How do you determine what materials to use on an original pattern?
I start with an idea of what I want the fly to do, how it should act. I then take the fly from a black and white silhouette and fill the space. After I have the correct action a silhouette I then concern myself with the materials and colors
What are your 5 favorite materials to use? Why?
I don't really have a favorite material to use. The new threads of today are defiantly an improvement. As for a favorite material I would say I am a little old school. I like marabou and natural deer hair for a lot of my ties, but that being said I also love Cactus chenille and a lot of the synthetic dubbings.
When using the short stiff leaders of Maxima for the full sinking line jerk strip retrieve, what is your favorite leader formula you have found for turning over the big streamers?
My leader system changes very little. My basic formula is 12 inches of 20lb maxima for the butt and 18 inches of 12lb maxima green for the tippet. On a rare occasion I will go as light as 8lb if I am using small flies like a size 6 cougar or Ray Schmidt's rattlesnake, but not very often.
Knowing that you have fished many years here in Mio on the Au Sable with Bob Linseman and most recently fished out west. Have you noticed any difference in big brown trout habits or behavior between the two areas? How have you changed, modified, or improved your streamer techniques?
I actually guided the AuSable and Manistee systems for over 25 years before moving out west, and I can tell you with complete certainty that trout are trout world wide. Certain rivers fish have holding habits that are a little different than others but the fishes basic instincts are the same. The differences I see are more related to holding areas for dry fly fishing than anything else and that can vary even in Mi. For example in rivers with heavy concentrations of woody cover (like the Manistee) where the fish should feel free to feed actively all day knowing they can escape to the security of the over hanging branches are not as likely to feed during the day. Conversely if you drop down to the Muskegon where there is little overhead cover and the river is basically freestone the fish tend to feed all day on the top like they do out west? But the predatory instinct from a streamer perspective is the same here there or in Chile. Because of that I have not really found the need for different flies or techniques for Western rivers, but I am continually adding new patterns to my arsenal and changing old ones around, but I would do that no matter where I lived, I love to design flies and more so to test them.
How has your tying experience in the Great Lakes area influenced your tying and your use of materials, out west?
The only difference here is that you can be a little more free. Michigan fish (as are most Eastern fish) are far more selective than they are here and because of that I think you learn to tie tighter more exacting flies back there. I had some very intense influences on my tying as a young tier. Many of my mentors were on the leading edge of fly design. Most importantly Dave Ellis, who I still consider the most technically exact and creative tier ever. Dave was on the leading edge of tying and designing flies at the time of Selective trout and Trout strategies. Dave was friends with both Carl and Doug and up until his passing Carl was still sending Dave patterns to help tweak. I was very fortunate to have meet and tied with a lot of these tiers and to have had parents who encouraged my obsession.
One problem I have had over the years when fishing big streamers with the jerk strip method is I hook some nice fish, but the fish throwing the hook seems to be a problem. I seem to lose a good deal of fish within the first few seconds of the fight (more than with other methods). I've always wondered if maybe because of the fast paced erratic stripping method if maybe it was because the fish have to strike so fast they sometimes hook themselves in less then optimal places (outside the jaw?) or maybe it's due to the long streamer hooks? Have you ever noticed this problem or have any thoughts on it?
I have noticed this as well, and this problem is what brought about most of my articulated patterns. The reason for the lose and hooking outside the jaw is because trout are predators and kill or stune their prey head first. When you get a fish that is on and off quickly it is not because the fish short struck the fly it is because it ate the head of the fly and you did not get the hook in the fish, likewise when you get the fish in the outside of the jaw it is because the fish ate the head and when you set the hook the fly was held by the head and slid into the outside of the jaw. That is why I started tying so many short shanked articulated flies, it really had little to do with trying to make flies bigger, it was the realization that the fish were eating the flies at the head and we were losing so many fish due to the long shank hooks. I often hear anglers talking about short strikes or the fish ate the tail. I think this is 100% incorrect. They will always strike the head first, if a trout eats a sculpin tail first it would die by getting the spinney dorsal stuck in its throat. Everything in nature has a defense and that is the small bait fishes. The other down side to the long hooks is the fishes ability to role and torque a long shank hook out of its mouth. If you question that consider that a tarpon hook is a less than two inches long and yet many of the standard trout streamer hooks are three inches long.
In your streamer book you describe the jerk-strip retrieve primarily as done from a drifting boat. When wading, do you cast upstream or do you still cast directly across stream? It would see that with wading you would almost have to cast upstream in order to keep the fly broadside to the current.
In the perfect world when fishing streamers while wading you would be in the middle of the river working back to the middle, but that is not always possible. When it is not you may have to cast upstream or do some creative down stream mending. The important thing is to cover the water regardless of how you have to before you wade thru it. If I have to fish upstream I do, but I am not a big fan of fishing streamers upstream, mostly because it take so much effort to keep up with you retrieve and I guess I am just a little to lazy. Some of the best streamer anglers I know fish almost exclusively upstream, they are all younger than I am. Actually I do a fare amount as well but not by choice. When I am forced to fish upstream I tend to fish the fly pretty much straight down stream with a modified jerk strip. I tend to use moderately fast slide jig style retrieve, as appose to the traditional jerk strip. I still keep the rod tip low to the water as I can and strip up and away from the bank. The inherent problem here is keeping up with the line and still keeping control of the fly and being able to animate the fly. For that reason I don't do as much up stream fishing on really fast water.
How did you ever come up with the name "sex dungeon" and others for your fly patterns?
The names of the flies have always been a fun part of the process. Originally I think it started with the Stacked Blonde. It was a take off of Joe Brooks Blonde series which I did on a keel hook. I first saw Walt Grau do this style trying to imitate a fire tiger plug, he said he just stacked the hair up the bend of the hook, I did it with a blonde and the name seemed to fit. In my early days of designing flies I thought it a bit self serving to be putting my name on my flies (which in hind sight I wish I would have done) instead I would name them after my fly shop. Troutsman Hex, Troutsman Drake etc, but that was when I still thought other tiers and companies had the integrity not to steal your patterns. That has changed in this new market place, so now I put my name in front of the flies name, but I still want them to be fun and stick out, so when you see my fly knocked off by another company it is still a stacked blonde or Zoo Cougar.
The one thing I never considered was the internet. In the early days it was just supposed to be edgy and fun, something to remember the fly. Unfortunately at this stage of the game many of the flies names are having to be changed or renamed because many computers porn blockers are so sensitive they block the fly's out. I have a friend whose son was a senior in Oregon and a really big streamer nut. He wanted to show his fishing buddy my new streamer the Sex Dungeon so he looked it up on the school computer. The school computers have to be logged into by name and soon as he entered the search it red flagged him shut his computer down and sent a message home to his parents informing them that he was surfing porn at school. Luckily his dad is equally as big of streamer freak and figured it out. As for the Sex Dungeon; well there is just a lot going on in that fly so the name seemed to fit.
With increasing barbless fishing regulations and the importance of ethical considerations, do you fish with barbless flies and/or sell them at Slide Inn? Randall Kaufman, the father of the Stimulator series of patterns, recently mandated that Umpqua tie all of his patterns on barbless hooks; and Rene Harrop of the House of Harrop on the Henry's Fork in Idaho, uses barb less hooks in his popular 36-Fly Assortment, sold largely by supply houses such as Cabelas. Do you anticipate that this trend in commercial tying will continue to grow? And why?
I tend to pinch my barbs down slightly but not all the way, I still want a little bump left in the hook. As for the Ethical consideration, I don't like to go there. I am after all sticking a chunk of steel in the fishes face for my pleasure, as are Randal and Rene. I understand the concept but in today’s market there plenty of micro barbs that do very little damage. I think the biggest reason is for the ease of taking the fly out and not destroying the fly. I am not sure it is a trend as yet, and I think that should be up to the angler, and of course if you are in a barb less area. I think the idea of the barb saving the fishes life or creating less pain to the fish is a stretch. lf anglers learn to fight the fish efficiently and don't bounce them around the banks during the photo session trying to make a 15 inch fish look 20 then fish mortality would not be an issue anyway. This is much about the whole catch and release as a religion instead of what it was supposed to be a conservation practice. If you throat hook a fish take it home and eat it, don't kid yourself that when the fish leaves bleeding profusely that your barb less hook saved its life. If you like the barb less hook (and I do ) then fine, just don't forget this a blood sport no matter what kind of tie you put on the pig.
What trends do you see in fly tying that will have a lasting effect on those who tie?
Currently I think the biggest trend is articulating streamer patterns. It seems to be breathing new life into a lot of old tiers and creating a stir with the younger tiers. I think it is really cool to see all these new patterns popping up. The serge of new streamer patterns is incredible and seems to really have legs. I get patterns emailed to me almost weekly from tiers all over the world, and what is more impressive is they generally have a success story attached which means they are out fishing as well as tying.
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How do you determine what materials to use on an original pattern?