Crawfish and Chips

Recently I have started looking seriously at the packaging of common products. Seems like the material to keep items fresh and attract the customer's attention would work to attract a fish's attention as well? I like potato chips, and most other chip like foods. I also like to walk across our building during the day to see something different and teachers I don't necessarily work with in my department. The end to that journey is a vending machine in  the upstairs teachers lounge. Lots of chips and I guess I have a different flavor each day.

All those bags sort made me think about flies. The thinking started in on the shell back of nymphs. (ie Bar B Que and Stonefly Nymphs). That then led to me pondering the crawfish. (aka Crawlfish, Crawdad, Mud Bug, and more). Call it what you like fish love to eat it. Finishing a bag chips the orange hue set me to thinking and planning. Here's what came of it.

Crawfish and Chips

Hook: #6 Bass Hook

Weight: Small Dumbell eye blk

Antenna: Mink guard hair from a yard sale fur collar.

Pincers (pinchers): Gray yarn and orange yarn.

Rib: Fine Copper wire

Shell: Sun Chips Harvest Cheddar Bag

Under-body: Gray Yarn

Bar B Que and Stonefly Nymphs

Okay I was watching TV and thinking about this week's article. Nothing was really jumping out. Noticed a bag of chips I had just finished and a light came on. The background of the design at first glance was gray or black. Neat plastic bag as well. Reminded me of the material flash like products are made of.  Only difference is that the flash is cut into fine strips. That's not really that hard to do with a sharp pair of scissors.

 So all these ideas made it to the tying bench. 

 Recipe

Hook: #12 Nymph 2x

Tail: Biots

Weight: Brass bead and fine lead wire

Abdomen Shell: Strip cut from a bag of Bar B Que flavor potato chips.

Rib: Fine gold wire

Wing-case: Nymph stretch black.

Thorax: Peacock hurl

 Stoneflies are found deep in the stream in their nymph stage and are usually big so a 2x nymph hook seemed more appropriate.

Biots make the best stonefly tails I have found.

 Fine gold wire and the chip bag strip are both tied in. This particular chip bag I used has fine dots in the color to create the illusion of gray. Those dots make for a fine molted appearance.

Dub the abdomen with a dark nymph dubbing. Pull the chip bag material forward and tie down. Palmer forward the gold rib. Tie in the wing-case material. Wrap the thorax with peacock hurl. Pull the wing-case material forward and tie down.

Stoneflies are a big food source for trout as well as warm water species like small mouth bass here in the south eastern US. Probably similar situations in the rest of the US and world in general.

John Barr's Copper John gets the Trash Fly treatment.

John Barr is in my opinion one of the greats in the realm of fly tying. He is one I hold high. I bought his book, that ought to say a lot. One of his patterns I like and fish a lot is the 'Copper John'. This piece is dedicated to the Copper John and how some Trash Fly philosophy was applied to it.

Hook: #14 Nymph 2X

Bead: Brass

Weight: Lead wire medium

Tail: Biots Dark Brown

Flash: Strip of Krystal Flash

Wing-case: Stretch Body black. 

Abdomen: Wire from a broken pair of 'ear bud' style headphones

Thorax: Peacock Hurl

Note: The headphone wire is usually red, blue, and gold in one pair of headphones. I have also found green in some brands.

Took them to a Delayed Harvest stream a few counties over. The test was complete and intense. I caught a 'obscene number of fish'. :)

Scud tied with recycled package from a wireless LAN card.

Hook: #16 Nymph Hook

Weight: Lead wire .015 dia.

Body: Dazl-Hare's Ear Shrimp

Antenna: Hackle fibers furnace

Shell-back: Pink plastic bag from a wireless LAN card

Rib: Thread white

Baggy from a wireless LAN card.

#16 Nymph hook

Lead wire

Over wrap with tying thread

Tie in shell back of recycled LAN baggie

Dub body

Finished fly

Comments are welcome and appreciated.

Trash Fly Tools

I am going to focus on some ideas for DIY tools. Tools made from common items and 'trash'.

Hair Evener


Copper pipe and fittings.
Flair the tube with a common flaring tool.
Cut a small piece of the tube and slide in the barrel and glue at the bottom to make the step.


Tool Caddy that attaches to the shaft of the vise or similar fixture.



Drill into soft plastic strip. In this case it was a scrap from a bathroom stall divider. Chamfer the top of the hole to make it easier to slide the most frequently used tools in.

Hurl stripping tool


White vinyl eraser cut with a circular punch. Fit a nail or screw into the middle. Quick way to take the fur off of hurl with a drill or drill press.

Like to hear your comments and thoughts.

Woolly Bugger with one Material

We all know that the Woolly Bugger is a fly pattern to count on. It really catches a lot of fish. Not just trout but a wide array of species. From carp to flounder Buggers do a fine business. The Woolly Bugger is also probably one of the most customized well known patterns. Lots of tiers new to the vise start their journey getting the Woolly Bugger right.

Well I am messing with it again. I personally like a Bugger. Probably tie them the most of any pattern through out the year. The other day my mind wandered to them. I was thinking about hackle and tails. Fashion trends and material variations.

Then it hit! Could you tie a bugger with only one material. Now we know I'm probably a little weird if I have a site called Trash Flies. This idea bounced around. But what material?

Yarn?

Why not?

But yarn?

It's cheap or free depending on your connections. It's easy to work with. It comes in a myriad of colors.

So!



Hook: #10 2x Nymph
Head: Brass Cone
Weight: Lead wire
Tail: Lt Green Yarn brushed out
Body: Olive Yarn
Hackle: Lt Green Yarn twisted into a dubbing brush around fine wire.

Will it work? Comment.

I am going to make the hackle brush much sparser in future attempts.

Three Phase Molted Midge

   The other day I was walking through one of the shops at school and noticed an electrician working. He was wiring in a piece of equipment, one that required a three phase line. He was stripping the wires for his connection. On the table I noticed some interesting fibers. It was some of the reinforcing from the wire. Without really even thinking it left my mouth, I asked 'can I have that'. He looked at what I was pointing at. With an expression somewhere between puzzled and mildly irritated he said 'sure'. I picked up my treasure and when back to my office. The fiber laid there on my desk for a couple of days. I picked it up several times as my mind would wonder away from my lesson plans and projects. Just couldn't come up with exactly what it would be good for on the tying bench.

Seems like my tying tastes have often swung toward midges between patterns for warm water trips and terrestrials for small trout streams. I do like to fish midges on the tail-waters and in the colder months.

This is what formed up from that 'molted' looking fiber.

Working Name: Three Phase Molted Midge

Hook: #20 Scud

Bead: Small tungsten

Body: Three phase wire insulation fiber.

Thread and Collar: Blk Gordon Griffith 14/0