Jere
Haas
Pennsylvania
I'm a native of Pennsylvania,
from the Lehigh Valley (Easton) area, and began tying at age 12 with my
grandfather as my mentor. Now in my 60's and I'm ready to teach my
granddaughter the way of the fly rod and fly tying (I hope she's ready too).
I started fishing wets and nymphs early on and have moved to dry flies and terrestrials. I have now come full circle. I Just love those wet flies!
I do a lot of my fishing in the Pocono's and surrounding area's streams and I'm really looking forward to retiring soon.
I also enjoy rod building, restoring bamboo rods, and am an avid bow hunter. I enjoy swapping fly patterns and sharing tying techniques and have really gotten quite a kick out of this website.
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Tier: Jere Haas
This fly is a year round producer which leads me to believe it is taken for the baetis in most hatch forms. It is a very old pattern which I think is local to PA because I can’t find any reference to the pattern in literature I have.
Hook: Mustad
7948A size 14.
Thread: Danville pre-waxed black monocord.
Tail: Lemon wood duck (sparse).
Body: Circa 1930 terra cotta silk floss. This floss is dusty-rose color when dry but turns the color of raw beef liver when wet.
Rib: Ffine oval gold tinsel.
Hackle: Barred rock hen with as defined a barring as you can get.
Note: This fly is tied with ancient silk floss that I have tried, without success, to have duplicated. The material came from a local knitting mill and, as far as I know, I’m the only person in the area that has any of this left.
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Tier: Jere Haas
Hook: Herter's
Gaelic Supreme 7029T 1X short, size 22.
Thread: Uni-Thread 8/0 black.
Tail: None.
Body: Peacock herl that is as blue as you can find. Green works but blue is a lot better. The natural beetles are the color of blue spring steel.
Hackle: Black or dark coachman.
This pattern was cooked up by my granddad to imitate the tiny beetles that inhabit the willows along most of our local streams.
It was his secret weapon for those tough browns lying under the trees sipping all day long and driving him nuts. Thanks again granddad.
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Tier: Jere Haas
Hook: Cabela's Model 23, size 4 or any long shank streamer
hook will do.
Thread: Black Danville Monocord.
Tail: Stripped bunch of fluff from base of a barred rock hen neck feather, tip of rib left untrimmed.
Body: Black poly yarn tied with a taper.
Rib: Barred rock saddle feather long enough to rib full length of body.
Note: Take feather and stroke fibers back to stand upright 90 degrees to center. Trim fibers on both sides 1/8” to 3/16” for almost full length, leaving about two turns of the softer base fibers full length. Once body is formed tie in rib to end at head, leaving full hackle same as a wet fly. Can also be tied without the long hackle. A really simple, effective fly for many species of fish. Can be tied weighted or un-weighted and in a variety of colors (brown & olive are also good.
Probably looks like a cranefly larva or stonefly to the fish.
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Tier: Jere Haas
Hook: Mustad
3906 size 12.
Thread: Danville pre-waxed black monocord.
Tail: Dark coachman (mahogany).
Body: Dubbed muskrat fur.
Wing: Lemon wood duck.
Hackle: Dark coachman (mahogany).
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Tier: Jere Haas
Hook: Varivas
Model 971 Nymph size 12.
Thread: Yellow pre-waxed Danville Nylon Monocord.
Tail and Back Strip: Dark partridge feather.
Rib: Small or medium oval gold tinsel.
Body: Light tan beaver or Australian opossum dubbed very tightly and tied with a taper. Original material was champagne colored wool which was difficult to taper due to it‘s size.
Hackle: Dark partridge or a tan colored wet fly hackle (cree works fine).
Wing Hump: Mottled turkey looped to indicate a partially unfolded wing during hatching process.
Note: This is an old pattern from the 1940s and 1950s.
To loop wing, cut a wider than normal section from a turkey wing quill about 1/4” to 3/8”wide. Fold section in half keeping the dull sides out. Tie in at the tip end far enough up the quill so you catch all fibers of wing. Pull over the wing to form hump with as small an amount of the base to tie in. This will produce a nice head on the fly.
Once you begin this fly, run the thread back to beginning of bend and tie in the tinsel rib first, then dub the body and then tie in the first partridge hackle which comprises both tail and back stripe.
The hackle is tied in with the tip rearward, laying flat, eyeballing tail length at about 4 mm. while holding down the feather, tie in the ribbing which holds the feather in place.
Next, tie in the second partridge hackle in the manner of a wet fly, but sparse.
Last is tying in the wing hump per instructions above. The wing can be treated with Flexament or a similar type flexible coating to preserve the integrity of the wing section. I have used this pattern in both march brown and slate drake hatches with good results.
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Tier: Jere Haas
Hook: Tiemco
3769 (2X heavy) size 12.
Thread: Uni-Thread 6/0 yellow.
Tail: Lemon wood duck tied sparse.
Rib: Medium oval gold tinsel.
Body: Dubbed beaver fur.
Hackle: Dark partridge tied sparse.
Wing: Mottled turkey.
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Tier: Jere Haas
Thorax tied version.
Hook: Mustad
94837 3X fine-short shank, size 14.
Thread: Danville pre-waxed yellow Monocord.
Tail: Light blue dun.
Body: Blended rabbit fur mixed to match the local insects. Since colors are difficult to describe accurately this is a basic greenish-yellow blend which took a lot of tweaking before the trout were satisfied.
Wings: Good quality hen hackle tips.
Hackle: Light blue dun tied thorax style and trimmed inverted v on bottom.
Head: A paler yellow fur dubbing than body.
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Tier: Jere Haas
Hook: Mustad
94840 size 12.
Thread: Unithread 6/0 black
Tail: Medium blue dun.
Body: Stripped peacock eye quill (clean with a rubber eraser - not bleach).
Rib: X-fine gold wire.
Wing: Lemon wood duck tied upright & not split.
Hackle: Medium blue dun - trim inverted v on bottom.
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Tier: Jere Haas
This one was cooked up by my grandfather in the 1950s. It was originally used on trout in the Smoky mountain streams of North Carolina, but it is deadly on sunfish. Bluegills pounce on them.
Hook: Mustad
3906B size 10 to 12.
Thread: Lemon yellow to match as closely the color of the body material.
Weight:
Lead wire or a method to increase width and add weight. lead can be wound on
middle section of hook and flattened with smooth-jaw pliers to obtain flat
appearance. Once flattened, seal with head cement, epoxy or zap-a-gap
which will insure lead won’t roll over or discolor body. Do this step
[weighting and sealing] to several hooks prior to tying flies.
Tailing and Back Cover:
Peacock herl.
Bronze works best.
Body: Lemon
yellow wool matching color to thread.
Legs: Peacock
sword fibers begin by preparing several hooks by weighting and sealing.
Wrap thread over all lead to smooth out the edges at both ends so you have a hook that looks like the drawing below, viewing the hook from the top.
Take about 12 or 15 peacock fibers, depending on the thickness of the herl, and tie in the tip sections facing rearward near bend of hook. You will need enough herl to cover the whole top of the fly. Several wraps will secure the fibers and then fold remaining long herl back over and temporarily secure with a material holder.
Next, tie in the wool and begin building the body which should resemble an oval when viewed from top. you can go two ways while building up the body to attach the legs. They can be attached while wrapping the body and blended into the body sides without seeing any thread or can be tied in after body is formed if you don’t care whether thread can be seen from underside. The choice is yours and it won‘t harm the fly‘s effectiveness.
Once the body is formed, and legs are attached at intervals along the sides of the fly, bring the reserved herl over the back to form the cover. Simply spread the herl over the entire back and tie off. Form a neat head and your “gill killer” is complete.
This pattern is quite fragile when trout are chewing on it but holds up quite well with the “gills”.
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for your tying needs.