"Oh yes, I remember that trout. It was my first on a fly, and it was a brown" - E. Donnall Thomas Jr. in Whitefish Can't Jump
This past month it seems like I'm in full production mode when it comes to vise time and the fly that I need to fill those holes in the fly boxes and to complete the fly orders are the soft hackles. The venerable Partridge and Orange tops the list with the Partridge and Olive coming in second. Personally I don't think that one pattern is better than the other except that the "Orange" is fished more thus it lands more fish so it becomes the "confidence" fly.
The key to ANY soft hackle is to build it SPARSE. More turns of hackle will ruin the fly, period!! Keeping the hackle turns to a minimum is easy when you use starling hackle (it's fairly small) and fragile.
If I Had My Way.....
1. There would be no fly fishing competitions on public water. I outgrew the fishing derby mentality when I was 10 years old. I don't get angry, depressed or jealous if someone near me catches a lot of fish. I'll get my share and btw, I compete against TROUT, not people.
2. There would be no Group Events on public water. There is really nothing worse than a van or two full of fly fishers taking over an intimate stream like the Swift. That happened a few years ago and I got my ass chewed out by an influential local who thought that I had something to do with it. I didn't!! I've turned down other requests by groups who wanted me to join them on other rivers like the Millers. As I've said before the most asked request by clients is for me to show them places that are not crowded!!
3. The use of stomach pumps would die a quiet death. So, Mr. Trout has spent the last two hours sipping in size 30 simuliidae (he'll need a lot of them to get his calorie ration for the day) and then Mr. Flyfisher catches him on a size 30. Mr. Flyfisher then pumps Mr. trouts guts out, saying "hmmm...size 30 simuliidae. Guess I was right", and then releases Mr. Trout because he doesn't believe in harming trout. WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?? Mr. Flyfisher just wasted 2 hours of foraging energy and possible injury to Mr. Trout to answer a question whose answer he already knew! Give the trout a break and just release them!!!
4. So Called "Secret Spots" - I never give the location of an unstocked stream that has "stream born" trout in it's waters but if it's stocked it's fair game. When I wrote the Flyfishers Guide to the Millers River I was basically copying the Farmington and Housatonic Guides that are true gems. They name every pool/run/riffle and how to approach them and they are fun to read. Are they giving away secret spots? Not really. All the good spots on popular rivers are known by most anglers and being tight lipped about a location that may be fished by dozens of anglers in a day makes no sense.
5 below zero as I write!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ken
8 comments:
Your a better man than me, I can't sit down at the vise and ty more than 2 of the same pattern I just get bored, that's why in my boxes there are a lot of singles. Tying flies is a hobby that supports my passion fly fishing fresh & salt. Besides if I caught a fish with a fly someone else made I probably wouldn't be able to sleep that night. Oh one FLY I have actually tied 6 of (On different days), is Gartsides soft hackle minnow (in variation), google it and ty some up, they work. And if it was up to me every river in this state and beyond would be C & R.
Actually the River Guides also are good in packing fishermen into popular areas and leaving a lot of unpublicized "good" areas to be found by others, and if a river can support Trout there will be a bunch of them!
Gary,
You are not a better man than I, period! I tie a lot of one pattern because I sell them and at times I find myself short on a good pattern because I sell them. I then tie some more. You taught me the value of the black soft hackle which I now have extra in my personal fly box. It works!!! When I tie to create inventory AND to have tied flies to fish with myself I put on some coffee, some good music and then go for it. It's a good few hours spent during the weather that we had. This season, a cold brutal winter, is the season to spend at the vise, creating either good standard offerings or dreaming up something new that we think will be a killer come April. Come April that NEW thing will leave us scratching our heads wondering why we thought that thing would EVER attract a trout. It is the way we do things, how we think and that is the beauty of what we do.
I know that you get it. BTW, the black hackle was one of the top flies last season!
Ken
Ken,
I guess we wouldn't have to worry about the TU gang on the EB in late May.
TG
Ken, hard to disagree with any of your four points. As a sportsman, pumping a trout's stomach contents really goes against my grain.
If I had my way the entire Swift from the dam to Three Rivers would be catch and release year around. It is such a special river and should be treated that way, but I know that will never happen.
Like you and other posters here I have been tying plenty of flies. I have enough for the foreseeable future and beyond at this point. It is a great way to help winter go by keeping focus on tying good ones that you have confidence in.
Here's to an early Spring and a Patriot victory on Sunday.
Best, Sam
Pumping the stomach of a fish that that will be released is just wrong. If you are going to eat the fish then check the stomach contents after properly dispatching it. In c&r areas if you caught the fish then you already know what its willing to eat
Sam,
I don't think the DFW wants anymore CR sections although it would be in their best interest if we had more of them. Trout fishers who fish CR sections spend more $$ on equipment than your average power bait user. That money is taxed by the Feds and then sent back to the States. Your average Orvis/Sage/T&T rod is taxed more than a zebco!
Anonymous,
You get it!!!
Ken
Ken
I agree with your view of stomach pumping. How about those who take trout, lay them down on rocks and then start taking photos? How many trout die soon after that?
GW
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