When I was little boy in the suburbs of Detroit, I meandered along a neighborhood creek, wanting to be a bird, a turtle, and then a butterfly. I also loved to draw. As I approached adulthood, I wanted to be an artist, so I went off to college. In my late twenties, I hired on part-time at a fly-fishing store and wondered what I should do with my life. I said to myself that I had into to my thirties to figure it out. Then came my forties. Now I am 57, rushing toward 60, neck-deep in the complexities of living, still working at a fly shop, wondering if I will ever figure out what to do with my life.
But here I am, sitting happily at my tying vise, where I have managed to simplify one of my favorite streamers — if not my life. I look at this fly and remember simpler times and the creek that flowed back home, where small fish swam among pop bottles, rubber tires, and the jaws of snapping turtles.
The pattern is less complicated than its earlier version — simpler, not unlike the days of innocence when as a child I watched a muskrat swim across a moonbeam. The fly, made of mink and fox, is a streamer I call the RPRT, in honor of a good friend who served as a medic in Vietnam. He often makes me smile with such whimsical sayings as “You never see a hearse followed by a Brink’s truck.” The fly’s named for a another saying: “Right place, right time.”
To tie it, begin by crushing the barb on a Daiichi 2052 nickle Spey fly hook and placing it in your vise. Attach a strong white thread behind the hook eye. Attach a pair of large bead-chain eyes about an eighth of an inch behind the hook eye and on the underside of the hook. Next select about 20 strands of UV Minnow Belly flash made by Hareline Products and attach them behind the eye. Wrap the flash along the shank to above the barb and then back to the starting point. Tie off and coat the wrapped flash with varnish. Now tie in about 12 strands of UV Minnow Belly behind the eye. Let the flash extend back about twice the length of the hook shank. There should be an eighth-of-an-inch gap behind the eye. In that gap, create a dubbing loop and place in it about half an inch of fox fur, including its long guard hairs. Spread the hair up and down the loop, creating about an inch spread of hair. Then spin the loop and wrap the fur around the shank behind the eye. Tie off the loop, trim away any excess, and advance the thread to in front of the eyes. To finish, select some black mink on the hide (squirrel works, too) and cut a length that when tied in front of the eyes extends a little beyond the hook bend. Tie the hide in place on top of the shank, over the eyes, wrapping tight against the eyes, then whip finish, snip the thread, varnish, and you are done. The RPRT can be tied in many color combinations. I guarantee it will catch fish — if you fish it in the right place at the right time.
— Andy Guibord
