Chubby Chernobyl?

In case you haven't noticed, I really like fishing terrestrials. The bigger the better. I just love when trout are coming up for a huge fly, and around here, most of the time, that means terrestrials. Whether it's imitating a cricket, a beetle, a grasshopper, or just looks like food the trout love 'em and so do I. This is what I've always referred to as a "Chubby Chernobyl" but a quick search on the interweb tells me others have a different idea of what that pattern is. Oh well, I guess this is my take on it. Here's the materials you'll need for this tie:

• uni 6/0 tying thread
• #10 standard dry fly hook
• Rainy's Evazote Sheet Foam, 3/16"
• White bucktail, deer hair, or Antron Yarn 
• Grizzly Hackle
• Medium Round Rubber Legs 

Lay down a thread base back just shy of the hook bend.

At the point you stopped your thread base tie in a foam strip about a 1/4" wide

Advance your thread to about a 1/4" shy of the eye of the hook. Make another segmentation in the foam here.

Trim your foam to length and trim the corners while you're at it.

Tie in your white wing in the material of your choice. Like I indicated in the material list, I haven't noticed a difference from one material to another in terms of effectiveness. If you do, let me know. I like to cater to the preferences of the fish.

Then tie in a grizzly hackle and attach your rubber legs to the sides of the fly.

Wrap the hackle in between the legs a few times (I like to be a little liberal with my hackle here). Whip finish and you're done. I like to add a few drops of super glue to the underside to improve durability.

This fly is another easy tie that is really effective on the water. Tie up a few and try it for yourself. I hope you can get out and enjoy the water.

- Kidder

Fun & Games

After a night of unrest I wasn't surprised that my boy felt too tired for a long ride and long hike to fish. I wasn't too upset about it figuring another opportunity was just around the corner. So I was surprised about an hour later when the boy came out of his room (hair in all directions, a small amount of panic in his voice) and said, "Is it too late to go fishing?"

I assured him that it wasn't if we stayed a bit closer to home and he asked if we could go fish his favorite bit of stream. Fine by me! So we quickly loaded up and headed out. The stream was somewhat off color, but the flows were decent and I was sure we could find a few trout. Once I got Atley rigged and pointed in the right direction I worked on setting my own rod up. After a few tangles, and a bit of frustration, the boy came through.

I nice way to get the skunk off, with a native

 What followed was a great day for so many reasons. Our local stream is bouncing back brilliantly after the fire of a couple of years ago, it was a great day to be out enjoying the outdoors, and my boy fished well without nearly the assistance that he needed even a year ago. So fun to watch him figure things out for himself.

The joy on his face comes from catching and landing this fish while I had my back turned

And yes, I caught a few today too. Including some more Cutthroat that have been a welcome addition to the stream that was once all Browns.

This fish is going to turn into a real nice one by the end of the season

Plenty of fun without a single video game in sight! It's Summer for the boys here too, and it's looking to be a great one. Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.

- Kidder

Indicator Chernobyl

Here's a great fly that I've used for a couple of years now. It does double duty as a fish catcher and an indicator. Here's the materials you'll need:

• Uni 6/0 tying thread to match foam
• Size 8-10 standard dry fly hook
• 20# monofilament, or similar
• 3mm sheet foam in desired colors
• medium round rubber leg material

First lay down a thread base, and attach your monofilament (I'm using 20# here, but any heavy mono should be just fine)

Then loop around your tags ends and secure them to the shank. You should end up with a couple of small loops at either end of the fly. I like to put some super glue over these wraps just as a little insurance.

Secure your two 1/4" foam strips just above the barb of the hook.

Then attach your rubber legs (I make mine 1" long) and your indicator foam to the top. I usually let everything run wild for the moment.

Pull the top foam strip back out of the way and create a segmented body with the bottom strip. This helps to break up the footprint of the fly as well as further secure it to the hook shank. I've also put a palmered hackle under the foam to further break it up, but the fish don't really seem to worried either way.

A hook eye length back from the eye attach the top strip, legs and your indicator foam (I usually use the same strip)

Trim everything up

Take the corners off and whip finish. I just take my whip finish up over everything in the tie off point just shy of the eye.

Here's a few that I tied up. Hopefully I'll be able to get out and use them along with these nymphs tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. This has been a great pattern in pink, black, tan, and black & tan (with tan for the bottom foam strip and black for the top). The mono allows you to use this fly as an adjustable indicator a la Mikey Wier (his video describing the system can be found here). Of course, you could just tie it on and go old school with it. Whatever your preference, hope you can tie up some and get out to enjoy the water.

-Kidder

First Day

Tuesday was my first day of Summer break! Yeah, there are still some perks to being a teacher. For the next three weeks I'll be trying to enjoy some fishing (though I still have no money to pay for these trips). With that in mind I finally got back to a lake that I found last fall (post here).
Headed out early with a buddy of mine (making sure to tell him all about the bears/sasquatch/other reasons he shouldn't bring everyone he knows here) and arrived at the lake around 7:00am. 

A fine site

A few fish were surfacing early but we had a tough time convincing them to come say hi. Threw some different flies at them all with the same result. Had some fish follow but none would commit. Then we worked our way toward the inlet and found some willing participants.

I see you!

I never get tired of these

Once we left the inlets our luck turned off again, so after a little while we began making our way back to the trail home when we finally keyed in on what the fish wanted. An orange asher either floating or stripped slowly was the ticket and we were soon into several fish. Can't say enough about this little fly that has been just awesome for me since I learned how to tie it on FlyFishFood.com. 

Gettin' colored up for the dance

He's starting to get the hang of this fly thing

We were about to call it a day when Ross spotted a large Cutt that seemed to be stuck in the debris at the mouth of the inlet. Ross hurried over and helped it to get unstuck, and held onto it for a couple of pics. She was big and beautiful.

She was chuck full of eggs!

 Great way to end the day and begin making our way back through the treacherous woods where we kicked up a couple of deer but avoided the Sasquatch infestation, luckily. In all seriousness it was a fantastic first day and one that has me really excited for Summer. Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.

- Kidder

First Attempt

I've been playing in my garage again...

I've made some mistakes, but I've learned a lot on this net. Maple and Walnut hoop with a maple handle. Pretty clean look. The next try has glue drying right now (same configuration as this one). I'll let you know how it goes. Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.

-Kidder

Warm

Traditionally I go fishing on my birthday. That's just the way it's been for as long as I can remember. I've missed years of course, but the norm is fishing (as it should be). This year looked like it was going to be one of the exceptions till we ran down to the carp pond for a few minutes. What we found was beyond discouraging. The water was as low as I've ever seen it and tinted a sickly brown. No fish were caught and I don't think I'll be going back this year. On the way back we saw this snake (about three feet long) dead on the road...kinda summed up the trip really.

So, needless to say, I still felt the fishing itch and decided to take the family camping (and fishing) at a new spot for us. Huntington North Reservoir looked like a nice place for an early season trip with the possibility of crossing a few species off the "Grand Slam". 

Nice camp. Sorry about the smudge, not sure when that happened...

The Grand Slam is our family's goal of catching all the possible game fish in Utah. As far as trout go we're doing pretty well, but the warm water species are lacking. Part of the rules are it doesn't count without a pic, and it has to be in Utah. I'll post a new 'page' on here with all the species just in case you're interested. 

Well, we got our camp set up with a little time before the light failed us so I set out to test the waters. Some fish were surfacing, so I threw the flyrod at them and quickly landed two of the fattest (and biggest)  chubs I've ever seen. Not exactly what I was looking for, but it is what it is.

Fatty

Trophy chub

The next morning I got out decently early in my kick boat to see what else the reservoir could hold for me and was pleasantly surprised to catch a nice brown. Unfortunately the fight was long and hard on him, so I quickly resuscitated and released him. I was sure there would be more to follow.

Nice gill...I think.

There wasn't. I had one wiper up to the boat before he came off, and caught some bluegill (which somehow I had never caught before) but no more trout. Still great to be out and spend some time with the family, despite some of the other guests in the State Park. I'm looking forward to some great trips this summer. Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.

- Kidder

We need more of this in our lives

Crazy

So...I've been busy. In the past week I've decided to change jobs, sell my house and move back to the city. I accepted the job offer, had a buyer lined up and everything was a go. Something just wasn't right, and the more I thought about it, prayed about it, and asked for advice from people I respect, it became clear that I was about to make a huge mistake. So, I passed on the job, canceled the sale, and am feeling great about my decision to stay. 

I knew things were amiss when a buddy of mine brought by his fishing stuff Monday afternoon and I'd actually forgotten mine. IT'S A SIGN! In an effort to repent, and possibly celebrate my decision, we got out and hit the local pond and stream this afternoon.

The pond was pretty off color, but gave up a few of it's smaller residents for closer inspection.

"Smaller" could be interchangeable with "Smallest"

With the pond not quite giving us what we'd hoped we headed over to the local stream to check up her. This stream fell victim to the Wood Hollow Fire in June of 2012, suffering a nearly 100% fish kill. So finding several fish, both Cutts and Browns, was really encouraging. Hopefully it will continue to recover.

Small, but I'm glad to be seeing more fish in this stream again

So basically, nothing's changing and we caught some little fish. But not bad for a Tuesday! Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.

- Kidder

Ride

Last weekend I took the family on a little ride to check out where the snow lines were, and to see if I could get into a certain lake. It's just about time, but the wind kept me from trying with the wife and boys there. I did find a cool little beaver pond though.

I didn't get any fish out of the pond, but I did see some in the stream just below so I'll be checking back to see if anyone's home. Just nice to get out sometimes, even if the fishing doesn't cooperate. Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.

- Kidder

Stealing Away

It's been way too long, but I finally was able to steal away for a few minutes. It was awesome. The flowing water, the sunset, the anticipation, everything felt like it was made just for me.

It's a great place to live

I even managed to catch one of the prettiest Cutthroats I've seen in quite a while on a Mod. Hares Ear. 

So great

The sun went down and the temps dropped long before I was ready to head home, but at least I got some fishing in. Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.

- Kidder