The Joe Pye Bucktail

Joe Pye, a native American healer....he's responsible for using this beautiful flower in crafting medicine which aided many for various ailments. I'm sure he was thanked for that at the time. I appreciate this plant for it's reminder that we are moving toward a new season. I know it may not feel like it now but it is coming. With that in mind along with my love of simplicity both in life and in fly fishing I created a streamer honoring the man and his work. A little hint....streamers are a killer come Autumn, and they will work pretty well now too.
 

 

The "Joe Pye Bucktail"....Hook, Mustad 3665A #10...Body, Red Floss or Uni-Stretch...Tag and Rib, Flat Silver Tinsel...Throat, Yellow Hackle...Wing, Natural Bucktail.

You can tie this fly in larger sizes. Try to keep the bucktail sparse.
 

 

 

The Winners Are

 

 

 Here are the winners.

Mike Paventa-streamer

John V-streamer

ski2hard-note cards

Sam-note cards

Unknown, Jim Babbit-print

Aaron Y- print

Jturick@gmail.com-book

Unknown, Aug.1 2021 6:57 PM-book

Please email me at uppahdam@aol.com to make arrangements for shipping.

Thanks to all.

Hello August....

We are into August, and looking forward to September. The summer so far has been kind with ample rainfall and not as hot as previous summers. My hope is it will remain as such . I have noticed some changes signaling a season winding down and a new one coming. Joe Pye Weed is blooming. What a lovely history surrounding this plant. I'd tell you about it but it's easier to just have you Google it.

The oaks have been dropping acorns, and I must say there have been plenty and they are quite large. A good sign for wildlife, lots of mast to help them winter over.
 

 

These acorns are large enough to hollow out and make pipes out of them. We use to do that as kids. Never actually smoked any tobacco in them though.
 

The streams are in super shape. This one produced many brookies on a recent outing. I sat  alongside a pool just above where this photo was taken. I observed several brookies feeding on what appeared to be nymphs of some kind. Every so often I would see a brookie move forward with  speed and make a grab at something. I have pretty good vision but I could not identify what they were feeding on. I tossed an ant in the pool and instantly one rose and was on then off.
 

I did manage to find a few that played nice and came to hand.
 

This is a Partridge and Orange soft hackle. The body is Ephemera silk thread. Notice how the color changed when wet. Very much the same color as most underwater insects.
 

 

Thank you....

On April 10th 2010 I  typed the first post and published it to Small Stream Reflections. Little did i know that the ride would continue for so long. Many would say that the reason for such a run is the content of the material, maybe the time was right, or perhaps the reason is the contributions of the readers. I think it's a bit of all with the bulk of success is the contribution of all of the readers. Small Stream Reflections has been read worldwide. Folks from big cities and little towns. Anglers with knowledge far beyond what I possess as well as those just starting. I have welcomed all.

Just a couple of stats...Small Stream Reflections went over the 2 million mark in page views about a month ago. The blog has produced 1789 posts. . 

To show my appreciation to my readers I'm offering a few "thank yous"....all that is required is a comment on this post. This will end on August 3rd at midnight. The name will be placed in a bucket and Jeanette will pick the winners.

The gifts are as follows..two Rangeley Featherwing Streamer flies. They will be given away as singles.
 

 

Two boxes of note cards. These feature 10 cards along with envelopes featuring prints of salter brook trout. The prints done by James Prosek and Flick Ford. Given away as single boxes.
 

Two copies of my book  Thin Blue Lines....also given away as singles.
 

Two beautiful watercolor art prints of a Brook Trout by artist David Scheirer. Given away as singles.

So good luck and I hope you'll continue to follow Small Stream Reflections.