Paul's March 2026 Bonus Fly of the Month

 Dette Caddis

Hook:  Dry Fly Sizes #12-#16.

Thread:  6/0 Tan or Wood Duck. 

Egg Sac:  1 turn of Olive or Chartreuse Chenille.

Body:  Muskrat.

Wing:  Hungarian Partridge feather.

Hackle:  Brown & Blue Dun Hackle trimmed short on the bottom.

This is a classic Catskill Fly.  It was developed to imitate a caddis species that hatches usually in May on the East Coast.  These bugs flutter and skid along the surface of the water.  Try to remember this when fishing this fly.  Sometimes moving your fly or letting it skidder in the water below you can be a very effective technique.  The egg sack at the rear of the body is also a trigger point on this fly.

To start this fly, lay down a thread base along the hook shank.  Next, tie in your Chenille Egg Sac at the rear of the hook shank.  Remove some of the fuzz at the end of the Chenille to expose its center cord.  Tie it in at the end of the hook shank and take 1-2 wraps.  Tie it off and cut off the butt end. 

You are now going to dub the body of the fly.  Create a dubbing noodle with your Muskrat.  Dub the body forward. The rear portion of the body should be heavier      and thicker, tapering down to the front of the fly.  The body should be 2/3rds the length of the hook shank.  This allows you to leave space for your Hackles.  Tie off your dubbing noddle.

 Next, tie your Partridge feather wing to the top of the hook shank.  The wing should extend slightly beyond the bend of the hook.  Clip off the butt end of the feather fibers.  After preparing 2 Hackle Feathers, one Blue Dun and one Brown, tie them in on top of the hook shank.  Wind the first Hackle forward.  It’s recommended that you wrap the Hackle with the thickest stem first.  After ending behind the eye, tie it off.  Next, wrap the second Hackle forward through the first.  After tying it off, trim off the butt ends of the Hackles.  Tie off and whip finish the fly.  Finally, clip the Hackles flat on the bottom.  This allows the fly to sit ‘flat’ on the water, much like an egg laying caddis would. 

Dette Flies has an excellent video below on how to tie this fly:

If you have any questions about this fly or would like to submit a Fly of The Month I can be reached at pdinice@frontier.com .

Paul's March 2026 Fly of the Month

The Gamebird Jig Streamer

Hook:  Umpqua XC400BL Jig hook Size #8.

Bead:  4.6mm Slotted Tungsten Gold. 

Thread:  Red 6/0.

Tail:  Tuft of Black Marabou, Tuft of Brown Marabou & Tuft of Cream Marabou with sparse Gold Flash.

Body:  Tan Lazar Dub.

Throat:  Red Saddle Hackle Fibers or tuft of Red Marabou.

Collar:  Natural Pheasant Back Feathers or .

Hot Spot:  Red Thread behind the bead.

I love fishing with jigged streamers, and this one was one of my top flies this past fall.  Jigged streamers have been extremely productive for me.  I fish them often because it’s easy to convert my Euro-rig from fishing nymphs, to streamers. I simply cut off my nymph tippet at my micro ring, then tie on a heavier tippet to fish a jig streamer. 

To tie this fly begin by placing your bead on the hook and hook in the vice.  Weight is optional on this fly but I’ve found that the 4.6 slotted tungsten bead gets it down very fast.  Begin your thread behind the bead and secure the bead in place with a thread dam.  Now bring your thread down the hook shank to the bend.  Tie in a ‘tuft’ of Black Marabou.  You do not need an entire blood marabou feather. Just a tuft is enough, and it should extend approximately 2 ½ times the length of the hook shank beyond the bend.  Next, tie in a ‘tuft’ of Brown Marabou over the Black.  Next, tie in a ‘tuft’ of Cream Marabou over the Brown.  On each side of your tail tie in 1 strand of Gold Flash-a-bou. 

For the body of your fly create a dubbing loop at your tail tie-in point, then advance your thread behind the bead.  Create a ‘noodle’ in your dubbing loop of Tan Lazar Dub.  Usually, 3-4 bunches of material is enough to fill the dubbing loop.  Spin, then brush your loop creating a nice dubbing brush.  With your dubbing loop/brush, wrap the body all the way up to the bead.  After tying it off, brush your body out.  I use a stiff toothbrush to do this. 

You are now going to tie in your Red Throat which will be tied in on the underside of the fly.  Remember that this fly will fish inverted with the hook point up.  The Throat should extend ½ way down the hook shank.  You are now going to prepare your Pheasant Back Feather for your collar.  Hold the feather by it’s tip and stroke the feather fibers rearward.  Tie the feather in behind the Bead by it’s tip.  Take 2-3 wraps with your feather and tie it off.  Cut off the butt end.  Finally, with your Red Thread create a Red ‘Hot Spot’ behind the bead.  Tie it off and apply a drop of head cement.  

Umpqua Feather Merchants has a great video on how to tie this fly below:

If you have any questions about this fly or would like to submit a Fly of The Month I can be reached at pdinice@frontier.com .

Paul's February 2026 Fly of the Month

 Micro Clouser

Hook:  SL-11 H #8.

Thread:  Vevus 100. 

Pseudo Eyes:  White (M).

Belly:  Fly Tyers Dungion SB Pearl.

Wing #1:  Cream & White Bucktail with a mix of FTD SB Pearl Aura Fibers.

Wing #2:  Fly Tyers Dungeon BDG – AW Olive.

Back Flash:  Ripple Ice Peacock.

About a year ago fellow fly angler and friend, Ted Rzepski, gave me this fly.  Ted began using it because the bait stripers have been feeding on the past couple of years have tended to be tiny, less than 2” long.  It’s small size makes it a dream to cast.  I didn’t have a chance to fish it for stripers, but late summer/early fall, I took it to the upper Housatonic thinking it might be a great pattern to fish for small mouth.  I was right.  It resulted in a half dozen ‘smallies’ and 1 trout.  This fall it was one of my go to streamers.  Ted says that he’s caught largemouth bass, rainbows, hickory shad and black seabass on it. All this from a pattern originally designed for stripers.  It is a quintessential ‘cross over’ fly, great in fresh & salt water for a wide variety of species.

In the true sense of the word, this fly is a ‘Micro Clouser’.  It’s very small and should be tied sparsely. It’s not an easy tie.  Dubbing the body is not an easy task with the FTD SB Pearl.  Also, the FTD materials are great, but if you don’t have them on-hand, try comparable colors of Senyo Lazer Dub.  Don’t wonder off too much with alternative materials.  The material composition of this fly make it a fish magnet.

To tie this fly begin by laying a base of thread behind the eye to affix your Eyes.  After making securing wraps, cut off the butt end of your thread.  The eyes should be mounted approximately 2 ‘hook eye' lengths behind the eye.  Use figure 8 wraps to secure them.  Also wrap under and around the eyes.  Add a drop of head cement or UV Resin (and cure) to your thread wraps to increase durability. 

Next, you’re going to dub the body of the fly with your FTD SB Pearl Dubbing.  You may want to use a little dubbing wax to make this a little easier.  With your dubbing noddle create the body from the bend of the hook to the eyes.  Also, crisscross the eyes with your noodle. Invert your fly and prepare a sparse wing of Cream & White Bucktail.  Lay your mix of Cream & White Bucktail on your tying table.  Take a sparse amount of FTD SB Pearl Aura fibers and lay them on top of your Bucktail.  Pick them up, align the Bucktail tips, and roll all the materials together in your fingers.  Tie the prepared wing on in front of the eyes.  They should extend approximately 2 hook shank lengths beyond the bend. 

Prepare a sparse amount of Fly Tyers Dungeon BDG – AW Olive Dubbing to be aligned and tied in over the Bucktail wing. Finally, top this with 10-12 strands of Peacock Ripple Ice. You can also use Peacock Angle Hair as a substitute.  Lock in all the wing materials with securing wraps behind the hook eye.  Whip finish and apply a drop of head cement.

Trout Tornado has an excellent video on hos to tie this fly below:

If you have any questions about this fly or would like to submit a Fly of The Month I can be reached at pdinice@frontier.com .