First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you. Overall, it was a pretty good year without Springtime floods and Summertime droughts. It would be nice to finish 2017 with some milder weather but I will not complain. I'd like to thank everyone who availed themselves to my guide services this year AND to thank everyone who bothered to post comments throughout the year. This blog is the best source for information on fly fishing
for trout in Massachusetts!!!
Maybe it's these single digit days but I can't get rising trout off my brain. That means that it's time to tie some dry flies and not tiny flies either. I'm thinking of May and June evenings with hatching mayflies and caddis getting the trout active. And I'm also not thinking of placid glides but choppy riffles with trout poking their noses through the surface. It is my favorite dry fly water but it takes a fly that can stay visible through that rough ride. That's why I'm a convert to snowshoe hare wings. Above you see a size 14 emerger with parachute hackle. This critter is big and gives the impression of life (read trigger). Built on a curved hook it will require no tail but will float down riffles with it's ass-end sunk below the surface just like the real thing.
I've told the old story about how I was on the Deerfield around Pelham Brook when I encountered this guy wading downstream with a lightweight spinning rod and a bobber. I asked him how he was doing and what was he using. He said he caught and released two trout and was using a big, gnarly MONTANA NYMPH. "It's the only way I know how to fly fish" he said. I wished him luck and thought Buddy, you're not fly fishing. That was 1988.
It is amazing how this sport has changed over the years. What we would never consider "fly fishing" is now accepted as such. "Bounce Nymphing " became a west coast rage 10 or so years ago. It's formula is two or more flies tied to mono a few inches above a split shot. The rig is bounced along the bottom. Articles on this rig state that one can use a fly rod or, even better, a spinning rod and reel!!!! Again, I repeat,Buddy, you're not flyfishing.
People who toss 30 feet of mono with heavy nymph rigs are doing the same thing as my friend did on the Deerfield 30 years ago. You may call it fly fishing but it can only be considered a crude form of the sport. Yes, you can catch trout but you can do that with power bait too. BTW, there are "fly fishers" who argue for and use, scented flies!!!! Again,Buddy, you're not fly fishing!
Ken
9 comments:
I've read about this type of fishing and often thought that these guys were wasting their money on gear and wasting time cooking up recipes for rigs and leaders when they would be better served by a long noodle rod and a spinning reel laced with 4lb mono.Fly rods were made to deliver an unweighted or lightly weighted fly with a fly line.That is what makes fly fishing fly fishing.So to be actually fly fishing the fly line has to be in play to present the flies to the fish.Just my two cents.
Great looking fly pattern. I'm going to tie some up! Should work really well on any Caddis River.
Regarding "fly fishing", Maine FFO waters actually specify that the flyline must propel the fly. Maybe MA should do the same? Until then, if its legal and ethical I see no problem. Hell, the all mono rig was developed years ago in PA and really isn't anything new and just like any other method, isn't the be all end all!
Happy new year Ken and to everyone! It was a good year for sure
Lenny
Ken,
Love that parachute with the hare's foot wing post. That has to be a good floater, maybe a good strike indicator too.
Back before it turned too cold, my last time out I tried a light weight cork strike indicator, but didn't like it. Maybe with a longer rod than what I use, heaving it upstream for the next drift would be a simpler operation, but using it for what I fish wiht didn't agree with me.
I think my favorite strike indicator, if I use one, is a humpy dry fly or a good sized elk hair caddis.
Stay warm, and best wishes for a happy and healthy 2018. Long range forecast says temps will be above normal in late January. Let's hope so.
Sam
Dan,
I agree with you. Noodle rods deliver flies too, a bit clumsy, but they get the job done.
Ken
Anonymous 12:25
In Massachusetts FFO water requires a conventional fly rod and conventional fly line. Many euro nymphers are barely legal because most still have the fly line on the reel but it's hardly ever used.
Ken
Lenny and Sam,
Happy New Year and Think Spring!!!!
Ken
Happy New Year Ken and everyone. I respect your opinion on mono rigs or the various flavors they come in...but I am not as orthodox in my styles of nymph fishing. I will use a "bounce" rig if conditions dictate it. The flys themselves are unweighted - you just use a little shot to get them down. For the record, the most important thing is to release the fish safely; its much better done with a fly rather than a treble hook lure or bait; how the fly gets to target is a matter of semantics in my opinion. Is Tenkara really fly fishing? Probably but its not all that far off from some Euro rigs or mono-rigs. Joe Humphries was the first to write about mono rigs and he is highly thought after and respected in fly fishing circles. Anyhow I think there is room for differences of thought or opinion. For the record my absolute favorite thing to do is cast a dry fly to rising fish followed closely by swinging a wet through a riffle. Tight lines for everyone in '18
BobT,
Your opinion is always respected on this website. My problem is that fly fishing seems to be being dumbed down down by a technique that really has it's place at the end of a Zebco and an Ugly Stick which would be a better tool than a fly rod and line.
Ken
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