Shakey Beeley

by Ken Hanson | Mar 3, 2025 | Fly Tyers Corner, Rip Rap

Shakey Beeley by Ken Hanson The Shakey Beeley was named after a Yellowstone National Park ranger that was known to fish the Madison in the park. A detailed story of this pattern can be found in “Fly Patterns of Yellowstone volume two” by Craig Matthews and John Juracek of Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, MT.  The pattern as we know it today was created by Blue Ribbon guide Nick Nicklas. Nick tied the fly on a #12 DaiRiki 280 a curved hopper hook. A TMC 2312 or equivalent will work fine. Like a lot of western flies I fish with, I’ve found the Shakey Beeley to work extremely well in our local waters. With the contrasting colors and flash, brook trout go nuts for it. I also tie it in purple.  Hook DaiRiki 280 hopper or TMC 2312 #12 Thread: Brown Tail: Dyed Mallard and Yellow Krystal Flash Body: Yellow Haretron or Awesome Possum  Rib: Brown Spandex Thorax: Orange Ostrich Herl Hackle: Hungarian Partridge and Yellow Krystal Flash A couple tricks: 1. When tying in the Krystal Flash for the tail, leave some facing forward to be used later to use as flash just behind the hackle. 2. Before tying in the partridge soft hackle, stroke the forward facing Krystal Flash back and wrap a few turns of thread surrounding the hook with flash. 3. Tie the partridge feather in at the stem and utilize some of the webby barbules to add a little bulk. This is not a sparse fly. You can see Nick Nicklas tie this fly HERE. Tim Flagler does another nice version HERE.

The Picket Pin

by Ken Hanson | Jan 4, 2025 | Fly Tyers Corner, Rip Rap

The Picket Pin is a pattern from the old west that gets its name from ground squirrels that were nicknamed “picket pins” by cowboys as they resembled the short stakes used to tie off horses. The original fly, developed by Jack Boeme, was tied with tail and body hair from these western ground squirrels. More modern recipes utilize fox squirrel and grey squirrel. 

I tied some Picket Pins to try out in the smaller streams in Yellowstone and later realized they were a great pattern for brook trout around home. It’s a wet fly that you can drift or strip just under the surface. You can swing it towards root wads and brushy areas and strip it back just in time to avoid trouble. It often draws a chase from aggressive brookies. It’s white squirrel tail wing provides a good contrast to the body and allows you to focus on the fly and watch for fish. The only trick is to stay calm enough for them to take the fly before you strike. 

• Hook: 2XL Nymph hook size 10 or 12
• Thread: Black
• Tail: Fox squirrel tail fibers
• Rib: Small copper wire
• Body: Peacock herl
• Hackle: Brown
• Head: More peacock herl

After wrapping the body, add and palmer the hackle back towards the tail and secure by wrapping the wire forward woolly bugger style. A good example of this is covered by Tim Flagler’s tightlinevideo on YouTube 

https://youtu.be/9VK5BXuYPec?si=O4Et6Grp3k26GvVu

Views From My Side Of The Vise

by Paul Johnson | Oct 30, 2024 | Fly Tyers Corner, Rip Rap

Views From My Side of the Vise: In some of my recent articles I have made reference to taking some fly tying classes at a fly shop in the Twin Cities when I was first getting started. It was at one of those classes that the instructor sparked my interest that has since grown into my love for Yellowstone National Park.On my many trips to Yellowstone I have always based out of Gardiner, Montana. During these trips, I spent a lot of time hanging out at Parks’ Fly Shop, where I first got to know and to fish with Walter Wiese. At that time, Walter was the head guide at Parks’. Walter now operates Yellowstone Country Fly Fishing out of Livingston.From those early trips, it was obvious that I could learn a lot from Walter’s books, website, and also his YouTube fly tying videos. Several years ago, Walter did a video of a nymph he calls the “Gussied Lightning Bug”. For some reason or another, this was a fly that looked to me like it would catch a lot of fish.After watching the video, I headed right to my vise and started to tie up a half dozen or so. The next time I went fishing, I tied one on and guess what? It caught fish, so I headed back to my vise to tie more. That was when I started to make some very minor changes to the fly and actually simplified the tying process. That is how my Gussied-Up Lightning Bug was created. (Have you noticed how creative I am when I name a fly pattern?)This fly is now a mainstay in my fly box. I fish it throughout the season either under an indicator or as a dropper below a hopper. The fly has a very slender profile so it sinks pretty quickly.Until recently I always tied this fly with micro tubing for the rib. I found that the micro tubing was kind of slippery on the tinsel body, so I have now switched up and started to use wire for the ribbing because it makes the fly a little easier to tie. I have also added a silver-bodied variation that has fished well when the water is a little off-color. You should put some of these flies in your fly box. I think you just might like them as much as I do! As always, please let me know if you have any questions / comments / suggestions.Hook: Size 14 Scud Hook Bead: 2.8 mm Tungsten in Gold Thread: 14/0 Red Tail: Brown Improved Micro Zelon Abdomen: Red Holographic Tinsel size Medium Legs: Red Midge Tinsel Thorax: Super-bright Dubbing in Peacock Paul Johnson  Paulwaconia@gmail.com Editors Note: You can watch Paul this pattern on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ_u8QOu11A

Golden Stone Chubby

by Jonathan Jacobs | Feb 29, 2024 | Fly Tyers Corner, Rip Rap

Fly Tyers Corner:
Jonathan Jacobs’ GOLDEN STONE CHUBBY

• Hook:  Daiichi 1260, size 8 
• Thread:  Uni, 6/0 Yellow 
• Tail:  Eight strands orange Krystal Flash 
• Underbody:  Thin strip of scrap foam covered with gold Ice Dub 
• Lower Body:  2mm Gold Thin Fly Foam 
• Upper Body:  2mm Tan Thin Fly Foam 
• Wings:  Two strands polypropylene macrame yarn in Insect Gray from Charlie’s Fly Box 
• Legs:  Hareline Barred Rubber, Med., Fl. Yellow Chartreuse

I have been fortunate to, along with two boon companions, spend the second week of July fishing Montana’s Gallatin and Madison Rivers. It was on these trips that I first encountered the nearly mythical Salmon Fly hatch. This event is a spectacle with huge creatures from the Carboniferous Era everywhere along, above, and, most importantly for an angler, on the water. 

This year, however, we three amigos will make our trip to Montana in the third week of July and the salmon flies will likely be a memory by then. Hatch charts for the area say that a slightly smaller stonefly, the golden stone, follows the salmon fly hatch. I’d come to admire Cheech Pierce’s Chubby Chernobyl Salmon fly and thought that I might tie a similar fly in golden stone colors on a smaller hook.  

That’s the origin story. Despite its Montana roots, I think the fly, or a very similar one, might have its uses here in the Midwest. A size 10 version tied a bit sparser and in perhaps more muted colors could make an excellent hopper imitation hereabouts. With its robust foam body and buoyant wing material, it’s sure to make a great top fly in any hopper/dropper combo.  You can follow a link to a video that shows you how I tie the fly. In the video I explain the origin of the name and offer prejudiced opinions about our sport.  I hope you enjoy it.  

Click HERE to see video

Eradicator

by Ken Hanson | Dec 18, 2023 | Fly Tyers Corner, Rip Rap

Eradicator is a foam caddis pattern that is part of a dry dropper rig and will float beadhead nymphs. It also serves as a strike indicator. This fly’s name pokes a little fun at pattern names that go to the extreme in describing how successful an angler might be when using such a fly. Names like Irresistible, Warden’s Worry, Mickey Finn, Slumpbuster, Shop Vac, Ray Charles, come to mind.

This pattern is as much Ed’s as it is mine. He has provided lots of input to the design. While out fishing one day, Ed asked me if I had any caddis patterns that could float a tungsten bead nymph. I came up with a foam and deer hair wing pattern and over the past few years, we have tweaked it some. Last year I had the opportunity to sit next to Mike Alwin and watch him tie up several Skip Wet flies that utilize a green Krystal Flash rib. Right there I decided the Eradicator needed to have this feature. The most recent change is the use of hot pink yarn as an indicator. It is much more visible for our older eyes than the orange foam I used previously. 

Hey! Eradicator rhymes with indicator. Weird!

Ingredients:

Hook – #14 Firehole 633 nymph hook (heavier hook so the fly lands upright)

Thread – Tan Danville 6/0

Body – Natural hares ear

Rib – Green Krystal Flash

Under Wing – Tan 2mm foam strip width of hook gap. Trim off rear corners. 

Middle wing – Silver Congo Hair from Fly Tyers Dungeon (substitute EP trigger point?) – I trim this wing a little longer than the foam.

Over Wing – Deer hair – same length as the foam.

Indicator – Hot Pink Yarn

My favorite dry/dropper rig has been a #14 Eradicator dry with a #16 Shop Vac dropper. I like to tie 5x tippet off of a 4X leader and leave about 4” of 4X tag on my surgeon’s knot. The dry gets tied on the tag and the nymph on the 5X point. I use Shop Vacs tied with both tungsten and brass beads so I can choose my sink rates for various water depths. I use other beaded nymphs but the Shop Vac has been a real winner and is my go to nymph pattern.

If you want to know more about my inspiration for this fly name, you can check out this YouTube video from 1989. https://youtu.be/fbC5YQ_oJoA?si=rlCmgT3G7Mica1qA  If you watch this video, I ask that you shout out the name every time you hook a fish with one.

If you’d like more information about tying this pattern just shoot me an email. My address is on this website under Contact Us

Foam Wing No Hackle Mayfly

by Loren Haas | May 1, 2023 | Fly Tyers Corner, Rip Rap

This is a specialty fly.  I wish I could tell you it works all the time. It simply doesn’t, however………

In the months from March to May, when the mornings are overcast, the blue wing olive mayflies are hatching, the fish are tail slapping the surface and you know they are taking emergers, then this is the fly you want. Don’t give up on your dry fly fishing just yet. This pattern will entice many of them to take an emerger and then grab your fly in the surface film. Tied in many colors and sizes I have chosen an early season dark BWO pattern in size 16 on a sprout hook.  Matching the size of the fly is more important than dialing in the perfect color.

Materials:

I use heavy or standard hooks size 16 to 20 with olive thread. The under body on larger flies can be thin sticky back foam for more buoyancy covered with dubbing, smaller flies use only olive dubbing. The tail is horse hair or natural turkey biot short fibers. The magic wing material comes from the foam sheets that line the inside of mail envelopes and are found in colors grey, white, and clear. A thicker foam works better in the riffles.

• Tie a dubbing bump at the bend of the hook. 
• Splay the tail fibers over the bump, tie in and dub over the top. Add more dubbing to finish the body.
• Cut a wing foam strip 1/8^th inch by 2 inches and secure with a few figure 8’s, then cover with light dubbing.
• Use one or more post turns to secure the open wing shape.  
• Dub a small black head and superglue the thread one inch to whip finish.
• Cut the wings to shape.

This is my go-to fly pattern for BWO hatches. It outperforms all others.