Golden trout hike 6/20/2013

 

A friend and I hiked to a favorite eastern sierra lake the other day, and did very well!  We weren't actually planning on catching much, we went up just to see if it's even possible to make it to the lake since there is still a good amount of snow at higher elevations.  We made it just fine, had to negotiate a little snow, but less than we were expecting.

I landed 5 or so small ones in the inlet creek on a #21 sierra bright dot, and later on a size #18 stimulator.  Hiding behind bushes while casting, moving slowly, and keeping as far away as possible from the water is key here.  I actually had to cast laying on my side in one spot so I wouldn't spook the fish.

I followed the creek towards the inlet of the lake,  on my way I spooked a 20 inch golden (largest golden I've seen).  Pretty heart breaking, since I'm pretty sure he would have taken my dry fly.

When I made it to the lake a started stripping a #12 olive woolly bugger with a little olive midge flash tied in the tail.  I landed probably around 10 or so fish over the next 2 hours.

This one being the largest...

..and this one was the prettiest for sure!

I headed back up to the lake about a week later and brought my GoPro!  You can see the footage HERE.

Woolly bugger

The woolly bugger is possibly the most commonly used fly.  It can imitate anything from leaches to bait fish.

Materials needed:
Hook:  Any standard streamer hook with a 3x long hook shank.  Sizes #6-14 are popular.
Bead:  (optional) a properly sized bead to fit your hook, any color.
Weight:  10+ wraps of lead wire.
Thread:  Olive 8/0 UNI thread.
Tail:  Olive marabou with some olive midge flash tied on either side.
Body:  Olive chenille.

 Place your bead on the hook, and the hook in the vise.

Wrap 10 or so wraps of lead wire, and push the wraps into the end of the bead.

Start your thread just behind the thread wraps.












Wrap your thread across the thread wraps to lock them in place.

Select a piece of marabou to tie in as a tail.

If you wet the marabou, it is much easier to work with.

Tie in your tail.  The length should equal the length of the hook shank.

Trim the butt end of the tail so it butts up to the lead wraps, then secure the tail with several tight thread wraps.

Tie in 4 strands of olive midge flash on the side of the tail.

Do the same on the other side of the tail.

Tie in a piece of olive chenille.  

Start tying it in just behind the bead so the body stays a uniformed size, and you don't have any clumps anywhere. 

Wrap the chenille forward, and tie it off.

Tie in a piece of olive hackle.

Wrap your thread to your tail like you would wrap a rib.

Wrap your hackle to the tail on top of the thread wraps you just laid down.

Now wrap your thread forward to lock the hackle in place.  Move your thread up and down so you don't trap too many fibers.

Whip finish.

Sierra bright dot

Materials needed:
Hook:  TMC 203BL sizes #17-21.  Any standard dry fly hook can be used.
Thread:  Red, 8/0, UNI thread.
Tail:  Golden pheasant tippet.
Body:  Single strand or red floss.
Hackle:  Grizzly.

Place the hook in your vise.

Start your thread with absolutely minimal thread wraps.

Tie in your tail.  The length should equal the hook shank.

For hooks this small, it's best to find a very small golden pheasant feather.  I try to find one that when tied to length, shows both black bars as shown.

Tie in a piece of grizzly hackle, slightly undersized for the hook you are using.

Wrap your hackle 3-4 turns, and tie it off.

Tie in a single strand of red floss.

Wrap your floss forward, trying not to build up too much bulk on the body, and tie it off.  Make sure you leave enough room for your hackle up front.

Tie in some grizzly hackle...

..wrap the hackle 4-5 turns, tie it off, and clip the butt end of the feather.

Cut your thread and apply head cement.












Notes:  With patterns this small, it is very important to use the absolute minimal thread wraps so you are not bulking up the fly.  I use exactly 2 tight wraps to hold the materials in place.