Hatches Magazine & Net Prototypes

Well, much to my surprise, this little blog is being read by more people than I thought. I recently have been in contact with the content director for Hatches Magazine and my tutorial on tying the Ska-opper is being posted on their website! This new connection will hopefully lead to better quality tutorials for the faithful readers of this blog as well as Hatches. Most people that know me know I have a passion for photography and hopefully this new inspiration will lead to better quality photography of the tying process. Anyway, here's the link to the write-up on Hatches: The Ska-Opper

In other news, Gotta Stay Fly is starting to make headway in other areas. We should have some dope logo t-shirts and stickers on the way here soon. We've been making strides in a new product also, so be on the lookout for GSF nets! Daniel has been busy cranking out some new designs. In the past, we've lost some large fish due to the fact our poorly designed nets couldn't handle a big fish flopping around. We've also both expressed our interests in the aesthetic aspects of a quality wood framed net, but our discord for the high price tag associated with them has been a negative factor. Most of the wooden nets out on the market are more like art pieces than a functional tool for fishing. With our prototype nets, Daniel has focused on creating a quality wooden net that is meant to be used frequently and without a huge price tag. Daniel and I have collaborated with this idea and he has built a series of nets that serve our functional needs as well as be pleasing aesthetically. We are striving to build a quality, useful net that the serious fly fisherman and/or guide can be confident in using to land the fish of their life or for a client. Here's an example of the second prototype!



Let us know what you think!

Stay fly,
T

Float Video and Lower Stanislaus Report

Happy Friday everyone! After this storm that rolled through this week hopefully everyone can find some time on the water this weekend (or go skiing!). Anyway, Daniel and I managed to squeeze in a float on President's day down the Stanislaus from Knight's Ferry to Orange Blossom. I hadn't been able to float the Stan in a long time and was anxious to check it out. Needless to say, it was tough but we managed a good number of fish, including a nice 17"er. After talking to a buddy who floats the Stan regularly, he was glad to see a fish of that size come out of the lower Stan. Most of his floats in the last year were always good numbered days, but the fish size was typically in the 11-12" range. I don't doubt the that there are some pigs in there but like all good things they don't come easy. With all the rafting pressure and poaching in the spring and summertime, those fish have grown accustomed to people. Also, on a day like the one we floated, crystal clear water clarity can be an issue. One must first have a suitable fly to match the food sources and must present it well. After turning over some rocks and scoping the fly boxes, what worked the best for us were small nymphs in the size 18-20 range. As you'll see in the video these small flies could be the reason why I missed so many fish (or I just suck, one of the two)! In particular, small baetis and PMD nymphs like the Barr PMD emerger and the Gilligan baetis (I'll make the next tying segment this fly) were the best producers. There were also a ton of hydropsyche caddis larvae (in the size 14-16 range) on the rocks I pulled up, and I did manage one fish on a hydropsyche pattern, so that's some additional food for thought. Also, Gotta Stay Fly added a new camera to the arsenal! It's the new GoPro HD Hero 2 and I must say that it is far superior to the original. Lots of new features! I'd definitely recommend checking it out. Hopefully we'll be adding a dedicated DSLR camera with video to the mix here soon to really push the possibilities of what we produce footage-wise. Before we get to the video, make sure and go check out a video on the Upper Sac that our friend Matt and his buddy Anthony put together called February Freestones. It's a dope video! Also check out Anthony's guide service, AC Fly Fishing, if you want to book a day on the Sac, Klamath, or Yuba! I've seen some photos of the fish he's pulled out of these rivers and they're impressive to say the least. Well, on to the video! Hope everyone enjoys this short!

Stay fly and get outside this weekend!

T

The Almighty Sex Dungeon

This weeks tying segment will be dedicated to what is quickly becoming one of my favorite big fish flies. The Sex Dungeon (originally tied by Kelly Galloup) is one of the best articulated streamer patterns. Kelly originally got the idea for this fly from a classic gear plug known as the broke-back Rapala. The sex dungeon's undulating action and movement in the water are what make this fly deadly. Based on what Kelly describes as "predator theory," this fly will instinctively get the hogs to slam it. In the short time period I've been fishing this fly, I've managed to get some of my largest fish of the season. Daniel bagged his biggest rainbow to date, a nice 22-23" thick rainbow, on an olive sex dungeon (see photo above). Although, that being said, the little guys still sometimes don't realize what they chase down and this fly will get quite a few average sized fish too. Anyway, let's get to tying!

Materials
Hook: Tiemco 5263 #2 (Front) & #4 (Rear)
Thread: Danville 210 Denier, Olive
Tail: Olive Marabou & Olive Krystal Flash
Body: Medium Olive Ice Chenille
Hackle: Barred Olive Schlappen
Legs: Barred Crazy Legs, Olive/Green Flake
Articulated Connection: Berkeley Fireline 30lb test, Small red glass bead
Head: Deer Hair, Olive
Eyes: Large Pseudo Eyes, Yellow
Special Tools: Double edged razor blade

1. Put the rear hook in the vice and tie in a tuff of marabou for the tail.


2. Tie in some strands of krystal flash on each side of the tail. Tie in the schlappen feather and ice chenille at the tie in point.


3. Wrap the chenille forward. Leave some room to tie in the legs.


4. Palmer the schlappen forward. Tie in the legs at the head of the fly.


5. Remove the rear hook and put the front hook in the vice. Loop the rear hook and bead with the Fireline and tie in. Make sure to double back the Fireline to prevent it from coming loose. Also, leave about 40% of shank up by the eye free to make the head.


6. Repeat the steps from the rear hook except for the tail, but make sure to still leave that room for the head. Tie in the the eyes under the hook shank as well.


7. With 3 wraps of thread, spin in the deer hair collar.


8. Still with the thread behind the eyes, tie in another clump of deer hair. This clump shouldn't spin and remain mostly on top of the hook shank. Advance the thread in front of the eyes and spin in one last clump of deer hair. Next, just whip finish at the hook eye.


9. With a double edged razor blade shave a rounded head with a flat underside.


10. Closer view from the front of the head.


11. The finished Sex Dungeon!


Charlie Craven (of Charlie's Fly Box) also has a variation of this fly. Not liking the gap between the hooks, Charlie ties a variation of this fly with rabbit strips to close that gap. Here's my tie of Charlie's variation in orange.


Stay fly,
T

Tying the Ska-opper (Steelhead Popper)

*First off, special thanks to everyone who checked out and viewed our video, Central Valley Bass'n on the Fly! We recently just hit 1,000 views and as of this post, we are at 1,012! This is our first video to break the 1,000 views mark and we're hoping to have many more in the future!

Next in the GSF tying segments, I'll be twisting up a Ska-opper. Developed for summer-run steelhead on the North Umpqua by Scott Howell, the Ska-opper is one of those patterns that is kind of a cross between a few flies. It's basically a little bit of a muddler, gurgler, and a bass popper. Made famous in Skagit Master 2, this fly can definitely elicit some aggressive takes from some pissed off steelhead! As a side note, when I first was going through the process of tying this pattern myself, I noticed that the commercialized versions are tied slightly differently than how Scott ties them in Skagit Master 2. That being said, I follow the pattern tied in the movie.

Materials
Hook: Tiemco 300 Size 6
Thread: Danville 210 Denier, Tan
Tail: Root Beer Krystal Flash
Tag: Gold Tinsel
Body: Polypro Yarn, Orange
Legs: Grizzly barred Medium Round, Neon Orange
Throat: Guinea, Orange
Head: Deer Hair
Overbody: 2mm Foam, Brown
Special tools: Double edged razor blade (found at any small drug store)

1. Tie in the tinsel tag. Start wrapping the tag where the hook point begins. Next, tie in the krystal flash at about the 60% mark. Clip it so it extends just a bit past the bend of the hook.


2. Cut out a v-shaped piece of foam like this.


3. At about the 25% mark, tie in the foam and continue back to the tie in point at the 60% mark. Do the same for the yarn as well.


4. Tie in the legs with figure 8 wraps. Have one just ahead of the tie in point and one at about the 30% mark.


5. Wrap the yarn forward and tie it off at the 25% mark.


6. Tie in a guinea feather and wrap it in to create the throat.


7. These next steps are the trickiest part of the fly to get right. Stack a clump of deer hair and make two wraps around the hair as if you were spinning it in, but instead of letting go and letting it spin, just hold on to the hair. From there, pull the butt ends of the hair downward, leaving the pointed tips up. Pack the hair and get ready for another clump.


8. Tie in 2 more clumps the same way.


9. Invert the vise and take one last clump and clip the tips off. Tie it in the same way as before but on the bottom of the hook shank.


10. Return the vise to the upright position and cut a small path down the middle of the fly for the foam to rest on.


11. Pull the foam over and tie off.


12. Next is the tedious part. Take the fly out of the vise and start shaving it. The easiest way to get the cleanest looking head is to use a double-edged razor blade. Bend the blade to get that nice curved head. Then just use scissors to cut the stubborn butt ends out of the way. The goal is to create the round head with a little bit of the deer hair pointing out the back of the fly like wings. Be careful also with the razor not to cut off the guinea or the legs!


13. When the hair is all cut and shaved the underside of the fly should look like this.


14. The finished Ska-opper!


For more info on this fly and how to fish it, check out Skagit Master 2!

Stay fly
T

Tying the Morrish Medusa

I've been bitten by the steelhead bug and I have a feeling there is no cure. I managed to hook and land my first one a few months ago and on the swing no less! 2012 has been pretty dry so far but there is a decent sized storm looming on the horizon. Hopefully this will push some large adults into the coastal river systems! Anyways, I've been stocking my fly box with some steelhead patterns and here is one I've added tonight.

The Morrish Medush (Originally tied by Ken Morrish)
Hook: 25mm Waddington Shank with a size 1 octopus trailer (joined with 30lb Berkeley Fireline)
Thread: 6/0 Black
Tail: Red Krystal Flash
Body: Black ice chenille
Wing: Black rabbit strip and three strands on each side of black ostrich
Overwing: Grizzly saddle hackles
Collar: Red Marabou
Eyes: Large lead eyes
Head: Black rabbit strip fibers spun in a dubbing loop

1. Tie in a clump of krystal flash at the rear of the shank. The flash should extend to the end of the trailer hook.


2. This step I just added to cover the shank. Tie in and wrap some black ice chenille and wrap to the 50% point on the shank.


3. Tie in a black rabbit strip directly on top of the shank. Make sure the rabbit strip extends slightly past the trailer hook. Also I forgot to tie in the lead eyes at the beginning. Just tie those in as well in a figure 8 pattern under the hook shank.


4. Then add 3 black ostrich hurls to each side of the shank.


5. Next, tie in the grizzly hackle overwing. One hackle goes on each side. Make sure the hackles extend to about the length of the rabbit strip.


6. The marabou is next. You can either wrap the marabou collar in or just tie in a clump on top and one on bottom like I did here.


7. The hardest part of this fly is next. Create a dubbing loop and insert a black rabbit strip with the leather still on it. Then carefully cut off the leather and spin just the rabbit hair in the dubbing loop.


8. Finally just palmer the rabbit hair in with some turns in back, figure 8 through the lead eyes, and make a few turns at the head. Whip finish and voila! The finished fly! (Note: The original pattern uses hen saddle hackles as fins on the both sides of the fly but I chose to just leave those out)


As always.....stay fly

Opening Day on the Lower Valley Rivers!

My dad and I jump started 2012 on the Merced River by floating from the Crocker Huffman dam all the way to Snelling Road. Daniel and I had done this float a few years back and I was anxious to see some of the spots not accessible from the road again. Within 5 minutes of wetting the line, Dad was into a fish, and that fish set the tempo for the rest of the day. Egg/glow bug/sucker spawn patterns seemed to be the ticket for us. Only 1 fish came on a different fly. With catching great numbers of fish typically means a lot of smaller fish in a general sense, but I did manage to nab a nice healthy 18 incher too! All in all it was a great day to get out and fish with my dad. We don't get out there together as often as we used to but it's definitely special to me when we do. I would recommend this float to anyone with a smaller pontoon and a general sense of how to navigate a bit of whitewater. The rapids are nothing extreme by any sense of the word but can definitely put you in a bad position if you are unsure of what you are doing. There are a lot of great wild fish in that section of river!

Stay fly

The Bass'n Video!

For those who haven't seen it already! Featured on The Orvis blog and Fly Fishing for Bass! This video is a compilation of the GSF crew and our bassing adventures this past year. All of it was shot with GoPro video cameras and was only shot on small waters in the Central Valley in CA. No Delta. No Reservoirs. We basically took Google Maps and searched out small bodies of water within an hour of home and went at it and this is what we came up with. Enjoy and Stay Fly!