Fly Tying
Blue Liner Flows Review | USGS Stream Gauges
All water level data originates from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Surface-Water Data, which monitors over 13,000 stream gauges across the U.S. and more than 350 in Pennsylvania. The USGS has been transitioning to a new online interface over the past five-plus years. The updated look and feel have left some old features behind while adding new ones. I hate it.
So, I’ve been on the hunt for a desktop and mobile app that delivers USGS backend data through a clean, easy-to-use interface. Blue Liner Flows offers a solid solution for iPhone, iPad and Mac users, with apps built for both platforms. Most importantly, favorites and preferences sync across devices. There’s a free version, but I’ll be reviewing the $6.99 annual paid version.
Key features include: favorites, state selection, map view, latest data overview, discharge in CFS, discharge in feet, average annual discharge, various time views, weather forecasts, alerts, temperatures (station-dependent), turbidity (station-dependent), and other data specific to each gauge.
I found the app very easy to set up on my Mac. Once configured, all my favorites and alerts synced automatically to my iPhone. You don’t need both devices—an iPhone alone works just fine. I especially liked navigating between the state, favorites, and map views. It’s fast and intuitive. Most views display the key information I’m looking for, including directional arrows indicating whether water levels are rising or falling.
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Tying and Fishing Midges
Many times the rising fish you see in the winter are taking midges. I’ve done well in the winter fishing midges on warmer afternoons. It’s great covering rising fish fish in the winter since I become tired of dredging the bottom, doing the chuck-and-chance-it to unseen fish. I could never stand watching fish rise in front of me without giving them a try.
Tying Midges
Midges are not hard to tie. I use a small sized emerger hook which is a wide gape 2x short curved hook. For dries, just add a thread body and a few fibers for wings or a wisp of dubbing for pupa:
Hook: Emerger hook size 20-28
Body: Thread (black, cream, brown, white, olive) to match naturals. I always try to catch a few insects with my net before I select a fly. If I can't capture a natural, I'll usually try black first.
Wing: 8-12 CDC fibers, or Z-lon, or Antron yarn.
I like to use 6/0 or 8/0 thread for the body depending on the brand of thread and the size of the fly. The body should remain thin like the natural.
Start the thread on the shank behind the eye and wrap it back to the bend. Spin the bobbin to wind the thread tightly by spinning and wrap the thread back to just behind the eye. The tightly wound thread gives a segmented appearance and makes it easier to wrap. On a size smaller fly hook, one pass back and forth is enough to build the body. On larger flies several passes may be needed.
I tie off the heavier thread with finer 12/0 thread to finish the fly. Cut 8-12 CDC fibers (Z-lon or Antron yarn also work) and tie in on top of the hook shank and trim the wing fibers slightly shorter than the body and whip finish. That’s it!...a thread body with some wisps of CDC or yarn for the wing. On larger sized midges I sometimes use a little dubbing the same color as the body to finish off the head.
Don’t make the wings too heavy...
Tying Midges
Midges are not hard to tie. I use a small sized emerger hook which is a wide gape 2x short curved hook. For dries, just add a thread body and a few fibers for wings or a wisp of dubbing for pupa:
Hook: Emerger hook size 20-28
Body: Thread (black, cream, brown, white, olive) to match naturals. I always try to catch a few insects with my net before I select a fly. If I can't capture a natural, I'll usually try black first.
Wing: 8-12 CDC fibers, or Z-lon, or Antron yarn.
I like to use 6/0 or 8/0 thread for the body depending on the brand of thread and the size of the fly. The body should remain thin like the natural.
Start the thread on the shank behind the eye and wrap it back to the bend. Spin the bobbin to wind the thread tightly by spinning and wrap the thread back to just behind the eye. The tightly wound thread gives a segmented appearance and makes it easier to wrap. On a size smaller fly hook, one pass back and forth is enough to build the body. On larger flies several passes may be needed.
I tie off the heavier thread with finer 12/0 thread to finish the fly. Cut 8-12 CDC fibers (Z-lon or Antron yarn also work) and tie in on top of the hook shank and trim the wing fibers slightly shorter than the body and whip finish. That’s it!...a thread body with some wisps of CDC or yarn for the wing. On larger sized midges I sometimes use a little dubbing the same color as the body to finish off the head.
Don’t make the wings too heavy...
2020 PAFF Eastern PA Fly Tying Jamboree
To all PAFF members, family, and friends:
You are invited to attend and participate in the 2020 PAFF Eastern PA Fly Tying Jamboree, to be held on Saturday, February 15, from 10 AM to 5 PM. This event is being hosted by Michael Lohman GenCon . Please feel free to contact me with any questions. This event will be held at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, in Slatington, PA. Directions can be found here: http://lgnc.org/.
Everyone is invited to attend and watch the demonstrations, get tips from the tyers, and have a great time. We particularly encourage beginner tyers to attend, and we'll have beginner instruction set up at a table. Details to follow.
As always, we need to recruit a team of volunteer tyers of all skill levels to participate and we ask that you register your willingness to give a demonstration by signing up in this thread. Each tyer will be given 15-20 minutes to tie and explain their chosen demo fly. Tyers will tie one at a time, proceeding around the room. Please choose a pattern that fits into one of the following categories, and list it in your signup post. Duplicates are OK, but try to pick a pattern that hasn't already been chosen.
Categories:
- Catskill style dries
- parachute style dries
- comparadun and hairwing style dries
- emergers
- imitative nymphs
- attractor nymphs
- terrestrials
- wet flies
- streamers
- "other" flies
Tying on a large hook (e.g. #12) makes it much easier for the audience to see what you are doing. It really helps if you practice your "demo" beforehand, especially to keep within the time limit. Having all the materials laid out beforehand is also good. We should be able to fit...
You are invited to attend and participate in the 2020 PAFF Eastern PA Fly Tying Jamboree, to be held on Saturday, February 15, from 10 AM to 5 PM. This event is being hosted by Michael Lohman GenCon . Please feel free to contact me with any questions. This event will be held at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, in Slatington, PA. Directions can be found here: http://lgnc.org/.
Everyone is invited to attend and watch the demonstrations, get tips from the tyers, and have a great time. We particularly encourage beginner tyers to attend, and we'll have beginner instruction set up at a table. Details to follow.
As always, we need to recruit a team of volunteer tyers of all skill levels to participate and we ask that you register your willingness to give a demonstration by signing up in this thread. Each tyer will be given 15-20 minutes to tie and explain their chosen demo fly. Tyers will tie one at a time, proceeding around the room. Please choose a pattern that fits into one of the following categories, and list it in your signup post. Duplicates are OK, but try to pick a pattern that hasn't already been chosen.
Categories:
- Catskill style dries
- parachute style dries
- comparadun and hairwing style dries
- emergers
- imitative nymphs
- attractor nymphs
- terrestrials
- wet flies
- streamers
- "other" flies
Tying on a large hook (e.g. #12) makes it much easier for the audience to see what you are doing. It really helps if you practice your "demo" beforehand, especially to keep within the time limit. Having all the materials laid out beforehand is also good. We should be able to fit...
2019 PAFF Eastern PA Fly Tying Jam
The PAFF Eastern Pa. Fly Tying Jamboree on Feb,16 was a great success!
We had lots of good tyers from all skill levels. Everyone had an excellent time and it was great to see some old friends and make some new ones. I want to thank Jack Fields for taking all our pictures. We were able to give a very nice donation to the nature center due to the generosity of the people and companies who donated the prizes for the fundraiser. We would also like to thank the good folks at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center for having us at their facility. As an added attraction yesterday, Bill Fretz demonstrated how to make furled leaders. Bill makes fine leaders and it was quite interesting to see how it is done. - Michael Lohman "GenCon"
It was great to see everyone again, wish it could be more often. Big thank you to Mike & "T" for organizing the jam, it went off without a hitch... - LV2nymph
The event was a lot of fun as usual. Thanks to all the organizers and to the tiers who took the time to share their skills with us. There's a lot of talented members on this forum and it was a lot of fun to get to know so many and get to pick their brains.
+1 to Brad's stonefly nymph skills. you'd never know you were so new to tying looking at your work and your presentation to the group.
+1 thanks to Jack Fields for taking the great pictures and for the quick posting of them. - Bociank1
A special thanks to Michael Lohman "GenCon" for leading the organization of this event. Nice job!!
We had lots of good tyers from all skill levels. Everyone had an excellent time and it was great to see some old friends and make some new ones. I want to thank Jack Fields for taking all our pictures. We were able to give a very nice donation to the nature center due to the generosity of the people and companies who donated the prizes for the fundraiser. We would also like to thank the good folks at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center for having us at their facility. As an added attraction yesterday, Bill Fretz demonstrated how to make furled leaders. Bill makes fine leaders and it was quite interesting to see how it is done. - Michael Lohman "GenCon"
It was great to see everyone again, wish it could be more often. Big thank you to Mike & "T" for organizing the jam, it went off without a hitch... - LV2nymph
The event was a lot of fun as usual. Thanks to all the organizers and to the tiers who took the time to share their skills with us. There's a lot of talented members on this forum and it was a lot of fun to get to know so many and get to pick their brains.
+1 to Brad's stonefly nymph skills. you'd never know you were so new to tying looking at your work and your presentation to the group.
+1 thanks to Jack Fields for taking the great pictures and for the quick posting of them. - Bociank1
A special thanks to Michael Lohman "GenCon" for leading the organization of this event. Nice job!!