Tying Stone's Pan Candy

Earlier this year, my good friend Jon and I did a fly swap. I sent him a ton of steelhead flies and he sent me some top notch bass and bluegill flies. One of the flies that was in the package was excellent for bluegill and bass. I loved it so much that I modified it, asked him if I could use it as my own fly and he said yes because of the modifications I had made. I asked around to other fly fishing pages on the web and on Facebook to make sure I was not stealing anyone's ideas and when everyone responded with "No" or "Go ahead and use it! Great pattern!", I asked for a name. My friend Jon gave me a list of names that he thought were great and on my Facebook page, everyone agreed that it should be called the Stone's Pan Hammer. However, after me experimenting with other colors, I thought the only appropriate name would be the Stone's Pan Candy. Thus, the fly was born.

Colors from left to right: green, olive, orange, yellow, black, and white.

Here are the instructions on how to tie the Stone's Pan Candy. I will show you how to tie the Pan Candy in the sour apple flavor.

TMC 2488 hook in either size 10 or 12. Note: this is what it has been tested on. It may work on a bigger size so tie as you see fit.

140 Denier thread. Match the appropriate color thread for the color fly i.e. olive colored fly uses olive colored thread, etc.

Some UTC Vinyl "D" Rib. Note: make SURE it is is D rib and NOT round ribbing! It will say round rib instead of vinyl rib.

Once again, ice dub in appropriate color of fly.

Krystal flash in appropriate color of fly.

Natural grizzly hackle.

3.0mm bead chain eyes. It took me FOREVER to cut all these up in twos. There are over 200 eyes in there. It's excellent. : )

First, start with a hook in the vise and make a thread wrap down the hook shank to provide for a base for the fly material as well as the eyes.

Just behind the eye of the hook, tie in the bead chain eyes making sure you leave enough room in the front for a whip finish.

Wrap thread down the shank and prepare for the tail. I take a full piece of krystal flash and cut it evenly to make two pieces. This piece is good for two flies. I then take one half and cut them evenly to make 2 pieces. Then I fold it over itself again, cut it to make 4 pieces, and finally fold it over again to make 8 pieces. I then tie that in leaving a tail a tad longer than the hook shank.

Spread back the hackle fibers so they stand up. Tie in the tip of the feather.

Grab your vinyl rib and snip it so it looks like this. If you tie left handed, snip the vinyl rib the other way. Tie it in so the tapered end is covered and take the thread to the eyes.

Wrap the vinyl rib around the shank like you would chenille for a wooly bugger. Make sure you leave a tad bit of room behind the eyes for your ice dub and hackle. Snip it and wrap more thread to cover the tag end.

Wind the hackle so the vein of the hackle is between the grooves of the vinyl rib and wrap until you are behind the eyes. Tie the hackle with a few wraps behind the tag end and then a few in front to secure it. Snip it flush. 

Top view of how it should look after the hackle is snipped.

Finally, add some ice dubbin to your thread and wrap it 2 or 3 times behind the eyes and then make figure 8 wraps around the eyes until you see little to no thread in between wraps of dubbing. Don't make the ice dub look too bulky though. Just enough to cover the thread.

Finally, if there's a tad bit of ice dub on your thread still, do 2 wraps in front of the eyes to clear the thread to whip finish. Whip finish the fly three times or however many you feel is necessary. I always do it three times and wrap the thread 3 times for every whip finish. I feel it is secure without being bulky or hiding the eye of the hook.

Side view of the Pan Candy

Top view of the Pan Candy

Bottom view of the Pan Candy.

These are so fun and so easy to tie and extremely effective. I am debating on adding pink to the arsenal of flies. I may add more colors as long as there's ice dub, rib, and krystal flash to accommodate for the colors needed. Stay tuned! I'm quite proud of this fly as it really does work. Very well. So far, I've landed almost a dozen each of bass and bluegill with this fly and 1 22" carp with a #12 green Pan Candy. Please critique as you see fit. I hope the instructions are clear as I assume everyone doesn't need every single step to be photographed in incredible detail i.e. I left out me wrapping the ice dub behind, around, and in front of the eyes as well as me tying in the vinyl rib and wrapping it. Feel free to ask any questions! Tight lines!

Sunday Afternoon Gold!

More carp on the fly action this afternoon after a great day at church! I got to my favorite carp spot on the Ottawa, the place I caught my last carp, at Harroun Community Park. As I was walking, I saw a gentleman spincast fishing for the suckers. Apparently he was eating them. I found the break through the trees where I go through to head down to the river and smelled something dead. Apparently somebody threw a carp on the bank. It was dead but it appeared to be freshly dead. I think they caught it and left it for dead, sadly. Was pretty upset about it but what can one do....

I fished for about 2 hours with a few interruptions. Saw plenty of suckers, about 8 or 10 carp (males swimming beside females to mate), and a few pike hugging the bottom where it was cooler water. Overall it was pretty slow but I got to test out my new Eagle Claw Featherlight that I converted into a switch rod! It was excellent as I was using a #12 fly and was able to whip that thing across the river with ease with just a flick of the handle. It really performed well with the two handles. It was really slow going. Started out with a #12 carp hybrid fly, snagged a carp by the tail or fin or something and didn't have the drag set low enough so I lost that 15 seconds into the fight.

It was really a game of chance here and I was losing. I kept tossing the fly to cruising carp, both male and female, whether they were loners or a pack of males following a female. In the end, I hooked into a nice female with a baby leech fly.

Once again, I apologize as I am unable to feature my Youtube videos directly into the blog post for some reason. Click here to see the underwater footage of the carp. It's pretty cool if I say so myself. : )

Edit: went back at 6 and fished for another hour and a half. Caught a 22" loner on an original fly of mine, the Pan Candy! Will be posting how to tie in the next few days. Click here to watch it! I even gave the carp a kiss. How sweet of me! : D

This female was 1/4" shy of 24"! Great fight especially on glass! Love this rod!

Kisses anyone?

My new girlfriend!

Fast Sinking Leech Pattern

This is a very classic pattern and everyone knows how to tie a wooly bugger. This was requested by a gentlemen on my Facebook page Stone's Flies. He asked me what I used to catch the carp and I told him I would give him a step by step process of how I tied the Deep Leech. I also tie this in olive, brown, and white the same way. Just as effective but for other fish as well.

First materials are as follows:

I use a size 6 2xl as I feel it's a good size. You can use something smaller but you need to use different material in some cases to match the hook size.

140 denier black thread. Smaller sizes I would use 70 but 140 is excellent as it's in the middle and can be used for even down to a size 10 or 12 in some cases.

Along with the dumbbell eyes, this gives it extra weight that it needs to sink faster.

Best size for the dumbbell eyes. I would go to a 3.5mm for a size 10 hook but you can stay at a 4mm for a size 10 if you want to make it sink faster.

Always get medium chenille. Looks better in the water.

Any marabou will do just as long as it's black. I just choose Cabela's brand since it's cheap.

Again, cheap Cabela's brand saddle hackle. As long as it's black, you're good. Wait....that came out wrong.

Put the hook in the vise. Duh.

Start by wrapping the medium copper wire around the hook shank. It's very important that you leave enough room for the dumbbell eyes behind the eye on the shank and leave some room at the end before the bend to accommodate for the marabou being tied in just as you would any other wooly bugger.

Secure the copper wire with thread.

Add the eyes to the top of the hook so the hook will ride hook up. Make sure you leave a bit of a gap just behind the eye to whip finish.

Tie in the marabou tying the marabou all the way up to the dumbbell eyes. I do this to give the fly more body.

Tie in the saddle hackle tip end first and spreading the fibers back.

Set the hackle aside and then strip a bit off the end of your chenille and tie that in next.

Wrap the chenille around the shank and up to the eyes. Tie it off and snip the remaining chenille off.

Wrap the hackle around the chenille making a few extra wraps at the head to give it more hackle fibers in the front. I've found it makes the body look better in the water. Tie it in, snip the remaining hackle off, and then whip finish right behind the eye of the hook and in front of the dumbbell eyes.

Simple as that. Classic pattern. Simple and super effective. KISS: keep it simple stupid. : ) Modify weights and experiment with weight as needed in streams and rivers.

Harroun Community Park Ottawa River Carp on the Fly!

Man! That's a title! : ) Finally done with school for a bit and just got back from vacation in Georgia. I now have a bit of free time to do what I want to I went fly fishing for carp yesterday. I scoped the area out last week before I left so I knew what I needed to do in order to catch carp.

The area where I went is part of the Ottawa River. It's really cool because the area is not very far from my house and it's smack dab in the middle of everything. Flower Hospital, the hospital where I used to work, is just a short hike to where I was fishing which is incredible.

I was wet wading as the water was not as cold as I was expecting even though the deeper parts were just above my waist. I really took my time that day seeing what was in the pool. It was filled with carp and suckers. I tied on a heavy weighted leech pattern and was almost nymphing with it. A giant came up and slurped it in as it was cruising just under the surface as the fly was sinking. I set the hook and it ran. I'm glad I had my 8wt because I was considering using my7'6" 4wt but it would have been almost impossible to bring this carp in.

I apologize as Blogger is being dumb and won't let me directly insert a Youtube video for some reason. Click here to watch the video of the fight and release on Youtube. Skip to 8:40 to see the fish up close and personal and then the release. I lowered the resolution to 720p instead of 940p as it gave me 60fps which is super nice. 

After a while, I hooked into another one. This fish gave me a run for my money. I didn't land it though but it still was fun to see my line zip out of the reel on a higher drag set. Watch it here.

Overall it was a great day. I now know that there are a lot of carp close to home. You just have to look in the places that you'd least expect them and do your homework before hand! That's what fishing is all about. 

One thing I've learned about river carp is that once you catch one out of one hole, you can't catch another because they then know that they're being hunted. I guess I'll have to wait for another day to catch another big one.

Suckers on the Fly!

I've been itching to catch something larger than 6" ever since a carp took my fly last year in July. Right now, in April, the suckers and pike are spawning in large numbers all over the place. Thankfully, I have  a creek next to my house which has a little over a dozen suckers and about a half a dozen pike in it at the moment. I spent an hour on Sunday afternoon clearing out brush and junk from the creek to maximize my opportunities to catch and LAND one of these fish. Today, I was rewarded with 3 suckers, a first on my fly rod.

Here are three videos of me catching, landing, and releasing this fish. They are 3 separate fish. I got very excited and look like a crazy man especially since my attire in the videos are not very fishermanish. I hope you enjoy the same excitement as I had catching them as it was surprisingly hard to do.

This is the first of three. I thought my GoPro was going but no. I was kinda upset but in the end, it was okay. Gotta love my classy loafers and white socks with jeans! : )

Second video went a little better. This video is uncut. Shaky at times so my deepest apologies. I was a bit excited can't you tell? The fire department next door was wondering what was going on and paid me a visit. If you turn the volume up you can hear what they are saying. It's pretty funny as they think I'm crazy, which I am.

Third and last video of the night. Once again, shaky video so sorry about that. Still trying to figure out my new GoPro. The release was awful but the fish is still alive. : ) Still a blast to catch!

Overall, I know it's not much of an exciting blog post as in me going kayaking and fishing for the big one but nevertheless, it was so awesome to catch something that was literally in my backyard. Or front yard rather.

Tight lines everyone!

Monroe Powerplant Hot Ponds!

This past Tuesday, April 2, I was scheduled to work. That is, until I attended a funeral for my fiancee's grandmother. This allowed my fiancee and I go to kayaking and fishing with Ted, a good friend of mine from work, and his friend Lon. I picked Lauren up and we headed to Bolles Harbor in Monroe, Michigan. We went from the harbor all the way to the mouth of the so called "hot ponds" as they are best known. Hot ponds are parts of a river or lake that feed a powerplant to cool their equipment. The water actually absorbs the heat via a tubing system usually and is spit out thousands of gallons a second into a canal that eventually leads to the Great Lakes. Pretty amazing stuff!

It took us around 45 minutes to kayak from the harbor to a peninsula at the mouth of the canal. We got out and we met both Ted and Lon and the action started immediately when I stepped foot on land. Both Ted and Lon were catching largemouth bass that were a good 16" and 17". They said they caught a few bigger ones which was downright incredible! The bass were feeding on small minnows and shad that were swimming with the current. The bass would be on the edge of the eddy and would swim and eat anything that was close. Bass and some big carp were jumping everywhere! It was great!

Ted and Lon were using baitcasters and I started to use my fly rod despite the wind picking up and blowing in the direction that I couldn't cast as well. Thankfully, I was using a heavier Clouser minnow pattern with my 5wt which helped me push through the wind to the fish. Not even 5 minutes after I stepped foot on land did Lon get into something big. A nice carp roughly 20lbs was on the end of his shad pattern. The fish was hooked INSIDE the lip possibly signifying that it was trying to eat the shad.

Gorgeous fish...

 We snapped some shots and he let it go. First fish I've touched in several months. It was good to be back on the water! I was happy to help him net it, too! : D

Next, was my turn. I wanted so badly to catch any fish! Well, after about 10 minutes of nothing but plenty of hits and misses, Lon told me to come to the shallower end of the peninsula. I happily obliged and that's when I hooked into a beautiful LMB on a simple Clouser minnow that I tied the previous night preparing for the trip.

FISH ON! First of 2013!

Very happy camper!

 I was so happy. I was laughing and if I could, I would have been jumping for joy. The fish was a mere 12" but to me it was the giant of the deep! It doesn't matter how big or how small, I still find joy in catching even the smallest of fish. I fished up and down the peninsula having quite a few strikes in the short amount of time that I spent there.

Smile on my face is pricesless. : )

The second fish of the day came by surprise. I was taking line out and cast about 2 feet of line out and I drew the rod back and I had it tug! I literally just smacked the water with my fly and I had yet ANOTHER LMB on the fly! Funny how that works. : ) 

Still happy as can be!

The final fish of the day was another small LM coming in at a mere 8". By that time, we all had to go as Lauren had to head to school, Ted needed to go to sleep because he was up since 9 the previous morning and worked a full 12 hours and then went kayaking with a 30 minute nap and loaded up on Red Bull....

Poor fish!

The release.

Technically, we "weren't fishing for LMB" as those are not in season in Michigan yet. The DNR states that there has to be immediate release of the bass. Only in late May can you keep the bass. I still had a blast.

Lauren and I, or rather I being the gentleman I am, loaded up the car with the kayaks and we  headed out but not before we took pictures. : )

"Sam, wait before you take a picture. I'm trying to fix my mascara." *takes a picture* "Oops."

All smiles. We're quite happy! : )

Love this girl with all of my heart! Very blessed!

The next day, I went by myself but have no pictures to show for it. It's a great hot spot for bass but also a great place to just relax and be yourself. It's going to be great for kayaking parties! Tight lines everyone and be safe!

Holding a Fish Correctly

Yes, it's been almost 2 months when I posted last. I've had very little adventures in the past few months but with spring around the corner, I did do some kayaking and fishing! Now that I'm back in blogging mode, I decided to start out with a post on how to hold fish! This is overlooked. A lot. It's really sad, actually. So, let's look at how to hold a fish the wrong way.

 The picture on the left shows the fish being held improperly because there is no support on the front or back part of spine. The fish is also being squeezed. Not good! Don't be stupid and squeeze a fish no matter how small. That small fish will grow up!






The picture below shows yet another improper way of holding a fish! Ugh....By the gills! Imagine you were being held by your neck. That's it. All your body weight was being held by your neck vertebrae. OUCH! Yes, that's how the fish feels. Uncool! It also hurts the fish's gills themselves which is what they use to breathe. Duh. : )

 

 Another common misconception is that a fish, more specifically, a bass, can be held by it's lower jaw. Yes, it can be done but it could potentially break the fish's jaw. Not fun!

Here we see a man holding the smallmouth by its lower jaw. Don't do this please. That bass may have been fine but it may have bruised the fish and could potentially have problems with its jaw for the rest of its life. The far right picture is of crappie. The picture displayed on the far right shows a professional fisherman holding up
some nice crappie. Now, I found this picture on a professional website that is known for it's great fishing articles, tournament info, and fishing tips and tricks and yet this guy didn't get the memo to NOT follow those tips. Hmm...

We've viewed several examples of bad fish handling. Let's look at some good ones! Below is an excellent shot of a gorgeous brookie. And, yes, he's holding it correctly as he let it sit in the net first, then briefly took it out of the net for a shot, and I imagine, let it go with no harm done. Look at the net closely and you can see it is a rubber net. That's what you want to use all the time. The nylon nets are VERY hard on the fish. Throw that kind of net away. They keep the slime of the fish on the netting and that slime keeps the fish alive! It's a protective barrier for the fish just like our skin!

 Here's a great picture of how to hold a toothy fish. This picture was entitled how to hold a muskie correctly. I think it speaks for itself.

There you have it folks! I hope you've learned a lot from this post. It's good to get a refresher course on the subject from time to time. Check out these wonderful articles on the same subject! Like really....you should.

How to Break a Fish's Jaw Quickly

Please Hold Fish Properly!

TIGHT LINES EVERYONE!

Fighting Even the Small Fries With Ease!

One of my biggest pet peeves when fly fishing is holding the rod correctly when fighting a fish. ANY fish! Some may argue "Oh it doesn't matter if it is a smaller fish, you can still hold the rod this way or that." I say, "NO! You cannot!" Here's why: the handle of the rod was designed to take the brunt of the force when fighting a fish. I have seen guys fighting fish, large fish like salmon and steelhead and holding the handle and the blank, which is a no no especially when fighting a larger fish. It's okay for extra support but some guys were depending on holding the blank above the rod handle.

Edit: PLEASE, if you don't read ANYTHING ELSE read this: <link>  This link is from the official Sage site about rods breaking and why they do! Very informative!

On a heavier rod, as most if not all of you know, there's a thing we all love and it's called the fighting butt. It's called that for a REASON! You put it on your hip and acts as leverage when fighting a fish. However, as I mentioned, most people want to hold the blank as well as the handle of the rod itself. It feels more comfortable to them but it's a no no. Have I stressed that enough? : ) 

Here is a post about why leverage is so important in fly fishing much less fishing period! It goes in depth but it really is excellent when you read the entire thing. Seriously, I learned from it even though I do fight with the rod from side to side and not straight up in the air.

Above is a video on a guy fighting in saltwater conditions. At 0:40 you see him doing the naughty: holding the rod not for support but for leverage. Granted, it appears that the ferrule popped out but nevertheless, my pet peeve!

There was another GREAT video of a guy fighting a giant salmon on a fly rod and was holding it by the blank. Literally broke in half. Then again, he was fighting it with the tip and not the butt section.

Above is yet another classic example of someone fighting the fish with the blank. Although, I do applaud him because he IS fighting a larger fish and he was holding the rod to the side while fighting. Again it is not so much as it broke as it came apart perhaps.

Bottom line: don't be stupid. Play the fish out. Mind your P's and Q's because the fish is FIGHTING FOR ITS LIFE! Use the butt section of the rod for leverage instead of the tip. Comment if you wish on how you play a fish out whether big or small! 

Apply That Dubbing....Correctly!

For those who tie with dubbing frequently (ME!), you already know these tricks. For those who are new at applying dubbing or you just need a refresher course, then this article is for you.

Short and sweet. Literally. The process is simple and yet effective. I like that kind of learning! Find it here!

Selecting the Perfect Hackle

Ah, yes. Hackle is classic material for a variety of wet and dry flies alike. I find myself being VERY frustrated when I tie a #6 4XL wooly bugger and the hackle is TOO SHORT or the hackle is not very good quality.

This article jumps in expecting you know things about tying flies so if you are a beginner, you may find yourself looking up things but that's how you learn so there should be no shame! It is a bit of a hard read, for me at least, because it seems a bit cluttered but nevertheless, it really has great info and tips. Maybe I'm just biased because I'm posting a lot of this stuff several days in a row. Oh well. I found it useful and I hope you guys do too!

Baby Bugger!

I love to tie small wooly buggers. Why? They're fun to tie, cute (hey, I'm secure enough in my manhood to say things are cute), and work pretty darn well in any freshwater conditions not to mention you can tie them in a variety of colors in a variety of sizes and mix and match colors to provide a variety of effects and patterns. Good stuff! Honestly, they are my go to fly. On the smaller flies, I tend to tie them with a bit shorter tail to make them appear as if they are wooly worms but they are not.

This article, found here, talks about different materials to make the perfect baby bugger. I am super excited to try these out! It gives me an excuse to buy more material and to experiment! Enjoy and get experimental! Who knows? Your next fish may be the catch of your life!

Tight lines!

All About Thread Control!

WOW! This is an excellent read! I really don't do well on this subject. At all. I kinda just tie and go with it. This is really a great article explaining why thread gets tangled, how you can prevent it, and the pros and cons of brands of threads! Very insightful for a beginner, intermediate, and especially advanced or commercial tiers!

Click here to view because you will learn something even if you just read a bit! Enjoy!