Drop Jaw Flies

Photo from dropjawflies.com 

I met the guys from Drop Jaw Flies the other night at the film tour in Butte.  They make a cool product which caught my eye, these beautiful, hand-painted streamer heads.

I talked to them for a bit and they told me the process of creating, painting, and putting a tough finish on them.  I thought they looked great and imagined how they would look on some of my own streamer patterns.  These are the kind of thing that catch fisherpeople and can make tying more fun. However, you know how effective having eyeballs on flies can be.  It has been shown that predator fish are attracted to, and many times attack the eye of baitfish.

I noticed that the Drop Jaw guys were selling raffle tickets and that the revenue would be going to our local George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited.  So, of course, I bought some.

Turns out, for the first time ever, I actually won the raffle.  I won a two-pack and can't wait to tie with them and fish them.  I'm thinking some Southwest Montana browns are going to drop their jaws in the next couple weeks when they see whatever creation I put behind one of these heads swim through their run.

Here is a really pretty fly tied by "@rbtek1." That's freaking gorgeous!!

Photo from Drop Jaw Flies via Instagram

A report from the Beaverhead

Beaverhead Brown

Yesterday, I put work and school aside and went fishing.  I had never fished the Beav in the winter and that needed to come to an end.  Boy did it!

The Beaverhead is one of my favorite streams in the world and now I can honestly say that it is one of my favorite wintertime fisheries.  I had an outstanding couple of hours (20+ fish in the net) on streamers and nymphs and I had miles of stream all to myself.  In fact, the only people I saw were a couple young kids who never left the sight of their rig in the FAS.  I went deep.

The flow in the Beav is really low right now allowing you to wade wherever you want.

I fished the area near the mouth of Grasshopper Cr. because I just needed to get on the water.

Have a good day Mr. Trutta!

I had a lot of fun throwing smaller sized streamers.  The browns were really in the mood to give chase and I had a lot of exciting chase downs.  I could get about 3 or so per run.  Later in the day though, I wanted to get some bang for my buck so I set up a winter nymph rig.  I had a Ray Charles with a Soft Hackle Sow Bug dropper.  As always, the Soft Hackle Sow out-fished everything else, even after all the orange paint came off the bead.

I already can't wait to go back...

Tying the Non-slip Loop Knot by Tightline Productions

Non-Slip Loop Knot from Tightline Productions on Vimeo.


These guys make the best instructional videos on the web.

Little Red Bugger

The Little Red Bugger

Hook: Size 10 streamer hook (it's supposed to be tiny)
Thread: 6/0 whatever color you want
Ribbing: Small diameter gold or silver wire
Tail: One red and one peach colored marabou feather
Body: Small red standard chenille
Hackle: Small red strung saddle hackle
Flash: a couple strands of your favorite tinsel in the tail (not shown)

I was first turned onto this fly, some years ago, by the old guy at Flint Creek Outdoors in Phillipsburg, Montana.  I went in to ask for tips on the early season fishing on Georgetown Lake and he told me this little red Woolly Bugger was the ticket.  He said it did a good job resembling a tiny brook trout.  Whatever the fish took it for, it was definitely a really effective fly.  I caught a million rainbows and my first huge G-town brook trout.

The story doesn't end there.  The next day, as it always seems to do up there, the wind started howling and it even started snowing.  I hadn't got my fill of fishing yet (don't know if there is such a thing) so I headed down to the upper Clark Fork at Warm Springs.  Out of pure laziness and curiosity, I left the little red bugger tied on and proceeded to catch what seemed like every last brown trout in the river. It was unreal.  I also caught one of those gigantic rainbow trout that fall over the spillway.

The streamer trend over the last decade has been towards those huge, Gallup-inspired wet mops streamers.  While they are fun to fish and certainly effective in a lot of situations, streamers that huge are really not necessary for catching huge trout.  They can be hard to get down in the fish's feeding zone, they are impossible to role cast, and in tailwater-type waters, they aren't really the best choice. Think about that 2 foot brown trout you caught on the MO on a size 22 midge nymph...bigger bait doesn't always mean bigger fish.

John Barr's Meat Whistle

The Meat Whistle

Hook:  Size 4 - Huge Gamakatsu or similar jig style, round bend hook (size 2 is shown)
Cone: Tungsten only
Thread:  6/0 in appropriate color
Tail:  Rabbit strip
Ribbing:  Small copper wire
Body:  Fish Scale body tubing (wrapped flat)
Flash:  Gold or silver Flashabou
Legs:  Silli Legs (Crawdad Pumpkin Silli Legs are shown)
Throat:  Marabou tips
Head:  Thread wrapped in front of the cone.  Use the same thread color as the body or make a hot spot with some color.

This fly has some unique features.  Obviously, it is tied on a jig hook.  This opens up an array of ways to fish it.  It is perfect for dead drifting in the winter and can be used on a dude rig in the spring.  In the late summer, it is a great crayfish imitation that can be dredged through the deepest of runs.

The Meat Whistle is also great for stillwater fishing and can even be fished through the ice.  Not only is this fly versatile in how it can be presented, it also catches many different species of fish.  Tie this fly in every color you have to match all sorts of situations.

One of the best things about this fly is the name.  Google "meat whistle" while not at work.  Pretty funny name for this fly.  Also makes reading the title of this post aloud hysterical.  Didn't know John Barr had such a sense of humor.

Smoke is your friend, wind is not

Smokey Missoula

Smoke from fires in Canada, Idaho, and Washington poured into the Missoula Valley late last week.  Just like on drizzly March days, most people see this as a reason to be negative and bitch about life.  And just like on drizzly March days, the fishing is shit-hot.  Smoke works just like the clouds to block the sun which gives our eyelid-less trout friends some shade.  They get shade, reduced visibility by osprey, lower mid-day water temps, the mayflies love it, and more!!

A solid PMD hatch on the lower Bitterroot lasted all through the day on Friday and the forecasted winds did not.  I'm talking, big browns in 6" deep water and great rainbows and cutts all day long good.  Why do browns like PMDs so much and why do they feed like that?  I think it's because they're European - it's like a trout's version of wearing pointy-toed shoes or something.  

It should also be noted that there are some angry trout in the Root that want to destroy your streamer in the morning.

The wind came yesterday and blew all the smoke away.  It will be back sooner or later, whether you like it or not.  

   

The Green Weeny Matuka

The Green Weeny Matuka

Thread:  6/0 whatever color
Hook:  Size 10-6 2XL streamer hook
Tail/wing:  Olive died grizzly soft hackle
Body:  Your favorite dubbing mix.  I use a little flash on some and a lot on others for varying conditions.
Ribbing:  Wire in copper, black, or red
Collar:  Olive died grizzly soft hackle


The Green Weeny Matuka is just plain killer.  In green, it works as a small rainbow trout.  Using other color combinations will cover any baitfish you'll encounter.  I've even caught ditch pickles bass on Matukas.

Yellow grizzly with a brown collar makes a great brown trout fry
Yellow grizzly with yellow grizzly collar makes a great small perch fly
Red grizzly with green or brown collar makes brook trout fry

Beaverhead brown eats brown trout Matuka