Fly of The Week
Mitchell Creek Maribou
The Mitchell Creek Marabou is one of the best early season flies I have ever used.
I could tie it on tomorrow and leave it on till well after the smelt are long gone.
Make sure to tie it in a variety of sizes. I usually start out tying on a Mustad 94720 - 8X long streamer hook either in Size 4 or 2. The adult spawning smelt is big as should be your selection of early season streamers. As the season progresses I fish it in smaller sizes. It's not that hard to tie once you get the hang of dealing with marabou.
Hook - Mustad 94720 #2-4
Daiichi 2220 #2-6
Thread - Red for the butt and collar
White while tying on the wing and throat
Body - X-small E-Z Shape body material
Throat- White marabou
Wing - Pearl Krystal Flash over which is gray marabou
Make the body using red thread on the butt and white thread on the head. Lacquer the entire length of the body. E-Z shape body material is extremely tough but lacquering the threads and body will allow it to hold-up even longer.
Wet the white marabou to made it more manageable, measure it the length of the hook then tie it down but facing away from the hook. You'll bend it back over the hook and tie it down later. Now do the same with your gray marabou over which will go 8-10 strands of pearl krystal flash, all tied forward of the hook using white thread so it won't show through the finished product.
Attach red thread to tie the feathers down, bend back the gray marabou and krystal flash and attach to the hook, you'll only need a few wraps. Do the same with the white marabou. The red thread makes a nice collar. If the marabou is too fluffy and not very manageable just wet your fingers then wet the feathers a bit. You'll find it will be easier to work with. Finally lacquer the head a number of times to give it a glossy finish you will be able to paint eyes on. You can also stick holographic eyes on in between final coats of lacquer.
Make sure you stand in the shadows when you tie it on so fish won't jump out of the river after it. I'm not kidding, the Mitchell Creek Marabou is one of those unbelievably productive flies. I rank it up there with the Gray Ghost.
Ever Chase the Smelt Runs?
As the snow pack leaves the hillsides and heavy run-off begins to subside the entire population of two year old smelt begin gathering in massive numbers at the mouth of rivers and streams waiting for the signal to head upstream to spawn. Once the high mid-day sun melts most of the snow pack the ground begins to warm resulting in a warming of the stream water. As the inflow of water to the lake creeps over 40 degrees F smelt begin to make their spawning runs under the cover of darkness then return to the lake as dawn breaks.
With this concentration of food predators are never far away. I believe at times like these 90 % of the fish will be in 10 % of the lake. This is truly a banquet and everyone's invited.
There is often a short window of opportunity that lasts no more than a week in any given spot. If you do some homework you can chase runs all the way up the state. It's no different than chasing hatches, hitting the run is the hard part, it's the adventure we crave. To imitate the beast is the easy part and now is a great time to extend our season and spin some thread.
As you know there are countless smelt patterns, and tradition is at it's peak when it comes to creating smelt look alikes. They're in everyone's streamer wallet.
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E-Z Smelt
Nothin' but synthetics.
We call it the E-Z Smelt for two reasons, the name of the material used , E-Z Shape Body Material and it's so easy to tie.
Material needed :E-Z Smelt
Hook - Size 2 to 6 Mustad # 94720
(the longer the shank the better)
Thread - Gray 3/0 Mono Cord
Body - Pearl E-Z Shape body material
Black permanent marker to color the top
Eye - Painted white with a black pupil or holographic adhesive eyes.
Throat - Red lacquer
E-Z Shape body material is available in a number of sizes. Generally the larger the fly or bait you are trying to imitate the larger the material. We use extra small, small and medium for our E-Z Smelts.
First cut a section of E-Z Shape material slightly longer than the hook. Now hold the piece in one hand and tie one end tightly closed to form a tail, whip finish to secure.
Feed the eye of your hook into the body of the hollow E-Z Shape material then slide the hook forward till the eye extends out the open end of the E-Z Shape material. Tie the front securely to the hook behind the eye and whip finish.
It's that easy. Lacquer the head and tail threads, three coats should be enough.
You can apply adhesive eyes then lacquer again to secure them from falling off when fished or paint a white eye with a black pupil. I use a dubbing needle to apply a small amount of red lacquer as the throat.
Finally use the permanent black marker along the top for color. You can use any color permanent marker to add color to the sides. I like to add a little olive or purple.
The finished product looks as good as the real thing. Use it with a sinking line wherever smelts are gathered and you will get results.
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Magog Smelt
The Magog Smelt originated long ago for fishing landlocked salmon in the Memphremagog Lake area near the border of Quebec and Vermont. Many fishermen have heard the name but few keep a supply in their fly boxes. We use them in a variety of sizes but prefer a larger size in the spring when the adult spawning smelt is around.
Materials needed:
Hook - Daichii 2220 # 4-8
Mustad 94720 8X long #2-4
Thread - 6/0 black
Tail - Teal (optional)
Body - Flat silver mylar
Rib - Small oval tinsel
Wing - Small amount of white bucktail over which is yellow bucktail over which is purple bucktail over which is 4 strands of peacock herl.
Throat - Red hackle barbules
Cheeks - Barred teal
Early in the season anything that eats smelt will hit a Magog Smelt. Fish with a sinking line from ice out till the smelt disperse after the spawn. Rumor has it if you tie some on large salt water hooks, stripers will gobble'em up.
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Shufelt Special
One of the best any season streamers ever created !!
Originated long ago by local fishing legend, Robert (Bobby) Shufelt of Greenville. The Shufelt Special is one of the most widely used, productive, attractor patterns in the Moosehead Lake Region. It doesn't seem to matter when or where, landlocked salmon and brookies cannot resist the action this fly displays. We even receive custom orders to tie them on stainless hooks for use on the flats in Florida.
shufelt special
Materials needed:
Hook - Daiichi #2220 Size 2 - 10
Thread - 6/0 black
Tail - Golden pheasant tippet feather
Body - Flat silver mylar
Wing - Yellow bucktail over which is red bucktail over which is a full
white marabou feather
Eye - Painted white with black pupil (optional)
You are going to want to tie a generous supply of this jewel. Your pals won't let you get away with hoarding your "new favorite" fly from them very long.
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Jungle Cock Dragon Fly Nymph
Materials Needed:
Hook - Daiichi #2220 Size 6 or 8
Thread - 6/0 black
Body - Medium olive, brown or black chenille
Wing - Jungle Cock saddle hackle
Collar - Olive, brown or black saddle hackle
If you want to weight the nymph your first step will involve winding non-lead wire along the hook shank.
Next attach the chenille behind the eye then wrap to the rear of the hook. Now wrap the thread over the chenille to the rear of the hook and back to the head to secure the first layer of chenille firmly to the hook. Now apply a bit of glue to the chenille, then wrap the chenille back to the head. Be sure to leave some room where you will apply the hackle.
Attach 2 jungle cock saddle hackle flat along the back. Take care not to extend the feathers beyond the bend of the hook.
Finally tie the saddle hackle on at the head and wrap 3 or 4 turns around the hook. Secure and tie back the hackle. Finish and apply a couple of coats of glue to the head.
This is a very simple fly to tie and extremely effective on early season trout cruising the shoreline of any pond in search of an easy meal. There are many species of dragon flies so tie plenty in olive, brown or black and you're buddies will be wondering why you're having all the early season action.
You can find this fly and all the materials you'll need to tie it in our on-line catalog.
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Dragons of the Small Ponds
As soon as the ice leaves any small pond the high, mid-day sun begins to warm the water a few degrees along the sunny shore stimulating increased foraging by tiny aquatic creatures feasting on millions of microoganisms. As a result dragon fly nymphs begin prowling the shallows feeding on the mayfly and caddis fly nymphs scurring about. Next in line are the hungry trout cruising the sunny shoreline picking up the vulnerable dragon fly nymphs as they casually walk along the bottom feeding.
A sink-tip or slow sinking line is just the ticket for casting dragon fly nymphs along the drop-off near the shallow shore. Cast parallel to the shore along the drop, then use long, slow retrieves keeping your dragon fly imitation just off bottom.
When a fish takes, set the hook with a 6" jerk from your stripping hand rather than lifting the rod-tip like we do when using dries. By using a strip-set you only pull the fly a few inches from the fish, if you haven't already hooked him, enticing the fish to strike again and they will. If you lift the rod-tip in an attempt to set the hook you will move the fly a few feet and out of the fish's vision spoiling your chances of another take.
Until the dragonflies start flying about this is a deadly technique for early season trout or any other fish that my be in your favorite small pond.
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