February – Time To Tie

By Aaron Motley

Winter is a great time to visit your local fly shop and see what fly tying materials they have for trout, bass, or musky.  Select and buy the tying materials needed to tie flies to stock up your boxes. Ask any tying questions to staff if you are just starting or trying to improve your tying skills, with a certain pattern.  With the longer nights in winter this is a great time to practice.

Practice, practice, and more practice is paramount to becoming a better fly tier!  Practice using different tail materials. Practice using different types of legs. Practice getting proportional bodies to the size and length of the hook shank. Practice spinning deer hair, practice wings, practice parachutes, practice articulated streamers, and don’t forget to smile, laugh, and have fun while you’re practicing tying flies.

If you are interested in tying some flies to use in winter, try blue wing olive mayfly, little black stonefly, midges, or streamers. Following is a recipe for a simple little black stonefly.

Black Stonefly

Size 14-20 1XL dry fly hook
Black CDC feathers
140 or 70 Denier black thread
Elk hair

I would recommend fishing this fly with a dropper tungsten bead zebra midge.  A dry fly and dropper is a great rig throughout the year. One thing to remember about this fly is that I used CDC feathers which requires the use of only high grade silicone or powder desiccant. If an angler doesn’t use that then the CDC feathers will matte together, this makes the fly ineffective in its presentation to a trout. Ask your local shop about the different kind of fly floatants.

If you are interested in tying classes this winter then look for a class at Hunter Banks Fly Shop during February, March, and April. On the first Thursday of each month will be an introductory tying class. In the third week of each month, that Thursday night, an intermediate tying class will be offered by the Hunter Banks staff. Space will be limited so sign up to reserve a spot early for yourself and a buddy.