Parts may require some figuring out by the reader, and I think you’ll sense a bit of Phil’s sense of humor also.
Subject: Catskill Clipper – first tied in the early 1980’s
Hi Ed,
I don’t know if the CC is any more production then your Black Leech but here we go.
Hook: Tiemco R 200, size 8 and larger
Weight: about 8-10 wraps of lead wire, hook diameter thickness
Thread: a strong black thread so to put pressure on spinning the deer hair
Black deer hair, I like the Texas deer hair dyed black (rather fine)
Black marabou for tail (I break off with my fingers the fine ends so abrupt in shape)
Woodchuck skin or work off a dead chuck—tough if alive – lots of road kills when they first come out. You don’t have to skin them, usually they put their head under the tire to check the tread so not flattened. First I like to prepare the hair—trim off the white tips of guard hairs—using an electric razor (your wife’s) and then trim off the hair for the dubbing (I don’t go all the way down the skin as almost black hair.) Half an inch long is good. Then put the hair into a quart bottle that you can shakeup with a little detergent. Using your wife’s good sieve, wash off the hair with cold running water to get rid of the soap. Place hair in cheese cloth (save) and air blow dry it. Put in a zip lock bag and label it—date, location, etc. IF you want to dye it black, good but not necessary.
Tie in tail about length of the body.
Wrap the lead wire from the tail to about ½ to 2/3 the length of the hook (up to where the head should start.)
Loop the thread, wax and spin the woodchuck into a fur loop (with a spinner, what else?) covering to front of lead and tie off.
Tie in 2 smallish clumps of stacked black deer hair in a “V” shape collar, the fine endsof the hair only reaching to the hook point in length (A Clipper has a collar? It confuses the trout.) I tighten the thread but try not to spin it. Of course coarse hair ends will flair, let that spin—add another clump to the front to finish the head—spin around the hook to the eye, put on a drop of your favorite cement (Zap-a-gap) prior to spinning so the head doesn’t rotate around the hook when fished.
Trim off top and bottom (you may want to trim the body the same,) a new, double edge, razor blade. Shape the head sort of like a heart or head of a hellgrammite. If the eye is covered a little—Ok.
I lost a BIG trout below the Neversink Thompsonville Bridge just before dark after a 15 minute fight. And way back in the mid 70’s fishing with Doc Cinberg at Callicoon had on a pair of CC. Doc had caught 3 nice rainbows on Hair Winged Royal Coachman—dries—and then I hooked and played the biggest trout I ever had on. Finnaly, after a long fight, got the brown into shllow water—looked 25+ with spots the size of dimes with Doc yelling, “Get below him!” and me yelling back, “He’ll be down to Port Jervis if I go any more downstream!” And about that time the top of the tail was breaking the surface about 10” out and it was as big as your hand. The dropper must have hit a rock and it was all over. Even the good Doc couldn’t break the silence. But great memories.
Thanks for asking about the CC as I don’t think I even tied one last year...
Phil
It has to be at least ten years now, but once I had Phil fishing the Esopus Creek with me down at the Chimney Hole. Once shadows started creeping across the fast water inflow to this legendary pool, there was Phil standing in the fast water fishing a Catskill Clipper catching wild rainbow after wild rainbow, a sight I’ll never forget. And last summer while fishing the West Branch of the Delaware after coming off the river at day’s end I got into a discussion with three older than me – hard to believe – fly fishers who were ending their day also. I had caught several browns on my Black Leech, which they asked to see. So I showed them and gave each angler one, whereby they told me the fly looked a little like a Catskill Clipper – not really. But that prompted me to ask if they knew Phil Chase. Turns these three gents were from Port Jervis and were friends of Phil’s. In return I got a Catskill Clipper from each of the two tiers among them. Both showed lots of wear and fish got the best of them. Phil did not tie these flies, these gents did but I’m posting an image of the best one to give SGM viewers an idea what this nymph looks like.
Ed
