Emerald Shiner
7. Emerald Shiner
Created by New York angler Keith Fulsher as part of his Thunder Creek series, this fly was an early resident of my Ontario fly box. It was first presented in Fulsher's 1973 book, Tying and Fishing the Thunder Creek Series, along with other unique streamer patterns for 15 eastern baitfish. Although it's not the only way to present this trout fly, I've had considerable success casting it upstream to the head of a pool and stripping it back downstream as quickly as possible. (Please note: the 2006 revised edition of Fulsher's book is entitled Thunder Creek Flies: Tying and Fishing the Classic Baitfish Patterns.)

HOOK: 4X-long, straight-eye wet fly, size 6
THREAD: 8/0 red
BODY: green holographic flat braid (or green floss ribbed with silver embossed tinsel)
WING: brown bucktail
BELLY: white bucktail
EYES: yellow iris, black pupil
TYING TIP: To create the Thunder Creek-style head, tie the belly hair underneath and the back hair on top of the hook. The tips should face forward, sized to extend beyond the bend (as shown) when bent. Let the hair rotate slightly so as to cover the top and bottom halves of the shank respectively. Bend both clumps of hair rearward and secure with thread. Coat head with varnish before adding eyes

8. Rolled Muddler
By the end of each summer, the year's new crop of minnows will have grown large enough to attract considerable attention. In lakes and ponds, they tend to school around sheltering weedbeds, where they become fodder for predators. Watch for nervous water-surface movement betraying excited activity below. Better yet, fry leaping into the air removes all doubt that bigger fish are in the area. Although Tom Murray created this pattern to imitate saltwater sticklebacks for B.C. beach fishing, it also works well for these inland fry feeders. Casting to the outside of the weeds, and retrieving erratically, often gets results. Most of the hookups will be on the small side, but the odd great-granpappy makes the effort worthwhile.

HOOK: 3X-long wet fly, size 12
TAIL AND WING: bronze mallard fibres (the original calls for light mallard, but I prefer bronze)
HEAD: spun deer hair, all but a few rearward-slanting tips clipped

9. F.G. Perchaude
Trolling flies, particularly when the throttle is opened up a notch or two, can lead to short strikes. Extra-long shank hooks, such as the Partridge CS15 with its 10X-long shank, are one way to ensure more hookups. Or you could use two hooks in tandem (where stingers are legal, of course). That's the approach Frank Guimond of Bécancour, Quebec, took to create this perch imitation (perchaude is French for “perch,” hence the name of the fly). Using a full-sinking line, the fly is designed for trolling for lake trout, pike or walleye.

FRONT HOOK: 4X-long wet fly, sizes 2 to 4
REAR HOOK: standard salmon double, sizes 4 to 6 (attached with fine, springy wire)
THREAD: 8/0 olive
TAIL: orange marabou
RIB: large green Mylar tinsel
BODY: gold Mylar tinsel
THROAT: white bucktail and orange marabou
WING: yellow bucktail over seven strands of green Flashabou, all enclosed by two dyed-green grizzly saddle hackles
TOPPING: seven peacock herls
CHEEK: cock pheasant rump feather


10. Beck's Keeled Silver Chub
Flies cast around vegetation-on or below the surface-have a nasty habit of sometimes hooking everything but the fish. One solution is to get the hook to sit with the barb up, and that's just what East Selkirk, Manitoba's Jerry Beck achieves with his Keeled Silver Chub. Beck is a true pioneer of fly fishing for Manitoba's numerous warm-water species, and each of the baitfish patterns in his Sand Shiner series features a cunning bend and a little added weight. You can find the full series, all of which perform as advertised, in A Compendium of Canadian Fly Patterns from Gale's End Press.v

HOOK: Mustad 3777, size 20
THREAD: red for the body, black for the wing after the first section
WEIGHT: 20 turns .025-inch lead wire
BODY: silver Mylar tubing tied in with red thread
WING: stacked white bucktail extending ¾ inch past bend under unravelled silver Mylar tubing under mix of grey/brown hair from top of a natural bucktail
HEAD: Build up thread, coat with five-minute epoxy
EYES: yellow iris, black pupil
TYING TIP: See diagram below for reshaping the bend in the shank. Add weight in tight turns rearward from the arrow