An on topic post. What I learned this winter

My flyboxes are pretty much filled for the year aside from replacing things
I lose in trees, fish and my forearm (two last summer, ouch). I had the
real pleasure to tie with a couple of really good people this winter and I
learned a few new patterns.

I was shown a really old Penobscot River streamer called the Penobscot
Special for lack of a better name. The fly comes with a 2 hour story which
I will not repeat here. The fly was originally nameless and the original
tyer tied them in hand using only a pocket knife for tools (and here I have
to admit that the story contained a *lot* of exaggeration). The fly is tied
on a 6xl size 6 streamer hook (because that's all the original tyer had or
course). The body is red floss, wrapped on really thick, in a cigar shape.
This is ribbed with embossed silver tinsel (the kind that tarnishes, and you
know why). The wing is a small clump of gray squirrel tail. Black thread.

The second pattern is a caddis emerger that is named after a hotel in
Vermont. I've never been there, so I have no idea what the name is. I've
never seen anything like it, and for all I know, some guy at the hotel has a
copyright on it. It's pretty simple to tie, looks really nice in the water,
and catches fish all over New England (this from the guy who taught me the
pattern, who learned it after being contracted by the hotel to tie some
ungodly number of dozen so the hotel could give them away to guests).

Hook: size 16 dry fly
Thread: 8/0 chartreuse Uni
Tail: very sparse horse tail - only about 6 fibers. Any suitable stiff,
thin brown hair would work.
Back:brown closed cell foam. Tie in at the tail and pull over the body
after ribbing
Rib:green krystal flash. 4 strands twisted into a rope.
Body: brown dry fly dubbing
Wing:dark dun CDC tied over the back caddis style
Overwing: green Hi-vis (a sparse bundle on top of the CDC)

--
Stan Gula
http://gula.org/roffswaps