Dropper Setups

This will help you out with selecting and matching
your flies to tippet/leaders

Fly Fishing's Most common Terms

Fly fishing has a wealth of terms used to describe the myriad of equipment, techniques, fish and insect behavior. Some of these terms may be unclear or confusing for the newcomer to fly fishing.

Backing - Some game fish, like salmon, steelhead, bonefish, tarpon, and many other saltwater species, will take a fly and run for up to 200 yards before you can slow them down. Since a fly line is only about 100 feet long, there has to be some kind of insurance beyond the fly line so you stay connected. Backing is a thin, strong line that is attached to the reel at one end and the fly line at the other. For most trout fishing, 50 yards is plenty. When fishing for saltwater speed demons like bonefish or permit, the fish of a lifetime might take 200 yards so you need to be prepared.

Drag - in describing the behavior of a fly on the water, is where a dry fly or nymph does not act as though it is drifting naturally. Usually occurs when the line and leader skate the fly across conflicting currents. It can be avoided be using the correct leader and proper technique.In a fly reel, the drag is a mechanical system that puts smooth pressure on a running fish to help slow it down. In essence it’s the brake on your fly reel. Drag is applied by putting pressure on plates made from metal, cork, composites, or a combination of the three. Dry Flies - Dry flies are flies that float, and imitate aquatic or terrestrial insects. They are actually heavier than water, but float via materials and construction that pins them in the surface film. Dry flies float better when treated with fly floatants, which utilize silicone or other hydrophobic materials to keep a fly floating.

Emergers are halfway between dry flies and nymphs. They float right in the surface film or just below the surface, and imitate an aquatic insect as it is trying to shed its shuck and transform into a winged adult. Many anglers feel emergers are more effective than standard dry flies during a hatch.

Leader - Because fly lines are heavy and opaque, there must be a relatively invisible and flexible connection between the line and the fly. The leader serves this purpose. Like a fly line, a leader is tapered so that it presents the fly properly.

Tippet - The last part of a leader, the skinny part that attaches to the fly, is called the tippet. On knotless leaders this is an integral part of the leader as knotless leaders are one continuous strand of material. However, as new flies are added and removed from the leader, the tippet gets too short and heavy. Fly fishers carry extra spools of tippet rather than replacing the whole leader.

Nymphs are specific or general imitations of aquatic insects, crustaceans, or aquatic worms. They are more realistic than wet flies and most anglers feel they are more effective. Nymphs can be fished close to the surface during a hatch of insects, or along the steam bed at times when trout are not feeding on the surface. To get nymphs close to the bottom, they can be weighted with metal wire (added to the hook before the fly is tied), or they can be made with brass or tungsten beads attached.

Wet Flies - All flies that sink can be considered wet flies, but there are specific wet flies as opposed to nymphs, streamers, and saltwater and salmon flies. Wet flies are older imitations of emerging aquatic insects and are very effective flies at the beginning of a hatch, when insects are rising toward the surface. However, nymphs, more specific imitations of aquatic insects, are far more popular today.

Fluorocarbon - They are also almost invisible in water (as compared to nylon) because the index of refraction of PVDF (polyvinylidenfluoride) is very close to water. PVDF (polyvinylidenfluoride) leaders and tippet sink faster than nylon and are more expensive.

Fly Line - The weighted line cast by a fly rod. Fly lines are between 80 and 105 feet long. Fly lines can be floating lines, which stay on the surface for fishing on the surface or in shallow water. They get their floating ability from micro balloons, tiny glass bubbles incorporated into the fly line coating. Floating lines are also the most popular fly lines by a wide margin. They can also be made in intermediate densities, which mean they sink very slowly. Some fly lines sink very quickly and are called sinking lines, and some sink at the front end (closest to the fly) but float for the rest of their length, and are called sinking tip lines. All fly lines are tapered so they present the leader and fly in an efficient manner.

Stages of Mayflies

Duns: Mayflies have two adult stages. They first emerge from the water as duns. They then molt into the spinner stage, in which they mate and die. Sometimes the word "dun" is confusingly used to refer to a brownish gray color in fly tying materials.

Nymph: The juvenile, underwater stages of mayflies, stoneflies, dragonflies, and damselflies and other aquatic insects whose juvenile stages are covered by hard exoskeletons. The word can also refer to the fishing flies which imitate these creatures, in which case it is used as a blanket term for flies imitating any underwater stage of an invertebrate (except for crayfish and leeches).

Spinner: There are two winged stages of adult mayflies. They emerge from the water as duns, molt on land (usually) into their fully mature stage, spinners. As spinners, they mate, lay eggs, and die.

Thunder Creek Minnow

Hook straight eye streamer size 2 –10
Thread is red 8/0
Wing is olive marabou tied down and folded back
Belly is white marabou tied down and folded back
Eyes are holo stick on sized to hook
Cover entire head with loon’s hard head or epoxy

The Rainbow Runner

Rainbow Runner
Hook Umpqua 7999 size 2 - 8

Thread black 8/0

Body lagartun mini braid pearl

Belly is white rams wool or subsitute

Wing is SLF hanks in multi perch topped with peacock herls

The Mirrored Minnow

This is one of my best minnow patterns for steelhead, bass, browns and anything else that eats minnows

Hook is Teimco 7999 size 2-8

Body is silver or pearl flashabou dubbing spun in a loop

Back is gray or olive bunny

Throat is white marabou

Eyes are holo 3/16" covered in hard head or epoxy

Enjoy this fly as it has served me and alot of other anglers very well