December Meeting Followup

Message From John MacDairmid
 Nine  SOFT members were very generous in donating 9 dozen flies in support of WaterWatch.  These flies were transferred to SOFT boxes and will be entered in the silent auction of the annual WaterWatch Auction next November.  More flies would be appreciated.  Both trout flies and  steelhead flies are bid up at the auction.

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Marks Stonefly

Side View

Top View

200R size 4 3x long

140 ultra thread

.020 lead wire

.015 lead wire

black goose biots

32 gage gold beading wire

black floss

Awesome Possum black dubbing

Black balloon strip (I noticed that Fred Meyers sells these)

3/16"brass cone head

Slide cone head onto kook and place in vise

Wrap hook shank with thread and return forward. Tie in and wrap 20 wraps of .020 lead back towards hook bend from eye and tie off. Tie in .015 lead wire on sides of the remainder from the .020 lead wire to the beginning of the hook bend and tie off. Squish lead to make body wide and flat. Make a small bump behind the .015 with thread and tie two goose biots in just above the bump-the bump will splay the goose biots. Wrap the lead with thread in a crisscross pattern to keep lead in place and coat with head cement. Tie in gold wire and then tie in black floss both just above the goose biots. Wrap thread  forward toward cone head and whip finish and place thread in thread holder. Wrap black floss forward covering lead and whip finish and place thread in holder. Wrap wire forward to create a segmented body. Tie off wire and then wrap thread back two fifths from the eye. tie in a 1/4"x 1"strip of black balloon material for wing case. Dub a small amount of thread and create another bump to tie in two black goose biots for the first set of rear legs. Using thread only, tie in the two goose biots, one on each side and dub forward to the next section and tie balloon material forward creating the first stage of the wing case and first part of the thorax. Repeat the last step to create the next section of the thorax and second set of legs-middle legs. Repeat again to create the final set of legs-the front legs. Dub dubbing forward under conehead and tie off balloon leaving a flap. Cut the flap to make a v shaped pattern in the wing case and whip finish. the flap should fold back overlaying the front of the wing case. Tie thread around the back neck of the eye above the conehead and tie a goose biot on both sides of the eye to create antennas. Whip finish and apply head cement.

I want to thank everyone for contributing to Keaton's progress in tying and ultimately fly fishing. He has had success in both thanks to your generosity.  At least once a month I will be meeting with him to tie a new pattern. Needless to say, he is loving it !!! The other day his dad sent me a picture of the fly that I taught Keaton to tie that he himself had taken a swing at and the fly was stellar. Keaton would have had to have shone him how to tie it because I didn't. Keaton has an older brother Braden who is in his freshman year in Missoula Montana and I am also teaching him about fly fishing. I will get a chance to teach him to tie when he comes home for Winter break in a couple of days. I visited him in Montana a couple of months ago and found my favorite lake of all time. I have never felt trout that were that strong pound for pound and I fish Diamond Lake and the Williamson River a lot. The fish were really tall (big shoulders) and all were in the 17-22" range with a few that frankly I could not stop, so I don't know how big the were, and never a day with less than 20 fish. Anyway thanks again and tight lines- Mark Swanburg

SOFT Meeting

SOFT – Tuesday, February 14, 2017 
6:00 pm
   8401 Old Stage Road, Gold Hill

This month we are in for a real treat.  Lee Wedberg shares his Stonefly Nymph.  If you were ever lucky enough to fish with Lee, you know that he is a fishy kind of guy and only fishes with flies that produce.  Nuff said.

Lee Wedberg Stonefly Nymph - 2016

Hook -    Size 6 to 4, shank 20-30 mm long, down turned eye, such as Mustad 9672, 36890, or R75-79580 (2XH/5XL).

Thread - Black 6/0 or 8/0

Lead -     Secure 0.030 lead to each side of shank.  To do this, secure one end of lead near the hook eye using 5 wraps of thread, then bend lead out of the way and make three firm turns of thread on the shank.  Next secure the another lead strip to the other side of shank with 5 wraps of thread, bend out of the way, and wrap thread three firm turns on shank.  Continue so that one strip of lead is secured on each side of the shank.  Finally wrap lead on forward 2/3 of shank, and

overwrap with thread spiraled over head to tail.

Tail - Two black goose biots, short and flared.

Rib -  Secure 4 to 7 inches’ dark copper wire at tail end of shank.

Belly - Tie on some white fleece on under side at tail end of shank.

Body - Tie on part of a lock of black Romney fleece by its tip (often sun bleached); wrap thread forward to head.  With an occasional twist, wrap black fleece forward short of the eye; secure and trim.  Turn hook upside down, pull white fleece forward along belly of fly, and secure by  (counter wrapping) spiraling copper wire forward making evenly spaced segments length of the body.  Now spiral thread back over ribs to the middle of the fly.  Return fly upside up.

Wing case -  Use barbs from large black goose or mottled turkey tail feathers.  Apply Hard as Nails (with fingernail polish at grocery store), and snip about 5 mm (maybe 9 barbs) from the rachis.  Tie in at midpoint of body, extending backwards over bend of hook.

Legs - Use guinea hackle feathers.  Determine the length of barbs to use as legs, then strip and remove all longer barbs.  Pinch and flatten the rachis at the base of the remaining barbs.  On top of the wing case, secure rachis at the base of the remaining barbs with the stripped rachis pointing toward the head, and the barbed portion toward

the tail.  Trim and remove stripped rachis. Carefully pull tip of feather forward, separate about 5 barbs on each side and secure with two or three thread wraps, then pull wing case over and secure it at the same point.  Move thread forward and repeat once or twice to complete four or six legs emanating from beneath the wing case. 

Antennae and head - Wrap a thin head, then tie on two thin rubber legs or peccary hairs for antennae, holding antennae back over the fly.  Continue wrapping a tapered head.  Finally pull antennae forward and overwrap to hold them splayed forward.  Whip finish immediately behind the bases of the antennae.  Trim antennae to about half the length of the body of the fly.

Three photos and instructions for small version are below:

Lee Wedberg Small Stonefly Nymph

This smaller version seems to hook at least as many fish as the larger.  It is tied exactly the same as the larger size above, with the following exceptions:

Hook - Size 8 Mustad 7957, or size 10 Mustad 94840

Lead -  Size .016.

Wing case - Thinner, maybe seven or eight barbs.

Rib - Very thin or black wire.

Legs - Dark brown pheasant body feather, or partridge speckled.

Antennae - Moose, or 3-pound test Maxima darkened with felt tip

permanent marker.

Top view from the side

Bottom view

Side view