Well it's just about salmon and steelhead time here in the Great Lakes. Late summer salmon are already invading some of our great rivers and dawn and dusk is the time to target them. In low light conditions the salmon and steelhead are very active. Dark patterns create the best profile for the fish to see as they actually stand out better then light colors. That's why we usually don't fish white at night.
The Pea***** Ice Stone
This fly pattern is a variation on the tried and true Kaufman stone pattern
with the addition of copper wire over ice dub. Ice dubbing from Hareline Dubbin,
is a synthetic material that dubs like magic and has fine synthetic threads that
come in a wild array of colors. The segmentation caused by the copper wire is clearly visible and the flash added by the ice dub really gives the salmonoids something to key into quickly.
Fish just love that pea***** color and the Ice Dub creates that buggy/flashy look. Pseudo seal dubbing from Spirit River is added to the thorax to keep the flash from being to outrageous. The pseudo seal dubbing
is a seal substitute and finer than angora goat. Is as close to seal as we Americans can get legally and is a great substitute for the real thing.
This pattern takes a little time to tie and is best tied in a dozen or more. The longest time invested tying this fly is preparing the turkey feather wing cases. Now this particular fly has never seen the water yet but there is no doubt in my mind that both salmon and steelhead will be testing my reels drag when I fish this pattern next week. I also have this pattern tied up with some orange bead heads for an egg sucking stone variation.
The Pattern Recipe:
- Hook: Daiichi 1730 size 12 - 2 (3x long 1x strong with a bent shank) You can also use a TMC 300 or similar
- Weight - Lead wraps 12-20 same diameter as hook shank (optional)
- Thread: Uni 6/0 Iron Grey or Black
- Antennae: Black goose or turkey biot
- Tail: Black goose or turkey biot
- Rib: Medium Copper Wire
- Wing case: 3 sections of dark Turkey tail
- Thorax and Body: Hareline Ice Dub - Pea***** Black on body and Sprit River Pseudo Seal - Black on thorax..
