The Drift:
Now that we are in “tying season,” if you haven’t already, given John Gierach’s article in the latest issue of TROUT magazine, “A Quaint and Harmless Hobby”, a look. John writes when he first started to tie flies “The way I saw it, dabblers, dilettantes and the idle rich bought their flies over the counter, while serious and self-reliant fly fishers tied their own, and like all novices, I wanted to be one of the cool kids.”
As the year 2024 ends, I hope everyone has had a wonderful time celebrating the holiday season with family and friends or however you chose to celebrate during this time. Now that winter is setting in, we can take some solace in the fact that the winter catch and release trout season will begin on January 4th . My recent review of the long-range weather forecast, however, tells me that the first two weeks of the month are going to be bitterly cold so you hearty souls might have to exercise a bit of patience before wetting a line.
Firstly, I want to thank everyone for your volunteer hours and commitment to our goals and mission for stream and habitat restoration, stream monitoring and youth education programs. Following submission of the required Annual Activity Report to TU National, I received a call from Quentin Collins, Director of TU Volunteer Operations. Quentin relayed to me his thanks for all the great work our chapter has done over this past year. He commented that Kiap-TU-Wish bubbles to the top in many conversations at TU National.
Our Annual Holiday and Chapter Awards Banquet on December 3rd was a huge success and was attended by 70 members and spouses. Chris Silver provided entertainment for 2 hours and his music added much to the event and was enjoyed by all. As a follow-up to the event we conducted a survey to get a sense of how the banquet was received by our members. The banquet committee has reviewed all survey responses, the majority of which were very positive. Any negative issues will be responded to during the planning of the 2025 banquet. I want to extend a special thank you to committee members Greg Olson, Mike Alwin, Matt Janquart, and Allison Jacobs.
Thanks to some excellent writing and dedication by our chapter board members, the Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter was awarded an “Embrace A Stream (EAS)” grant from TU National in the amount of $7,500 for our stream restoration project on the South Fork Kinnickinnic River. We had the opportunity through this grant to raise additional funds and earn an added reward for our fundraising efforts. Our EAS Challenge campaign brought in $1,650 from our donors. TU National donated $1,250, for a grand total $10,400. Thanks to everyone.
Fund-raising efforts are currently in full swing with the Hap Lutter Memorial Fund. In late January/early February, we will be conducting an on-line auction coupled with a 3×100 chance offering that will feature a Norling 5wt bamboo rod, an original painting by Josh Cunningham, and a Sage fly rod. Ticket sales will start in January. Watch for an announcement kicking off these events.
Suzanne
Greenwood Elementary Volunteer Day
Kiap-tu-wish sends our thanks to those who helped cut brush and trees back in October and November to prep for our Greenwood Elementary 4th grade brush burn and, thanks to those volunteers who turned out on event day to supervise the burn and make sure that it went off without a hitch.
This marks the 5th year that we have partnered with Geenwood to provide them with a service learning opportunity for the kids. A big thanks to Greenwood teacher Steve Papp for his efforts to get this program up and running each year. The kids themselves exhibited their usual boundless energy as they picked up the brush and logs and moved them to one of three bonfires which we had going. Event volunteers pictured below are from left to right; John Skelton, myself, Tom Schnadt, Chipo Robinson, Pat Sexton, Mark Peerenboom, Tom Anderson, Trish Hannah, and Ron Reigle.
Leaders and Nymphs
By Mike Alwin
Many of you are probably already looking forward to the early trout fishing season in Wisconsin. Some of you will be out on the first Saturday of January no matter the cold temperatures. Others of you will prudently wait for a day when the temperatures are moderate and the chill wind from the north is not a factor. Some of you will be happy to be out regardless of your anticipated success while a few of you will harbor visions of catching a significant fish on a tiny midge imitation or perhaps a Tiny Black Stonefly.
Let’s start with the premise that you dearly love dry fly fishing. You crave the artful presentation and the sight of a trout rising to your crafty floating fraud. But at this time of year if you catch anything at all it’s likely to be tiddlers. Reluctantly, you see the wisdom of switching to a nymph, after all it’s estimated that 90% of a trout’s meal ticket is subsurface fare. To save time you decide to continue fishing with the same leader, most likely a 9’ 5X with 20” of tippet attached, switching out the dry fly for a nymph and adding a strike indicator. That way, once a hatch beckons, you’ll only need to switch flies and remove the strike indicator to get back in the game. But after an hour or so of fruitless casting your enthusiasm wanes so you reel up and head for home.
While it’s possible to make that rig work for nymph fishing, there are other, better choices. The simplest method (Figure 1), is a 7&1/2’ 4X leader to which you add 20” of 5X tippet material. Tie on a nymph, any nymph, add split shot above the tippet knot and the strike indicator about half way up the leader. The obvious advantage of this rig is that the split shot can’t migrate past the knot. Oh, since it’s cold, straighten the leader before throwing your nymph in the water. Fish a deeper riffle or a run and the head of the pool. There might be trout feeding or holding in the deeper lies in the riffle, and if invertebrates are dislodged from the riffle trout might hold near the head of the pool to grab the aforementioned invertebrates.
Figure. 1
Here’s a modification that adds versatility to this basic rig (Figure 2). Start with the same 7&1/2’ 4X leader. About six or seven inches up from the end of the tippet, tie on your 20” of 4X or 5X tippet using a double overhand (surgeon’s) knot. When done correctly you should have a short tag, a stub, and the tippet. Trim the stub. The short tag is called the dropper and the tippet end is called the point. Tie a nymph on the dropper and another on the point. Place your shot above the knot and the indicator about half way up the leader. The advantages of this rig are that you can use smaller shot, the shot can’t migrate past the knot and you’ve doubled your chances by using two flies. The glaring disadvantage is that you are almost guaranteed to suffer increased tangles caused by these two flies. Cast smoothly, widen your loop and strike gently.
Figure. 2
If you can appreciate the efficacy of using two flies, this next rig is for you (Figure 3). Start with the same 7&1/2’ leader. Thread a nymph onto the tippet, then add your tippet material and another nymph. You can use split shot with this rig but it works better without it. Instead, if you thread a heavily weighted nymph onto the leader before adding tippet and another nymph, you can eschew the split shot. Put the strike indicator in the customary position. You’ll still have to be careful with your cast, your loop and your hook set. But, you’re now fishing two nymphs doubling your chances and doing so with fewer tangles. Isn’t that what you wanted?
Figure. 3
Open Tying at the Shop
By Jonathan Jacobs
In my forty-plus years as a fly angler, I have frequented three different fly shops in eight distinct locations in seven different buildings under the ownership of five different people. In that time, I’ve gone from neophyte to experienced angler to geezer. I tell you this to establish my bona fides as a “shop rat” (The term doesn’t mean “employee;” a less sentimental term might be “hanger on”). Every one of those shops helped me immeasurably along the way. My first shop was Tom Helgeson’s Bright Waters. There I took casting lessons, an aquatic entomology class and an on-the-stream flyfishing for trout class. Tom brought in guest speakers who exposed me to facets of the sport previously unknown to me. I spent so much time at Bob Mitchell’s Fly Shop that I was more of a fixture than a regular. I learned a great deal there, too, but more importantly, I treasure to this day close the friendships with wildly disparate personality types that blossomed there.
My current home away from home is Lund’s Fly Shop. Housed in a soulful multi-story brick building dating back to 1881 on Main Street in River Falls, WI, this emporium nails the image of what a fly shop ought to look like. Mounts of tarpon, billfish and an incongruous elk gracing the high interior walls stand watch over an extensive array of waders, clothing, tackle, fly tying materials, accessories, and fly bins, with all of that seeming to float over the vintage hardwood floor. Staffed by friendly and knowledgeable folks, it’s a place that warms the soul.
One of the prominent features of the building is the mezzanine that overlooks the shop. There is angling art displayed on the walls. There are a few long tables up there that are ideal for group fly tying sessions. The shop hosts two of these sessions per month, one on a Saturday and another on a Tuesday. You can find the shop’s specific schedule at its website, https://www.lundsflyshop.com/. I’ve attended two sessions thus far and have had a wonderful time at both. At the first one, someone asked as soon as I’d sat down if I needed anything to drink. I said, “No, thanks, I’m good.” The response to that was, “Ice or neat?” Sensing that further resistance was futile, I replied, “Uh, ice.” A glass with ice and Irish whiskey appeared in front of me. I’m not saying this is a regular occurrence, but it looks like there’s a zeitgeist that suggests that you’re welcome to bring food and beverages to share. There’s some slight remnant boys’ club attitude, but it’s a welcoming place. I’ve seen a fellow who just stopped by to chat stay to help a boy of about ten who’d come with his non-tying father. The fellow stayed long enough to get the youngster through a couple of basic patterns that employed the basics of tying. Another man helped a young woman wearing a Green Bay Packers stocking cap master the use of a whip finishing tool. I saw my friend Sarah, an accomplished tyer, tie her first two pike/muskie Bufords. A fellow two generations younger than me reached out to me to show me the elegant soft hackles he was tying. Even among all the experienced tyers, there’s something for everyone to learn. We often come to think of ourselves as trout fly tyers or warmwater tyers or whatever, but the thing is, there’s a whole spectrum of flies that cross borders or involve techniques that can be applied anywhere. In one night, I’ve seen tied, among other things: Steelhead intruder flies, billfish flies, jig streamers, soft hackles, midges, and a CK baitfish, which, with its die-cut synthetic tail and flashy trimmed body would have been heresy just a few years ago.
Given the combination of camaraderie, bonhomie, the learning opportunities, you can’t go wrong. Of course, Lund’s is not the only fly shop in the area and you might be a regular at one of them or are looking for a reason to become one. Those shops likely have open tying sessions, too, ones that might provide you with as much fun as I’m having at Lund’s. Be sure to look them up. Having a fly shop to call your home is an essential part of not being merely an informed angler, but a happy one.
Editor’s Note: Open tying sessions are also available at Mendprovisions Fly Shop located in Saint Paul , Minnesota (mend provisions.com) and the Cabela’s store in Rogers (Link).
Photo provided by Brian Smolinski
Views From My Side of the Vise:
By Paul Johnson
The Elk Hair Caddis (EHC) would have to be considered to be one of the most popular flies and can be found in just about every fly box. That is because it is so effective at catching fish. The fly was created in 1957 by Al Troth. At that time, Al was living and working in Pennsylvania and wanted a caddis dry fly to fish some of the broken water on his local trout stream. In the 1970s Al relocated to Montana and started guiding. The fly pattern was “discovered” at that time when Bud Lily’s Flyshop in West Yellowstone started to sell the fly.
As good as the EHC is at catching fish, it is somewhat surprising that it is such a simple fly. It really only has 3 materials: dubbing, hackle and elk hair. You could also add a wire rib if you want. Also somewhat surprising is that the EHC is a very easy and quick fly to tie. Well, until you start to tie them anyway. The biggest issue when tying this fly is that you have a big clump of elk hair that you need to keep on top of the hook. When you apply enough thread tension to keep the hair in place, that tension will want to pull the clump of hair around the far side of the hook shank. No amount of glue or head cement will hold that clump of hair in place, so don’t try that! Fortunately, your fly tying sensei (that’s me) is here to share his secret EHC tying tips. The number and length of the tips is an indication of how many EHCs I’ve tied (and screwed up). So here are the keys to attaining EHC perfection. After a few hundred repetitions this will all become second nature.
- 1. Use the smallest size thread you can make work (yes, it takes some experimentation to figure this out). My go-to thread is 8/0 Uni. I have found that the smaller thread actually helps me to get tighter thread wraps as described in Tip #3.
- 2. Take care when you are preparing the clump of elk hair to comb or pick out all of theunder fur. I also like to remove the really long and short ones so all the hair is about the same length before I stack it.
- 3. When I have the elk hair wing all set to tie in, I start with 2 loose thread wraps and then pull tight. I then add 4 or 5 additional thread wraps at that same tie-in point. Next, to keep the hair from spinning around the hook I lift about ¼ of the butt ends of the hair and get a tight thread wrap in that spot. I repeat this 3 more times before returning my thread to the original tie-in location. From there I will make a couple more tight thread wraps, lift up the butt ends and make several wraps of thread around the hook before I whip finish.
- 4. For the wing, I like to use cow elk hair. I have found it to be a little softer than bull elk.This allows me to get tighter wraps with my thread.
- 5. When tying hair wing flies during the winter, I keep a dryer sheet available that I will keep on the patch of hair to reduce some of the static.
- 6. One last tip. I like to undersize my hackle on this fly. For example, if I am tying a size 16 fly, I will size my hackle down to a size 18. I just think it looks better and allows the fly to float a little better.Hook: 1xl Dry Fly Hook, Size 14 to 20.
- Thread: 8/0 Uni
- Abdomen: Superfine dubbing
- Rib: Dry fly hackle
- Wing: Elk Hair
I hope that these tips will help you with your tying. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.
Paul Johnson
Waconia, Minnesota
Paulwaconia@gmail.com
Watch Paul tie this pattern on his YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w84IAqAnMNE
The Picket Pin
by Ken Hanson
The Picket Pin is a pattern from the old west that gets its name from ground squirrels that were nicknamed “picket pins” by cowboys as they resembled the short stakes used to tie off horses. The original fly, developed by Jack Boeme, was tied with tail and body hair from these western ground squirrels. More modern recipes utilize fox squirrel and grey squirrel.
I tied some Picket Pins to try out in the smaller streams in Yellowstone and later realized they were a great pattern for brook trout around home. It’s a wet fly that you can drift or strip just under the surface. You can swing it towards root wads and brushy areas and strip it back just in time to avoid trouble. It often draws a chase from aggressive brookies. It’s white squirrel tail wing provides a good contrast to the body and allows you to focus on the fly and watch for fish. The only trick is to stay calm enough for them to take the fly before you strike.
- Hook: 2XL Nymph hook size 10 or 12
- Thread: Black
- Tail: Fox squirrel tail fibers
- Rib: Small copper wire
- Body: Peacock herl
- Hackle: Brown
- Head: More peacock herl
After wrapping the body, add and palmer the hackle back towards the tail and secure by wrapping the wire forward woolly bugger style. A good example of this is covered by Tim Flagler’s tightlinevideo on YouTube
Skip’s Loose Threads: A heretical utterance concerning dry fly hackle
by Layton “Skip” James
When I began fly tying at the age of eleven, there weren’t many fly tying books around. A book by J. Edson Leonard entitled Flies was available, and soon after I started the Family Circle Guide to Trout Flies came out. Schwiebert’s Matching the Hatch was four years away and Atherton’s The Fly and the Fish came out the year I got my first fly rod, but it was printed only in a limited edition for the Angler’s Club of New York. That same year, Bus Grove’s The Lure and Lore of Trout Fishing appeared, with a chapter on tying, and the imprint of my rubber stamp inside the cover has my New Jersey address on it. My bible in those days was Bergman’s Trout, a copy of which I received as a Christmas present in 1950, when I was nine. I had read the library’s copy almost into decrepitude and nagged my dad shamelessly for months before the holiday for one of my own. Those were the years when the arrival of the Heddon catalog, and the Payne catalog, the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog and the Sears Roebuck catalog were the highlights of a boy’s dreary, wet winter, and a sure harbinger of Spring, and the opening of trout season in the Poconos.
All these books suggested that good hackle was hard to get, and the best hackle for tying dry flies was the longest, stiffest, most web free feathers available. Of course, dry flies in those days meant Catskill style, basically copies of Halford’s British designs with stiffer tails to float on our more rambunctious streams. Stiff hackle was necessary to support the fly ‘on its toes’ as LaBranche used to say. Nowadays, of course, we have no-hackle flies, soft hackle flies, parachutes, thorax ties, upwings, downwings, palmers, all of which seem to float pretty well without the help of seriously steely hackle fibers.
But the stiff hackle dictum seems to still govern feather selection, particularly among beginning tiers. Of course, most are taught to tie Catskill style first, with an Adams, a Cahill, or a BWO. The proportions of dry flies still reflect the Catskill school of the Dettes and Art Flick. The most expensive hackle available at fly shops is, of course, extremely stiff, long and web-free. Lots of fisher folk use the classic ties and they work well, particularly on free stone streams. But our current, enlarged repertoire of floating imitations that don’t depend upon hackle for flotation should cause us to pause a moment and reexamine the knee-jerk mantra that dry fly hackle must always be stiff.
Stiff but resilient hackle was needed to float lightly dressed Catskill patterns. The old legends of fly fishing wanted their casts to ‘cock’ the fly on the water, suspended between the tips of the hackle and the tips of the tail fibers. Having fished with many a Catskill tie, I am usually able to achieve this proper attitude only once or twice with a fresh, well-dressed fly before it settles lugubriously into prone position. In my experience, the fish don’t seem to mind much either way. Often, and particularly with Variant patterns, I had trouble hooking trout. I believe the stiff, oversized hackle pushed the hook away from any point of connection with solid fish flesh. Patterns such as the Usual, Haystack, Comparadun and No-Hackle use buoyant dubbing to float the fly in the film. Split tails act as outriggers to reinforce a natural upright stance caused by the weight of the bend of the hook. Parachute flies float just as well with soft hackle as with stiff.
Is there a benefit to substituting floppy, webby hackle for the stiff stuff in dry flies? For years, fishing writers have insisted that the mobility of hackle fibers and soft dubbings are triggers to trout especially in nymphs and wets. Can these same qualities be exploited in dry flies? I can personally attest to the efficacy of soft hackle flies fished over fussy trout in glassy, slow moving water. The webby breast feathers used in these flies are tapered from stem to tip, like real insect legs. When wet, they move with every vagary of the current. I have recently started putting a clump wing of poly yarn or loop wing of Antron on these simple flies. That solves the visibility problem of soft hackles. The wing becomes a focal point for the angler and allows the fly to be fished in fast water as well as slow. Add a soft tail, perhaps a few pheasant fibers, or even a bit of Marabou to represent a trailing shuck. Do the flies float? You bet! Does the hackle obstruct the hook point?
Never! Does the cost of hackle go way down? Yep! ……*
I enjoy tying and fishing classic Catskill patterns. They look beautiful and continue to catch lots of trout. But I think it’s time we rethink the function of hackle in dry flies and experiment with more mobile, less severely stiff feathers. There is nothing turgid about a Mayfly dun. On the contrary, all the body parts are loosely joined and have independent motion. Stiff hackle doesn’t guarantee flotation. Furthermore, flies tied with stiff hackle, both Catskill and parachute, have an annoying tendency to twist leader tippets. The most compelling reason to incorporate soft hackle into dry flies, however, is it’s lifelike movement. Let the trout be the final judge…but at least give them a chance to choose! Tie up some dry flies with soft hackle this Winter, and reevaluate your personal criteria for hackle quality in the light of 1990’s fly fishing research rather than relying on the questionable assumptions of the 1950’s.
Editor’s Note: The Christmas season is a busy one for Skip and he was unable to provide his mindful prose for this issue. So, being that tying season is upon us, I decided to comb the RipRap archives looking for one of his past articles that might be appropriate for the upcoming tying season. Darned if I didn’t find one. The article is from the November, 1997 RipRap and in my mind many of his thoughts are still applicable to our modern day tying dynamics. I hope you agree! The fly pictured above is the”Jingler” an all purpose fly, very popular in the UK incorporating both rooster and partridge hackles.
Rocky Branch Elementary
By Ben Toppel
Students at Rocky Branch Elementary have been excited about raising brown trout. They patiently watched as the orange eggs hatched into alevin last October. Since then, the alevin have grown into strong swimmers or “fry” and learned to eat.
The 5th Grade students are the primary caretakers and are responsible for three different jobs: Wildlife Artists, Trout Researchers, or Water Quality Testers.
Over 50 students signed up to participate in this year’s “Trout in the Classroom” program.
If all goes well, the trout will be released into the WIllow River (at Willow River State Park) this coming spring. This activity is in cooperation with the WI DNR and Kiap-TU-Wish, our local chapter of Trout Unlimited.
Upcoming Events:
1: Chapter Meeting, Tuesday January 7th. Dinner at 6:00 pm, Presentation “Symposium on Warm Water Fly Fishing” at 7:00 pm. Juniors Restaurant and Tap House, River Falls Wi.
2. Upcoming virtual auction and 3 x 100 chance offering, be watching for start dates.
2025 Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter of Trout Unlimited. All rights reserved.
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Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter of Trout Unlimited
P.O. Box 483
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