaska, it can be therapeutic to head down to more Southerly latitudes and dust off the saltwater rods. Dawn, Levi and I headed down to the Yucatan this past month for some flats fishing and a dose of sun. We were joined by a number of fellow anglers of whom a couple have joined us in Alaska for trout fishing in past summers. Brian from Nomad Anglers pulled Excalibur from the stone and landed his first permit. We had a great time and caught a multitude of bonefish and the perpetually fly phobic permit. This was a “bonefish bum” trip, self guided and walking intensive, though guides were available for those less inclined to flats boot blisters. We logged a good number of miles scowering the beaches at high tide for tailing permit and fishing the back lagoons and flats during the midday sun for bonefish. During the winter of 2011 we plan to again bring fellow anglers who join us in Alaska and further explore the fly fishing opportunities south (Canada) & south (Lower 48) of the border. Email us for further information.
First permit on the first day
Bonefish
Dawn and her permit
Levi traded the fly tying vise and aircraft tools for a week on the flats
