Cabin Bugs #salmonfly #foamparty from Daily Rise Productions on Vimeo.
With over a foot of snow reported here in Summit County, Colorado I left town to lower elevation to hide away in a small cabin nestled along the Arkansas river. I spent few days building little army’s of hair balls. With spring in full swing anglers of the high country know this only means a matter of days until we will be seeing swarms of orange helicopters flying out of control. The world renown salmon fly hatch, a sheer two weeks of magic for any fly angler! These critters spend three years living under a rock beneath the depths of the cold western rivers, if they make it that long, in the spring of their third year when the temps are just right they will craw to the banks under nightfall. By morning they will have crawled out of their once known crustacean body with wings and a body reaching nearly three inches in size! This is also the time trout are putting on the protein coming out of their winter slumber they are eager to eat! None the less you could call this Thanksgiving for trout as well as an opportunity as an angler for some great dry fly action. With big explosion takes fish will inhale these over sized bugs! I started twisting this bug last year during the hatch. Leading up to the hatch I will usually throw a big dry fly down to two bigger stone fly nymphs. With that being said, when I went to tie my salmon bug I knew I wanted FOAM, and lots of it ( #foamparty ) in order to hold up my bigger stone fly nymphs. Loon float gel is great but after a while it gets over whelming trying to apply between the vicious takes and the weight from the rig below. I also wanted to use something a little more buoynt for the wings, elk hair has a lot of buoyancy! Add this all up and you have a big hair ball that tanks on the surface! With no more to say here are the steps I take to tying the bug I enjoy the most!
