Hey,
Preston... I know this subject has been discussed before, but I have a
special affinity for tying and fishing callibaetis (not to mention a real
affinity for the hogs that sip them), so I'm hoping to learn more than what I
could glean from the archives:
Emergers----
I read the article
that is posted as a JPEG at http://www.unofficialbmw.com/ftp/u/w/wesn/downloads/Chopaka%20Emerger%201.jpg and
have looked at the tying instructions at http://www.unofficialbmw.com/ftp/u/w/wesn/downloads/Chopaka%20Emerger%202.jpg.
Somehow I had originally believed that this was a fly
of your design, but according to the article you received it from a friend of a
friend of a friend... did you ever come up with the origin of the
fly?
Is this still your first choice for callibaetis
emergers or have you modified this? I met a guy at Lenice that told me he
had been given this fly by you while he was at Chopaka last year and he showed
me an emerger with speckled partridge for a wing... was that indeed
something you may have tied?
Do you feel that not using a hackle is
beneficial? In windy conditions it seems that would be really hard to keep
afloat. My pattern uses a grizzly parachute hackle on a wing very similar
to the Chopaka Emerger (45 deg forward slant)... feel it adds the speckle-look
to the wing silhouette.
Why pheasant tail fibers for the body? Does the
emerger really have that dark of a look while it's ditching its shuck?
I've been tying mine with a callibaetis dyed biot body and wonder if I'm making
a mistake in that... my design is quite different for emerging callibaetis
so I'm really trying to hone/hybrid it and continue with my
experimentation.
Spinners---
What is your first choice for
spinners?
I've come up with a spinner that I think is a good
hybrid between size, silhouette, color and floatability - I'd really like to
compare notes and hopefully draw upon your experience to hone my current
pattern. The first time I tied this pattern in this form was
at my camp at Lenice - after kicking back across the lake and finding a
rise form I took a 17" brown on it - so I figure I must have done
something right... Here is my spinner pattern: http://12.229.164.126/FlyFishing/Links/FlyTying/Detail.asp?Fly=Speaker's%20Spinner%20(callibaetis)
Please forgive the slight lack of contrast in the "photo" - I simply dropped the
fly on my scanner and put a piece of paper over it to scan it. I really
need a digital camera!
My observation of the natural is that the tail is a
distinct V of a particular length and usually not mangled, while the wing is
very transparent and throws UV sparkle with a thin band of tan on the leading
edge. The body of course is callibaetis gray...
Any thoughts on Callibaetis would be great -
although only January I can just sort of feel the spring approaching and am
starting to look forward to it. The triploids in Lenice must be getting
really fat by now. <g>
Thanks.
-Jim Speaker
