Fresh Off the Vise

I was able to sit down for a little while at the bench over the weekend.  Not a ton of time, but enough to get a few things done.  I am planning a Mad River trip for shortly after Christmas and wanted to top off my streamer boxes with a few patterns to show the larger browns.  Usually, trips to the Mad (for me) come down to a decision: do I want to nymph fish and expect to catch a lot of smaller trout, or do I want to swing for the fences and fish bigger streamers and possibly get skunked.  In the past, I have liked catching fish too much to swing for the fences, but not this time.  I'll be carrying a 7wt and a pack full of meaty offerings to try and coerce a bigger eat.

On my last trip over to western Ohio, I did fish a few smaller sculpin patterns with some success.  One thing I noticed, though, was lots of short strikes on the rabbit strip tail.  The larger of the fish I landed, about 15", crushed the sculpin and got the hook, but I did miss several other fish.  I borrowed from the "sculpzilla" (http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/print.cfm?parentID=153) hook attachment design to put a hook in the tail to nail the short strikers.  The rest of the sculpin pattern I kept the same.  It's a quick, easy streamer that has a good profile in the water.

I also re-stocked my supply of Complex Twist Bow River Buggers after I donated a few to a TU raffle last month.  I thought these color combos should get some attention from the trout.  I absolutely love the way these streamers move and breathe in the water, and they are a really fun pattern to tie.

The larger streamers I will be taking with me that I also plan to fish are Mike Schmidt's articulated Maraceiver patterns.  I did a few in yellow/tan and a couple in an olive/white/pink rainbow trout color combination.  These are serious meals.

On a non-trout tangent, I also promised a glimpse at a new design for a mop fly this week.  As promised, here is an as-yet-unnamed carp fly I came up with using a car detailing mop segment as the tail.  This pattern looks really good in the test tank.  The pattern is lightly weighted with lead eyes (powder painted to blend in) for a good slow sink rate in shallow water.  It's buggy, rides point-up, and the mop segment has a little wiggle to it.  Hopefully it tests well come spring time on the carp flats.