Last few flies to be tied and shipped north before I head south to Florida for a few days are a set of custom seven inch Voodoo Squatch. This is the Cotton Candy color that has proven itself to be very effective tied in the Voodoo pattern with 3/4" eyes. This is a man fly to be sure! Can't wait to see what these monsters coax out of the deep; perhaps a 30" brown.... We shall see.
With the all the rain we have had in central Ohio over the last few weeks the fishable water has been slim to none. While I would have liked to have been out chasing fish it was a good chance for me to stick around the house, without finned distraction, and knock out the backlog of orders I had on the books. To that end I kncoked out quite a few flies this weekend to hit the mail in the morning.
I have seen this shot in a few other locations over the last week, but Adam Peterson's Au Sable beast from last Wednesday is just too nice not to be posted one more time. Another victim of the ACF Cotton Candy, I understand that this big male was boga'd at just over seven pounds before being released back to the flow.
After seeing a compilation shot of some browns on Rebekka Redd's site I got a chance over this weekend to play with a few of my Ohio early season shots from the last month. It was fun going back through some of the pictures and realizing how vividly I recall each fish and fight.
The next few nights will be spent knocking out a few random flies and getting everything packed up. I am headed out early Wednesday with Mrs ACF to New Smyrna Beach; not a fishing trip but I will no doubt wet a line while I am down there. If I get a chance I will get a parting blog posted, othwerwise...catch you in a week!
-mike schmidt
http://www.anglerschoiceflies.com/
Took off after work on Thursday and drove to the NW corner of New York to meet up with a group of guys for the Mystic Rod Steelhead Camp weekend. It was a great little cabin that easily accomodated the eight of us for a few nights. We stayed up pretty late talking flies and Mystic rods. Going in to the weekend I was looking forward to fishing a few of Mystics heavier sticks and they did not disappoint. The 10' 7WT and 8WT are ideal indi-rods for steelhead, and the 7WT switch cast like a dream. I ordered up the 8WT for myself and am anxiously awaiting the completion of their 8WT switch. 
NY tribs were mostly blown so we headed over to some small PA tribs and proceeded to find fish in spots where fish should be. The water started off with hazy green tint that lightened over the three days on the water.
Some fish were beat up a bit but the majority of the fish we got in to were either colored up and clean or straight chrome. This fish had a beautiful coloration and pulled like a freight train.
As I came up on the pool this beast was in I could see a little bit of shadow so I made a few drifts and it happily munched an egg. This one was a bit on the larger side for the weekend and also was not happy about being stuck. 
Saturday evening we were on our way back towards camp and stopped off at 20 Mile. She had dropped significantly over the previous few days so a few of us hit the mouth to make good use of the switch rod since the weather was so calm. About 30 minutes in we switched up to a smaller shiner imitation and it was game on! First I hooked up....
Then Thad hooked up!
Nothing so cool as a lake double of pure chrome! Coming from Oregon to hit the tribs with us for the week was a haul for Thad, but I am pretty sure he won't forget this.
Another nice male taken down close to the lake.
Proud papa Dennis with his son Fisher. This was Fisher's second time out and his first landed steelhead; I think the look says it all! He clipped off the fly that he used, so I am sure this is going 8x10 with the fly clipped in the frame.
Fisher handled the fish carefully and allowed me to get one more shot as he slid it back to the water. 
After a great time chasing steelhead Sunday night an Monday were a welcome change of pace. I headed about an hour over to a private cabin on a small creek to fish for native browns Sunday night, then brookies on Monday. It is the second time I have been over to the Senyo property and it did not disappoint. 
Spotted this guy as I crept along the rocks and was able to sprawl over a boulder and drop my camera down in to the plunge pool to get a shot. 
Nice male brookie that decided to make a snack of a small streamer. 
This was not the biggest of the weekend for me, but it was the biggest with someone right there to snap a shot for me while sporting my TFM gear! 
This male had just phenomenal coloring to it...enough so that I felt it deserved the only color in the shot. Can't wait to get back and give the 2WT and 7x another workout.
Mouthful of Mufasa...what a beautiful site! Since Martin gave me the prototype skulls to work with at Somerset I have been working with the Flymen Fishing Co Fish Skulls to come up with a pattern I can effectively streamer fish, and the Mufasa has been my most sucesssful articulated pattern with the Skull to date. Fished with quick jerk strips on a sinking line this fly has a great vertical action to it that really gets the fish going. 
STEP 1: With your Gamagatsu SP11 size 1 in the vise get your thread started and wrapped to the back of the hook shank. Once at the rear tie in point, located above the midpoint of the hook spear, tie a single barred marabou feather hanging approximately one hook length off the back of the hook. Tightly wrap the material forward up the hook shank then return your thread to the rear tie in point. 
STEP 2: Select both a tan and and a yellow schlappen feather to be tied in as the body. Grasp the feathers by their tip and stroke the fibers back so you can tie in the feathers by just the stem. The feathers should be tied in on top of each other at the rear tie in point, and with the concave side facing down.
STEP 3: Using a good amount of Ice Dub, to provide a bulky underbody, dub forward to about one eye width back on the hook. Having a properly dubbed underbody will allow the feather stems to sink down in the next step, and so protect them from teeth. 
STEP 4: Taking the two schlappen feathers together, fold them and palmer the forward. Be careful as you wrap forward not to trap fibers down to the body. 
STEP 5: Just behind the eyes tie in three barred rubber legs by their mid-point, so that three legs extend back down each side of the hook shank. Clip them relatively evenly so they extend about to the bend of the hook. Then tie in another barred marabou feather extending about halfway back on the tail, so as to form a nice taper. 
STEP 6: With your Gamagatsu B10S size 1 hook in the vise use a 3" piece of 19 strand .018" Beadalon to attach the back hook. Make sure that the back hook is inverted, so the hook at this stage is pointing up. You will string on three size E beads to help keep the wire gap closed, resulting in less fouling of materials. 
STEP 7: With the two hooks securely attached you will add a little additional weight. This weight will give the fly a little more vertical motion on retrieve and ensure that the fly rides correctly, with the front hook up. You will attach two pieces of .035 lead side by side on top of the front hook shank. They should cover about two thirds of the shank but not too close to the front where the head will be added. 
STEP 8: As in step two, select both a tan and and a yellow schlappen feather to be tied in as the body. Grasp the feathers by their tip and stroke the fibers back so you can tie in the feathers by just the stem. The feathers should be tied in on top of each other at the rear tie in point, and with the concave side facing down. 
STEP 9: Same as steps three and four you will now dub the underbody of Ice Dub and palmer the two feathers forward. This should reach about two thirds forward on the hook shank. 
STEP 10: Again, tie in three rubber legs by the midpoint resulting in three legs down each side. Trim them about where they reach the eye of the rear hook. 
STEP 11: Invert the vise and tie in a topping of Barred Marabou extending back to about the midpoint of the rear hook. 
STEP 12: Pull a clump of dark tan Senyo Laser Dub from the bag then pull and stack the material so that all the fibers are in the same direction. Tie in that clump on top of the hook shank by it's mid-point and then repeat with a clump on the bottom of the hook shank. It will take doing it a few times to get the amount correct; what you are aiming for is as much as you can add and still comfortably slide the Fish Skull over it. 
STEP 13: To add the appearance of gills tie in a small pinch of Rusty Brown Senyo Laser Dub on each side. 
STEP 14: To assist with this step I tile the front hook up a bit in the vise. Make sure the 'heavy' side of the Fish Skull on the opposite side of the shank from the hook point so it will ride correctly, then slide the large Fish Skull directly over the eye of the hook, reversing the materials and forcing it backwards, until the eye of the hook comes through the slot. Secure the skull in place by squirting some Clear Cure Goo thick through the slot and on either side of the eye, then hit it with the light to cure it and the Fish Skull is going nowhere. 
STEP 15: The final step is to add eyes. I personally do not use the eyes that come with the Skulls, instead opting for 1/4" 3D Epoxy Super Pearl eyes. Just a little dab of Loctite Gel and hold them in place until it heats up. 
I have mostly used this pattern in the tan and olive variations as the heads I got when they first came out were these two colors. With seven colors of head this pattern can be altered to suit your local forage. I can say that recently I have done well fishing a variation with the black head, black marabou, black and blue schlappen.... 
Nate was able to get a great shot of the fish with a Mufasa still flowing from her mouth. This fish was the hardest pulling brown I have fought through this last streamer season, and she taped out at 23.5". After two quick lifts for a photo the fly was removed, and the fish returned to freedom. Stuck to the plan for nine hard hours of hard fishing and it payed off. 
Sunday consisted of continuing the tying that I started when I got off the river on Saturday. All day was spent at the vise knocking out flies for orders to hit the mail in the morning. The Post Office will be happy to see me coming!
