Derrick Rothermel ( Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada)
Derrick grew up on the great prairie flatland of Alberta. It was here he learned to fish for pike.. It was not until he joined the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) in 1964 that he was introduced to fly fishing and tying by a colleague, Bill Waller. At that time fly-fishing for pike was almost unheard of. Derrick’s creativity resulted in early development of some durable patterns using the metallic shield of coaxial cable that could be found on the base. These flies were capable of standing up to the razor sharp teeth of pike but were difficult to cast and lacked the versatility he sought.
Although pike flies are not complex to tie they require versatility in color, size and weight to cover the many situations encountered fishing for pike of Canada’s north. In order to have the right fly for the right occasion, it was necessary to carry a great variety of flies to cover all the options To reduce the number of flies to tie and carry, he arrived at the idea of creating component flies using the tube fly technique dividing the fly into sections of tails, bodies and heads. . By tying each of the three sections in five different colors and sizes, and then interchanging these components he was able to open up the options to 125 different pike flies. This was a much more efficient way of creating the “right” fly for the specific situation. The tubes when placed on the wire leader used for pike fishing and this line tied to the hook. This set-up could be easily cast or trolled as required.
Derrick’s original tubes for flies were created using the plastic core from Q-tips, however these were found wanting because when the large amounts of material required for the bulk of a pike fly was tied to the core, the plastic tube was prone to collapse when the thread was tightly cinched to hold the down material. To overcome this problem he inserted brass tubing used in model aircraft building into the Q-tip plastic tube then melted the plastic ends over the sharp eneds of the brass.. This solved the problem but was extremely time consuming.
At this time he was introduced to Bob Kenly – a Tube Fly Guru – who liked his ideas and innovations and became very supportive. Through Bob, he was introduced to Tanya Rooney, who had a fly tube business. Tanya now supplies all of the thin wall tubes required for tying. The brass tubes do not add much weight to the flies over the original plastic tubing but do increase the speed and efficiency of tying and usefulness even for popper heads. The major benefit has been the ability of the tube sections to be sturdier and withstand the savage strikes of pike and their mouth full of needle sharp teeth.
Derrick does not just tie flies for fun, but would rather be fishing for pike. Mention pike and he gets excited; mention big pike and he is like a kid in a candy store. As an indication of the successfulness of his ideas, his largest pike to date taken on a tube fly was a 55” monster out of the Yukon territories. One can bet he will be back every spring with a good supply of his tube flies looking for a bigger one.
Derrick uses a both a Kennebec tube vice and Renzetti vice for tying his large pike tubes, however he found that the standard tube attachment for the Renzetti would occasionally let go causing the tube to spin. He has created a new screw in head containing a small cross set-screw. This innovation permits the tube to be inserted and locked tightly and solidly into place so that no amount of pressure will cause the tube to spin.
For his regular pike flies Derrick uses a Dyna King Saltwater special and it works great for large flies. His favorite pike hook is an Eagle Claw LO 54 SSFS saltwater fly hook in 2/0 to 4/0 this is a very strong and light hook.
You can visit Derrick’s Web site at Mr. Pike.