Pat Cohen's Devil Drifter - Cohen's Creatures

As a fly tier and fisherman you should know who Pat Cohen is - if you don't...you really need to.  The man is widely known as a true artist with deer hair. His deer hair bugs are absolutely stunning.   His talents are not limited to hair bugs though.  Check him out on YouTube and you will see his work outside of deer hair firsthand.  He also has a website that sells all sorts super high quality materials, finished flies, tools, DVD's etc.

Last week I placed an order on Pat Cohen's website Super Fly.  I decided to try my hand at one of Pat's "Cohen Creatures - 3" Hellgrammite."  After watching Super Fly's video on YouTube I was sold.  Pat shipped the order right away and I received the shipment in a few days.  The end result is pretty dang nice <see above>.

The hellgrammites are cut from Ultra Suede and come to you white in color.  You need to color them with permanent markers....not a big deal.  I used a Sharpie...took a few minutes to get a jet black body.  You could certainly make the bugs in olive.

I will say that Pat's Carp Dub is really great stuff.  He is right when he says it doesn't get any buggier that that!  Has some sparkle, rubber legs....super buggy stuff.

Here is Pat's YouTube video on the Devil Drifter:

I'll be placing additional orders from Pat very soon. Great purchase experience and even better end product!

Last thing....I put one on the floor to see if the dogs would be fooled and my German Shepherds backed away.  They wanted no part in that ugly bug. The smallies will be lined up this summer to sample away.

St Paul Fly Tiers Event - Andy Selvig

Photo Courtesy of St Paul Fly Tiers

 Last Thursday I attended my first St Paul Fly Tiers meeting/event and it was REALLY good.  The group welcomed Andy Selvig to demonstrate how he ties stacked and/or spun deer hair bugs. The bug shown above is one of "his."  The deer hair is packed so tight you can actually sand it with sandpaper!

Andy took on the Wilderdilch pattern for the event, a swimming pattern created by fellow St Paul Fly Tier -Tony Stifter.  Andy's finished Wilderdilch 2.0 was very impressive, but I must say....Tony's original is an excellent fly in its own right (seen below).

A few years back I saw a picture of Tony's Wilderdilch and decided to try my version.

Tony's Original Wilderdilch

Smallmouth Fly Box Rendition

Anyway...Andy's deer hair creations are not meant to sit in a glass box (they are that beautiful), they are meant to be fished.  Without question the heads will survive Mack Truck style hits.  The density of the heads are formed using Pat Cohen's "Fugly" Hair Packer.  Here is a YouTube video of the tool, so you can see the scale of the beast. If you are serious about packing deer hair you should invest in one.

Here are some more pics of Andy's work from the St Paul Fly Tiers website.  The pictures really show the quality of Andy's work.  Thanks again to Andy and the St Paul Fly Tiers crew for pulling the event together and showing us Andy's unbelievable work.

Upcoming Chequamegon Bay Trip

Photo Courtesy of www.anglersallwisconsin.com

Looking forward to my early season trip to Ashland this year.  Luke and the folks at Anglers All do a fantastic job on the Chequamegon Bay. The smallies are a real blast!

My son and Captain Luke from our 2017 trip