Preparation work for Tennessee

A trip that was a thought, then became a tentative plan, then became recently solidified has gotten me in trout bug mode at the vise for the first time in a while.  I'm prepping for a weekend trip to Eastern TN to fish a couple of the more popular tailwaters in the area.  Sulphur dries, emergers, small pheasant tails, and lots of midges are in order to refill boxes I depleted on last year's trips to the area.  Here's a sample of what has been hatching in SE Ohio in my tying room.

This soft hackle/emerger is a somewhat new-to-me idea, hybridizing a shotglass-style emerger pattern into a sulphur soft hackle.  The translucent yellow bead is meant to represent the emergent gas bubble.  I have high hopes for this one.

Lots and lots and lots of midges have been cranked out, and this box is my new midge box to supplement the already full C&F midge box.  Zebra midges in multiple colors, including a new-to-me attractor orange zebra midge and a tandem midge pattern tied on a Daiichi "swimming nymph" hook.  There's also a few small bunny midges and some Shop Vac pattern in size 20 thrown in there.  I'll add some $3 Dip midges to this box and it will be done.

Lastly, I cranked out a few more small (size 6) Bow River Buggers in locally popular bugger/leech color combos of brown/black/olive.  I don't usually throw a lot of streamer patterns there during non-generation periods, but I might give these a swim test if bug activity is slow.

Hopefully there will be a good follow-up post to this one with some of these patterns (and others) stuck in the jaws of rainbows and browns.  I have actually not yet caught a trout in 2016, so crossing some coldwater fishing off the to-do list will be a good experience either way.