I've made 3 trips to the California Surf in pursuit of something salty on the fly, and the 2 previous tips have ended in total skunk. This trip I managed to catch 2 different species from each of the 4 beaches I fished!

The UV-Cure resins are one of the hottest things to hit fly tying in the past few years. No more are the days of mixing up expoxy and putting little dabs on the backs of your flies, or having to setup the fly rotator to coat the heads of Clousers etc. Now you can just grab your resin, add it to the fly and within a few seconds cure it with a flashlight. This opens up a whole new world of being able to build up complex fly patterns using UV-Cure resins during the process instead of just after to coat something. Spoon flies, baitfish patterns, all the way down to thin midges, this stuff is revolutionizing the tying world.

Kristen aka Maverick and I just returned from 4 days on the San Juan River in New Mexico and it was our most productive trip yet there. We caught Carp, Snakes, Lizards, Bugs and even the occasional Rainbow and Brown Trout.

We left Thursday evening and drove overnight arriving early Friday morning. A quick uncomfortable nap before Fisheads opened up for breakfast and we picked up our licenses and had a nice "Good Morning" breakfast to start us off right. The latest news was that they were going to raise the flows that day which was good news, the flows had been quite low for an extended period.

The White Trash Nymph has been working great as a dropper on the local Bass and Bluegill lakes recently. The bedded bass really seemed to hate this fly and numerous largemouth were caught while bluegill fishing over the past few months along with some bruiser bluegill as well.  

Its a simple tie, and very effective. It is pretty much a Flashback Hares Ear using  a white Simi Seal like dubbing I've been experimenting with.

The Flashback Hares Ear is my go-to dropper for most stillwater situations, I have a hard time finding another nymph in my boxes that is as consistient a producer as this fly.

Its a simple tie, and very effective. I don't tie it exactly to tradition opting to omit certain items to speed up the tying process as I go through a lot of these flies.

I hope you have as much success with this pattern as I do.

This is a simple wet fly that I first tied almost 25 years ago as a kid trying to find something that the local fish would eat when they were not slapping dries off the surface. My mom jokingly called it the "bar fly" much like the over the hill, chain smoking women you might find at the bar. The name stuck, and I think describes this fly well. Its gaudy and flashy, and old style.

I hope you have as much success with this pattern as I do.

First thing I need to say is I'm really late in publishing this review on the Arizona Wanderings Furled Leaders. I've been fishing the leaders on my 3wt and 5wt for about 6 months now, and wanted to see how they held up, and put them through most every situation before giving them an honest review.

This is a simple quick popper to tie, low cost and float like a cork all day. Its perfectly sized for Bluegill, and other sunfish and attracts bass just fine as well. It uses the foam heads made using the DIY Foam Ant and Popper Bodies tutorial.

Some of my more productive colors are Black with Green face and White with Red face. The foam to make these is quite easy to find at the local hobby places, just look for the 6mm (thick) sheets, usually come in White, Red and Black. I'd like to find a source for some good green foam in 6mm as well locally, but so far no dice. The face of the popper I just use 1mm foam superglued to the 6mm. Look for a package of foam "Craft Sticks" on the pegs at the local hobby lobby. They are 1mm and come in bright colors, perfect for this, and the ant bodies indicator color.

I hope you have as much success with this pattern as I do.

Maverick and I hit the Ferry for a quick day and a half this weekend. Fishing wasn't fast and furious for most of the day, but some pretty fish, couple on dries and the end of the evening bite was stupid for about an hour. This was my 2nd trip to Lee's Ferry, and will not be my last. It is a beautiful place, great looking and fighting fish and relatively close at just about 4 hours drive.

With the heat taking over the valley, it's that time of year to escape up north!

If you need some ideas on where to fish, check out the fishing report from Desert Sportsman, Arizona's premier fly fishing shop.

Reports from Lee's Ferry, White Mountains, Flagstaff area, Mogollon Rim, California and Nevada!