FLYMPH FORUM

Thank you, Wayne! What gorgeous water you have there.

Oh oh, me think I spy water that I would spider fish on. Gotta get outa the office.....

flyfishwithme wrote:Oh oh, me think I spy water that I would spider fish on. Gotta get outa the office.....

This is the very water that I stumbled on the virtues of Spiders/Soft Hackles/Flymphs almost 35 years ago. It wasn’t until many years later that I stumbled on to one of Sylvester Name’s books that I found out why these patterns worked so well. His writings didn’t teach me how to fish the patterns, but lifted the veil before my eyes as to the whys of the patterns.

I had already been dabbling with the patterns especially the Muskrat by dredging the bottom of the river with heavy weight. Short line no indicator.

My brother in-law and I were fishing this stretch in late Summer. It's been so long ago I don’t recall the time of day, but all heck broke loose when some Orange Caddis made an appearance. I was fishing a riffle with probably a San Juan Worm and a Muskrat, and my brother in-law (Blake) was trying to wade out to some boulders and fish the pocket water below them.

I was deep in concentration when I heard him scream. At first I thought he was in trouble, but he wasn’t. "Wayne, get your butt over here and bring something orange!" "You should see these fish slamming these orange fly’s".

Orange fly’s? What kind of family did I marry in to? I hope retardation isn’t genetic or my future kids are in trouble. I made my way over to him. It took about 3 or 4 minutes and some careful wading but I made it. I looked down in to the pocket water, but I didn’t see anything. Blake said no, look up in the calm water above the boulders. My jaw dropped. I had never seen so many big Rainbow trout all in one spot. Every now and then one would come most of the way out of the water and slam one of the Orange fly’s, but mostly they were staying just under the surface but obviously in a feeding frenzy.

“Blake, all I have in Orange is a Woolly Bugger or these Orange Muskrats.” “ I don’t have any Orange dry flies!!” “Well, give me the Muskrat, maybe it will stay dry long enough to nail one of those fish.” Blake made his first cast with the little Orange Muskrat. It stayed on top for about three feet, then started to sink. I know my heart fell when the fish didn’t give it so much as a peek. I am sure Blake was deflated as well. Blake made his second cast. Luckily he didn’t try to dry the fly out with false casts. The fly landed maybe 3 feet above where the feeding frenzy was taking place. As the fly hit, it started to submerge. By the time it was the feeding zone I would guess it to be maybe 6 inches beneath the surface. I heard Blake exhale. I saw the rod tip dip as Blake relaxed. We were not going to catch any of these bruisers. Then it happened, the swirl, the line went tight! Blake set the hook like he was roping a calf! That big fish slammed the fly, and Blake snapped the fly off in a split second!

As soon as Blake broke off his fly, I immediately cut the nymph rig off my leader. I opened my fly box, grabbed the last two Orange Muskrats. I handed Blake one, and I tied on the other. I didn’t realize it till later that I made a size 16 fly fit on a size 2x leader. I had my rig ready to go before Blake. Just as before, my first cast, the fly stayed on top of the surface for a few feet. The second cast. Just like before. The fly submerged, and the trout took it in a violent strike. I set the hook and the fish made a run upstream and to my right. I followed him upstream a bit before I got him landed. As I released him, I saw that Blake had a fish on. The fish took him downstream and in to the pocket water. This gave me a chance to get back in to the “hole”.

The “frenzy” lasted maybe 15 minutes. Blake and I each caught three very large trout. It was some of the most exciting fishing I have ever had. At the time I had no idea what an “emerger” was. Dumb luck had put Blake and I into some of the best fishing action of my life. It only lasted 15 minutes, but I will always remember that moment in my life.

One of these days, I will tell you how I stumbled across the down and across (swing) method.

DUBBIN, Howdy;

Thanks for sharing your "AH-HA" ( ), moment.
Like the way you put your words to 'paper' as it were.
Feels like we're sittin' or standin' next to the river and you're
pointing to the spot and discribing it to me.

Thanks,

hank

Hank, thanks for the kind words about the story. I think you and I are the only ones that read it.

More wind today, but we took the drift boat out anyways. Good day for the Muskrat in size 16 and a Golden Stone nymph in size 10.
A few of the sites.

Hey Dubbn,

Good stuff here, story and way cool photos.
Syl Nemes books opened a lot of eyes to this way of fly tying.
So I guess you're not really too worried about the inlaw's genes now.

Lance

DUBBIN, Howdy;

GREAT FISH porn.... The one in the last pic. Is it the same as the one in the second pic???
They/it a cutbow? Whatever it is, dang thing has some beautiful coloring!!
Thanks for the porn. You're getting pretty good at the close-up pix.

hank

PS. They take the stiches out next Friday. Should be able to lose the 1/2 cast as well.
Friggin thing is drivein' me nutz !!!

No, different fish Hank. I even caught a pure bred Cutthroat. My buddy took a pic of it on his camera. I will post it after he sends it to me. I have a sneaking suspicion that most of the wild Rainbows in my river are actually Cuttbows. Thats ok with me. They normally go ariel like Rainbows when hooked, but man are they pretty to look at.

Thanks Lance for the kind words. Means alot to me.

Checked my mail and there was the pic.

Wayne - I must have missed this tread while I was out of town. I just got to read your section on fishing the orange muskrat and see the new photo you posted. I loved reading that post. Would you mind if I downloaded the photo of the male trout in full spawning colors. That photo is remarkable, and I'd like to print it out for my tying area. Kudos!

Wayne ~ You know darned well that all of us read every one of your fishing trip posts; the only reason we don't always publically acknowledge them is that we're seething with jealousy and can't stop shaking long enough to type .