I’ve been playing around at the vice a bit and maybe there is already a name for this style of fly but since I don’t know it, I’ll just call it a Reversed Gotcha.  Basically, this means putting the eyes toward the back of the fly.  In truth, I have a hard time staying that focused at the vice.  I find myself tying one this way, one that, one a third way.  If I sit down to tie a half dozen flies, I end up with six flies that are all unique.  Tying is fun though, so I won’t beat myself up for that.

I’ve also been putting a strip of Clear Cure Goo or Rio Knot Sense on the top and bottom of the fly and I really like the way it looks.

Here are some of the recent ties.

Clear Cure Goo under the UV lamp.

The reverse with a little hot bunny tail.

Bigger fly, a #1, I think, with Fox as the wing.

Throw in some rubber legs.

Heavier eyes, in case I get over to the West Side.

A #6 with just the flash for a wing.

I’ll bet these will catch fish, but I understand a great number of flies will catch fish out there.  I look forward to throwing some of these flies at those Androsian fish.  Catching a fish on a fly you’ve tied is a great feeling… one I hope to experience over and over and over again.

–

The thing really isn’t even that old… I think it is about three years old.  I don’t think it should be breaking at this point… but alas, it has.  I was putting a #2 in the jaws there and “snap.”

Damn.

Yeah… it wasn’t a really expensive vice, but still… should probably last more than a couple-three years.  So… I’m in the market for a vice.  The price points are really, really varied…

If I wanted to break the bank I could spend $690 for one of these… A Master Swiss Vice.

Damn... that's a lot of scratch

I am probably just an ignorant fly tier as I can’t imagine what this can do for me to justify the price.  The truth is it probably can’t do anything for me, as I probably lack the skills needed to demand any Swiss tool beyond the army knife.

Michael Gracie has a more viable option for me…

That's $9.57

In truth, I’ll probably spend more than $9.57, but I’m not breaking the bank.  Andros is coming soon… going to have to get on this.

UPDATE: Through the generosity of strangers, I’ll be getting a lightly used Griffin vice.  Awesome.

I was looking around for some different flies to tie and came across the Avalon Fly, named after one of the big boys of Cuban fishing.  It had a mono loop on the underside of the fly with beads hanging loosely on the loop.  This was something I hadn’t seen before, so I tied a couple up and asked around about the theory behind the fly.  I was directed to the Bouncer  Flies website, which sheds some light on the topic.

A new construction method that can make exciting new patterns, and will improve many old favorite flies.

via BOUNCER FLIES.

While I didn’t have all the colors that I saw on the Avalon, I did try to tie some up to see how it might all come together.  The Avalon is supposed to be primarily a permit fly, but it might be fishable for bones and maybe even tarpon… we’ll see if it even gets broken out of the  fly box in Belize.  Something new at the vice, which is always interesting.

A first go at the Avalon.

I guess if I can’t be fishing, tying is a weak compromise.  I do enjoy it… which is kind of odd.   I’m not exactly a detail oriented person and fly tying certainly has that kind of feeling.  It mystifies my wife how I can sit there for a couple of hours and just wrap thread around variously sized bits of wire.

Tying Central... important that it closes up so small fingers don't get ahold of pointy things.

For the most part I am a self taught tier.  I never took a class, but I did spend a summer as a guide at Clearwater House (now Clearwater Lodge) and after the fishing was done the guides all sat around in the guide shack and tied.  I picked up more than a couple pointers in that setting.  I also used to go down to the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club and sit around and tie with some of the old guys. This was about a decade ago, maybe a little longer… I certainly learned some things there.

I do wish I had the time to take some classes though… I’ve never had to learn a dubbing loop and that is coming back to bite me in the arse as I’m trying to put together some Black Death’s for Belize.  There is no dubbing loop required in a #20 zebra midge or a #16 bead head flash back PT.  That kind of tying requires little skill and values speed and numerical output over precision and detail.  A messy tie in a #16 still looks pretty close to a good tie in a #16.  A sloppy tie in a 3/0 looks like a frigging disaster.

Not totally ready for prime time Tarpon Flies

I find that by the time I get in a groove when I’m tying it is usually time to close up shop for the night so I can get a good enough night’s sleep to keep up with the whirlwind of activity that is my 3 3/4 year old.

I am starting to like the way my merkins (legged and legless) are looking, so at least there is that.

Leggless Merkins with weed guards (weed guards are new to me)

See you at the vice.

Uff da.

I try really hard to keep things here slanted toward the world of bonefish, even if my every day existence is really not too bonefishy.  Sometimes I fail.

Today, my trusty Xterra blew a head gasket.

This car has taken me to many, many fishy places, mostly in California and Oregon.  A 9 foot rod can be put in the car without being broken down.  The roof in the rear is full of flies broken off before I put the rods away and stored there, just in case.  This car could make the trip down the dirt road to Ah Di Nah in 15 minutes, regardless of road conditions.  It had great clearance so I could go over rocks, not around them.  This was a great fishing vehicle.

More recently, the right side passenger window has accumulated a rather impressive layer of Trader Joe’s stickers.  There are very small socks strewn about the floor of the back seat, along with discarded Goldfish crackers, wet wipes, hair clips and used tupperware containers.

The car, like myself, has lived many lives.  This, however, may be the end.

When the bills start coming in, I tend to think of them in terms of trips, rods or plane tickets.

This little adventure through automotive hell is likely going to = 4 plane tickets.  Four plane tickets = 2 trips to Belize = 4 new 8 wts = 8 less expensive 8 wts.

Having said all that, I’m going to go tie some flies… I’m filling up my fly boxes for Belize and El Pescador.  I’ve got a lot of Legless Merkins and need to add several more regular Merkins.

I could buy flies… but I really enjoy catching fish on flies I’ve tied.  There is something immensely satisfying about that.

I was looking at the many variations of the Christmas Island Special.  Now, there isn’t a whole lot TO a Christmas Island Special, but still… on a fly as sparse this, there still seems to be room for everyone to tie it differently. Seems that there are many variations on the theme with a couple of key hallmarks.

1. Big eyes

2. Lots of flash

Beyond that… some have calf-tail, some have flashabou and others crystal flash, some have craft fur.

I guess there is a standard…  I mean… if Kaufmann tied it and Umpqua has his name on it… that’s probably it, isn’t it?

From the Umpqua gallery.

Other variations…

Same fly, different tail from Black Fly Outfitter

This one from Black Fly comes with a weed guard, that looks like calf tail on the wing and crystal over. The interesting thing to me is that the tail is actually straight flashabou… in pearl by the look of it… I have that at my tying desk and love the material.

Same fly, from Cabela’s.

Cabela's... I dont' shop there.

I’m going to call that Craft Fur & Crystal under the fur.

So… here is what I think is the lesson… tie it how you want… if you want to tweak your fly, tweak it.  Throw out the step-by-step. Tie how you want… it will probably catch fish as long as the eyes are on straight and the colors aren’t out of place.

Being a stay-at-home-dad (SAHD) has many drawbacks and many benefits.  I can’t pick up and head off to, say, South Andros, when an opportunity comes up, but I also get to watch my little girl grow/learn/play.  Beyond the fact that I got to watch just about every World Cup match (GO USA), I also get a bit of free time, sometimes, in the middle of the day.   This is called “nap time.”

Today, I sat down at the vice.  I tied a couple of green masses that I hope resemble some sort of plant matter the carp in Los Gatos Creek might eat.  I also tried my hand at tying some Merkins… again.

I had a little bit of a breakthrough on the Merkin front… I’ve been over-thinking this pattern, it seems, putting too many steps in, putting too many wraps in too many places.  I’m happy to say I’ll be adding Merkins to my fly boxes for my next saltwater trip… whenever that may be.

Barrett from The Caddis Fly ties up a four-eyed gotcha.

I’ve been directed toward Larry Dahlberg’s Bonecrusher a few times.  I watched it catch fish on one of Larry’s “Hunt for Big Fish” shows and have been thinking of that fly for a while.

I couldn’t find any videos of the Bonecrusher being tied, but I did find a message board with an email from Larry himself.  Worth a look.

"more of a concept than a fly"

Dick Brown is a guy who knows a lot about bonefish.  His book, Fly Fishing for Bonefish, is fantastic. Not only is it full of deep bonefish knowledge, it is simply beautifully written.

Author, Dick Brown, with a nice looking bone.

Dick agreed to do an interview, which is much appreciated.

Dick, I really enjoyed your book on bonefishing.  I thought it was really well written with passages that bordered on poetry (to me, anyway).  Are there things you’ve learned since writing that book that you wish you could have put in there?

I’ve learned a lot since I wrote the original edition of Fly Fishing for Bonefish, both from others and from my own time on the flats. In fact when, Lyons Press asked me to do the new 2008 edition of the book, one of the primary goals was to update it with the most important new skill enhancements I had learned over the years. If I had to pick the top ones, I guess I’d say  learning to handle wind and clouds better  and learning to see fish more accurately and read their demeanor. To this day one of the most telling traits of a really good bonefish angler is how well he can read when to strike a fish—knowing how to interpret its body language to determine when it actually has the fly. And the other thing about seeing bones better is you not only see more targets, you present to them better and strip your fly more effectively when you can see the fish’s reactions.

Get this book.

Is there a particular bonefish that stands out in your memory?

There was a fish that nearly ran me out of backing twice that had more will and stamina than any bone I’ve ever encountered. He wasn’t all that big–maybe nine pounds at most–but he had an enormous will to live. And he fought that way to the bitter end, still struggling all the way to the boat . And just as my friend Joe Cleare was about to scoop him into a net, he turned his big head and the fly dropped into the water with the quietest little plip you ever heard, and he faded off into the turquoise glare reflecting off the surface as the great ghost he truly was. I still dream about that fish.

If you are out in nature longer than the average person you see things the average person just doesn’t see.  Have you seen something out there, on the flats, in the tropics, that was strange, unusual, frightening bizarre?

I remember once when I was fishing the Abaco Marls with Donnie Sawyer, we saw a stand-off between a big blue crab and a sizeable bonefish. The crab kept backing away from the bone in an exaggerated defense stance with its claws held out in front of it and the bone kept lunging at the crab. Just as the crab looked like he was going to skitter sideways into the mangroves, the bone charged him and ripped his right claw off. The crab darted for cover, and the bone turned and headed for deeper water with his prize claw between his crusher plates.

When it comes down to it, how much of it is presentation as opposed to fly selection?

Funny you should ask—I was just writing about that very question for a new edition of my second book Bonefish Fly Patterns book that Lyons Press will release next spring. There are days when one dominates over the other, but over the long haul you have to get them both right with this fish. Clearly if you find dumb bones on remote flats, you can throw most any pattern you want at them and you can likely get away with some sloppy presentations too. But if you want to catch smart fish or spooky fish or fish that have keyed on the dominant prey du jour, you want to perform your very best at both presentation and fly selection. If I HAD to chose one though, I’d pick presentation—but I would sure feel compromised if I were limited to a single fly.

I don't have this book... but I will... soon.

The bonefish world seems to be divided fairly well between places with big fish and places with lots of fish.  Given the choice, would you rather have a lot of shots or a few for really big fish?

I guess I have reached a place in life where I’m just happy being on any bonefish flat with fish on it. Catching a big fish is always an extraordinary thrill, but this species has so much heart that even the smaller ones make for one heck of a thrilling day of fishing. And the excitement of the hunt and of watching a stalked fish detect and engulf your fly is about as good as it gets in fishing–regardless of whether it’s a four pounder or a ten.

Dick tied on to a bone somewhere I'd probably like to be.

When I think of bonefishing I also think of cracked conch and a cold Kalik.  Are there any non-bonefish associations you make when thinking of pursuing bones?

Your question reminds me of a day when Carol and I were fishing with Ricardo Burrows out of Sandy Point on the southern tip of Abaco.  We’d had a spectacular day fishing out at Moore’s Island capped by landing a 20lb permit on the edge of the bonefish flats. When we got back to Pete and Gay’s lodge where we were staying, there was Stanley White the lodge manager standing on the dock with two cold Kaliks and a bowl of conch fritters. It was one of those died and gone to heaven moments.

Thanks for your time Dick, and thanks for your book, which I treasure.