Crappie Kebari & Soft Hackles

With spring right around the corner, it is time to restock some warm water fly boxes.  Every year, the first fly box worked on is the one that contains my favorite crappie flies.  Bright, colorful soft hackles are my favorite flies for early season crappie.  I discovered these flies by accident several years ago.  My son, who was seven years old at the time and just getting started in fly tying, had tied some soft hackles with the most colorful materials I had on my tying bench.  One of his creations found its way into my panfish fly box.   In desperation, I tied his colorful wet fly on the end of my leader when nothing else was working and was rewarded with a fish on the first cast.  This was followed by  another,  and several more after that.  What had been a slow day on the water turned into one of the best days I have ever had for early season crappies.  I have tied and fished these colorful soft hackles ever since.  I have played around with colors a bit but I have had the most success with chartreuse bodies and pink, blue or orange thoraxes.  For the hackle -  hen pheasant, grouse or partridge will do the trick.  Throw a wire rib on or leave it off, it is your preference, the fish don't seem to have one.  Since using a tenkara rod is one of my favorite ways to pursue these fish, I have added a kebari version to the box as well.  I'm not convinced that the reverse hackled kebari is any more effective than a standard soft hackle, but it feels like the right thing to do.

There is a New REGAL VISE in the House!

I recently picked up a new vise from REGAL VISE.  To date, I have done most of my fly tying on probably one of the most sought after vises  ever made - a LAW vise.  The value of the LAW vise has sky rocketed since they stopped being manufactured.  Not that they were ever really "manufactured"  in the sense of the word.  Each vise was hand made by a gentleman named Lawrence A. Waldren,  a British precision machinist  who, for a while, made a limited number of high quality tools for cane rod building and fly-tying.  He also made fly reels, which I understand are quite impressive. Every vise, as well as his other products, were individually made to order by Lawrence, and each one was characterized by a very high quality level in design, construction and materials.  It is without question the finest vise ever made.  

If the LAW vise is so great why stop using it?  I'll tell you...I do a lot of tying.  I am not a commercial tier but I tie a lot.  There are few flies in my boxes that have not been made by my own hands.  For over 15 years the LAW vise has been the only vice I tied on.  And I own quite a few high quality vises, Renzetti, Dyna-King, as well as two other REGAL vises.  They have been collecting dust on a shelf waiting for my two sons to show an real interest in fly tying (I'm happy to say that the Dyna-King Barracuda has found its way up to my 13 year old's room!).  As I mentioned earlier, the LAW vise is highly sought after and its no longer made.  That means its value keeps increasing.  In 2014 I was offered $3,800.00 for the vise at a show in New Jersey.  If the guy had cash instead of a personal check I probably would have sold it right then and there. Recently the price for these vises is nearing the $5,000 which is insane.  I don't know if the trend will continue but this may be something to put away or at least not wear out (though I doubt I could).

The big question was, what to replace the LAW vise with?  For me the answer was easy.  I own a number of high end vises that I could have brought out of retirement, but I had been longing for a particular vise for some time now.  The REGAL Revolution , particularly the model with stainless steel jaws.  Having owned  and used REGAL vises previously, I was very familiar with their hook holding power and ease of operation.  Even since purchasing the LAW vise REGAL vises have long been my vise of choice for spinning deer hair and salt water patterns where extreme hook holding power is important.  I also turn to a REGAL vise when I get into a "production tying" mood and need to turn out flies quickly.  The hook holding mechanism of the REGAL vises make them the fastest when it comes to setting and removing hooks. 

I have been using the new Revolution model for a couple of days now and I love it!  The stainless jaws are a big improvement for me over the standard jaws.  I can confidently say that with this new vise on my tying desk the LAW vise can start enjoying an early retirement.  Obviously a tool like the LAW vise is meant to be used and it still will be, but the REGAL is the new work horse.  REGAL Engineering did a great job designing this vise and the custom anodizing really makes it an attractive tool.  I'm looking forward to a lot of time spent behind it! 

Damsel Fly Nymph

Since all of my warm water haunts are not so warm this time of year, most of the blog posts over the next few months will be focused on fly tying.  One of my favorite fly patterns for panfish are damsel fly nymphs.  Damsel fly nymphs are probably some of the most productive nymph patterns I use on a regular basis.  They can be tied ornate or extremely simple.  For bluegill and other panfish I lean towards simple versions.  The adult insects pictured above are an important food source but fish are in contact with nymphs in various stages year round.  As an added benefit, they are the perfect pattern to present to fish when fishing from the shore.  Damsel flies spend the majority of there lives under water.  When they are ready to molt the nymphs will actively swim towards shore where they will crawl onto lakeside vegetation.  This shore bound migration is easily imitated when retrieving a cast fly back to shore.

  Once on dry land they split their exoskeleton, climb out of the shuck and emerge as an adult damsel fly.  After a short waiting period, as their wings dry,  they take to the air.  They will live for several weeks before returning to the water to mate and deposit their eggs on the stems of aquatic plants.  They are voracious predators in both the nymphal and adult forms.

Damsel fly emerging from nymphal stage (image from dkfindout.com)

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Spent shucks on lake side vegetation.

The pattern I am highlighting in this post is a simple one, only three materials if you don't count the hook its tied on.  Marabou in a color matching the nymph, a piece of wire for segmentation and a bead to provide weight and a proper silhouette in the water.  There are no wing buds, legs or mono eyes.  Very simple, very quick to tie and very effective.

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Marabou Damsel Fly Nymph

Step by Step Instructions:

Mount bead on hook

Attach thread

Wrap back to a point over the hook eye

Tie in gold wire

Tie in the marabou feather for a tail leaving the waste end attched

Wrap the waste end of the feather up the hook shank and tie off behind the bead

Counter wrap gold wire, tie off and whip finish