Lets hear a few of everyone's favorite flies for use in the BWCA. Do you tie them yourself? How 'bout providing instructions to tie your favorite pattern? Got pictures?

I'm new to fly fishing and fly tying, so my entry is a basic one:

Wooly Bugger

The vast majority of fish I've caught of a fly rod have been caught with some variation (especially beadhead) of this fly, usually in black or olive. In the BWCA I've caught SMB & perch with this fly (OK, I was actually on Round Lake, but I was very close to the BWCA.)

My favorite fly for the BW is also my favorite for my local rivers. It is the Dahlberg Diver, although my form of it usually has a much shorter tail for smallies than the one shown here. Its really easy to tie, but i find the hardest part is getting the deer hair at the proper angle so as to create more noise and a bigger wake. http://www.akflyfishers.com/fom_dahlberg_diver.html

I almost exclusively flyfish in the boundary waters, so I bring enough flies to fill a two sided tackle tray. For smallies, I bring the standard woolies, dahlbergs, poppers, clousers and lead-eye leeches. For walleyes, any streamer, leech pattern or hexagenia nymph pattern seems to fill the stringer. And for the big snakey water wolves, the biggest bunny leeches and modified tarpon patterns are the standard. (See photo of pike fly, crayfish pattern, and foam walleye wiggler)

Can someone point me in the right direction for learning how to tie in deer hair like on quetico152's Dahlberg Diver, or a muddler . . . etc. I have no clue how to do this, and most patterns seem to gloss over this process. It looks hard :-(

Deer hair can be a challenge. It tends to slip and spin around the hook shank. Try adding a drop of Zap A Gap to the hook shank, the place the hair to the hook. Also start your thread wraps a bit loose, but not too loose,till you have the have the hair in position. A couple loose wraps will do. Once the hair is in the desired position tighten your wraps, being careful not to break the thread. You'll notice that the hair will flare alot, that's what you want. Repeat this a couple times, till you have the desired head size, the take a scissor and trim the hair to the desired head shape. Yes, it sounds easier than it is, just practice and you'll get it, but you may have to wreck a few. Just cut it apart and start again.:)

Love the bugger but have never liked the marabou tail, no specific reason just don't like it. I tie my bugger with a couple of splayed pheasant tail barbs, similar to a classic mayfly tail. Rarely does this fly fail me or my fishing buddies.

1313,
heres a good link to teach you how to do it properly.
http://www.flyfisherman.com/ftb/chdeerhair/

i agree with mp with the zap a gap too. it works wonders. one thing that i have played around with is using other hairs similar to deer hair. i have found that elk will float higher and better than deer, and that bear will provide a different color to mix things up. bear doesnt always float as good, so you may need to add some dry fly dressing to help it.

Q152 is correct elk is better, and floats higher. Bear is nice, but doesnt float, because it's not hollow like deer and elk. Try dyed elk hair for color variations.

Skip Morris has a great book on tying bass and panfish flies. It walks you through the spinning, stacking and trimming processes in great detail.

Heres a killer pattern on lakes where sunfish/perch are the main forage.

Recipe:
1. Tie in eye and lead underbody (optional)
2. Tie in chart. barred bunny zonker (leave about 2" for tail)
3. Wrap zonker forward and tie off behind eye
4. Tie in orange hackle and wrap
5. Tie off hackle and trim hairs on topside of the fly
6. Wrap thread over hackle so it lays back against the body on underside of the fly.

*Also, when i tie bunny flies or buggers, i always tie in some 8 lb monofilament right in front of the tail and wrap it forward. It doesn't take anything away from the looks of the fly and it improves durability.

Great tie! I'll be hitting the bench tonight to crank some out. Thanks for keeping spring in my sights, I was beginning to lose hope again!

My early attempt at a tube-imitating smallmouth fly that still produces, proving that fish don't care how ugly a fly is, only that it vaguely represents something they eat

1313, for tying dahlbergs, you might want to skip the spun hair and use a foam popper body turned around. It's a lot easier to tie and waaay tougher than spun hair. Something like this, just turn the head around so the tapered end is by the hook eye. Just a thought. Good luck.

If you use foam for the nose, what do you use for the hair collar that produces that oh so seductive "bloop" on a sharp twitch of the rod? I'd say get good at spinning hair. It'll make you want to rip your own hair out, but it's worth it in the long run, considering how many great patterns use it. Buy a big variety pack of deerhair (not bucktail) from Cabela's (poor quality, but cheap and effective), some rod winding thread to tie it with (you can really crank on this stuff, making for better flairing), and practice, practice practice

Yeah i've done it both ways. If i do one with a popper body, I still spin a little hair on the back end for a collar. It works pretty well. You're right, spun hair is still the tried and true method for those dang dahlbergs, but if you get sick of working with the deer hair , give the foam a try. It will probably save you time, and save your fly bench from looking like you just laid down a deer hair rug.

You guys are making me want to get my vise out. It's in storage for remodeling.

You're remodeling your vise? Just joking. Along the lines of patterns, what's everyone's favorite "nontraditional" tying material? I use bison underfur for dubbing on brown nymph patterns. It spins super tight, and it's tough as nails. Plus, you can tease it waaaay out to look super "buggy". I've also been known to use the leading edge of crow wing feathers as tails/antennae on stoneflies. They're blacker than the dyed goose biots.

I also like using boar and antelope for spinning. both float well, and gives a different colors to my patterns. I also like using pheasant body feathers, from the chest, for different tails on nymphs. i use pheasant for a lot of things though. coyote is useful for random things too sometimes. but im friends with my local taxidermist, and live on a pheasant farm, so i have access to some weird materials to try for free.

speaking of non-traditional materials. I have a Siberian Husky, who supplies me with cream dubbing, for many of my nymphs.

I've often wondered if it would be worth it to collect the clumps of fur my lab leaves around the house...

if you've ever brushed through husky fur, the inner fur is dense and thick it's just perfect for dubbing. I also have a friend who is a taxidermist, so I get all kinds of different materials.

its probably very similar to coyote, and i have used it to some success before.

Just wanted to bump this thread to the top and pose a question. Has anyone attempted a tandem hook (or articulated if'n yer fancy) pike/muskie fly? I cranked a few big boys out last night, I'll post photos later.

Photos of Tandem Hook Pike Fly. Only ~4 bucks worth of material lashed to the hook, so it can get ripped to pieces on the first fish!

Tight loops, tell us how you tied that tandem hook fly. Is the 2nd hook like a stinger? How did it fair against your first pike?

It fared well, but the double magnum zonker strips on the rear hook weigh a ton when wet. But here's the new and improved recipe:
Thread: Heaviest gelspun or kevlar you can get
Hook: (2) 5/0 O'Shaugnessy Saltwater Hook (Or use Northland spinnerbait stinger hooks)
Tail: 2 magnum zonker strips, or a large bunch of flashabou, 6-8" long
Wing: Full length bucktail, tied in at bend of front hook
Head: Crosscut zonker strip, palmered up shank
Hook Connector: I used the "B" string off my guitar, but any strong wire should work

Start with the rear hook. If you want to keep this fly somewhat light and castable, use flashabou. Tie in a 7-8" bunch at the 1/3 point on the hook. Form tight thread head, whip finish, epoxy and set aside to dry, preferably on a rotating fly drier. Crank out a good dozen of these tails, and wait for the epoxy to set up. For the front hook, fold a piece of wire in half, run it through the eye of the rear hook, and secure the wire to the front hook with a layer of thread. Leave some extra wire in front of the thread, fold the wire back, and wrap again. I leave about an inch between the 2 hooks, for extra sexy wobbling in the water. Tie in a long clump of quality bucktail on the top, sides, and bottom. Tie in a crosscut zonker strip, hit the tie in point with some zap a gap glue, and allow to partially dry. When the glue is just getting tacky, wrap the zonker strip palmer style up the shank. Leave a good half inch of shank bare, tie off zonker, and form a tapered thread head. Epoxy the head, and you're done! I leave some bare hook shank up front to prevent bite offs when the pike take it head on. I also pre-rig my pike flies with a 12" 50lb mono leader. Just tie a loop in it, and you can connect it with your leader super quick.

Awesome thanks....I'll give it a try.