Copper John

[bert304]

I am new to tying flies, and I would like to know what color works on the Copper John for the Tully creek?

 

[Fredrick]

I'm not sure about cj's on the tully but I know the main forage for the fish on the Tully besides midges is small caddis :-D

 

[shakey]

not sure about the tully either ,but plain copper is a good choice,followed by red.you can get red magnet wire cheap at radio shack.if you use ultra wire from a fly shop,try green,chartreuse, and black.

 

[bert304]

Thanks I have picked up red natural char and blue wire. I have been taking my time making these copper johns.

 

[bigjohn58]

I think Copper John's catch more fishermen then fish. We look at them and think "Oh what pretty colors!" Black, browns, greens, and the basic copper have worked for me but not nearly as well as other flies. Only tie them if you have enough PTs, GRHEs, Walts worms, stones, midges, and caddis nymphs to last ya a long time. I went through a tying phase about 2 years ago where I tied up a bunch in just about every color you can immagine. 90% of them stay at home and don't even go out on the water with me. I keep thinking I could have used that time tying pheasant tails and I wouldn't be running out of them mid way through the season every year.

 

[tomgamber]

whats not to like...basic nymph shape...can come in any color and the weight is built in...I don't nymph much but its a standard any more for the above reasons.

 

[afishinado]

I agree with Big John for the most part. CJs work best for me in the winter and in early in the season for stocked fish. I usually have the best luck with the red ones for stockies. I could think of a lot of nymphs that I would tie on before a CJ, and most of them are easier to tie.

 

[Fredrick]

I think that CJ's work best in the Rockies and in the western part of the country .IMO the best Cj's are the stonefly imatations . I bought Johns book and there are some good variations of the CJ in there, and also some really good other fly paterns like the Meat Whistle :-D

 

[tabasco_joe]

tomgamber wrote:
whats not to like...basic nymph shape...can come in any color and the weight is built in...I don't nymph much but its a standard any more for the above reasons.

I've had reasonably good success with copper johns, even on the LL. I don't think it's the pattern so much as that with the weight built (as Tom points out) in so it tends to fish deep. BTW blue seems to work well at the LL for some reason.

 

[bert304]

ok thanks I find the Cj's fun but difficult to tie. I only tie a few and I am still l learning. Well what should be my next fly to try and tie? I have the Orvis book and I would like a few suggestions on other fly tying books.

thanks

 

[afishinado]

CJs are a little more difficult to tie, but learning the techniques to tie it helps build your skills to tie other patterns. Try a Hare’s Ear and a pheasant tail nymph. Tie some with and without a beadhead in sizes 12 –18. These are easy flies to tie that really catch fish.



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