Burglar Step By Step: Something Different

Rather than do a demo of the original Burglar, I thought I would do something a little different. So here is another cool streamer that need the same materials. I didn't add pictures for the first few steps, as they are pretty self explanatory.

Step One: Tie in the dumbbell eyes, making sure to leave some room for the dubbing head. Don't forget to use some head cement to keep the eyes really secure.

Step Two: tie in three or four pieces of marabou about an inch behind the eyes. Cover up all sides of the hook, so you can't see the straight part of the shank or your previous wraps. When you tie in the last piece of marabou, don't cut the tag end! You'll need it for the next step!

Step Three: Take that tag end of marabou that you (hopefully) didn't cut off, and wrap it up to the eyes. Don't make it to thick, or the wraps will slip over the dumbbell eyes. Also, secure the marabou with quite a few wraps of thread, otherwise the marabou will slip as soon as you cut the excess.

Step Four: Figure eight some dubbing around the eyes to cover up your thread. This step is pretty easy and self explanatory.

Step Five: Take a big piece of dubbing, pinch it in the center with one hand, and pull on each end with the other. Now tie in the dubbing at the center, push it back, and tie in the piece that is pointing forward. Do this on the bottom of the hook as well, and the result should look like this:

Congrats, just whip finish and you're done!

Tying The Burglar And The End Of The Contest

First off, I would like to congratulate Howard on winning the Fill a Box contest! And a huge thank you as well to Mark, Alton, and everyone who voted on the poll over the last week. Howard, shoot me an email of whether you would like the book or the flies for your prize. Nice Job!

Marabou has always been a favorite material of mine, since it moves so much in the water. It wiggles side to side, up and down, and most importantly, it breathes in the water. So while playing around with some marabou the other day, I created the Burglar. How did this big ole streamer get its name? Well, it hops up onto your tying desk and steals ALL of your marabou. So be prepared for a demo within the next couple days, and bring a full pack of the good stuff. In more detail, you'll need: Size 2 Bass Hook, Tan Marabou, Purple Ice Dub, and Stick on eyes. All that fancy 'bou let's the fly move between pictures one and two as you strip the fly. Until then, good luck out there!

Fill A Box Contest: Let The Voting Begin!

After quite the delay, I am happy to announce that the voting for the winner of the Fill A Box Contest has begun! For those of you who don't remember, the idea of the contest was to tie a really cool box of flies and see who's box takes the cake. Well, now it is time for you to decide! Here are pictures of each  box to give you another look. For a more detailed look at each box, just search "Fill A Box Contest" at the top left. And to Howard, Alton, and Mark: Good luck! And feel free to vote for yourself or someone else (And don't feel bad, I would choose myself too).

Howard's Box, Side 1

Howard's Box, Side 2

Alton's Bass Box

Mark's Box, Side 1

Mark's Box, Side 2

The Blue And Gore Creek

When my friend gave me a call after my second day of Drivers Ed and asked if I had some time for a spare fishing trip, I actually wasn't sure. After moving a couple things around, checking with my mom, and other assorted boringness, I gave him the OK. So with the bags packed, we got a late (7:00 am) start up to the Blue. As usual, the fishing in the upper section was tough. Once we hit my favorite area, the fishing took a turn for the better. All in all I landed some fish, lost a couple more, and broke off once.

After awhile, we head out to our final destination. Wait, not the Blue? No, we were here to fish Gore Creek and its surrounding beaver ponds. We biked for a little while and found ourselves at a nice pond with some rising brookies. I started off with a Slump Buster, but quickly changed up to a yellow Adams. Sight casting to these fish was a great time, and it reminded me of Small Stream Reflections. Speaking of which, SSR is one of my favorite blogs. I wish I could tie flies half as good as what I see on there. If you don't already read it, hit the link and check it out.

The next day, we fished Gore Creek all the way through the Golf Course property. After catching a bunch of brookies, two browns, and a rainbow, I joked to my friend that we should try for a Grand Slam. Not even 30 minutes later, a nice Colorado Cutt found his way into my net. I admired his beauty, held him up for my friend, and let him go. Then I tried to drown myself for a good ten minutes because  I forgot to take a picture. Sorry guys.

Keep checking back in, there's going to be something really cool up within the next few days.