Tricks And Change, The Only Thing That Keeps Us Sane

Just A Few Of The Many Possible Things To Be Changed

There are so many changes that can be made. Everything can be changed, for better or for worse. My faborite thing to try and mess with is flies. If I use a fly that has already proven successful, I try to use many variations. The origional almost always as good or better then the changed version, but I still try. There seem to be a few things that you can change with any fly and have good results. Here are a few of my favorites. I’ve shown each on Charlie Craven’s always amazing fly, the Blue Poison Tung.


Beads
Adding a bead where one is usually not, adding a bead where one already is, subtracting a bead where there should be one. Changing the color and size of the bead. The positioning of it. All these things can help you catch fish, or at least help your confidence when you finally catch that big fish. I lik to use colored beads, usually the same color as whatever is directly behing the bead. Most people use either silver or gold beads, but a similar colored bead to the rest of the fly doesn’t stick out. This could help spook less fish and produce more strikes. Check out this little pattern tied with a blue bead.

Wire
Changing the color of your wire under a neutral colored thread can change the overall color of your fly, and give it many different effects. For example, green wire can make a fly imitate a spring Caddis, and brown or black can imitate a small stonefly. Here is that same fly tied in green. Notice how even though the thread is grey, the back of the fly looks caddis green because of the wire.

Dubbing
Have you ever tried spinning you own dubbing colors? It’s not as easy as it sounds. Some colors don’t look good together, and there can’t be any clumps of a color. My favorite combonation is an ice dub mix, using Caddis Green, UV Brown, and UV Tan. Here is the fly with that mix, and I would definitely try spinning some of your own.