Fly-tying: Olli Ojamo from Eumer

This past Saturday I went to the Fly Show sponsored by Scott at Bear's Den in Taunton, Massachusetts. This is a great show with lots of talented and well-known tiers. No admission fee.

I was looking forward to meeting Olli Ojamo of Eumer.

He tied a neat little baitfish pattern for me and, truth be told, I could fish with nothing but this simple but thoughtful fly and need no other.

Recipe: Start with Eumer silver teardrop body with red tubing as hook holder. Add a small bunch of white fox fur for "body" and profile. Add bit of white Finn Raccoon for underwing. Add piece of pearl flash for accent. Add bit of chartreuse Fin Raccoon for overwing. Add "short pinch" of chartreuse Finn Raccoon gathered from scrap-cuttings to the front of the wing as a sort of hair-hackle accent covering top and sides of shank. For final step add 2 peacock herls longer than the wing as topping. Cap it off with a Eumer cone.

Olli turned the fly over to show the underside and said a lot of fish hit from below and this is what they see. The red hook tube makes for a trigger point. The raccoon gives it a perfect teardrop taper. And I'm thinking that whether the long herl topping is traditional or not, from the bottom it makes a perfect tailfin impression, adding even more length to the fly with this slightest of suggestions. Simple fly- great design! Hey, change the white and chartreuse color scheme once in awhile and I'm a one-fly guy. Over time, of course, mischief alone will produce more styles than I could ever need or use....