From our Fall 2004 issue

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NAME THAT FLY
American Angler featured a Quill Gordon on the cover of the Summer 2004 issue.
Be sure to post your answer to Name That Fly for the Fall 2004 issue.

Quill Gordon Hook: Regular dry-fly hook, size 16. Thread: Black thread, 8/0. Tail: Blue dun hackle. Body: Stripped peacock herl. Wing: Wood-duck flank. Hackle: Blue dun hackle.

WEB POLL RESULTS
The Web poll in the Summer 2004 edition of American Angler asked, “What pattern do you suggest to match the cicada fall?” Here are the replies some of our readers supplied.

Blowfish
Brown Bivisible
Cicada
Deer-hair Frog
Deer-hair Mouse
Freds Foovanta
GRHE
Heather LaFontaine’s Mohawk
Katie Did
Krafts Cicada X
Madame X
March Brown
Muddler Minnow
Quill Gordon
Rainy's Criss-Cross Cicada
Sneaky Pete
Stalcup’s Cicada
Swisher’s PMX
White Drake
Woolly Bugger


IT TAKES TWO HANDS
2004 Jimmy Green International Spey-O-Rama Results

OVERHEAD CAST
Contestant                        Length of Cast
1. T Tim Rajeff (USA)-----------------160
1. T Jerry Seim (USA)----------------160
1. T Knut Syrstad (Norway)----------160
4. Steve Rajeff (USA)-----------------150
5. Way Yin (USA)----------------------146
6. T Graham Anderson (Canada)----140
6. T Jay Clark (USA)------------------140
6. T Robert Minuzzo-------------------140
9. Steve Choate (USA)---------------129
10. Andy Murray (UK)-----------------125
11. Foster Reed (USA)----------------118
12. T Bill Drury (Scotland)------------117
12. T Brian Niska (Canada)----------117
14. Hiroshi Okado (Japan)-----------108
15. Floyd Dean (USA)-----------------105
16. Francois Blanche (Canada)-------90
CAST OFF
1. Tim Rajeff (USA)--------------------152
2. Jerry Seim (USA)-------------------141
3. Knut Syrstad (Norway)------------140
LADIES DIVISION
1. Donna O’Sullivan (USA)----------- 65

CHANGE OF DIRECTION
1. Ian Gordon (Scotland)-------------272
2. Knut Syrstad (Norway) -----------271
3. Mariusz Wroblewski (USA)-------237
4. T Bill Drury (Scotland)-------------236
4. T Way Yin (USA) -------------------236
6. Andrew Toft (Scotland) ----------232
7. Steve Choate (USA) --------------225
8. Tak Shimosawa (Japan)--------- 214
9. Steve Rajeff (USA) ----------------213
10. Hiroshi Okada (Japan) ----------204
11. Nobuo Nodera (Japan) ----------199
12. Brian Niska (Canada)------------193
13. T Floyd Dean (USA)--------------166
13. T Foster Reed (USA) ------------166
15. Francois Blanche (Canada)----157
16. Robert Minuzzo -------------------146
CAST OFF
1. Ian Gordon (Scotland) ----------- 273
2. Knut Syrstad (Norway) ---------- 257
3. Mariusz Wroblewski (USA)------ 230
LADIES DIVISION
1. Donna O’Sullivan (USA) --------134

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CASTING: HIT YOUR MARK

by Macauley Lord

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PLAIN TALK ON FLY FISHING: RIFLING THE RIFFLES

by David Hart

Stimulating Pattern
In warm weather, when trout are most likely to rise to dry flies, I’ll often start with one of my favorite patterns: the Stimulator. Although the fly is supposed to imitate a stonefly, I’ve had great success with it throughout the spring, summer, and fall—stonefly hatch or none.

STIMULATOR
Hook: Long-shank dry-fly hook, sizes 6 through 14.
Thread: Yellow, 6/0.
Tail: Natural elk hair.
Body hackle: Grizzly hackle.
Abdomen: Yellow dubbing or foam.
Wing: Natural elk hair.
Front hackle: Grizzly.

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FLY TYER®

by Scott Sanchez

Chartreuse Baitfish
Hook: Dai-Riki 810, sizes TK.
Thread: Chartreuse, 3/0.
Tail: Poly Bear or EP Fibre, chartreuse over white.
Eyes: Red molded 3D eyes
Head: Tying thread

1. A glue, such as Goop, can be brushed into the base of the tail to make it firm. A toothpick is a good tool for
    applying and working the glue into the tail.
2. To make a wide side profile for imitating broad baitfish, pinch the glue saturated tail while the
    adhesive is partial set.
3. This is a good place to affix eyes to the fly, and may this can attract fish to hit the fly here near
     the hook point.The eyes also add some rigidity.


Red and Yellow Tarpon Fly
Hook: Dai-Riki 810 Black Nickel Standard Shank bass/saltwater.
Thread: Red 3/0.
Tail: Yellow neck hackles, splayed.
Collar: Red neck hackle.
Head: Red tying thread.

1. After the tail is tied on, tie in a hackle for the collar. Stiff hackle fibers are the best, and the hackle needs to
    be folded back towards the tail. Tie the shiny side or convex side of the hackle facing the eye of the hook.
2. Wrap the hackle forward, and stroke the fibers back after each wrap.
3. To reinforce the hackle and force it back, wrap thread over the hackle stems.

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THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT

by Larry Kenney

Making Loop Connections • Shooting Head and Shooting Line Suppliers

Making Loop Connections
One way to put a loop on your shooting line is to simply double the end of the shooting line, then capture the back of the doubled section with a short nail knot fashioned out of tippet material, and coated with PlioBond or Aqua Seal to smooth out the transition. A classier solution is to use one of the new braided-monofilament loops sold by fly-line and leader manufacturers. You need to match the size of the braid to the diameter of the shooting line—too large a hollow in the braid won’t do well with a small diameter mono, for example—but shooting lines and braided loops both come in a variety of sizes, so that rarely presents a problem.

If you don’t like braided mono, it’s simple to fashion a smooth, durable loop out of a short section of Gudebrod or Cortland 30- to 50-pound braided Dacron. These lines, used in big-game trolling and available at many angling shops, have a hollow core, and blind-splicing sections together forms a strong connection. Making a loop is just a variation of making that blind splice. You can use the splicing tool that comes with bulk sections of braided mono, or make a perfectly serviceable splicing tool out of a short section of stiff, thin diameter wire that’s bent back on itself to form a tight V.

Start by inserting the splicing tool or bent wire into one side of the braid about halfway along a 12-inch section of line. Run the tool up inside the hollow core for a couple of inches and then out back out the side again. Grab the tag end of the braided line with tool or in the V of wire, and pull it back inside the hollow core. Then pull both tool/wire and tag end back out the side of the braid at the point where you first inserted the tool. You’ve now formed a loop whose end sticks out the side of the braid. To finish off, you insert just the tool/ wire through the side and into the center of the braided line at a point a couple of inches beneath where the exposed tag end sticks out, and again push it up the core and then out the side just below where the tag end sticks out. Grab the exposed tag end with the tool or wire and pull it into the hollow core of the braid and back a second time. Now it’s a loop with a double splice and as strong as the braid itself. Trim off the tag end right at the braid and pull the loop and the bottom end of the braided section taut. Any exposed tag end will scoot inside the braid and your loop connection will appear seamless. You can install it on the end of a shooting line, or a home made shooting head for that matter, just as you would a commercially made loop of braided mono.

An added advantage of making your own loops is that you can make them any length you want. A short 1-inch loop on the end of a shooting head is fine, but a 6-inch diameter loop on the shooting line lets you attach an entire coiled up head by pushing the whole thing through the loop, rather than threading the head through a small loop inch by inch. And if you put a long loop at the back end of the shooting line and Bimini-twist a loop into the front of your backing, it’s similarly easy to install or remove the shooting line from a reel.
—L. K.

SHOOTING HEAD AND SHOOTING LINE SUPPLIERS
Airflo
PolyFuse 28-foot heads and optional looped extenders (available Sep 2004)
PolyHead multi-head mono core pre-looped shooting lines
PolyShoot XT braided-core shooting lines
MRM flat-monofilament shooting line
Miracle Braid running line in two floating diameters
Miracle Braid gel-spun polyethylene shooting line
Contact: Rajeff Sports LLC—(360) 694 2900; www.rajjeffsports.com

Cortland
444 30-foot Shooting Tapers in floating, and Types 2, 3, 4 and 6 sinking versions.
444 SL 40-foot Shooting Tapers in floating, intermediate,
and type 1, 2, 3 and 6 sinking versions
333 30 foot sinking shooting tapers in type 6 sinking only.
LC-13 Lead Core in 30 foot and 500 foot spools
444 Lazerline Running lines in .0021", .031"
and .037" diameters
444 SL Running Line in .027", .031" and .037"
diameter floating and .031" diameter intermediate sink versions.
Braided Mono Running Line
20lb, 30 lb and 50 lb test in clear and hi-vis versions
Cobra Plus Flat Mono Running line
In hi vis 20, 30 and 50 lb versions.
Cortland Line Co. Inc.
www.cortlandline.com

Monic
Intermediate, Level Shooting Line in opaque Orange with.031" 20 lb Dacron core
and Clear with .036" 30 lb. Flourocarbon core.
Monic Line Division of Flowtek nc.
Boulder CO
www.monic.com
py 303 530 3050

Orvis
Wonderline Shooting Heads 38 feet in length in floating, intermediate, fast
and extra fast sinking versions for lines 6-12.
Wonderline Advantage running line 100 feet, in .029" and .034" diameter
Orvis
Ph 800 548 9548
www.orvis.com

Rio
30 foot shooting heads in floating, intermediate and type 3 and 6 sinking types
26 foot Aqualux (clear) shooting heads
26 foot Striper and Leviathan Density compensated sinking heads
30 foot Tungsten Dredgers in 550 to 1150 grain super fast sink versions.
Powerfllex® Core Shooting Lines in .024", .030" and .035" diameters
in floating and intermediate sink coatings
Slickshooter™super hard oval mono shooting line in 30 lb and 50 lb versions.
Rio Products International, Inc.
Ph 208 524 7763
rio@rioproduucts.com
www.rioproducts.com

Scientific Anglers
30 foot Floating AST Shooting Tapers
30 foot Sinking Shooting Tapers in Types I, II, III, IV, and VI sinking versions.
Deep Water Express™ 30 foot Sinking Shooting tapers in 400 to 850 grain versions.
Freshwater AST Floating Shooting Line in .031" and .038"
Saltwater AST Floating Shooting Line in .035" and 042"
Intermediate AST Sinking Shooting Line in .030" and .035"
Monocore AST Shooting Line in .030 diameter.
www.scientificanglers.com

Sunset Line & Twine Co
Amenesia low memory mono shooting line in 200 foot spools of 15, 20, 25, 30 and 40 lb test
Sunset Line & Twine Co.
Petaluma CA
Ph 707 762 2704
No website up yet. Amnesia available through fly shops via distributors.

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