I firmly believe that there are two kinds of fly fishers. The first care only about the river, the trout that are in it and the chance of fishing it in relative solitude (Gierach School of Angling), The second kind of fly fisher cares equally about whether there is a local fly shop, good restaurants and posh accommodations. Can't be too far away from civilization, I guess. - Me
If I had three fly patterns (excluding the dreaded wooley bugger) to start the season off on a freestone river my first choice, if the water is high, would be a weighted stonefly nymph. In fact, you should always carry this fly regardless of the season and in a large size too. Big stones will have up to a three year life span so their meaty presence is always there.
If the water flows are average or lower then the number 1 pattern will be a soft hackle/flymph pattern because it represents the active, emerging insect better than anything. The color isn't really of much importance but an orange body seems to top the list. Springtime sizes will run larger with size 12 down to size 8 filling my fly boxes. A large yellow bodied soft hackle in a size 8 is a killer on the EB.
A third style that is a "must have" is a streamer pattern and I am sold on small marabou patterns. From the Catskills to northern Maine marabou streamers just get it done. I fish these either "on the swing" or on the "high stick" upstream. I took a bow over 20 inches in the rain, on a rising Ware river last spring high sticking like a nymph. Very deadly!!!
Ok, throw in the Wooley Bugger!! It's a great fly that represents a lot of trout food. I don't have a photo that I like but tie them small (size 12) and ditch the chenille body in favor of peacock (about size strands or swords with do. I like this style because it looks like an insect and not something from Jupiter!
Notice that I didn't name a particular stone, soft hackle or streamer pattern and the reason is simple: patterns don't really matter that much but presentation does. Most nymphs in a freestone stream are dark on their backs, light on their undersides and are about a size 10 through 14. Dressing up your flies with electric ice blue cosmic shredded dubbing with a tungsten helmet slides you right over to the "attractor" side of the game because the above combinations are not found in nature. When I was a newbie I wanted to catch as many trout as possible. Now it's the "way" they are caught that's important.
Pet Peeve - There are some in the fly fishing community who attempt to rationalize the use of SCENTED flies. Their reasoning is that it helps you catch fish so it's ok. Well, so does power bait!!!!! I hope that everyone who ties on a scented fly immediately rips their waders!!!!!
I have some weekday slots open for April and as I write most rivers are in fine shape. Book me!!!
Ken
16 comments:
Scented flies, really? Guess I don't care so long as it does not impact fish mortality for the angler that uses smelly flies and intends on releasing fish. For the angler that keeps what he she catches....glorified bait fishing then!
Ken,
Been fishing a size 10 brown hackle, peacock body, brown marabou Woolley Bugger for over two decades. Biggest fish so far was a 7 lb. rainbow on the North Platte River just east of Casper, Wyoming in January 2000. Have considered it the best river crayfish imitation of all time. Now you’ve let my secret fly out of the bag.
Regards,
Phil Foster
Chico,
Good to hear from you.
I know this person who knew this guy you kept flies in a bottle of salmon egg solution. Why not power bait?
Phil,
I'm tying some of those!!!!!
Ken
Ken,
So you think color doesn't matter?
AH
Ken,
For me, the trick is to get that fine balance between size, color, silhouette, and presentation. My personal thoughts, as a tyer, are that adding countless new, space age materials only increases the variables that will alter that balance, so I try to stick with the traditional stuff. Keeps it simpler for me.
Your flies always have that nice buggy look to them that I never seem able to replicate to my satisfaction. I'll keep trying though.
kevj
I am an "open-minded" fly fisherman...I don't care if you want to fish tungsten on an 11 foot nymph rod with mono...not my cup but I am not going to rant on anyone who does...at least its artificial BUT I draw the line on scented flies, in fact I'd build a wall around the Power Bait factory or whomever is producing this stuff. It's chumming IMO...don't know why but it crosses over to a place that I think has no place in fly fishing or other sporting for that matter. Anyhow spring is here (at least in some spots) I hope to get out on maybe the Ware or the North or maybe the Deerfield this weekend for a couple hours ...heading to Shelburne for Easter at my sisters...are any more fishable than the others at this point? I have not seen any guages and have no idea what the runoff situation is down there. Happy Easter and tight lines to all!
BobT,
Glad that you feel the same about scented flies (I knew you would).
The North and Green Rivers are spiking as I write. The Mill in Northhampton/Williamsburg is nice and low and there are fish in it.
Kevj,
I knew and old guy years ago who only fished black nymphs. The only color on them was the ribbing if he used it. I think that silhouette stood out. Been telling mydelf to try it but keep forgetting!
Send me a photo of a fly and we'll see if we can make it buggier!
Ken
My go-to streamer has always been the hornberg. I take the original pattern and use wire on the body and a bead head to make it heavy and shiny. I use pink marabou in the fall instead of yellow. Killer fly for me. Caught a 32" bull trout up at glacier park on a size 10 streamer. Never leave home without a streamer in your bag. Good advice from Ken as always.
Kozman,
You praised the honorable Hornberg before and it deserves more recognition than it does. I've had some in my bag since last spring. A good fly!!!
Ken
Back in the old days before C&R my father would use worm scented flies if his tandem wets weren't working! I fondly remember the old whippy Bamboo rod, silk line, and wicker creel! Hope everyone has fun on the water this Spring!
Marabou is the best fly tying material on the planet hands down. It does things FOR you.
Lenny
I fished the Ware Saturday under sunny skies around church street and River run road. I only saw one fish picked up by a spin fisherman at the bridge. Pretty massive bank scouring from the ice dams, look out for some pretty deep holes along the edges. I then ambled to the lower Swift to spot maybe a half dozen fish from the gauge all the way down to the houses at Cady lane. So strange to see no fish, one or two lost brookies and a handful of big bows. The strangest of all was the pipe and tree pool empty of fish. The Swift seemed even lower (really skinny) than usual despite gauge reporting a normal or slightly higher flow. A few rising fish at the head of the big pool past the houses but it really looked dead. Have all those brookies retreated downstream to the deep water?
Eye,
The brookies will retreat very far downstream in winter. Funny about the Pipe as there were fish there in February. Things will be better in a month!!
Lenny,
I hear you. It's all I use in fresh water.
Anonymous 12:04,
Worm scented flies??????
Ken
I went out to the Swift this Saturday and nothing was happening, so I then found myself on a section of the Ware by the Sykes St. bridge. This was my first time here and though I did not find any luck there either, the water just looks too fishy not to hold anything. Great deeps runs with riffles and for the most part, easy to wade (though the water seemed a little high and pretty strong flow). I was just wondering if anyone here has had any luck at this spot? I am going to go back and spend more time figuring it out but I wanted to see if anyone knew if this was good fishing in spring or closer to summer?
Ken, I took a vacation day today and spent the afternoon at the Lower Swift. I fished pretty hard trying a number of types of flies amongst various zones, but there was nothing doing whatsoever. Not sure what's going on there, maybe the water is still too cold.
I'm a little concerned about the brookies being a no show for quite some time now, while in year's past I have caught them all year long. Hopefully warmer water will bring them out of hiding and improve action in general which has been non existent except for the day I happened to hit it by coincidence the same day DFW stocked. Even the stocked trout have disappeared.
Sam
Sam, Jamie,
This seems to be the case with the Swift so far. Very few fish. I hope to hit it Wednesday.
Ken
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