Tied up 6 or 7 of these in a copper and brown scheme. They were very popular on the local tailwater this morning. Also, I love it when somebody comes up with something that should have been obvious. It's like, duh... of course this is a fly.
Tied some red and green and fished them on the Simpson in late January, worked really well. Most of the local guides had never seen them, now they are tying them. Great little fly.
Thanks, Kelly! I'm so sorry to hear about your Dog. They were great last time I was in the shop. I love that whitefish unlimited hat in the background. I will have to make one. I seem to catch as many freshwater bonefish as trout each time I'm out there.
I've just recently started watching your videos. They are very informative. I'm new to all this. So it helps Alot for you to be so detailed. Thank you so much
Nice pattern Kelly! Winter in Canada so it's fly tying season! Seen this tied with a bead-head as well - will tie up some of each in a couple of colors for the box!
I saw the video run time of 12 min. and my first thought was Kelly talks for 20 minutes before getting started, no way he ties a fly in this video :) Thanks for this one, I'm going to go to the vise a knock out a few dozen.
Kelly, anotherr thing that springs to mind here. These spools of 8/0 strength Roman Moser Power Silk in the various 'Fluo Pink', 'Fluo Orange' etc just came through the letter box. And I inspected it closely. It came with other thicknesses of GSP thread, down to the white 18/0, or 30 Denier GSP spools that looks useful for some purposes. I'm just focusing though on that 8/0 Roman Moser spools, and I ordered some just to see how well it would cope using the 'split thread' technique. The Roman Moser 10/0 is probably way too thin to split the thread. However, I've noticed that using those 8/0 'Fluo Pink', 'Fluo Green' etc spools. The GSP thread would split into two fairly easy.
What I'd recommend, that if one wanted to try to built another bit of interest into this Serendipity pattern (i.e. in the case where one is filling a fly box of these flies over the holidays really fast). When I made this fly around thirty years ago in Ireland, the combination that I went with was 'black' plain thread on the hook length. And we just wound a simple dark claret thread, made up of two or three strands of thread. And that made a kind of claret 'rope' made of a couple of strands of thread that was wound around the black hook body, to indicate segments to the abdomen. I remember I did try the brighter red colors and so on for this pattern, but to no avail. The one that always seemed to bring brown trout out of the depths to this pattern, was a very austere and subtle, claret thread ripping. I.e. The whole fly was very somber indeed with the Peacock herl thorax.
What I'll probably do with this fly pattern though, to make a dozen of them some time, is use the 8/0 Roman Moser GSP to create the rib. And I will actually split that GSP 8/0 thread in two and put some very dark colored, somber CDC material in there and wind it all along the hook length when doing the rib. I'm thinking in terms of some pattern that might actually work out on a lake (or 'lough' as we tend to call them here), where there might be a cruising trout lurking around underneath the waves someplace. I do the deer hair material here on the Irish lakes is under estimated a great deal. We do utilize a whole host of caddis emerger patterns. It's kind of bread and butter here. We do make caddis emerger patterns, but we ought to incorporate some more deer hair in them. Deer hair is the kind of thing that on the rough waves, won't be intimidated in the way that emergers made of only furs etc would be. What I'll do for the Lough version too, is I will use the heavier, shorter hook that you mentioned. Again, just so that the pattern is thrown around less by the roll of the wave.
Here, I may as well add to an already long rant. Pearsalls thread here is something that I think Oliver Edwards from Yorkshire, brought back into popularity for making the old north country spider patterns. Which again, are another whole other sub-tribe of the extended family of small, simple brown trout flies. Designed to be fished completely different again from most other sub-surface flies. They can be cast upstream in teams of two or three, to suggest drowned hatching upwinged fly hatches in a current. Hence their focus on the silk thread color that is wound in consistent turns down the hook shank. The thicker thread becoming it's own rib and floss combined in one material.
Here's the thing though. And I mentioned Roman Moser 8/0 gsp thread spools I received in an envelope (from the store in Yorkshire, where Oliver supplied some of his own custom 'sparkle' green wool material for making Caddis larvae weighted patterns with). And what I realize now, is that using the Pearsalls thread, they used to mix that together with their snipe feathers in the old patterns. They'd hunt for the snipe, and also fish making use of feathers available to them in the old days. The technique using the 8/0 Roman Moser GSP, and split thread to wind CDC feather on the hook, is just my brain reverting back to this older fly pattern. And nothing else except these north country patterns were ever really used on upstream casts like this. They are their own specific thing.
When I was not familiar with the Madison and the 3 dollar bridge I thought the naming of this fly had to do with the size of a dip you took from your buddy's tin of Copenhagen/Skoal.
Nice & easy 👍 I love your shirt! Public Land Landowner 😂. I think Texas is now less than 2% public, all my childhood stomping grounds and fishing holes are now posted Private.. luckily some of the major rivers are public..if you can get access. Best wishes for the New Year! God Bless
Kelly, Can you elaborate on your experience with "offended" fish? I fish (catch & release) a stream near home several times a week and have seen that some flies can lose their effectiveness fairly fast - especially if the fly is in some way "distinctive" that it can be easily recognized. Seems that "unusual" flies catch the curious fish for a short time but are quickly associated with a bad experience and shunned. Locally, good imitations (without beads and flash and hot-spots) are steady producers that you can bank on. Would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this.
you are right on. my number one fly is an unusual fly, but if you over do it on the same water , no longer number one. i tested this many times , fished a half mile of creek and was doing great, the fish were still active and fished the same area and had at least a 75 % less caught rate, would add that nobody else fished that same area after I did, so you would think the fish would be fresh. same thing has happened like you, same creek everyday, same area, less fish. unusual flies work really good but good old normal flies probably still work better than you think, because we forget to use them. I blame it on marketing, got to sell flash this and flash that and beads and on and on. nobody is pushing rabbit hair and cheap ass duck feathers. flash is great on 10 inch long streamers though.
@@ericgillin4319 Yup, see this all the time. I don't think fish are smart but they are survivors that learn from good and bad experiences. Fish in fast water are at a disadvantage as they have to grab first, check after so almost any pattern, well presented will work - the slow, clear waters I usually fish are a different story. I can often see the fish and how they react to the fly - it's surprising (and frustrating) to see fish following then refusing the fly. Even if you can't see the fish, it is easy to tell the difference between a tentative "taste" and the solid "take" of a completely fooled fish. Materials wise, I'm "old school" (retired) and my most of my flies are made with natural materials cut or plucked directly off the hide (woodchuck is a favorite). I have a good stock of modern materials but only use them as appropriate - the fish, not the marketing is what influences me. 90% of the flies in my "go-to" box are unnamed natural colored imitations of the local insects, 5% known nymph patterns and 5% attractors. Flash and beads have their place but I find that fishing flies one size larger that the naturals usually works best for me. Anyway, I'm off to tie up a bunch of 3$ dips. Yeah, the bass and pike really like those big streamers :-) Tight lines!
@@hankvana2149 fishing in fast water is by far way better. lucky I have lots of water like that in my area, plus for the last 40years that is the water I always fished so I am used to it. I like what you said about unnamed flies, I think as far as nymph flies probably 95% of my flies are unnamed. I get a kick when people ask me what that fly is , and I say it is a big tan fly , or a small white fly . I would like to say to any new fly tyers, that I am not against flash , i use it on a lot of my flies , but it is very sparse . also marketing does not work on me , but i do own a lot of stuff , but if you are jest getting started all you need is hooks, thread, fur, and feathers, jest like "old school" hank. if you have a cat or dog you can even make some really good flies with there hair. hank, good luck in that slow water, and jest think how many fish refuse our flies and we do not even know it, those little brained little *$#%&*
@@ericgillin4319 Eric, seems that we have a very similar approach to our flies. By habit I copy Mother Nature and tie sparse, subtle and try to maximize "triggers". IMHO I think that too many flies are tied so "buggy" that the silhouette is lost and the fly looks like a ball of lint instead of something edible. Don't think that super realistic flies are necessary (or even desirable) as long as the silhouette and coloring represent the natural. Yeah, I spend a lot of time looking at the bottom of rocks I pull out of the water LOL! Oh, our cats know to stay out of sight when I am tying! Cheers! Hank
@@hankvana2149 I know a person that has a cat with such nice hair that sometimes I think i should bag it and start selling it. really good dark gray underfur and black, brown, gold and tan guard hairs. of course I am using hair that is combed out of mr. kitty, but have been tempted to take scissors and get a nice bit of those guard hairs. that would make a buggy fly. super realistic flies are for looking at not fishing with. realistic motion , and silhouette, and color, that's what you need, maybe not in that order . tying flies is fun no matter what, it is almost like another hobby to me , not connected to fishing. if that makes any sense! I make more flies then I ever use.
Kelly, thanks for your thoughts on one of my favorite Madison River flies. Should I fish the dips as a dropper with a heavier fly like a stone or larger beaded nymph on the point if I use your drop shot rig? Keep the ties coming. I love how you can make a 12-minute video with a one-minute tie! Sorry about the pup.
This Serendipity fly pattern does deserve a small bit more scrutiny in terms of how it relates to some patterns that would be popular over here on this side of the Atlantic ocean. There is one other trout pattern that originated in Wales, and it started to show up in magazines on fly patterns and in stores. It sold by the hundreds too and suddenly a lot of peoples' boxes were full of these in the British Isles. That was the Welsh pattern, the Diawl Bach. It rose into prominence over here on the poorer, peat land, acidic lakes for fishing for small brown trout, at the same time as the whole Klinkhammer madness started to arrive down here from Scandinavia too. You'd walk into many fly tackle stores and see rows and rows of Klinkhammers for surface fishing, and Diawl Bach's in various colors and sizes for sub-surface. And what happens in this situation too, it's hard to find examples of either fly pattern that are true to their original.
There is one thing about the Serendipity pattern from north America that does strike me. It is that use of the metal rib down along the hook. There is another pattern that is very simple and uses that. It's not a fly pattern that arrived ten years ago, or twenty years ago. It's been around for ever. It's called the Black Pennell (and there were red Pennell's, blue Pennell's etc too). These flies are phenonemonal fly patterns. What is different about the Pennell patterns and what the Serendipity does not have, is something called a 'target'. Which is provided on those Pennell fly patterns by the addition of the 'tail' at the end, which is a golden pheasants tippet feather. Used in all kinds of murky and slow water conditions, those Pennell patterns will catch everything from brown trout to salmon and everything in between those extremes, from a size twelve or fourteen hook. What I notice now too, when I look at the Diawl Bach pattern is the tail is a part of that dressing too.
It is just something to bear in mind. That if the north American angler wanted to fill the box of Serendipity patterns using the deer hair (as I explained, we've never done that over here in the British Isles, this Serendipity pattern has no known equivalent here). But it seems to be pervasive over in north America. In terms of making those small, simple, restrained patterns however, here in the British Isles we have probably tried everything else. We have the Diawl Bach's, the Klinkhammers, the Pennell flies. And any north American angler who is able to tie themselves a range of Serendipity patterns, may not go far wrong by adding into that same mix, some of the 'nuts and bolts' that we developed in the Diawl Bach's, Klinkhammer or Pennell patterns here too. That 'target' as I mentioned that is in the Pennell patterns is a bit thing. The tail is part of the Diawl Bach too, an important part. And the Klinkhammer brought in that parachute hackle element. What we just never did with these 'small simple' trout patterns, was bring in deer hair though. We did everything else.
There is one other thing I will add to this. It's really why I've never really agreed with the idea of a Diawl Bach midge or Caddis emerger trout pattern (although thousands of other trout anglers obvious do like the Diawl Bach). When I made something that was very like an ancestor to the Diawl Bach a long time ago, I did not run the peacock herl that it incorporates, all of the ways down the hook length. Something that I did do, and it was another one of these important 'trigger' aspects, was I did dress my Caddis emergers on Yorkshire Sedge hooks as they were known. They were around even long before the 'Czech nymph' also washed up on our shores with big arch shaped hooks, that we were all then asked to wind tungsten and lead strips around, to weight it down with. The Yorkshire Sedge hook was never weighted when I dressed something very like the Serendipity. Rather it was a lot like the Klinkhammer. That 'arch' of the fly pattern, did prove to be an important trigger aspect to the brown trout. Just as it is, in the Klinkhammer. But I didn't have the parachute hackle then, just one or two turns of sparse cock hackle as a collar only. And the fly was not a surface pattern, it was a sub-surface pattern, but not weighted as the Czech nymph versions that came along afterwards were. And then at some stage too, I started to use more Pennell patterns that had the silver winding, and the 'target' gold pheasant tail at the back. My own Yorkshire Sedge hooks (made by Partridge makers), had none of those things. Only a very sombre and subtle crimson, dark thread wound around it, as it's own accent.
When goes into the stores now to buy flies, you'll find a plethora of things in front of you. What you won't always find though, are really authentic and genuinely effective small, simple trout fly patterns to buy. Which is as good a reason to learn to make these things as I can come up with. What you want to do when filling the fly box, with these types of small, simple sub-surface fly patterns though, is to separate one thing from another thing. I've described I think around 'half a dozen' fly patterns at various stages here, that are all part of that classification of small, simple brown trout fly patterns. However, one can't confuse the 'target' element that is present in the Pennell flies, which the sombre-ness of the Yorkshire Sedge hook pattern of thirty years back. Or the Diawl Bach of today, or the Klinkhammer. Or the deerhair addition in the Serendipity. Or the lead and tungsten weight incorporated into the Czech nymph hook patterns. A lot of these things all share commonalities, but in other ways are poles apart from each other. I'd easily forgive an angler though, for looking at one of my own Yorkshire Sedge pupae patterns and seeing it as an inferior dressed Diawl Bach, or a Czech nymph that was far too skiny and didn't sink. Or it didn't have the necessary metal tinsle rib that is needed in the Serendipity or in the Pennell flies. Or see the arching of the hook like in the Klinkhammer, and wonder where the parachute hackled had disappeared to? There are at least a half dozen completely different styles here, intended to be fished in completely different ways (and do work when used correctly). However, it's hard for anglers to walk into stores and understand that. It's got all too easy now, to get one thing all confused with another thing.
Almost as if to prove my point. I can see on the list of other 'related' video content on the right hand side of my screen. I can see another whole tutorial teaching me how to tie a 'Three Dollar Dip' fly. Except it's got a tungsten bead up at the head of that tiny fly. Otherwise it looks almost exactly the same as Kelly's pattern that he showed us how to make here. But reason alone will dictate that if you did fish the non-weighted Serendipity with deerhair wing case as shown here, it would fish in one way. You add a tungsten bead to this fly, and it's no longer the 'Three Dollar Dip'. It's a Czech nymph hook all of a sudden, that is dressed up in the clothes of a 'Three Dollar Dip' only. And that right there. That is the problem. It is the problem archaeology ended up with when they invented metal detectors. Sure, we got to find loads more 'stuff'. Folks went around digging up artifacts and in the process of doing so, the story of the objects got lost. The object's specific place within layers of human civilization went missing. I think that is often what a trout angler is faced with when they dare to go near a tackle store. This whole family of flies. The small, simple brown trout flies. There is no original explanation or story to go with anything any longer.
Kelly, on this side of the Atlantic, the equivalent of the Serendipity (thanks too to your media presenter who added in the description of the actual name and author of the fly, because we're not familiar with the shortened names over here), is the Klinkhammer. It comes from acidic, rainfed rivers up in Scandinavia. The kind of water in Sweden for which they import Galloup streamer original flies and they use them for things such as Pike fishing. You'll find grayling in these rivers too, where they fish for them with the weighted nymph. But if you take out the deer hair component of the Serendipity fly from north America, and substitute that using the Peacock herl material. Then you're within spitting distance of a Klinkhammer pattern. Yeah, someone named Klinkhammer up there then got the bright idea of using a good quality small fibre length genetically bred cock hackle, tied parachute style around at the top of the hook. And then it actually became a Klinkhammer as we know it now. And that hackle which made it into a kind of floating and sinking fly at the same time, is what added that whole new dimension.
But before there was ever anything like the Klinkhammer, or even parachute dry flies we'd never seen them back then, we did make a version of something just like the Serendipity fly using Peacock herl to create a thorax shape, instead of deerhair. Where deerhair of the serendipity design, does something like the Klinkhammer pattern does to this fly. It takes the fly to a stage further beyond the floating or submerged pupae stage, and indicates that this midge or whatever is almost about to hatch. But before any of this existed, I can recall that we would do some serious damage on poorer, acidic rainfed trout streams using the basic dressed hook. Without any deer hair or any foam, or any parachute hackle. And it's a lot like you explained, the trout did not object to this fly when it was present in it's environment for some reason.
The reason that it worked so well is that we could imitate caddis pupae with this, and some upwinged fly hatching nymphs. Later on, I took a more serious run at becoming a real 'resident' brown trout fly fisherman for a while. That's when I added things like parachute hackles to these flies and moved down in size of hook. I moved down in terms of diameter of tippet and learned better how to present dry flies, or semi-submerged patterns with as long a drag-free drift as I could manage. And for some reason, that combination of a basis design such as the Serendipty with a parachute hackled dressed as per the Klinkhammer style did work. On more spring free, less acidic rivers on lower gradient geography with much larger and healthy stocks of resident brown trout. I did start to incorporate more deer hair material into small dry patterns at the time also. And that did work too. For some reason, the ordinary caddis or midge pupae with just the Peacock herl without any deerhair or any parachute hackle always works best on the rainfed, acidic kinds of rivers here. It always brings out a decent brown trout, and it's an ideal searching pattern where one doesn't know a river that well, and trout are scarce and not as well fed.
The other thing I should mention here though, in the context of this Serendipity pattern (or rather the Klinkhammer style of dry fly, which can be used to imitate such a multitude of different life forms, which is it's best advantage), is that the parachute post for the Klinkhammer can use Cul De Canard. And that can be a useful addition too. Because when there is a generous, fluffy CDC parachute post incorporated into the Klinkhammer, dressed in various sizes. Then it starts to do a whole other job for you too. It can imitate drowned upwinged flies. And again, for some reason on a lot of rainfed rivers flowing through more acidic geology, the brown trout in those systems just won't even bother to exert their bodies to chase after hatching upwinged flies at all. They will 'zone in' and concentrate on sunk and drowned, or semi-drowned upwinged flies. Because what we have in these rivers is steep gradient and lots of turbulence. And the Klinkhammer style is such that it can incorporate deer hair, it can incorporate parachute hackle and CDC parachute wing posts in it's construction. So it can be fished down through rapids etc and be visible to opportunistic feeding trout. And I could see how the Serendipity fly using just thread, deerhair and whatever you're having yourself, would fulfill the same purpose. This is going to imitate the midges, the caddis stuff. But also the drowned upwinged food too. I even suspect that my really ancient hooks with the thread and peacock herl did that as well.
@@barneyewing2664 I use a few beads, mostly in hi light situations, but mostly black beads and some glass but for the most part your hares ear has never been improved upon and I still cant tie the damn thing as good as you did 40 years
Hey Kelly, I've been a Trout Unlimited member for many, many moons. Where do I sign up to get that sweet pink colored Whitefish Unlimited hat that's behind you? 😂🤣😳
Eddie Dunn is the originator of that hat I believe, it is in jest due to the amount of people who say "if you wear bright clothing you'll scare the fish away." I think he dresses this way to scare other fisherman away, not scare the fish away.
Don't forget, if it gets too cold to fish you can come one down and help me shoot some of these damn hogs. :D Kevin (the guy from Alabama with the pheasant hunting T {Happiness is a B....}. ). :D
![SahBabii - Viking [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/D37cL92JX0I/mqdefault.jpg)
Tied up 6 or 7 of these in a copper and brown scheme. They were very popular on the local tailwater this morning. Also, I love it when somebody comes up with something that should have been obvious. It's like, duh... of course this is a fly.
Tied some red and green and fished them on the Simpson in late January, worked really well. Most of the local guides had never seen them, now they are tying them. Great little fly.
Thanks, Kelly! I'm so sorry to hear about your Dog. They were great last time I was in the shop. I love that whitefish unlimited hat in the background. I will have to make one. I seem to catch as many freshwater bonefish as trout each time I'm out there.
I've just recently started watching your videos. They are very informative. I'm new to all this. So it helps Alot for you to be so detailed. Thank you so much
Beautiful pup! And nice tie👍
Nice pattern Kelly! Winter in Canada so it's fly tying season! Seen this tied with a bead-head as well - will tie up some of each in a couple of colors for the box!
I saw the video run time of 12 min. and my first thought was Kelly talks for 20 minutes before getting started, no way he ties a fly in this video :)
Thanks for this one, I'm going to go to the vise a knock out a few dozen.
Kelly, anotherr thing that springs to mind here. These spools of 8/0 strength Roman Moser Power Silk in the various 'Fluo Pink', 'Fluo Orange' etc just came through the letter box. And I inspected it closely. It came with other thicknesses of GSP thread, down to the white 18/0, or 30 Denier GSP spools that looks useful for some purposes. I'm just focusing though on that 8/0 Roman Moser spools, and I ordered some just to see how well it would cope using the 'split thread' technique. The Roman Moser 10/0 is probably way too thin to split the thread. However, I've noticed that using those 8/0 'Fluo Pink', 'Fluo Green' etc spools. The GSP thread would split into two fairly easy.
What I'd recommend, that if one wanted to try to built another bit of interest into this Serendipity pattern (i.e. in the case where one is filling a fly box of these flies over the holidays really fast). When I made this fly around thirty years ago in Ireland, the combination that I went with was 'black' plain thread on the hook length. And we just wound a simple dark claret thread, made up of two or three strands of thread. And that made a kind of claret 'rope' made of a couple of strands of thread that was wound around the black hook body, to indicate segments to the abdomen. I remember I did try the brighter red colors and so on for this pattern, but to no avail. The one that always seemed to bring brown trout out of the depths to this pattern, was a very austere and subtle, claret thread ripping. I.e. The whole fly was very somber indeed with the Peacock herl thorax.
What I'll probably do with this fly pattern though, to make a dozen of them some time, is use the 8/0 Roman Moser GSP to create the rib. And I will actually split that GSP 8/0 thread in two and put some very dark colored, somber CDC material in there and wind it all along the hook length when doing the rib. I'm thinking in terms of some pattern that might actually work out on a lake (or 'lough' as we tend to call them here), where there might be a cruising trout lurking around underneath the waves someplace. I do the deer hair material here on the Irish lakes is under estimated a great deal. We do utilize a whole host of caddis emerger patterns. It's kind of bread and butter here. We do make caddis emerger patterns, but we ought to incorporate some more deer hair in them. Deer hair is the kind of thing that on the rough waves, won't be intimidated in the way that emergers made of only furs etc would be. What I'll do for the Lough version too, is I will use the heavier, shorter hook that you mentioned. Again, just so that the pattern is thrown around less by the roll of the wave.
Here, I may as well add to an already long rant. Pearsalls thread here is something that I think Oliver Edwards from Yorkshire, brought back into popularity for making the old north country spider patterns. Which again, are another whole other sub-tribe of the extended family of small, simple brown trout flies. Designed to be fished completely different again from most other sub-surface flies. They can be cast upstream in teams of two or three, to suggest drowned hatching upwinged fly hatches in a current. Hence their focus on the silk thread color that is wound in consistent turns down the hook shank. The thicker thread becoming it's own rib and floss combined in one material.
Here's the thing though. And I mentioned Roman Moser 8/0 gsp thread spools I received in an envelope (from the store in Yorkshire, where Oliver supplied some of his own custom 'sparkle' green wool material for making Caddis larvae weighted patterns with). And what I realize now, is that using the Pearsalls thread, they used to mix that together with their snipe feathers in the old patterns. They'd hunt for the snipe, and also fish making use of feathers available to them in the old days. The technique using the 8/0 Roman Moser GSP, and split thread to wind CDC feather on the hook, is just my brain reverting back to this older fly pattern. And nothing else except these north country patterns were ever really used on upstream casts like this. They are their own specific thing.
Welcome back!!!! Finally!
Thanks man, we did a new one last week too
@@TheSlideinn how did I miss that 😪
Easy peasy fly to tie. Caught trout in the au Sable using green $3 dips.
Great pattern. Great video. Kelly please tie one of your favorite streamers for us.
As always, I liked Kelly's entertaining and helpful presentation.
Thanks for posting. As always, greatly appreciated.
When I was not familiar with the Madison and the 3 dollar bridge I thought the naming of this fly had to do with the size of a dip you took from your buddy's tin of Copenhagen/Skoal.
should have success with this one. Serendipity`s always worked well and really are an easy tie. Good vid!
Worked in November all over the South Island, New Zealand.
Kelly thanks a bunch! Masterful tie. Thanks so much!
Welcome back.
Nice & easy 👍 I love your shirt! Public Land Landowner 😂. I think Texas is now less than 2% public, all my childhood stomping grounds and fishing holes are now posted Private.. luckily some of the major rivers are public..if you can get access. Best wishes for the New Year!
God Bless
Great fly
I just tied some in a size 22, fun stuff
Kelly, Can you elaborate on your experience with "offended" fish? I fish (catch & release) a stream near home several times a week and have seen that some flies can lose their effectiveness fairly fast - especially if the fly is in some way "distinctive" that it can be easily recognized. Seems that "unusual" flies catch the curious fish for a short time but are quickly associated with a bad experience and shunned. Locally, good imitations (without beads and flash and hot-spots) are steady producers that you can bank on. Would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this.
you are right on. my number one fly is an unusual fly, but if you over do it on the same water , no longer number one. i tested this many times , fished a half mile of creek and was doing great, the fish were still active and fished the same area and had at least a 75 % less caught rate, would add that nobody else fished that same area after I did, so you would think the fish would be fresh. same thing has happened like you, same creek everyday, same area, less fish. unusual flies work really good but good old normal flies probably still work better than you think, because we forget to use them. I blame it on marketing, got to sell flash this and flash that and beads and on and on. nobody is pushing rabbit hair and cheap ass duck feathers. flash is great on 10 inch long streamers though.
@@ericgillin4319 Yup, see this all the time. I don't think fish are smart but they are survivors that learn from good and bad experiences. Fish in fast water are at a disadvantage as they have to grab first, check after so almost any pattern, well presented will work - the slow, clear waters I usually fish are a different story. I can often see the fish and how they react to the fly - it's surprising (and frustrating) to see fish following then refusing the fly. Even if you can't see the fish, it is easy to tell the difference between a tentative "taste" and the solid "take" of a completely fooled fish. Materials wise, I'm "old school" (retired) and my most of my flies are made with natural materials cut or plucked directly off the hide (woodchuck is a favorite). I have a good stock of modern materials but only use them as appropriate - the fish, not the marketing is what influences me. 90% of the flies in my "go-to" box are unnamed natural colored imitations of the local insects, 5% known nymph patterns and 5% attractors. Flash and beads have their place but I find that fishing flies one size larger that the naturals usually works best for me. Anyway, I'm off to tie up a bunch of 3$ dips. Yeah, the bass and pike really like those big streamers :-) Tight lines!
@@hankvana2149 fishing in fast water is by far way better. lucky I have lots of water like that in my area, plus for the last 40years that is the water I always fished so I am used to it. I like what you said about unnamed flies, I think as far as nymph flies probably 95% of my flies are unnamed. I get a kick when people ask me what that fly is , and I say it is a big tan fly , or a small white fly . I would like to say to any new fly tyers, that I am not against flash , i use it on a lot of my flies , but it is very sparse . also marketing does not work on me , but i do own a lot of stuff , but if you are jest getting started all you need is hooks, thread, fur, and feathers, jest like "old school" hank. if you have a cat or dog you can even make some really good flies with there hair. hank, good luck in that slow water, and jest think how many fish refuse our flies and we do not even know it, those little brained little *$#%&*
@@ericgillin4319 Eric, seems that we have a very similar approach to our flies. By habit I copy Mother Nature and tie sparse, subtle and try to maximize "triggers". IMHO I think that too many flies are tied so "buggy" that the silhouette is lost and the fly looks like a ball of lint instead of something edible. Don't think that super realistic flies are necessary (or even desirable) as long as the silhouette and coloring represent the natural. Yeah, I spend a lot of time looking at the bottom of rocks I pull out of the water LOL! Oh, our cats know to stay out of sight when I am tying! Cheers! Hank
@@hankvana2149 I know a person that has a cat with such nice hair that sometimes I think i should bag it and start selling it. really good dark gray underfur and black, brown, gold and tan guard hairs. of course I am using hair that is combed out of mr. kitty, but have been tempted to take scissors and get a nice bit of those guard hairs. that would make a buggy fly. super realistic flies are for looking at not fishing with. realistic motion , and silhouette, and color, that's what you need, maybe not in that order . tying flies is fun no matter what, it is almost like another hobby to me , not connected to fishing. if that makes any sense! I make more flies then I ever use.
Kelly, thanks for your thoughts on one of my favorite Madison River flies. Should I fish the dips as a dropper with a heavier fly like a stone or larger beaded nymph on the point if I use your drop shot rig? Keep the ties coming. I love how you can make a 12-minute video with a one-minute tie! Sorry about the pup.
A must have for any river :-)
...and I too, am a Public Land Owner. Keeping what they gave us.
This Serendipity fly pattern does deserve a small bit more scrutiny in terms of how it relates to some patterns that would be popular over here on this side of the Atlantic ocean. There is one other trout pattern that originated in Wales, and it started to show up in magazines on fly patterns and in stores. It sold by the hundreds too and suddenly a lot of peoples' boxes were full of these in the British Isles. That was the Welsh pattern, the Diawl Bach. It rose into prominence over here on the poorer, peat land, acidic lakes for fishing for small brown trout, at the same time as the whole Klinkhammer madness started to arrive down here from Scandinavia too. You'd walk into many fly tackle stores and see rows and rows of Klinkhammers for surface fishing, and Diawl Bach's in various colors and sizes for sub-surface. And what happens in this situation too, it's hard to find examples of either fly pattern that are true to their original.
There is one thing about the Serendipity pattern from north America that does strike me. It is that use of the metal rib down along the hook. There is another pattern that is very simple and uses that. It's not a fly pattern that arrived ten years ago, or twenty years ago. It's been around for ever. It's called the Black Pennell (and there were red Pennell's, blue Pennell's etc too). These flies are phenonemonal fly patterns. What is different about the Pennell patterns and what the Serendipity does not have, is something called a 'target'. Which is provided on those Pennell fly patterns by the addition of the 'tail' at the end, which is a golden pheasants tippet feather. Used in all kinds of murky and slow water conditions, those Pennell patterns will catch everything from brown trout to salmon and everything in between those extremes, from a size twelve or fourteen hook. What I notice now too, when I look at the Diawl Bach pattern is the tail is a part of that dressing too.
It is just something to bear in mind. That if the north American angler wanted to fill the box of Serendipity patterns using the deer hair (as I explained, we've never done that over here in the British Isles, this Serendipity pattern has no known equivalent here). But it seems to be pervasive over in north America. In terms of making those small, simple, restrained patterns however, here in the British Isles we have probably tried everything else. We have the Diawl Bach's, the Klinkhammers, the Pennell flies. And any north American angler who is able to tie themselves a range of Serendipity patterns, may not go far wrong by adding into that same mix, some of the 'nuts and bolts' that we developed in the Diawl Bach's, Klinkhammer or Pennell patterns here too. That 'target' as I mentioned that is in the Pennell patterns is a bit thing. The tail is part of the Diawl Bach too, an important part. And the Klinkhammer brought in that parachute hackle element. What we just never did with these 'small simple' trout patterns, was bring in deer hair though. We did everything else.
There is one other thing I will add to this. It's really why I've never really agreed with the idea of a Diawl Bach midge or Caddis emerger trout pattern (although thousands of other trout anglers obvious do like the Diawl Bach). When I made something that was very like an ancestor to the Diawl Bach a long time ago, I did not run the peacock herl that it incorporates, all of the ways down the hook length. Something that I did do, and it was another one of these important 'trigger' aspects, was I did dress my Caddis emergers on Yorkshire Sedge hooks as they were known. They were around even long before the 'Czech nymph' also washed up on our shores with big arch shaped hooks, that we were all then asked to wind tungsten and lead strips around, to weight it down with. The Yorkshire Sedge hook was never weighted when I dressed something very like the Serendipity. Rather it was a lot like the Klinkhammer. That 'arch' of the fly pattern, did prove to be an important trigger aspect to the brown trout. Just as it is, in the Klinkhammer. But I didn't have the parachute hackle then, just one or two turns of sparse cock hackle as a collar only. And the fly was not a surface pattern, it was a sub-surface pattern, but not weighted as the Czech nymph versions that came along afterwards were. And then at some stage too, I started to use more Pennell patterns that had the silver winding, and the 'target' gold pheasant tail at the back. My own Yorkshire Sedge hooks (made by Partridge makers), had none of those things. Only a very sombre and subtle crimson, dark thread wound around it, as it's own accent.
When goes into the stores now to buy flies, you'll find a plethora of things in front of you. What you won't always find though, are really authentic and genuinely effective small, simple trout fly patterns to buy. Which is as good a reason to learn to make these things as I can come up with. What you want to do when filling the fly box, with these types of small, simple sub-surface fly patterns though, is to separate one thing from another thing. I've described I think around 'half a dozen' fly patterns at various stages here, that are all part of that classification of small, simple brown trout fly patterns. However, one can't confuse the 'target' element that is present in the Pennell flies, which the sombre-ness of the Yorkshire Sedge hook pattern of thirty years back. Or the Diawl Bach of today, or the Klinkhammer. Or the deerhair addition in the Serendipity. Or the lead and tungsten weight incorporated into the Czech nymph hook patterns. A lot of these things all share commonalities, but in other ways are poles apart from each other. I'd easily forgive an angler though, for looking at one of my own Yorkshire Sedge pupae patterns and seeing it as an inferior dressed Diawl Bach, or a Czech nymph that was far too skiny and didn't sink. Or it didn't have the necessary metal tinsle rib that is needed in the Serendipity or in the Pennell flies. Or see the arching of the hook like in the Klinkhammer, and wonder where the parachute hackled had disappeared to? There are at least a half dozen completely different styles here, intended to be fished in completely different ways (and do work when used correctly). However, it's hard for anglers to walk into stores and understand that. It's got all too easy now, to get one thing all confused with another thing.
Almost as if to prove my point. I can see on the list of other 'related' video content on the right hand side of my screen. I can see another whole tutorial teaching me how to tie a 'Three Dollar Dip' fly. Except it's got a tungsten bead up at the head of that tiny fly. Otherwise it looks almost exactly the same as Kelly's pattern that he showed us how to make here. But reason alone will dictate that if you did fish the non-weighted Serendipity with deerhair wing case as shown here, it would fish in one way. You add a tungsten bead to this fly, and it's no longer the 'Three Dollar Dip'. It's a Czech nymph hook all of a sudden, that is dressed up in the clothes of a 'Three Dollar Dip' only. And that right there. That is the problem. It is the problem archaeology ended up with when they invented metal detectors. Sure, we got to find loads more 'stuff'. Folks went around digging up artifacts and in the process of doing so, the story of the objects got lost. The object's specific place within layers of human civilization went missing. I think that is often what a trout angler is faced with when they dare to go near a tackle store. This whole family of flies. The small, simple brown trout flies. There is no original explanation or story to go with anything any longer.
Kelly, on this side of the Atlantic, the equivalent of the Serendipity (thanks too to your media presenter who added in the description of the actual name and author of the fly, because we're not familiar with the shortened names over here), is the Klinkhammer. It comes from acidic, rainfed rivers up in Scandinavia. The kind of water in Sweden for which they import Galloup streamer original flies and they use them for things such as Pike fishing. You'll find grayling in these rivers too, where they fish for them with the weighted nymph. But if you take out the deer hair component of the Serendipity fly from north America, and substitute that using the Peacock herl material. Then you're within spitting distance of a Klinkhammer pattern. Yeah, someone named Klinkhammer up there then got the bright idea of using a good quality small fibre length genetically bred cock hackle, tied parachute style around at the top of the hook. And then it actually became a Klinkhammer as we know it now. And that hackle which made it into a kind of floating and sinking fly at the same time, is what added that whole new dimension.
But before there was ever anything like the Klinkhammer, or even parachute dry flies we'd never seen them back then, we did make a version of something just like the Serendipity fly using Peacock herl to create a thorax shape, instead of deerhair. Where deerhair of the serendipity design, does something like the Klinkhammer pattern does to this fly. It takes the fly to a stage further beyond the floating or submerged pupae stage, and indicates that this midge or whatever is almost about to hatch. But before any of this existed, I can recall that we would do some serious damage on poorer, acidic rainfed trout streams using the basic dressed hook. Without any deer hair or any foam, or any parachute hackle. And it's a lot like you explained, the trout did not object to this fly when it was present in it's environment for some reason.
The reason that it worked so well is that we could imitate caddis pupae with this, and some upwinged fly hatching nymphs. Later on, I took a more serious run at becoming a real 'resident' brown trout fly fisherman for a while. That's when I added things like parachute hackles to these flies and moved down in size of hook. I moved down in terms of diameter of tippet and learned better how to present dry flies, or semi-submerged patterns with as long a drag-free drift as I could manage. And for some reason, that combination of a basis design such as the Serendipty with a parachute hackled dressed as per the Klinkhammer style did work. On more spring free, less acidic rivers on lower gradient geography with much larger and healthy stocks of resident brown trout. I did start to incorporate more deer hair material into small dry patterns at the time also. And that did work too. For some reason, the ordinary caddis or midge pupae with just the Peacock herl without any deerhair or any parachute hackle always works best on the rainfed, acidic kinds of rivers here. It always brings out a decent brown trout, and it's an ideal searching pattern where one doesn't know a river that well, and trout are scarce and not as well fed.
The other thing I should mention here though, in the context of this Serendipity pattern (or rather the Klinkhammer style of dry fly, which can be used to imitate such a multitude of different life forms, which is it's best advantage), is that the parachute post for the Klinkhammer can use Cul De Canard. And that can be a useful addition too. Because when there is a generous, fluffy CDC parachute post incorporated into the Klinkhammer, dressed in various sizes. Then it starts to do a whole other job for you too. It can imitate drowned upwinged flies. And again, for some reason on a lot of rainfed rivers flowing through more acidic geology, the brown trout in those systems just won't even bother to exert their bodies to chase after hatching upwinged flies at all. They will 'zone in' and concentrate on sunk and drowned, or semi-drowned upwinged flies. Because what we have in these rivers is steep gradient and lots of turbulence. And the Klinkhammer style is such that it can incorporate deer hair, it can incorporate parachute hackle and CDC parachute wing posts in it's construction. So it can be fished down through rapids etc and be visible to opportunistic feeding trout. And I could see how the Serendipity fly using just thread, deerhair and whatever you're having yourself, would fulfill the same purpose. This is going to imitate the midges, the caddis stuff. But also the drowned upwinged food too. I even suspect that my really ancient hooks with the thread and peacock herl did that as well.
Nice display of BHA swag. Do you think this fly fishes better without a beadhead?
Barn, yes way better, i fish very few beads and never on this fly. Happy New Year man.
@@TheSlideinn Same to you. I'm in agreement with you on beads for the most part.
@@barneyewing2664 I use a few beads, mostly in hi light situations, but mostly black beads and some glass but for the most part your hares ear has never been improved upon and I still cant tie the damn thing as good as you did 40 years
You refer to this as a nymph. But isnt this an emerger? Doesnt the hair float it?
Sly, not enough hair to float it but maybe tip it up a little, guess it could be emerger if you fished it in the film. KG
nothing better than a simple fly that catches fish.. gonna tie a bunch of those.... J
Hey Kelly, I've been a Trout Unlimited member for many, many moons. Where do I sign up to get that sweet pink colored Whitefish Unlimited hat that's behind you? 😂🤣😳
Eddie Dunn is the originator of that hat I believe, it is in jest due to the amount of people who say "if you wear bright clothing you'll scare the fish away." I think he dresses this way to scare other fisherman away, not scare the fish away.
Sweet.. hi from Int'l Angler! Hoping u can make an appearance sometime..
Hey in my home town the state of va stocks trout in a pond do you thank that fly will work?
Don't forget, if it gets too cold to fish you can come one down and help me shoot some of these damn hogs. :D Kevin (the guy from Alabama with the pheasant hunting T {Happiness is a B....}. ). :D
Your winners head looks like a badger
Like the fly. 7 minutes of BS prior to showing how to tie the fly