Hey how do you get the hackle on the carey special to go straight back?

Curtis

After you add the hackle add a few wraps back toward the rear of the fly over the hackle and it will lay down. You can also go to a couple other websites to find out about this fly. Like westfly.com and click on the state you want and then fly patterns, or go to virtual flybox.com And do a search. Both sites are good for flies.

Jim

One of the truly great fly patters. You can use this for trout, steelhead ... and I've actually had one Fall King (about 28# give or take) jump on this Puppy.

Do I stand a reasonable chance of catching a summer steelhead on a #8 green carey w/floating line?

Rockhopper, yes you do. It would work well off of a floating line when the rivers get low. Swing it through the choppy water at the heads of pools and around structure.

Hey thanks for the info guys! I'm still trying to get this pattern down...

Maybe GRCC has some sort of class on it... i'm doing Running Start next year so I can get college classes for free

Try tying you Careys with a dubbed seal fur body.

Its a killer.

How do you fish this pattern in a lake? I've trolled it from a boat and caught one but never caught one on my tube. Do you strip it or pull it? I thought I would ask this question as it seams this board is dying, we need to revive it.

[edit] The one fish I caught on a cary special was a newly released Opening Day fish that would bite a size 4 bunny hair steelhead fly.

Try fishing it on a sinking or sink-tip line -- retrieving it in short strips about 6 to 8 inches long.

I think most fish take it as a dragon nymph that move in short bursts to attack their prey.

Some may also take it as a leech.

Truly one of the best patterns ever!

There are a few ways to get the hackle to lay back easy. First way is probably the quickest way. The left side of the rump has more curving fibers for the right handed tyer. Measure the fiber before tying... I like one one hook gap length past the bend. Hold the shiny side towards you and pluck the left sode of the fibers off the stem. Tie in the stem by the tip over the eye first, then double back. This will lock the stem in. Hold the stem straight up 90 degress to the shank. As you wrap the stem, stroke the fibers back. This will make a nice even look to the fibers. The other way is simply following the same directions above, but pick a rump feather from the center section. Do not strip any fibers. Then before wrapping, stroke the fibers back until they hold over. Wrap the collar forward.

The color combination are limitless... I like dark collar over a burnt orange seal body for steelies....

As far as lakes, an intermediate line should be fine early morning or late day. However this will depend on the lake. Some of my favorite combo are a chartreuse thread body or a peacock colored material called Short Flash which is a very fine estaz. I sometime add a marabou or artic fox tail...

I have caught more trout with an olive carey than all other flies combined. When tying the carey I wind the pheasant collar with concave side always towards the caries body. After wrapping I pull the collar back towards the tail and put a few thread winds on the last wind of pheasant collar. More winds if you like it laying down even more.

I highly recommend using Lite Brite dubbing or SLF for the body of the carey...amazing qualities...swept back and combed out looks like psycadelic mohair. I've been using the lite brite for dubbing in Utah and Eastern Wa. No reason it would not be killer for summer runs, sea runs, anything....

I've tied this pattern with a variant of using white mallard hackle instead of yellow with (and without) a brown tail using brown hackle fibers from pheasant rump and tied with meduim green chenile and it does rather well over in the NE Washington lakes. I strip in normal speed using two foot pulls when Im in a boat (usually takes me a full "one-thousand one" to pull the full two feet (my left arm length).