SnoWolf Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Carson Lake Special Wet Fly Jan2By Don Bastian Carson Lake Special - Don Bastian's interpretation of this pattern. These are dressed on size #4 Mustad 3906 irons.A customer in Colorado recently requested me to tie this pattern for him among some other traditional wet flies in a custom order for his collection. This is the Carson Lake Special, a regional pattern that is still sold in Colorado fly shops. He sent me samples, and says it’s an older pattern. He remembered his dad talking about it when he was a boy. I tied these flies in the photo on #4 – Mustad 3906 wet fly hooks; he wanted them that size for his order along with a couple traditional winged wets. When I asked his permission to place this pattern on my blog, he also thought maybe some people could help shed some light on the history or origins of this fly. Any input on this fly would be greatly appreciated. Seems to me, even in this big hook size, the Carson Lake Special would really be a good fish catcher. It looks fishy as hell all get out, as we say here in Pennsylvania. Indeed, I believe it surely must be a good fly in the smaller 8’s, 10’s, 12’s that it is still sold in, otherwise it would not have survived. Most of the fly shop versions of the Carson Lake Special and other flies for that matter, are tied in Timbuktu and Timbukthree by non-fly fishing fly tiers as per usual these days for store bought flies, and I mean most places, the majority of shops and big box stores; flies come from Sri-Lanka, Kenya, Central America, and who knows where else.My customer sent me samples that were store bought and one he tied; close examination of these had me elevate the rib with a bodkin on one of the samples and I found a definite rib, not wire; there was a rib, and it was definitely green which resulted in me using the green floss, twisted for the rib. The body would be natural dubbing because I got the impression the fly was in existence before the age of synthetic dubbings. He said he would be interested to see what I came up with, this is it: Carson Lake Special Thread: White Danville Flymaster 6/0Hook: 3906 Mustad size #4Tag: Lagartun green silk flossTail: A single black or brown hackle tip, to match body colorRib: Lagartun green silk floss, twistedHackle: Black tied palmer, clipped; or brown tied palmer, clippedBody: Black Wapsi squirrel dubbing, or Brown Wapsi Squirrel dubbingHackle: Collins Hackle Farm grizzly hen back, two turnsHead: Lagartun green silk floss, finished with Danville Black Flymaster 6/0 After struggling through tying the first two I suddenly realized it was easier to clip the palmered hackle; then wind the rib, and also to clip the palmer hackle before you tie in the collar; I did that once too. Also, the Lagartun floss is multi-stranded, so I separated it into two and three strand sections to wind the tag, rib, and head. A bit of a pain-in-the-bum challenge, but it was necessary, even on this large hook. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garhan Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Not the one I am thinking of. Similar in some ways, but this isnt it. I do like this pattern no the less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulf Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 ...I can remember reading an article...don't recall which article and when...but what I can recall is that this pattern was a cross mix of two very popular patterns, the 52 buick and the green montana...I would think that combining both fly patterns into one would be an awesome killer fly...separately, these patterns(52 buick & montana) are killers already...I don't fish these patterns as much as I should be, maybe it's time to adjust...I'll keep searching for info on the Carson Lake special and see what I turn up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garhan Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 ...I can remember reading an article...don't recall which article and when...but what I can recall is that this pattern was a cross mix of two very popular patterns, the 52 buick and the green montana...I would think that combining both fly patterns into one would be an awesome killer fly...separately, these patterns(52 buick & montana) are killers already...I don't fish these patterns as much as I should be, maybe it's time to adjust...I'll keep searching for info on the Carson Lake special and see what I turn up... Maybe we should Boobie a 52 Buick and see what happens. I think it would be a killer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulf Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 ...I can remember reading an article...don't recall which article and when...but what I can recall is that this pattern was a cross mix of two very popular patterns, the 52 buick and the green montana...I would think that combining both fly patterns into one would be an awesome killer fly...separately, these patterns(52 buick & montana) are killers already...I don't fish these patterns as much as I should be, maybe it's time to adjust...I'll keep searching for info on the Carson Lake special and see what I turn up... Maybe we should Boobie a 52 Buick and see what happens. I think it would be a killer. ...that would work...but now it would need a very special name... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dell Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Barry Phillips provided the tying info for the Carson Special a while ago: http://forum.nlft.or...?showtopic=4241 after we discussed it in another thread: http://forum.nlft.org/index.php?showtopic=4236 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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