Northwind Lodge - Ely, MN

We just booked our family fishing trip at Northwind Lodge in Ely, MN. I visited Northwind in the summer of 1989 when I graduated from High School. Great memories...

Now I am bringing my family up there to fish, hike, swim and relax. I got the report that Lake Jasper is exploding with smallmouth activity. Sounds like a promising trip for sure.

Cabin #7 here we come!

HMH Starter Tube Vise $24.95

This is the HMH Starter Tube Vise, a fantasically effective and inexpensive way to get started tying tube flies. Heck, I attended seminar by Bob Nasby and he uses this little tool. Anything that is good enough for Bob Nasby is good enough for me.

The starter kit retails for $24.95 and comes with 2 mandrels that prevent the tube from being squished when the vise it tightened. As you can see it clamps in your traditional fly vise!

Tube flies are my new obsession. They may not be as beautiful as traditional flies, but they sure are durable! More on the benefits of tube flies later.

Give this little vise a shot if you are interested in tubeology....it's a practical way to get started!

Dual Duty Thread

When I attended Curt Nordrum's foam bug seminar a few months back I noticed he used a thread that was not available at my local fly shop. Curt uses a thread called Dual Duty that is available at local fabric shops. The stuff is bulletproof and much cheaper than Uni or something stronger like Gel Spun!

Nothing worse than spinning deer hair or attaching foam to a hook and having the thread break. This thread will not break. Curt says it soaks up head cement and glues much better than many standard fly tying threads.

One last thing....Curt swears by 3 colors...orange, gray and olive. I made the switch to Dual Duty and my flies are much more durable.

Try Joann's if you have a store locally or here is a link.

Curt Nordrum - The God of Sheet Foam!

I attended another great seminar today at Bob Mitchell's...headed up by Curt Nordrum. Curt is the God of foam! After about 60 minutes I had learned that foam flies don't have to be perfect to catch fish. Curt is a great tyer, but not really a perfectionist. A breath of fresh air from the trout snobs that always seem to be stationed at the fly shop for these events.

This pattern is called The Slider or The Seagull and is by far my favorite tie of the Curt's presentation. He had some other patterns that were derivatives of Jack Garside's creations.

Curt also tied up Hot Lips (below), Jeremiah was a Bullfrog, Blockhead poppers and many other simple but extremely deadly foam patterns geared toward what else....Smallmouth Bass!

Curt was a great presenter because of his practicality. He uses sewing thread, el cheapo Aberdeen (cricket) hooks, $1 sheet foam, super glue, chenille and a bunch of homemade tools. His barb crimper was an old dental tool and his bodkin was a broken section of bamboo fly rod with a needle insert! I'll take ingenuity over fancy anytime!

Now to convert these to tube flies....

Ugga Booga

Recipe
Hook:  Tiemco 8089 (Size 6)
Thread: Olive Uni
Tail:  Olive Marabou/Green Sili-legs
Body:  Brown/Green Variegated Chenille
Collar:  Smallmouth Fly Box Secret PC
Weight:  Small Nickel Plated Conehead

This is a promising new pattern I am working on using a funky new material I got from an upholstery catalog.  I will continue to make improvements, but this one looks deadly right out of the gates!

I was going to call it the Smallie Siren because the fibers call the smallmouth like the sirens in mythology.  The fibers almost sing!  My son said it "looks like a giant booger," I called it the ugga booga.

The Water Squirrel

Recipe

Hook: Mustad Streamer Hook (Size 2)
Thread: Orange Uni
Tail: Red Squirrel Zonker
Body: Red Squirrel Zonker
Legs: Orange Rubber Legs
Eyes: Plated Dumbbell

This poor squirrel fell victim to my female German Shepherd. A little orange dye and a razor blade and we had some flies.

This is one buggy looking pattern. Nothing to it....on zonker, legs and plated dumbbell eye.

Those city squirrels are good for something!

Fabric Fusion

 

The fly is no big deal, just an all purpose pattern I tie up for smallies and pike.   I do like the Hareline Yak Fur though,,,,cool stuff.

I used Aleene's Fabric Fusion for the head and I have to admit this stuff is great.  Water based, goes on thick and is nice and clear (see below).  I want my son to start fly tying and I don't want him using toxic adhesives.  Fabric Fusion is a very nice alternative to epoxy.  

I picked my bottle up at WalMart for $4.  Check in the fabric section...

Give it a whirl and let me know what you think.