End of the Line | Intruder Alert!

Tue Aug 24th 2021

Fly Tying

If you have picked up a copy of the Fall issue of Fly Fusion, you are already enjoying the artful tying of Irene Vucko (@speygirl)! Well, here’s one more bonus pattern along with the full recipe so you can try your hand at tying a few beauties for your fall fishing!

Freestyle Spey #3

Hook: Salmon Wet Fly

Thread: Purple Textreme, 6/0

Tag: Fine Oval Silver Tinsel

Tip: Purple Glo Brite Floss

Tail: Golden Pheasant Crest, Chartreuse

Butt: Peacock Herl

Body: Rear Half: Charcoal Floss

Front Half: Blue Pheasant Rump, palmered over 50/50 blend of Charcoal Seal dubbing & Purple Ice Dubbing

Rib: Medium Oval Silver Tinsel

Collar: Teal Flank, Purple

Wing: Grizzly Hackle Tips, Blue

Shoulder: smaller Purple Pheasant Rump, Jungle Cock

The Guide Issue

Fri Aug 20th 2021

Fly Fusion Offers & Updates

The latest edition is headed to mailboxes as we speak! Keep an eye out for your copy arriving in the next week or so. Here’s a little peek into what you can expect from this issue…

LL’s Perdigon Torch | Landon Lacroix

Fri Jul 30th 2021

Fly Tying

LL’s Perdigon Torch

Hook: Daiichi 4647 Size 16

Bead: MFC Slotted Tungsten Lucent Bead-Orange

Thread: Uni 6/0w-Doc Blue

Tail: Calftail-Orange

Body: Veniard Stripped Quill-Orange

UV: Solarez Bone Dry

Wingcase: Solarez Thick/Hard and Solarez UV Fly Finish-Black

Featured in “End of the Line” in the Summer 2021 issue of Fly Fusion

Stream Lines | Fly Fishing Sucks

Sun Jul 25th 2021

Inspiration

Stream Lines

Sometimes the best way to say something difficult is just to say it. So here it goes. Fly fishing sucks.

It’s actually really hard. The visuals presented in fly-fishing films and Instagram photos are quite misleading. Sure it looks inviting, but there’s so much you don’t see…like how many mosquitoes and black flies the angler had to swat away while holding that prize trout at just the right angle, which is only slightly out of the water (like only one third of the fish). And you also have to position it at the perfect angle, with one hand holding the fish’s tail just slightly outstretched and the other arm, bending only slightly at the elbow, holding the fish’s body nearly fully extended. There’s a reason it’s called “angling.” It’s so complicated. And if you have really large hands and are naturally “big boned” then you need to really question whether or not you want to take up fly fishing at all. Trout appear smaller when held by large people, which will not make for enticing social media images.

Bio Bot | Jake Vanderweyden

Fri Jul 23rd 2021

Fly Tying

Hook – Firehole Sticks 516 #14-16

Bead – 3mm Slotted Tungsten

Thread – Olive UTC 70D

Tail – Coq De Leon Med Pardo

Body – Olive Hareline Turkey Biot

Rib – Olive UTC Ultra Wire

Thorax/Collar – Natural CDC/Hares Ear

Tied by Jake Vanderweyden (@theflyfiend)

Featured in “Best Ties for Summer Flies” in the Summer 2021 issue of Fly Fusion

Stream Lines | Just Shy of Eighteen

Sun Jul 18th 2021

Inspiration

Stream Lines

The logjam provided enough depth and structure to hold decent sized trout. I waded in just below it to about thigh deep and made a good cast up to where it looked like the large fish should be holding. My beetle pattern bobbed and drifted a foot or two from about the half-way-point of the jam where a few larger logs protruded into the river. I pulled quickly at the line to manage the slack as the current pushed the terrestrial toward me.

Henneberry Hopper | Jeremy Davies

Fri Jul 16th 2021

Fly Tying

This is a very realistic hopper pattern that is quite easy to tie and floats like a cork. You simply have to buy the foam bodies and tie legs, antron wing and an indicator on it. I started using this pattern about three years ago and was immediately impressed by how it accurately mimics a hopper and that it was impossible to sink. I have found this pattern to be particularly effective in late summer when streams are low and super clear. It also quite easy to see and takes are often very subtle almost like the manner that a trout sips a caddis or mayfly.

Hook: 2x long dry fly hook sz 8 to 12

Thread: Tan Uni-Thread 8/0

Body: MFC Foam Hopper Bodies- tan, yellow or gray

Wing: Tan MFC Widows Web or Antron yarn

Indicator: Orange foam or yarn

Legs: Barred Tan rubber legs

Featured in “Best Ties for Summer Flies” in the Summer 2021 issue of Fly Fusion

Stream Lines | Oh, the Places You’ll Go…Fishing

Sun Jul 11th 2021

Inspiration

Stream Lines

Outwaiting a fish has never been a problem for me. Patience of this variety is not a superhero’s quality, but if it were, I’d be fighting crime rather than writing about fishing. So when I first stumbled upon Dr. Seuss’ book Oh, the Places You’ll Go! as a university student on a late-night outing to Chapters, I couldn’t understand why he portrayed “waiting for the fish to bite” with all the other negative aspects of waiting, like “waiting for a train to go / or a bus to come.”

Elk Hair Caddis | Frank Brassard

Fri Jul 9th 2021

Fly Tying

Elk Hair Caddis:

Hatches through the summer (May to Sept). Imitates various types of caddis flies. Tied in size 10 to 14.

Hook: Hanak H130BL

Thread: Textreme 8/0

Body: Semperfli Dirty Bug Yarn in Litchen

Hackle: Whiting’s High and Dry Grizzly

Wing: Elk Hair and Swiss CDC

Egg Sack: Gulff UV Resin in Ambulance Chartreuse

From “Best Ties for Summer Flies” featured in the Summer 2021 issue of Fly Fusion

How to Defile a Wilderness | Jim McLennan

Fri Jun 18th 2021

Inspiration

Ours is considered a gentle sport for the most part, and that trait is part of its attraction. Recently, more people are finding solace and clarity—and much-needed gentleness—in the outdoors and the activities there, one of which is fly fishing.

And while it’s true that fishing, called the “contemplative man’s recreation” by Isaac Walton, can indeed be gentle and thought-provoking, sometimes our contemplation needs to be sharply focused.

An example is the recent controversy and struggle to prevent construction of a huge copper and gold mine in Alaska, called Pebble Mine. The effects of the mine on the environment and the Bristol Bay watershed would have been massive. For now the project has been canceled, thanks to participation in a long, arduous fight by a great number of people and groups who value the outdoors, including fly fishers.

A similar battle has been escalating in Alberta in recent months over the threat to the future health of land and water posed by proposed expansion of open-pit coal mining. The mountains and foothills are the headwaters and domain of Alberta’s best and best-known trout streams: The Oldman River, the Crowsnest River, the Livingstone River, the Highwood River, the Ram River, plus all their critical tributaries. These mountains and foothills are the Alberta wilderness.