I tie alot of flies and I tend to tie dozens of the same pattern, due to this fact I’ve run across a problem at my bench that is solved with a Chip Clip, a few inches of 1/4in weather stripping and a piece of Velcro. When I’m tying Scuds, the Black Wet Fly or any other pattern that requires several strands of a material to remain together and preferably the same length such as with the flash tail on a scud or the over body formed by a dozen or more strands of flash, I used to have to try and peel up the strands of material from my bench and either waste some to even the length out to tie it in correctly or I’d end up wasting time trying to even the length by hand all this provided I remembered to drop the stands of flash in the same spot each time. After a bit of annoyance I raided the junk drawer we keep in the kitchen and came up with a simple solution that I use often and is one of the hidden treasures on my bench, the C.C. Tool.

Simply this is a chip clip with padding added to the jaws to keep your materials safe and secure. I added a spot Velcro on the back and have it stuck to a good spot on my bench and now when I go to tie a dozen Scuds I even the lengths of three strands of Krystal Flash place them in the C.C. Tool and hang them from my bench. Each time I need that material I remove it from the clip, tie it in and when I clip it free the ends are even and I place it back in the clip maintaining the even length. My working area stays cleaner because I don’t have strands of flash laying everywhere and the don’t  lose the even length (you waste less and have a cleaner looking fly). Placing the Velcro on the clip allows me to train my brain to reach for the same spot time and time again to retrieve the materials, this will save you time especially if you don’t have to go searching for that third strand of flash that got away from you after you placed it on your bench. I estimate the cost of this bad boy to be approx. $.50. A package of chip clips from the dollar store, 3 for $1.00+$.10 of Velcro and about the same amount of weather stripping and your in business.

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Thanks George…

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Went out for a few short hours knowing the conditions are rough, weeded up water with minimal casting lanes and places to catch a decent drift. With that said I checked out this spot to see if the rains had shifted any of the obstructions around or if it removed enough of the instream vegetation to open a hole or two. I rigged a #8 Sprinkle Me Baby (Black) and left the added splitshot aside banking that the trout would come up to me. Most deeper water was so weeded it was difficult to get your fly in for even a second or two. I stuck to the edges fishing broken water that was maybe 6-18 inches deep. I got a few nice responses one of which saw a brown leaping completely out of the water in pursuit of the SMB but the weeds complicated things and I ended up not landing a single fish in three hours. Not a big deal though, I enjoyed the time in the sun taking in everything around me. Ho-humming it as it were. As I was heading out I ran into a group of deer, just one of many cool things around the stream, more than just the trout around here.

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Notes and Observations:

• Size and Prep ALL Dry Fly Hackle Before Tying!
• Be Weary of Elk/Deer Hair that contains Broken/Damaged Hair. It is a pain.
• Practice, Practice, Practice.

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Recent rain events from the last two weeks have kept most area water off, stained or muddy and a bit higher than normal for quite a while now. Clean water can almost always be found but it sometimes takes a bit of research to locate the best potential streams. Get to know a few shorter systems that are maybe difficult to fish when water levels are low and gin clear, it is after rain events that these spots pay off. If it stays gin clear 90 percent of the time it will likely fair well and will be in good condition for fishing after rain events, slightly higher and a bit stained makes it a bit easier to sneak a cast in to weary trout. I hit such a stream not long ago, enjoyed my time. Most streams I’ve seen in the last week suffered some amount of flooding. Debris and in some cases large trees were moved and re-deposited. This cycle that nature has worked out for itself by protecting one spot with a tree for a year or two then moving that tree downstream to the next hole only to protect and cover the fish there for the next year is one reason I love fishing streams. They change and evolve providing opportunity one day and stripping it away the next, just one more reason to be out as much as possible to take it all in. I fished four streams on the 29th, first was a tiny creek that was slightly stained and fished well. Browns were picking off a #18 Orange Scud. The second stream was muddy and high. I fished it for about 15-20 minutes and decided little would come of my efforts. Third was a short stop off to see a few rainbows and despite my efforts few were having anything from a #18 Orange Scud to a #14 EHC to a #6 SMB nothing was working so I blew out. Last spot saw the close of the day, the recent rain had caused a log jam but also up rooted a good portion of the instream vegetation making drifting a fly a bit easier in places. Saw Long-Horned Sedges on stream at about 7:45pm, beautiful Caddisflies with the longest antennae. Very cool, hard to catch. Home around 9:30pm.

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