7th Open German fly tying championship

Well, I've been getting alerts that it was true but I had to wait for the official news and here it is.

Recently I shipped two flies I really love tying: the Humpy and the classic Adams (Catskill style). My flies have been on shows (many eons ago…), in magazines and (most of them) given to friends and now it seems it is rated top ranking by a team of capable judges.

One of the judges is my old friend and one of the best fly tiers I know: Chris Helm. Chris is a true master on tying with deer hair. Be it western dry flies like the Humpy or hair bugs.

Chris mailed me a few days ago that he wondered whether the flies he was looking at were maybe mine?... His comment was that he gave my Humpy a perfect score except… the tail should have been tied with moose (body) hair.

In fact, I really considered tying that way (I tie my humpies usually with moose tails), but since the reference fly was shown with a deer (or yearling elk) hair tail I decided not to take any chances. Germans are known to be very strict with regulations… I also tied the bleached deer hair tail slightly shorter to prevent the tail flaring too much (see reference fly).

I don't know if I tied my humpy with the moose hair tail, it would have been rated lower for not tying the fly as mentioned in the regulations. Well anyway, it's great honor to win the Open German championship!

…and I really should start with my Catskill dry fly project.

The news in Dutch.

Update 8 May 2014:
Picture of flies of the 2nd place winner.
Picture of flies of the 3rd place winner.

Salmon fly hatch

I've always wanted to be there when the salmon flies started to hatch in Montana. These big stone flies (Pteronarcys californica) crawl out along the streamside vegetation and rocks after a 3 year nymphal period around late May to early July. The hatch continues for about 3 weeks.

Now here's the problem: how to predict when the hatch begins? Especially how to plan a trip with the salmon hatch as your main goal? Pretty impossible since it's usually when the run off is just coming down from full swing. If you arrive too soon, your fishing is limited to small tributaries or spring creeks. If you arrive too late, well… you're too late.