September Fly of the Month- Hornberg

This unique fly was created by Frank Hornberg, a Game Warden from Central Wisconsin, in the 1920's as a dry fly, named the Hornberg Special, to imitate caddis. At some point, Frank must have realized that the fly did well when sunk and retrieved as a streamer, which also lead it to being tied to larger hook sizes. In conjunction with the Weber Tackle Company in the 1940's, Frank developed this fly to be "multi-purpose" in that it might be used as either a dry fly or a streamer depending upon the line used. Today the Hornberg is mostly used as a streamer, but it makes an excellent dry fly in sizes 14-18 (check out Tim Flagler’s version). It's a great fly to fish in the fall when nothing else is getting attention. Last year one of our members hooked an enormous brown at the Dream Catcher on a Hornberg streamer. They work well for trout, bass, pike, pickerel, and panfish. For color variations, try using different colors for the underwing and dyed mallard flank for the outer wings. You don't really need the expensive, and difficult to find jungle cock. I bet you could even tie a dry version to imitate the Spotted Lantern Fly!

Tie up six and bring them to the September 14 Chapter meeting. There will be two raffles.

June Chapter Meeting with Jason Yi

Come to the Hacklebarney TU Chapter meeting at the Whippany American Legion Hall Thursday, June 8th at 7:30pm and meet Jason Yi.

Jason (aka @FlytyingManiac) has been a fishing fanatic for as long as he can remember. From fishing with his granddad using a cane pole to hand lining with a local fisherman for barracuda in Nicaragua or chasing golden masheer on the fly in the Himalayas, he loves fishing in all its forms; with Flyfishing as the pinnacle of the sport. Overcoming the challenge it presents as the nexus of so many interdisciplinary fields: ichthyology, entomology, ecology, meteorology, physics, is what makes it so rewarding. Being able to create tiny works of art to fool fish all around the world has taken the sense of accomplishment and pure joy to the next level. Jason has been tying flies for over 10 yrs and his philosophy has been to focus more on techniques rather than patterns. He approaches flytying not only as a way to tie fishfood, but also to push the creative boundaries of what can be used to craft a fly. More recently, Jason has been developing varied techniques to utilize “non-traditional” materials to create effective flies. Some hardware and craft store finds include plumber’s tape, embroidery floss, elastic hair ties, beading cord, etc. Jason is always looking for the next interesting, fishy looking material to throw on a hook!

The presentation is entitled: Purpose Driven Fly Design Using New Materials Jason will demonstrate several of his patterns, Ghost Caddis, Vinyl Caddis Pupa, Packing Foam Spinner, and the Fugly Mayfly, which all use some type of non-traditional fly tying materials. Jason will explain how he developed these through observations of both insect and trout behavior. He will also explain how to adjust these to match the hatch as the season progression and how best to fish these patterns.

June Fly of the Month-March Brown

By the time the March Browns arrive, anglers have already been fishing hatches of small- to medium-size mayflies such as Hendricksons and Blue-winged Olives for up to two months. But the first March Browns of the year are huge in comparison. March Browns in fertile waters can easily fill #8, 2X-long hooks and the small ones are #10.

Early March Browns begin hatching in mid-May when the water is often still cold, and they appear during the warmest part of the day, usually from late morning through the afternoon. These mayflies continue hatching through mid-June on the Upper Delaware and often overlap with big Sulphurs (Ephemerella invaria), and the beginning of the Green Drakes (E. guttulata).

March Brown nymphs are in the family of clingers. They are usually found holding on to the bottoms of rocks in riffles and swift-moving glides. Dead-drifting #8-10 nymphs in the riffles is productive, but slowly stripping the flies toward shore, like a streamer, can be better, particularly if the water is high.

The early March Brown duns are strikingly beautiful. The color of their thoraxes and abdomens ranges from creamy tan to pale yellow, significantly lighter than the bold, dark brown markings on their backs and legs. The fly's belly is most obvious to a rising trout, so it's important to properly imitate the belly color.

Imitating the spinners is not difficult. Just about any big (#8-10, 2X-long) Rusty Spinner in your fly box will probably work. The problem is actually being streamside when the bugs hit the water.

Tie up 6 March Brown nymphs, emergers, duns, or spinners and bring them to the June chapter meeting. There will be two raffles.

May Fly of the Month - Sulphur

By mid-May air temperatures are pushing into the 70’s and water temps are in the 50’s making fish hungry. It’s at this time that the first of the pale yellow mayfly emerges. Ephemerella invaria, commonly called “sulfurs”, begin emerging.

Late May to mid-June, we start to see a second pale yellow mayfly emerging from the water. Ephemerella dorothea is another sulfur colored mayfly that is, however, a size #18. The dorothea hatch emerges with the invarias: two pale yellow mayflies coming off the water; one size #16 and another size #18.

Sounds confusing, but if fish are refusing your size #16 sulfur pattern, change to one that is size #18 and you might have more success.

Four or five full weeks of pale yellow mayflies fill the air in the warm evenings, surrounded by the quiet solitude of the cold water resource. When the hatch and spinnerfall is finished, it’s still light enough to find your way out of the stream and back to the car. That’s fishing the sulfur hatch.

Tie up six sulphur nymphs, emergers, dries, or spinners and bring them to the May 11th chapter meeting. There will be two raffles.