Fly Tying Season and the Moose

This fall we’ve started next year’s fly tying season already. Do you suppose that’s a sign of a big, bad old-time winter?  I mean bad as in cold, like “colder than a coyote vixen with chills and fever, sucklin’ nine starvin’ pups in a howlin’ blizzard with no end in sight and no food ‘til long after it’s over.” People, get ready, there’s a winter’s comin’, it’s late, but it could be a dandy!

To ease the anticipated pain, the River Magic fly fishing shop in Stillwater offers FREE fly tying workshops on Saturday afternoons and Thursday evenings. It’s a perfect winter project. Participants should bring fly tying tools, and all materials needed for the workshop are provided free. Other benefits are that you’ll meet other helpful fly tyers, learn at your own pace, have some fun and take your flies home for fishing next year, or as Christmas gifts. Plus, the fly shop gains new customers who need supplies, so it works for everyone!

Now, here’s a “new” fly, actually a crossover design, like what’s in vogue for automobiles today. The Moose is a wet salmon fly that I designed for fishing the Margaree many years ago. If you have trouble deciding which fly to use, or wish to streamline your fly selection, the Moose may be for you. A “hybrid” fly, it combines the best features of many flies: the fuzzy, lifelike essence of a nymph, the highly visible and mobile divided wing of the Butterfly, the clipped deer hair head & hackle of the famous Muddler, the moose hair wing so popular in Newfoundland, and the tantalizing sparkle and lifelike action of a divided Krystal Flash tail, as in the Glitter Bug. The Moose has it all!

The Moose:

Thread:          Black 8/0 Unithread

Hook:              Any size, barbless

Tag:                Extra fine oval gold Lagartun varnished French tinsel

Butt:                Black Ice Dub

Tail:                 Krystal Flash divided — 4 strands each side

Ribbing:         Five turns of medium oval gold varnished French tinsel

Body:              Black Ice Dub

Wing:              Black moose mane, divided Butterfly style

Thread:          Unithread 2/0 Kevlar for spinning deer hair

Hackle:           Spun deer hair, Muddler style

Head:             Deer hair clipped Muddler style, finished with black 8/0 Unithread and 2 applications of Angler’s Corner wet head cement

The Moose is actually a series, its members differing only in the matching head and tail color. I used natural grey for the Margaree, yellow for St. Mary’s, orange for the peat-stained waters of Liscomb or Cheticamp, red for fall fishing, and black for anywhere. Blue would likely work in Newfoundland, where the Blue Charm rules, and green would have a good chance of being well accepted in Quebec. Your choice!

I recall asking St. Mary`s River Guide, Phillip Turner, many years ago, for his take on the fly. He said, ``Well, it`s certainly ugly, so it should work!``. He was right ... on both counts!  The series is adaptable to most wet fly fishing, in colors and sizes suited to local conditions.

Please stay on the line …