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Add some meat to your stonefly box
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| Petite Sirloin Stonefly (Skwala version) |
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| This brown trout couldn't resist some meat |
About 5 years ago I was sitting at a booth at the Wasatch Fly Tying Expo in Salt Lake City tying my usual fare of Grumpy Frumpies, Parachutes, and nymphs when the Rainy's rep came up to me with a package of somewhat odd looking extended bodies that were supposedly to be used for stoneflies. He said "Here... tie something out of this.." with a grin on his face as if to say "good luck!" He had tossed me some Rainy's Tube Bodiz in the stonefly configuration. To the vise I went, and came up with several versions that were ready to get wet for some testing. This is where I'm glad to have good friends who fish more than me, and who are much more skilled than I am with the rod in hand. The other issue is that I had tied these beasts in a burnt orange / salmon fly colors. I knew that I wouldn't be fishing any salmon fly hatches any time soon, so off they went to Chris Barkey and Bryan Gregson. I knew that they would be fishing salmon flies in the very near future, and I also knew they would tell me if the bugs sucked. I was looking for honest feedback.
Chris called me about 3 days later to tell me that a fish crushed it about his first three casts and that it wouldn't float after that. This is why having third party testers is so valuable... If it would have been me, I would have sat on a rock trying to revive it for the next fish. Thanks to the feedback from Bryan and Chris, I was able to make the necessary changes to the fly in order to make it functional piece of my lineup. I changed moose hair for deer hair for the head. I added CDC under the wings for added buoyancy, and I
added a thin foam indicator on top of the fly. This fly is in the Rainy's catalog, but I think they are still trying to work the kinks out of their factory versions. They struggle with proper hook gap, leg length, and head size (but they still fish really well).
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| A dark version of the Petite Sirloin Stonefly was deadly |
Before people get their panties all in a wad (and believe me, they have), I will point out the obvious here. this is not a realistic imitation of a stone fly! It's a very exaggerated version of a struggling, or fluttering bug that gets eaten like crazy during stonefly hatches. It also doubles pretty effectively as a baby bird.
Recipe:
Under Wings: CDC to match -- Buy Here --
Indicator: 1 to 2mm foam
Video Tutorial:
Helluva tie. I don't tie or fish many large hoppers or stonefly dries out here in the east, but that is a really cool fly to tie. I might just tie them up just for the hell of it.
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