These are 24 highly practical and beautifully tied flies. David Dempsey, a native Californian and former guide, has traveled the world fly fishing. He has taught fly fishing and fly tying for over 30 years, was the founding president of the Mt Tamalpais Fly Fishers, and has taught a fly tying class for years at the College of Marin. Dave's expertise on what makes a good fly good and exactly when and where to use it makes these flies as good as they come. They are dead solid in a tough watershed like the Lower Yuba River in California as well as the Missouri in Montana. It's a pleasure to offer these flies. Dave has provided some insight into what he has donated. It gives some insight into his expertise and insight and why this is a great assortment.
These are flies that catch fish consistently. The assortment includes "The Perfect" which is a variation of a Flashback Pheasant Tail nymph, tied in a mix of subtle color and size variations to match all those insects lumped together as "Blue Wing Olives" --and especially the Baetis. This shaggy looking fly is tied with ostrich to give it more of a suggestion of life and movement--maybe the pulsing of the gills?
The next fly is part Paranymph, Quigley Cripple and Klinkhammer. The Quigley Cripple is brilliant but never really caught on commercially with the exception of the Hexagenia Cripple. The cripple represents those bugs struggling at the surface to free themselves of their nymphal shuck. The wing is typically not fully free of the wing case so it is pitched forward and shorter. Quigley also used a soft absorbent material for the tail to both sink the rear half of the fly and to mimic the somewhat gelatinous partial empty shuck. I use the Klinkhammer style hook to better capture the way the nymph hangs at the surface (as compared to just drifting in the film) and I use a foam post to add a little more flotation.
Lastly, the "Skirtlifters", (Dave’s lighthearted name for these effective flies based on his nickname, Skirt). Most caddis patterns fail to capture the tent wing shape of the adult or the emerging pupa in its "pharate sheath". We instead have patterns that do work in faster water. The Skirtlifter dry is tied with a deer hair wing and is designed to sit low in the water (no hackle) on that wing, mimicking a shucking caddis. Gary LaFontaine was the first that I know of to incorporate the pupal sheath in a pattern and Tim Fox used microchenille to create a more realistic body shape so I borrowed from both and use the overbody/underbody concept with the microchenille body.
The Skirtlifter Wet is, well, an emerging PHARATE caddis fished deep or on a swing. This and the dry version are also "shaggy dogs" as one never actually knows the exact stage any given fish has keyed in on. Is the insect still fully encased in the pupal sheath or is the sheath trailing behind the emerging insect? I incorporate both to some degree. FYI "shucking" (or shedding of the pupal sheath) leaves an insect that much more vulnerable--which your basic well fed wild trout will key in on!
These are flies that catch fish consistently. The assortment includes "The Perfect" which is a variation of a Flashback Pheasant Tail nymph, tied in a mix of subtle color and size variations to match all those insects lumped together as "Blue Wing Olives" --and especially the Baetis. This shaggy looking fly is tied with ostrich to give it more of a suggestion of life and movement--maybe the pulsing of the gills?
The next fly is part Paranymph, Quigley Cripple and Klinkhammer. The Quigley Cripple is brilliant but never really caught on commercially with the exception of the Hexagenia Cripple. The cripple represents those bugs struggling at the surface to free themselves of their nymphal shuck. The wing is typically not fully free of the wing case so it is pitched forward and shorter. Quigley also used a soft absorbent material for the tail to both sink the rear half of the fly and to mimic the somewhat gelatinous partial empty shuck. I use the Klinkhammer style hook to better capture the way the nymph hangs at the surface (as compared to just drifting in the film) and I use a foam post to add a little more flotation.
Lastly, the "Skirtlifters", (Dave’s lighthearted name for these effective flies based on his nickname, Skirt). Most caddis patterns fail to capture the tent wing shape of the adult or the emerging pupa in its "pharate sheath". We instead have patterns that do work in faster water. The Skirtlifter dry is tied with a deer hair wing and is designed to sit low in the water (no hackle) on that wing, mimicking a shucking caddis. Gary LaFontaine was the first that I know of to incorporate the pupal sheath in a pattern and Tim Fox used microchenille to create a more realistic body shape so I borrowed from both and use the overbody/underbody concept with the microchenille body.
The Skirtlifter Wet is, well, an emerging PHARATE caddis fished deep or on a swing. This and the dry version are also "shaggy dogs" as one never actually knows the exact stage any given fish has keyed in on. Is the insect still fully encased in the pupal sheath or is the sheath trailing behind the emerging insect? I incorporate both to some degree. FYI "shucking" (or shedding of the pupal sheath) leaves an insect that much more vulnerable--which your basic well fed wild trout will key in on!
$60 - 0 bids
Minimum Bid Increment:
$10
Value:
$150
Donated By:
David Dempsey