FAVORITE PATTERNS OF CLARK-SKAMANIA FLYFISHERS
Wet Flys and Nymphs
Timothy Buckley
Carey Special
Black, olive, or brown
Thread:
Tail:
Body:
# 4-14 heavy wire, long shank (nymph or streamer)
Hook:
Pheasant tail (Timothy’s variations substitute natural pheasant rump feathers, even partridge...even no tail at all) . Records show early patterns often used bear hair.
(soooo many options to try): “Ice Dub Holo Olive”- or- Peacock dubbin (by Hairline Dubbin), real Peacock Herl (per original…see photo) , mohair, bamboo metallic thread, or chenille.
Rib:
Copper wire
Long soft-hackle - Pheasant tail (Buckley’s Variations substitute natural pheasant rump feathers, or even partridge, these are perhaps not as durable as pheasant tail, but gives more motion in the water).
Hackle:
Whip finish and cement.
Head:
Tying Instructions:
1: Pinch hook barb, Start thread at eye and wrap back to bend
2: Short tail: Using some feather barbs to match the hackle, tie in a short tail [if tail to be included] (length somewhere between 1/3 of the hook shank, down as short as the gape distance or less).
3: Tie in copper wire for rib
4: Tie in Peacock (or other body material), Use dubbing loop or preferred method and wrap forward (I prefer a thin body) - Wrap up towards eye but leave enough space for Hackle and head.
5: Counter wrap wire rib and tie off
6: Tie in Pheasant rump feather behind the eye (select feather with individual barb fibers slightly longer than the body
7: Wrap soft hackle around several turns as a collar and tie off (I prefer a thin collar to emulate legs and show movement with out obscuring the body)
8: Whip finish and apply head cement
Notes: Traditionally a still-water fly assumed to imitate a damsel or dragon fly nymph, even caddis nymphs, mayfly nymphs, and leeches …or heck perhaps it’s just an attractor, also used now in moving water for trout and steelhead. A Great pattern for an alpine lakes searching pattern either trailed as a dropper behind a dark leech or woolly bugger pattern, -or - if weighted or on a sinking line as the primary: with a flashback PT or Scud dropper. I even tie a variation of this in size 16-18 with silk floss as a fast-water soft hackle to represent drifting mayfly nymphs.
Traditionally assumed to have been invented by Colonel Carey in 1925, the grandfather pattern is thought by some to be the “Monkey-Faced Louise” developed about 1925 by a Dr. Lloyd A. Day of Quesnel, British Columbia [named after his wife?] (…according to Sheldon Seale in a 2003 article in Canadian Fly Fisher, and in Fish-Flies by Terry Hellekson).
Author Steve Raymond, in his book Kamloops, indicates that Col. Tom Carey may have instead designed the pattern after an earlier pattern known as the Knouff Special. Whatever the true history of its predecessor patterns, Colonel Thomas Carey has been given the credit when he popularized the pattern in 1925 and the fly was eventually renamed in his honor.
Stillwater: As a searching pattern trolling on a sinking line or use the count-down-and-retrieve or slow retrieve presentations. I have had great success with casting out and letting it sink, then retrieve with a series of (3 or 4) 4-6” quick strips, then pause for a few seconds, repeat (then land fish, take photos, release, then repeat). Even used on moving water… fish as a streamer.
Additional notes from Timothy:
I often tie some with out a tail: I had been finding I would often get multiple bumps or taps without hookups, I decided to clip the tails short, or rip completely off assuming the fish were following the fly and only grabbing at the tail. With the new very stubby tails – or no tails, I had no more “bumps…they all became hookups instead. (I thought my personal
variations on the pattern found in Westfly were unique, in researching the fly history however I found my experimental variations with soft-hackle and omitting the tails were nearly a reversion back to the original pattern itself).
Timothy Buckley
Timothy’s Butler©
ABDOMEN: Pheasant tail (capped over gills) Gills: Palmered natural light grey Ostrich (fine strands, like cut from a from feather duster.) THORAX: Contrast to Abdomen with died darker brown (or olive) Ostrich [black, dubbed, or even traditional peacock herl thoraxes) WINGCASE: Thin strand of pearlescent or UV transparent shell back material like: “Ice blue pearl tinsel,” or strands of crystal flash, or etc..), over Pheasant tail shell
LEGS: Select Hungarian Partridge breast feather (or pheasant, or any other similar soft hackle feather)
Tail:
Body:
Rib:
Pheasant tail (3 strands)
Thread:
# 12-18 straight shank nymph hook
Hook:
Olive green, light brown, or cream
Fine copper wire
Long soft-hackle - Pheasant tail (Buckley’s Variations substitute natural pheasant rump feathers, or even partridge, these are perhaps not as durable as pheasant tail, but gives more motion in the water).
Hackle:
Head:
Thread
Tying Instructions: 1. Pinch the hook barb, set hook in vise and tie on thread, then build a thin thread underbody down the shank to the bend.
2. Tails: Build a small thread ball or “dam” at the bend and fan, tie in and slightly spread three spread pheasant tail barbs (the dam helps them spread and flair out a bit. Use gentile thread wraps then pull the stems forward so the tail tips are even and about the length of the shank, gentile wrap between tail feathers at tie in point to help subtle flair if needed for control).
3. For the Abdomen: Tie in the following materials at the bend, in this order (as they next will be sequentially tied forward in reverse order of the following): a. Copper wire, b. Pinch of 5-6 pheasant tail fibers (tie in by tips) c. 2-3 strands of ostrich herl
4. Avance the thread forward back up the shank to the 1/3 point (back from the eye).
5. With touching turns, advance the delicate Ostrich herl to the 1/3 point and tie off.
6. Carefully fold the pheasant tail over the top of the Ostrich (use your bodkin at the fold point to help fold and lay the pheasant over the top) and tie off at the same 1/3 point.
7. Counter wrap the wire up the shank, creating 4-5 ribs, weaving side-to side to avoid capturing Ostrich barbs, and not too tight so the Pheasant tail cap over gills do not get pulled to the side. Tie off. Helicopter the excess wire free.
8. For the Legs and Thorax: Tie in the following materials at the 1/3 point, in this order (as before, they next will be sequentially tied forward in reverse order).
a. Pearlescent transparent Shell Back material.
b. 5-7 strands pheasant tail fibers (tie in by the tips)
c. Leggs: Clip the tip and trim some barbs back along the stem of a small partridge soft hackle feather tip for a thread grip section (1/8”). Remove the fluff and barbules from the stem end of the feather leaving what will become the legs, when folded over towards the eye (6 even barbs on each side). Tie in by the tip with the concave (dull side) facing up.
d. Tie in Herl for thorax.
e. Palmer herl forward with touching turns and tie off behind eye of hook (leaving a hook eye length of room to build a finishing head).
f. Fold the Partridge “legs” forward, tie off up to the eye, fold the stem back, and return the thread to the prior point, stem (this “locks it in.”
g. Using your Bodkin at the bend point, carefully fold over the Pheasant tail shell back. Tie off and trim the excess before the eye.
h. Fold over the pearlescent transparent material and tie off.
i. Whip finish. And coat the head.
j. Bonus points awarded for applying a thin UV coating over the thorax shell back.
Notes: This fly is one of my top performers and go-to patterns now. I developed this fly after several seasons of sampling throat contents of trout in SW Washington alpine lakes. Slender brown nymphs (almost chironomid thin) with fluttering with hairlike gills along the Abdomen were often in the diet…Mayfly nymphs. In search of a material to emulate those delicate gills of the mayfly nymphs I finally found the natural Ostrich feather strands in my cheap grey Target feather duster offered the perfect length, supple motion, and color to emulate gills, thus my “Butler”… it eventually became the inspiration for the name) was just what I was searching for. Just like a trusty Butler, this fly can be counted on to clean up.
In a continual progression of evolution this fly could be considered a slender Stillwater variation of the flashback PT Nymph (itself a variation on Frank Sawyer’s elegantly simple, generically suggestive original Pheasant Tail Nymph).
On a past fellowship exploratory trip to the Cariboo region of B.C. in Canada with other distinguished members and dear friends in the Clark-Skamania Fly-Flyfishers. I lost every single version of this fly in my box except for one on our first morning to violent takes (before reluctantly beefing up my tippet to 3x). All lost on varied (slow and fast) retrieves between pauses on an intermediate sinking line. Many additional epic days have followed since with this fly in the Cascades Alpine Lakes (alas back to 4x tippet there).
Note: when allowed by the local regulations, I also like to use it as a dropper to other larger flies.
I still have that feather duster, and is actually here in my office within eyesight as I type this… my “Butler” still cleans up for me at home too, with just a few empty patches of plumes of ostrich missing some spots ….well perhaps that’s my excuse for the gathering dust (more fishing, less cleaning).
Al Wood
Beetle
Peacock Sword
Thread:
Tail:
Body:
Legs:
Wing:
2x Nymph
Hook:
Black
Black velcro
Black super floss legs and tail
Tying Notes: wrap velcro body, pull over and segment.
Notes: Most beetle patterns are tied as dry flies. However, the naturals actually slowly sink. This pattern mimics this behavior and has a sheen representing the trapped air that adheres to the beetle.
Green Krystal Flash pulled over as shell back
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