No. 169

"Impromptu" 8" x 10" watercolor. I just picked up a brush and started to paint. No planning, no sketches, no value studies.

No. 168

"Serendipity" 8" x 11" Pen, watercolor and a digital gradient.

No. 167

"Pancake Fly" Happy Fathers Day to all! Today my palette consisted of a frying pan, pancake batter and a few blueberries. The pictures tell the rest of the story!

No. 166

"Practice" Watercolor, indigo pencil and gouache. Just sketching the shapes and form in advance of a painting for this fly. Story to follow.

No. 165

"Yellow Sallie" Ink and watercolor. Tried this patter a couple of times on the AuSable when the stoneflies were coming off the water.

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No. 164

"Rat Mouse!" Pen and Watercolor. I tried this pattern for the first time last year. It was around 11:00 pm and I decided to try the only mouse I had in my fly box. I tied it on and cast to some dead fall along the bank. The mouse hit with a "PLOP" before I could get my first strip in, the water erupted. It sounded like a depth charge hit the water. I set the hook and the reel started to scream. The fish took off for cover and broke me off in the submerged logs. I picked up a few more mice to give it another try this trip. I had a difficult time of not setting the hook right away and stripping the fly from the fish. My buddy Corey used the mouse with much greater success. He really knows how to strip in the line after the take and then sets the hook. It was great watching him hookup on some nice fish using this pattern.

No. 163

" Parachute Adams" Pen and Watercolor. Another classic high confidence pattern. I fished this early on our last evening and picked up 2 nice brookies. There were numerous mayfly species in the air that evening. The Adams does a great job as a general multipurpose imitator.

No. 162

"Bead Head Prince Nymph" Pen and Watercolor. A great pattern that never fails me.

No. 161

"Olive Madonna" Pen and Watercolor. I love swinging this fly after dark on my 6 weight. I have caught many a good size brown on a down and across swing. I have been known to fish until 12:30 - 1:00 in the morning swinging this fly in total darkness. Caught a few this trip on it, but not as many as previous years. It is still one of my high confidence patterns and it works equally as well on smallmouth

No. 160

"Drake Emerger" Pen and Watercolor. The last evening of the trip was by far the most productive fishing dries. After the sun went down, we switched to an emerger and started back down river. Fished the emerger down and across on a swing. Corey expertly cast the emerger in a spot where he was earlier rejected while fishing a dry. The first cast in the area resulted in a nice brown. Persistence pays off.

No. 159

"Roberts Drake" Pen and Watercolor. I just returned home from fishing the Au Sable River in Michigan. The next six fly installments are the flies that I fished with during the trip. There was a lot of rain, so fishing was off a bit from previous years. although conditions were a bit tough, I had a great time fishing with my buddy Corey and the rest of the regulars who make the trip every year. I fished this drake pattern in the evening when the drakes were coming off the water. There is nothing like experiencing squadrons of drakes looking for a mate.

Drawing Flies On Vacation

I will be gone on a fishing trip until Thursday of next week. Never fear, I have my sketching and painting supplies all packed up. I will still be creating my daily sketches and I will post them when I return.

No. 158

"Old Skool Drawing Flies Template" Digital. I use to use these templates back in the day. Actually, even though I do a lot of my design work in 3D on the computer, I still pull out my templates when I do some sketching. I did retire the slide rule!

No. 157

Quick pen drawing.

No. 156

"Lite Brite Soft Hackle" 8" x 10" ink and watercolor. I just finished tying up a half dozen of these soft hackles. At our annual end of the year dinner/ fly swap, I picked a couple of these up in the swap. I used these on the Au Sable in Michigan last year with great success. The actual name and the tier are unknown. The body is pearl ice dub with a silver bead. The collar is a partridge soft hackle.

No. 155

"Finger Fly" I laid down a watercolor wash on YUPO which is a synthetic paper that repels water and water based pigments. After the wash was complete, I used my finger to push paint away and paint the fly. Kind of takes me back to grade school when you would finger paint.

No. 154

"Crazy Charlie" 10" x 8"color and gouache. I have been wanting to get to a saltwater patter for a while. Today it was over 80 degrees here, so it was time for some salt! This pattern is so simple and a classic.

And the Winner Is....

The winner for the month of May drawing is (drum roll) ... Kerry P.
Kerry wins a print of his choice from the Drawing Flies archive for emailing fly suggestions.

Congrats Kerry.

No. 153

Brook has a new tattoo! I am sure that you will be able to find it. Brook will be featured in a twelve month 2009 calendar. Stay tuned for the update.