Micro Tree Cricket Request from Hokkaido Japan
The following photos were shot with the Sigma 70mm lens. Click any image to magnify a very tiny Micro Cricket pattern tied on the #18 Hanak 390 BL
I have a lot of fly customers who fish for trout and char in Japan. Because I used to live in Southeast Asia with my family, I am particularly familiar with the Hokkaido region, where the Tokachi River watershed includes the Ashoro River and the Rawan River. Both hold powerful and wild rainbow trout. These are often difficult rainbows and have a reputation for being quite particular and weary.
Today I received a request from T. Takizaki for a few dozen micro crickets to fish the Akan River. Mr. Takizaki has a second home just north of Hokkaido and owns a few of my cane rods; we often write to each other via email and snail mail about our latest fish-hunting adventures. He made a specific request that I tie a dozen of my micro crickets up with #18 Hanak 390 hooks, using silver wire instead of red. Also asking me to use Tiemco Aero Dry Wing for the abdomen and wing case covers. Luckily, I have a whole drawer full of Aero Dry Wing material that I stashed during the mid 1990's. Tiemco no longer distributes this stuff in the USA, and it is now being sold via eBay for more than 20 US dollars a card, which is insane! Lucky for me, Mr. Takizaki is sending me some more Aero Dry Wing from Japan to further my extensive stash, which was quite kind of him. These are extremely small crickets, so I make note of my wrap counts and make what I call “whisper wraps.” I call it this because I'm constantly whispering to myself the number of turns on every segment of the cricket. I take my time tying these generally because getting a cricket on a #18 hook can be daunting at times, especially after my morning coffee!
Here is the micro cricket gallery (click on and image to magnify)
Thank you and enjoy, Mr. Takizaki!
The use of micro-knotted black UV pheasant tail fibers makes for some very iridescent legs.
A set of cerci prongs made from black goose biots creates a realistic silhouette.
The Tiemco Dry Wing is pulled from the rear to the beginning of the thorax and secured. The legs are tied in; the deer hair is sparsely measured, then a few turns of UV mixed in with SLF Dark Brown and Black for the thorax; the tag of the Tiemco Dry Wing filaments is pulled over the thorax and tied off a hook eye distance from the rear of the hook eye.
The wing case splits the deer hair fibers in a tight, canted position to float the fly as a cripple. Varner's Fine Deer Hair is the only deer hair I use for micropatterns. At a size 18, a cricket can be considered a “micropattern”; it's a matter of “uniform and relative scale,” as Darrel Martin's book Micropatterns Tying & Fishing the Small Fly, Copyright 1984, explains it. My fly tying changed overnight after reading this book in 1994. I discovered that most patterns are far too large for sophisticated spring-creek brown trout.
A single strand of very fine French silver wire creates subtle segmentation.
The Hanak 390 BL is a wonderful canvas for this pattern. This hook has built me a lot of “set confidence” over a long period of time testing it with a myriad of emerger patterns, be it mayfly, caddis, or midge.
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