Time Well Spent

Tonight has got to be one of the best nights I have had in a very long time. Being a divorced father, I don't feel like I ever get to spend enough time with my two daughters. While they are here, I try to spend as much quality time with them as I possibly can. Tonight, while my youngest daughter was up in her room playing on her computer, my oldest and I got to talking about the future, where she is going to go to college and what she plans on studying. Our conversation eventually came around to how much college is going to cost and while I will not be able to cover the costs completely, I will help as much as I can. Part of this plan is to try to leverage this blog and my fly tying, if at all possible. While I do not want to get into production fly tying, I figure I can tie up an extra dozen flies each night and try to sell them on eBay or Craigslist. While I cannot promise anything, every extra dollar will help. This brought a big smile to her face. We headed to the closet to spend a few more hours talking and to tie up a few flies.

While working on some more Bully's Bluegill Spiders, I happened to notice all the scraps of chenille I had accumulated during our work. My first thought was "Man, that is a lot of waste." Then it dawned on me, I can use all that chenille to tie up some Green Rock Worms! Why let all that go to a landfill?

There are several pattern imitating the green rock worm, but I like how this particular one moves in the water. Besides, this is a very simple pattern, using just a few readily available materials. It doesn't get any better than that!

Green Rock Worm

Green Rock Worm

Hook: Tiemco TMC2457 #18

Thread: Uni 8/0 Black

Body: Caddis Green Ultra Chenille

Thorax: Peacock Herl

Step One

Start Thread

Step Two

Tie in Chenille

Step Three

Tie In Peacock Herl

Step Four

Wrap Peacock Herl Forward

Step Five

Whip Finish, Trim Body to Length and Singe End of Chenille With a Lighter to Create Tapered Body

The Two C's: Crowes and Caddis

One thing you will quickly notice is that I have an affinity for jam bands, blues guitar and a little bit of good ole rock and roll. Today while flipping through my CDs The Black Crowes War Paint screamed listen to me.  What a fantastic album.  While listening to Evergreen I started thinking about the caddis hatches on the Holy Waters. For those that have never fished the Main Branch of the Au Sable River the flies only section from  Burton's Landing to Wakeley Bridge is affectionately as the Holy Waters. In my opinion this is by far the best trout fishing in Michigan if not in the entire country. Throughout the summer from mid-afternoon until dusk there always seems to be some sort of caddis on the water.  For this reason I always carried a good selection of Elk Hair Caddis.

Elk Hair Caddis

Hook: Mustad 94840 #8-14
Thread: Uni 8/0 Color To Match Natural
Rib: Fine Copper or Gold Wire
Body: Rabbit Dubbing Color To Match Natural
Hackle: Brown or Ginger Palmered
Wing: Tan Elk Hair

Starting Over

In the famous words of Alphonse Soady, "If you don't know where to start, go back to the beginning." I guess that is the best place to start this blog.

For as long as I can remember I have always enjoyed being in the outdoors especially hunting and fishing.  Lucky for me my dad loved the same things and was willing to teach me everything he knew. At this point in time we were into the more traditional fishing methods like bait fishing and using artifical lures.  When I was attending college my dad decided to take up the hobby of fly tying.  When I left school he taught me a few things but I really wasn't interested at the time.  Let's fast forward a few years. I'm now married and have two wonderful daughters and in search of a hobby of my own. Thinking back to watching my father tying flys I figured that may be the hobby for me.  Well I was hooked (no pun intended) from day one.  Needless to say I started to get a nice little stock pile of flys.  I guess that is a good enough reason to start fly fishing.

Let's fast forward ten years. Well lets just say life happens and I got way from doing the things I loved. I am now remarried and golf has become my recreational activity of choice. However something has been missing. While watching my wife working on several different scrap booking projects it occured to me that I missed fly tying. 

I guess it's a good thing I didn't get rid of all my supplies because I have decided to start tying flies again. Can I pick up where I left off?  Can it really be as easy as riding a bike?  What things have changed from when I was tying all the time?  Follow me along on my adventure and let's learn a few things together along the way.