Colton Fly

Just picked me up a 11 wt Leviathan and Torrent 1315 from Colton Fly. They are having their Christmas Sale and have some incredible deals on rods and reels. I used their Torrent 1113 last year to land some nice amberjacks off the Texas Coast. If your in the market for a new rod or reel, check Colton Fly out. They have some great products right now at killer prices.

Bass Shad

Here is a very simple pattern to tie and only takes a few minutes from start to finish. By using a worm hook. I like the Mustad 38105 Ultra-Lock™ Soft-Plastic Hooks because of the longer than normal beak on the hook. It makes tying in materials very easy. Any hook that you can get two wraps of material on will work. This fly is super light weight and is about as weedless as you can get without adding a weed guard. The hook keels itself and rides hook point up. Sorry for the gray over white, defiantly not the best for pictures. The material is SF flashblend, however EP fibers and other synthetic materials will work great.

Start with a worm hook.

Pick your bottom color and split it around the 

hook shank.

Take your top color and tie it in. Also splitting 

it so it folds back evenly.

Your going to end up trimming the fly, but as 

your tying in your material you will 

want to taper the fly in the 

general spade shape.

Next tie in one more set of materials on the top 

and bottom. 

Fold back and build a mound of thread to make 

the material hold back. Don't wrap on 

to of the material because it will 

make the fly have a flat profile.

Whip finish and remove from the vise.

Use some long blade scissors and

start trimming the fly 

to profile.  

Add some eyes.

A black dot for a threadfin shad. 

Chartreuse over white.

Ostrich, Marabou, Bucktail, and Ice Dub. 

SBS coming soon. 

Beavers Bend Trout Fixing

Just north of Broken Bow Oklahoma lies Beavers Bend state park. Its a beautiful little tailwater that holds good trout fishing throughout the entire year. Being within 3 hrs of Dallas it is a great place to get your trout fix when long vacations aren't able to be planned. The crowds can be a little over bearing at times but if you are willing to walk there is plenty of fishable water. In the fall it is one of the prettiest places to be. They have great camp grounds from RV spots, state park cabins to tent spots all along the river. Being so close to the metroplex its makes quick trips convenient and just what one needs before they start the weekly grind again. The river gets stocked every few weeks with rainbow trout. There are a few brown trout mixed in the river also. 

I took a vacation day and made a run up there Thursday night and fished all day Friday before returning home Friday evening. With this polar vortex the morning started off pretty brisk with the rod guides freezing up. I was landing fish after just a few drifts. most the fish were taking an olive WD40. I caught several typical stocker rainbows and one smaller brown. I found one good rainbow of roughly 20" in a pool but never could get hook in her. Over all it was a decent day of fishing and a good day on the water with great fall foliage. 

Average fish today.

The cold weather had them pretty feisty.

 Lots of cypress sporting their fall colors. 

The old park dam.

Lots of these little spunks around.

Watch that lead fly when a fish is still attached

to the trailing fly. 

Half and Half; Not what you think

So everyone is familiar with the Half and Half fly; part clouser/part deceiver. This is a little different based on Jonny Kings Kinky Muddler and his Hoo fly. I think he already kinda makes a fly like this or very similar. The cigar body of this fly is perfect for mullet imitations and it has great darting action when stripped in. The rattle adds some fish attracting noise that can be very beneficial at night and in low light conditions.

Like most my flies I'm gunna add a rattle. 

Attach the rattle using some EZ Body. This material 

has a good combination of flex and stiffness to 

allow the rattle to shake.

Use some Marks A Lot markers to 

color the EZ Body to the color 

of choice,  

 Tie in a little bit of SF Flash Blend.

Then cover it with 4-6 hackles.

Then using Jonny's V-Tying technique work

your way up the shank of the hook.

Less is more is the best advice

I can give you when tying

this fly.

When you are roughly an 1/8 of an inch

from the eye tie in some 

Senyos Lazer Dub.  

Put your eyes on. 

You can pick this stuff up at most craft

stores for less then half the cost

of liquid fusion and its

the same thing.

Casey Smart did a good write up on this stuff.

Check it our here

You can add a few drops of water to thin it.

Using a small paint brush to paint the Fabric Fusion

onto the head of the fly. Let the fly 

sit aside and dry.