Fly Tying the Copper John with Mike & Darren Ep 8 Wooly Piscator

Check out the Copper John in action in Mike's Laurel Hill & Casselman Video - • Fly Fishing Affluent, ...
Check out Mike's Wooly Bugged channel on youtube - / woolybugged
The Copper John is the creation of John Barr and is likely one of the most successful nymphs of all time. When John first developed the fly back in 1993, he was tying the fly in the original copper color only. It wasn't until a couple years later when Michael White, owner of Blue Ribbon Sales, suggested tying the fly in a wider variety of colors including red and green.
The fly can be tied in copper, red, chartreuse, green, olive, black, silver, gold, blue, hot pink or double up the wire and create a more segmented looking body on your Copper John. The original Copper John was tied using Hungarian Partridge as the tail and legs. Turkey Quill was used for the wingcase and no lead underbody. John fine-tuned the pattern from 93-96 swapping in new more durable materials and enhancing the appearance of the nymph.
#copperJohn #woolybugged #piscatorflies #bhnymph
Thanks to Mike for the additional footage and photos.
Olive Copper John fly pattern recipe
Hook: Firehole 633 #10-18 fireholeoutdoo...
Bead: Gold brass or tungsten
Weight: 6-10 wraps 0.020 lead
Thread: Olive 8/0 (70d)
Tail: Brown goose biots
Body: Brassie wire
Wingcase: Midge Flex & Flashabou
Thorax: Peacock herl
Legs: Brown hen back
Shellback: U. V. Resin
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Music: The Creek - Topher Mohr and Alex Elena • The Creek - Topher Moh...
Camera: Nikon CoolPix B700
Vise: Griffin Montana Mongoose amzn.to/2sQWcov
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[@kerrypitt9789]

Another great example of a proven pattern. I really like your choice of hooks. Back in the day we had very few options when it came to hook design. Nowadays I find myself changing hook styles for old well known patterns. Thanks Darren.

[@PiscatorFlies]

Hey Kerry. I'm really loving these Firehole hooks. They are a little more expensive than the Mustad, but they are pretty solid and sticky sharp. I like buying directly as Joe Mathis is a great person to deal with.

[@MikeBlezien]

very nicely done can't go wrong with a classic.

[@PiscatorFlies]

thanks Mike! Much appreciated, I tied a few extras for my own box.

[@alexhoskinson4253]

I'm digging it. The olive looks great, and I'm sure a nice brown color would do well too

[@PiscatorFlies]

Thanks Alex. Copper Johns and Evil Weevils are 2 of the best bh nymphs in the game. Cheers

[@garybon.]

Tying up a few of these soon for sure

[@PiscatorFlies]

Gary, I hope that you do and that they help you catch a few. Thanks for stopping in and watching.

[@timh5395]

Yeah buddy well done.

[@PiscatorFlies]

Thanks, Tim!

[@mikedurrant1496]

Nice tie going to the bench right now tightlines

[@PiscatorFlies]

Hi Mike, good luck on the bench. I hope it works well for you out in the streams. cheers

[@kenstaring6257]

Nice job. keep up the good work. Thanks

[@PiscatorFlies]

Ken, thanks for stopping by and watching the video. Much appreciated.

[@joeduca8582]

Aww shucks 😊💓ditto!

[@joeduca8582]

Chimo! Really nice looking CJ👍 Looks stout, I like it. Is that "Stick" standard length or short? It's hard to tell nowadays, the point looks long, can't tell if it's a wide gap either. It be great to know how well it performs when fished. Darren where do you find these beautiful GMO pelts!?! That hen back looks big, beautiful mottled feathers. That Hungarian you had was beautiful too. Speaking of fish catchers, I had a bald eagle fly over the house this morning. A few minutes later a sharp shinned hawk flew in and landed in the oak tree in my yard. Hey thanks for the "pin" on that Sallow Bait 📌 Cheers 👍😁🍺⬅"stout"

[@PiscatorFlies]

Chimo Joe. The hook is listed as a 1XL 2XG which I am thinking is an extra wide gap. If they had a 2xl, that would make for a little nicer CJ IMO. That pelt was a Chinese hen back. I have a couple different ones. If you can find a Bhrama saddle or neck, you'll get a similar mottled feather. Whiting had a line of them at one time, but I never actually seen them for sale. I would hope they still exist with the number of barns they have on their compound. You're lucky to see the raptors. We have a few species of them here, but I rarely see them. Coppers and red tails I see quite a bit, but never any eagles. I'm starting to see a lot of the migratory birds coming back now though. Thanks for the comment, always appreciated.

[@joeduca8582]

Piscator Flies I like the look of that CJ. Maybe 2xl would be better with a bead but I really like how your tie turned out. Now that I look at the still pic on the title I can see the wide gap. Lol, yeah he has a lot of chicken coups! I haven't seen any Brahma ether. Nor the silkie line or chicabou stuff, bird fur etc. When I was "pinning" I had hundreds of chicken breeds and other birds on my fly tying board. Yeah lots of wild life here. That's the fourth or fifth time I've seen an eagle at my house. Been hearing snow geese at night as well as canadas for about a month now. Black birds came back as well as robins a couple of weeks ago. The mallard "clan" and canadas are taking up residence in the creek and beaver pond. Hopefully the weather will reflect the calendar! It's been 10° below normal for awhile. At least we dodged the 4th nor'easter this week. Hey how's the bronze FFF thing coming?

[@PiscatorFlies]

I have a few chickabou on my order list, but I don't think Whiting packages it anymore. Ron McKusick has some on his eBay page from time to time. I can hear the red-wing blackbirds and Cardinals in the trees, Seen some waxwings and purple/house finches flapping around. Saw some mourning dove cooing on my fence this morning. Spring is pretty much here I think. Glad to hear that you missed #4. It's been cool here, but I'm thankful there is no snow. The IFFF thing is on hold until I can get free time. I've got to get my fly orders out the door before I can fool around with them. lol Cheers

[@joeduca8582]

Piscator Flies 👍😎

[@joeduca8582]

Piscator Flies You should set up a bird feeder. I have one with a counter weighted perch to keep the squirrels out, greys anyway. The reds and chipmonks are light and tricky enough to eat from the sides. Bluejay are too heavy for it so we have a hanging lantern type I have to set up. I miss the noisey Jay's. Anything that falls the ground feeding birds like doves eat. Hanging suet feeders also. Squirrels have their own feeders. They're comical to watch. Seen a young redtail hawk chase one and follow it up a tree while I sat on my porch. Humming bird feeder also is amazing. I have one on the back porch. I wear something red, a shirt, and they buzz you looking for nectar. That's when I put the feeder up. They're pretty territorial too. Some times they have "sword" fights with their beaks at the feeder. I watch from two or three feet away and hear the beaks hitting like swords. Amazing.

[@cody3362]

Why are the hooks barb-less

[@PiscatorFlies]

JustAnAverageDude, it's mostly for catch & release and for places where the fishing regulations specify barbless. Makes it easier to get a bead on a hook as well as being easier to release a fish. You can tie these on barbed (micro barbed) as well. All the best!

[@cody3362]

@@PiscatorFlies I've never heard of a barbless rule were I live

[@PiscatorFlies]

Some provinces in Canada are completely barbless and there are lots of waters with special regs that require barbless (or mashed / flattened barbs) hooks. Cheers