"You can blame some of those unreasonable expectations on a fishing press that tells you exactly where to go and how to catch more and bigger fish once you get there, aided and abetted by a tackle industry that's eager to sell you all the gear you'll need to accomplish that - plus some you won't" - John Gierach
Size 24
It was back a long time ago (let's just say that it was before many of you were born) when I was into the second year of a terminal malady known as Fly Fishingitis which leads one to follow any rumor of great catches to a glorious conclusion or to a dead end. So, off to a lake in Ashburnham named Winnekeag because I heard that it was stocked and the trout were committing suicide.
The first day - This late April day had a stiff wind blowing out of the south which drove the temperature into the high 70's and put whitecaps on the lake EXCEPT in the cove by the dam (this place is now fenced off) and this cove was totally calm EXCEPT for the hundreds of trout vacuuming surface. Their prey appeared to be black fly larvae of which I had none. They didn't want anything else either. So I went troutless but when I got home out came my few size 22 hooks (probably too big), 6/0 thread (too heavy) and some stripped peacock quill.
2nd day - The same weather conditions and the same trout but a different story. All I had to throw that peacock emerger out there and they would eat it. They would hit it as soon as it landed and if they didn't all that was needed was a gentle tug. I took about 50 to 60 trout in the 3+ hours that I was there.
I'd like to say that I carried this fly with me forever but I didn't. It seemed so easy to tie that it couldn't really be any good. I now know that the best flies are the simplest to tie.
Hints on tying this fly - Use an eraser to rub off the herl from the quill. It's ok to leave a bit of that fuzz on the fly. Don't try to bleach the herl off as it will weaken the quill. I even stay away from the pre stripped quill for the same reason. Size 26
Book Me
7 comments:
Nice simple pattern with a lot of character. I too find an eraser best for this work and soaking the stripped quills in water helps keep them pliable. Also with this winter weather I find the use of hand lotion is important when working with quill and fine thread.
Hi Ken,
Hope this note gets through. I've been having trouble posting comments to your site and others for the last six months or so. Must be a glitch with my computer. But I've been reading and enjoying your blog regularly.
When midges are working it's magic - they take, you tighten more than strike and the fun starts.
On another issue, you and your readers might enjoy an article on today's MidCurrent on the dangers of private stocking. It got me to join the Native Fish Coalition. And, it's very much in line with your comments on rainbows in the Swift.
Warmest wishes,
John
Ken ran into the same scenario late fall on whites pind in concord there is a little cove that was calm and many small black caddis and midges had been caught in a "riffle" created by the wind. This little buffet train was full of rising fish some of good Holdover size. I also target culverts and rain runoff into still water with the same offerings, very good early season tactic.
Ken,
I had a real head scratcher of a day at the Swift recently. I have been getting in the habit of using a bushy size 12 elk hair caddis as an indicator because it lands soft and rides high. There was a light BWO hatch going on so I tied on a size 22 WD40 as a dropper. After placing a cast upstream of a rainbow, he ignored my dropper and slurped down my big bushy dry fly. Amazingly this happened again, with a nice 17 inch rainbow taking the elk hair in the same fashion. Just goes to show how even highly educated fish can still be opportunistic feeders.
Devin
Paul Fay,
A similar thing happened to me on Saco Lake (Pond) in the White Mountains except it was the other way around. Two guys were working a sheltered cove and doing ok. I had to fish out in the open with a westerly gale and whitecaps. Big crane Flies were hatching and were being blown into the water. I fished an oversized SH and cleaned up.
Devin,
Trout have good memories. That elk hair will probably be the biggest insect form that they will see in months. I know a Swift regular that cleaned up at the Y Pool a few winters ago with a big nasty hellgrammite nymph. I don't think hellgrammites live in the Swift. Maybe Bondsville but not by the dam.
John Strucker,
YOU MADE IT THROUGH!!!
I like the Native Fish Coalition idea but I support in our waters.
Ken
A Gartside sparrow with split shot 8" above enticed a solid quality rainbow this evening, Ken. As I raised my rod to lead the trout to net I forgot about the over hanging branches above, meanwhile the trout is still pulling some and I end up with one heck of a tangle on my hands. Trout still swimming around me, I managed with the rod tip to unweave the tangle twig by twig. That finally accomplished and rod tip still intact, the nice rainbow was still on! It was a real chunk!
Best, Sam
Sam,
I've done the same thing and like you I didn't break the tip!
Ken
Post a Comment