2026 June Fly Tying

Fly Tying   In April, I went to the Bighorn in Fort Smith for the first time. Jim White had told me of his many trips there, and I was finally able to join him on a 3-day float of the Bighorn out of Fort Smith, Montana. It was a phenomenal trip!  We had two bumps in the road during the trip. Day one, a dam gate malfunctioned about 11:00 a.m. and released water at 2800 cfs (the flow was 1440 cfs before that), which stirred up weeds, algae, moss, and little floating islands of the same. Every cast came back with lots of weeds and even got on the line while fighting fish (some got off due to this). The final day was marred by afternoon winds and gusts up to 40 mph! Despite these inconveniences, the fishing was great.

Silver Bullet Baetis

Nymph fishing was the order for all three days, and the one fly that seemed to be most favored was the Silver Bullet Baetis by Lance Egan. From the Fly Fish Food website: This simple fly is durable, has a great silhouette, and is relatively drab in color, other than the silver bead. This pattern was designed to complement the Iron Lotus and Thread Frenchie, in that the Silver Bullet Baetis is truer to the drab coloration of aquatic insects. This is a relatively easy euro/tight line fly to tie.  The recipe: Hook: size 16 - 18 jig hook (e.g., Fulling Mill 5045 Jig Force Barbless Hook - 16) Bead: 3.0mm - 3.2mm silver slotted tungsten bead Thread: Light Olive in 70 Denier or 8/0 thread Tail: Spanish Coq de Leon Rib: March Brown wire in Semperfli 0.2 or small to BR Ultra Wire Thorax: Peacock Black Ice Dubbing To tie this fly: Add the bead to the hook and lock the hook into your vice. Tie in your thread and bring it back to the hook point. Tie in three to four fibers of Coq de Leon and wrap the stems up to the bead and cut off the excess. Tie in the wire, keeping it on top of the hook shank and wrap the thread back to the bead. Stop just short of the Coq de Leon so your first wrap of the wire will not push the tail to the side of the shank. Wrap the wire forward, spacing it out to create nice segmentation. Tie the wire down and helicopter it off. Add a small amount of UV resin to the ribs; you do not need much, just enough to seal the thread. Use your UV light to cure the resin. Create a noodle of the Ice Dubbing to create a sparse thorax, and wrap it just behind the bead. Whip finish. This fly should be a winner while nymphing or tightline nymphing on the Arkansas, which has a large baetis population. You will find a description and tying video at Fly Fish Food. Happy tying. Greg Walters