Weekly Coffee Zoom Call, Holiday Fly Tying Session

One of this year's highlights, Carl received a Quilt of Valor from Kathy, and her daughter.

Great call this week, we hit a new high mark, 21 attendees plus Kate and Stowe.  Lot of talk about the upcoming Marlborough Fly fishing Show, the hardy anglers in the group (Jeff and his Salmon), and upcoming changes to the program.  It was good to see some of the guys who haven’t been on for a while.  This week, we are meeting to tie flies at the American Legion on Thursday.  This is our annual Fly-Tying/Holiday Gathering session.  Captain Bob is working on a fly of his own creation that will blend right into the upcoming holidays.  As usual, we will have a few special surprises for our vets and a special presentation for one vet in particular.  Rumor has it that both Emilio and Marcos will be on hand. 

Capt. Bob's Holiday Dart Streamer

Materials:

Hook: Streamer Size #6 or #8

Bead: Silver (optional)

Thread: White

Tail: Marabou Red

Body: White floss or heavy white thread, red floss, or heavy red thread

Wing: Marabou Green

Throat: Silver Tinsel

Instructions:

1.     Crush the barb on the hook and slide the bead on the hook small hole first. Secure the hook in the vice. Take several wraps directly behind the bead with. Then take covering wraps rearward to the start of the bend.

2.     Take the piece of red thread or floss and tie it against the near side of the shank. The red thread tag should hang rearward. Next take the red marabou and measure so the tail extends only a hook gap width behind the bend.  You only want a whisper of marabou, unlike a wooly bugger. Tie in the marabou securely and trim the waste. Wrap over the marabou butt to hide the red leaving a smooth taper. Return thread to behind the bead.

3.     Take the red floss and begin making open spiral wraps forward, candy cane style. Keep the wraps snug, but not too tight where the red sinks into the white. If your happy with the result, secure with several thread wraps and trim the excess close.

4.     Take the green marabou and measure the feather against the shank so that no more than ½ extends from the bead back over the shank. Tie in securely and trim the excess.

5.     Reverse the fly in your vice and secure. Take the silver Mylar and cut it into 3-4 pieces. Hold the bobbin up above the fly and wrap the Mylar strands evenly around the thread. Slide the Mylar down the thread to the bottom of the hook shank. Take 3-4 thread wraps to secure. Trim the Mylar so it extends no more than ¼” of the shank rearward. Whip finish with 3-4 wraps and the fly is complete.

life histories.

Antoine and Manny on the Salmon River

As we are getting ready to close out this year, also featured are some of the high points of this past year.

If you are a vet with disabilities or know one that may be interested in our program, maybe you are interested in supporting our program as a volunteer or through donation, you can contact us or support us by using the links on this site. www.vetshealingonthefly.org 

This is what they seek

using a process that

Our time on South Beach, Stratford

allows the participants

a brief respite from the

challenges they face

every day.

Look for some big changes in 2026.  We will be meeting twice a month in person adding some evening fly-tying and we are moving a few of our outings to Saturdays.  This will allow those that can’t normally attend because of work or other commitments to participate.  We might even get a few more vets.  If you know of a vet with disabilities that might benefit from our program, please send them our way.

I'll be back next week...

Tight lines,

Don