LLFS Fly Patterns

A word about fly design. Since opening the Little Lehigh Fly Shop in 1993, we've made some observations about fly design. The flies that work the best sell the most. The flies that sell the most have two things in common. #1 They are easy to tie. #2 They look the same from all directiions. Real flies don't tumble. Your imitation does. Wild fish aren't used to seeing the stomach of a bug, then the side, then the top. I believe flies that look the same from all sides reduce this problen. Remember, all wild fish want to see is whats normal. Some examples of flies pocessing this quality: Al's Rat Al's Trico LLFS Cranefly LLFS Sulphur Nymph Honeybug Inchworms Ants Beadheads Wooley Buggers Griffiths Gnats As we develop this web site, we intend to expand on this discussion with tying instructions etc. We would appreciate your comment. We are much more interesred in learning "the truth" than being right. We've listed some fly patterns for the most successful flies on the Little Lehigh below.

Al's Rat

BODY-Brown Monocord. Start the thread 2 hook eye lengths behind the eye. Wrap thread to the hook point, back to the starting position, then back to the bend of the hook. Return the thread to the starting position. Continue forward with the thread one hook eye length?. Dubbing-Dub very sparsely with muskrat underfur. Wind dubbing over the area two hook eyes behind the hook eye. Whip finish a head over the first hook eye. Don't settle for a half hitch, it will unravel! Al Miller fished the "Little Lehigh" with his friend Dick Miller every fishable day for about 35 years until Dicks' death. During this time the fly evolved into what it is today. Al usually "sight fishes" the "Rat" casting it to a visible fish. He dresses his 7x leader to about ten inches from the fly and sometimes twitches it. When the fish are lying on the bottom he dispenses with the floatant. Rick Heiserman often fishes the "Rat" with a small split shot with great success. Dick Jones fishes it blind, across and downstream. He also is usually well rewarded for his efforts. I caught three fish over 18 inches on 5 casts, sight fishing on Spring Creek. I believe the fish take the fly for a midge pupa. If you stop by the shop we will show you the natural. Dr. Ernest Schwiebert told me the most important thing the presence of midge adults tells you is that there are pupa in the film. I believe the dark brown monocord provides an excellent silhouette for the fish. The "rat" works all day, all year. For many Little Lehigh regulars, it's the first fly they try every day all year. The "Rat" can be particularly useful during periods of "Behavioral Drift." Gary Borgers excellent book "Presentation" provides an excellent description of this phenomenon. Try the "Rat" at dawn when large numbers of midge pupa, Scuds and Baetis are in the drift. During Fran Goughs' Trico study the "behavioral drift" was apparent in the "Little Lehigh." If you would like to discuss the "Rat," stop by the shop, have a cup of coffee, and chat.

Al's Trico

One of the Little Lehigh's treasures is Al Miller. Al fishes the Little Lehigh about fifty five hours a week, fifty-two weeks a year. He's been doing so for thirty-five years. He's been a vigilant observer of the stream insects and their imitation. His observations sometimes result in patterns which out fish traditional patterns. One such pattern is Al's Trico. Most of the consistently successful patterns on the Little Lehigh have two things in common, they are easy to tie and look the same from all angles. Al's imitation of Tricorythodes stygiatus meets these criteria. Imitative patterns have a triggering device, which induces the "take." For some organisms it's the silhouette, for others it's the color, behavior or size. It's important to capture the "triggering device" and once captured, not to hide it or make a mistake. For Trico duns and spinners its the silhouette of the thorax and abdomen. Al starts at the eye of a size 24 Mustad #94840 hook and winds 12/0 thread (black for males, white for females) to the bend. He ties in a #22 grizzly hackle. A black thorax is dubbed and tied in over the spear of the hook. Two or three turns of grizzly are wrapped over the thorax and tied off. Winding the thread to the eye and whip finishing it completes the fly. Between July and October male Trico duns emerge through the night; females in the early morning. They mate almost immediately. Swarms of spinners hover above the water (particularly over canopied riffles) peaking at mid-morning, falling spent by late morning. During the first weeks of the hatch the trout are easy to catch as they gorge themselves with reckless abandon. As the season progresses they become very selective, rising to the silhouette then refusing the fly as they see over sized wings or other mistakes. Al's pattern eliminates this problem. Selectively feeding trout are looking for whats right not what's wrong. Since Al's Trico has no wings or tail to turn them off, they rise to the silhouette and take the fly. The pattern works for duns and spinners. Enjoy your Trico fishing. Fine tippet, good presentation and Al's Trico will result in fewer refusals. Tricoryhodes stygiatus Nymphs inhabit aquatic vegitation, move by crawling and are the least important stage for the angler. Duns emerge under water and drift to the surface. Males emerge through the night; females in the earley morning. Duns moult to spinners a few hours after sunrise. The male spinners join the females in great swarms about twenty feet over the water. At mid-morning. Males (black) on the top of the swarm, females (white) on the bottom of the swarm and mating males and females in the middle of the swarm, falling spent by late morning. When the female oviposits the small greenish ball, that may contain up to 400 eggs, her abdomen becomes a whitish color. When the spinner fall starts all the flies on the water are females. Toward the middle of the hatch you will see a few males, toward the end all males. They are a multi-generation mayfly, the next generation emerges forty five days after the first. This continues every 45 days until diapause (water temperature 55 degrees) occurs. Measurements Tail-7mm Body-4mm Abdomen-2 mm Thorax-2 mm Wings-5 mm 3 mm wide Bend the shank slightly to offset it, or use Partridges K1A, #24.

Don's Caddis Pupa

Hook: Short wet fly hook 14-16, 3906 or similar. Thread: Color to match thorax. Wing: Black Yarn (wool or craft yarn). Body: Floss and antron yarn (sparkle yarn). Floss color to match the body of the natural. Yarn color to match the shuck (often tan or cream work well). Thorax: Dubbing - Jack's ABC or similar. Color to match the natural. The thorax is normally darker than the body, dark brown, cinnamon or color to match the natural. Legs & Antenna: Wood duck flank fibers. Tying Insructions: Step 1 Attach thread at the front of the hook. Leave room to add legs/antenna and head. Wrap to form small thread base. Do not wrap thread to bend. Step 2. Attach about 2 inches of floss on top of the thread base that you have formed. Wrap the thread over floss (keeping floss on top of the hook). Wrap thread over floss to the back of the hook and slightly down bend. Do not cut off excess floss. Step 3. Pull fibers of antron yarn from your sparkle yarn. Elongate and atatch to the back of the hook at the point where the floss emerges. Wrap thread to a point about two thireds of the hook length from the back of the hook. Step 4. Split floss into two equal pieces down the middle using your bodkin. The antron fibers will be traped between these two pieces of floss. Step 5. Place the antron fibers between the two pieces of floss and twist to form body material. Step 6. Wrap body material (floss and antron fibers) forward to form body. Stop the body after covering about two thirds of the hook. Tie off and cut off excess. Step 7. Cut a small piece of black yarn (about 1/2 inch in length) to use as the wing pads. This may be one strand from a three strand yarn. Tie in on the top of hook right where the body was stopped. 1/2 of the yarn should be on one side and half on the other. Trim to shape and make sure the wing pads are positioned so they point downward slightly. The wing should not extend past a point two-thirds the length of the hook shank from the hook eye. Step 8. Loosely dub tying thread to form thorax. Wrap forward making sure you cover the wing yarn on top of the hook. Leave room at the front of the hook to tie in the legs/antenna and form head. The wing pads should be exposed and pointing down slightly. Step 9. Select a small pinch of wood duck flank fibers, which will serve as legs and antenna. Tie in with tips pointing to the rear - spin much like you would if spinning deer hair so the fibers are positioned around the hook. You can run your thread through the fibers to help them stand out a little. Form head and whip finish. Don Douple's patterns are as unique as they are deadly. We uggest you watch our Newsletter for Don's appearance at the shop. We thank Dave Fritz for sharing his meticulous notes with us. Dave Fritz's notes: The above are the steps for tying Don's caddis pupa to the best of my recollection. I apologize to Don if I have left out or misrepresented any operations. I thank Don for sharing this patter with the Little Lehigh Flyfishers. Don points out that this design can be used to match the various caddis pupa found in the Little Lehigh - match colors to the naturals you observe.

BAETIS - VAGANS-LEVITANS

EMERGENCE Active swimmers. Hatch with water temperature as low as 46. These bugs are multibrooded (Three broods per year.)They emerge by crawling. They appear in the morning and afternoon with the main activity around mid day. NYMPH DISCRIPTION Light to medium olive-brown, Sz 18. Hatch noon till evening. Nymphs are streamlined vigorous swimmers. HEAD- Brown with pale patches on each side of mid-line. GILL-Slender, small gill plates TAILS-3 tails...center is shorter (half the size of the outer 2.) Tails are banded @ midlength & tips. PATTERN Hook- Size 16, standard length Underbody-fine lead Thread-Olive Tail and Legs-Natural Wood Duck Body-Angora Rabbit(Little Lehigh Fly Shop BWO) COVERT-Irridescent green or blue feather from a pheasant or mallard (I believe a Pheasant tail makes a great baetis nymph imitation.) EMERGER A properly dressed emerger with little or no weight will usually out fish a dry fly. Try shallow riffles and weedbeds. PATTERN The regulars at the Little Lehigh Fly Shop find the Following pattern to be deadly. Hook- sz. 24 94840 Tail-Medium Blue dun CDC or aftershaft feathers. Tie in a Clump the length of ½ the hook shank and secure it at the Bend of the hook. Form the... Body-winding the thread forward to form a thin tapered body. Stop at a point two hook eye lengths behind the eye. Cover a hook eye length of hook shank with thread as a base for the Wing Sprouts. Tie in a clump of CDC or aftershaft feather to form the Wing Sprouts. They should be ½ the length of the hook shank. Whip finnish. ALTERNATIVE- Hook-sz. 24 94840 Body-Start winding 8/0 olive thread two hook eye lengths behind the eye. Continue back to the bend of the hook and back to the starting point. Tie off. Tie in Benecchi 12/0 olive. Tie in the.. Wing, a Mallard Gray CDC feather so it's even with the bend of the hook. Tie off w/ a small head. Dun 2 TAILS AS AN ADULT. Patterns Hook: #18 94840 Start thread at beginning of hook point, wrap to the eye. Wind the thread backward to the bend leaving 2 hook eye lengths of bare shaft. (We don't allow the body creep onto the bare hook.) Over wrap toward the bend of the hook. Stop wrapping 1 thread width from the bend. (The tail should be as long as the length of the hook.) The 1st turn of thread holding the hackle clump tail (Light Blue Dun Hackle Barbs) goes directly over the last turn on the hook. Using the finger snap/pinch technique, use thread tension near the breaking point. Thread torque slides material to top of hook shank. Tie in. Body- Dub with Angora Rabbit(Little Lehigh Fly Shop BWO) to form a carrot shaped body. Stop the body when you reach the bare hook. Wrap thread foward one hook eye length, Tie in a size 14 Blue dun hackle. Wind 5 or 6 winds of hackle and tie off. Figure 8 with dubbed thread drawing the hackle barbs to the top of the fly forming a hackle barb wing. Tie off. SPINNER-Females crawl into the water under the debris and lay their eggs. In my opinion the spinner phase is unimportant to the fisherman. Gary Pyle has observed nymphs, duns and spinners under the dry side of partially submerged rocks. The flies we fish as "emergers" the fish take as drowned spinners.

Pale Evening Dunn (Ephermerella dorothea)

Family Ephemerellidae has only one genus-Ephermerella. Nymphs Nymphs are crawlers and are quiet water dwellers found in flats and runs. They flourish in Limestone especially silt. Nymphs swim laboriously with a peculiar wiggle. Seek appropriate sites along banks, behind boulders and deadfalls. Some hatch into sub-imagos a foot below the surface. Use deep running, weighted nymphs during hatchless hours. During emergence fish in the surface film. They may also be fished with stiff hackle and pontoon tails-dry style. When nymphs are emerging, Trout can be extremely selective to cream colored wets just under the surface, i.e.Little Marryatt, Light Cahill. Joe Kohler introoduced us to a nymph pattern which is a killer. THREAD-Olive. Tie in a few wisps of Lemon Wood Duck, 1/3 the length of the hook for the.. TAIL. Dub a cigar shaped .. BODY with dark brown angora rabbit. Your finnished Duns Duns, have three tails and emerge May 15th through the end of June. In 1995 we saw our first important Ephemerrella activity on May 25, in 1996 they were here on May 26, 1997, in 1998 on May 24 and in 1998 on May 26. Hatches are usually between 7 pm and dusk. Hatches usually last 1/2 hour. The best fishing is after sunset. The first activity is usually caused by invaria & rotunda not dorothea. Trout are extra selective to silhouette, size & color. We suggest dorothea Compara Duns,No Hackle, or Parachute patterns. Size difference is considerable. Be careful are they taking duns or Spinners? Use #16 & if you get refusals go to #18. Duns take off quickly so Spinners may be better fishing. Tie some orange at the Thorax, try to wind the hackle so the orange is apparent. Be observant, are Trout taking dorothea or the larger invaria & rotunda. Spinners Spinners are pale yellow, have three tails and fall at dusk. Body size 6.5-7.5mm. Size 18. They jettison their eggs a safe distance above the stream above riffles. If Spinners fall in the water Trout love the egg sacks. Earlier hatches and cloudy days result in spinnerfalls sometime after 7 pm. As the season progresses falls occur dusk or after dark. Be careful are they taking duns or Spinners? Use #16, if you get refusals go to #18. Duns take off quickly so Spinners may be better fishing Tactics Leaders that are to thin can result in twisted tippet Many people like to use   3, 4 or 5 weight, Double taper line. Position yourself to cast into the fading light. A little twitch will sometimes put an extra "something" into the drift. Cast up & across or position yourself downstream. Cast to one side or the other so the fish has to turn his head to suck in the imitation

Dave Baker's "Flymph"

The Little Lehigh is a spring creek. It 's blessed with a fertile biomass consisting mostly of midges. Midges are the meat and potatoes of this stream. They appeal to selective and opportunistic feeders. The odds of catching fish here increase as the size of the fly and tippet goes down. Ann MacIntosh tells us, in her book "Mid-Atlantic Budget Angler" not to listen to the "experts" on the Little Lehigh." She feels large flies are effective here. While I disagree with Ann on her view if experts, I seek expert advise whenever I can get it, I will conceed there are times larger patterns work. Shortly after the shop opened in 1993, I watched a guy flinging around large flies and he was catching fish! I began to notice he was a frequent visitor to the stream. Whatever the "Humming Bird" he was flinging around worked. And it worked consistently, even in discolored water! As time went by, I got to meet Dave Baker of Main Line Fly Tyers" fame. He shared is "Flymph" patterns with me. The first one is dressed as follows: Hook: #12 3906 Thread: orange or black Tail: Black Marabou Dubbing: Black rabbit Hackle: Coachman brown. 1 ½ turns The second is tyed as follows: Hook: #12 3906 Thread: orange Tail: Partridge (split) Ribbing: Gold wire Dubbing: Mixed hares ear and Red fox fur Hackle: Partridge. 1 ½ turns Dave casts the "flymph" upstream. He fishes it dead drift with a twitch. Many times the trout will hit it on the swing. Give the "flymph" a try in discolored water. You will surprise yourself.