The soft hackle is a great example of how a simple fly can be made with an infinite number of variations. It's also a fly that you can ask 5 people to tie it, and see 5 different methods of tying what is essentially the same fly. Here's how I tie the Partridge & Olive, one of the quintessential soft hackle wet flies...
Partridge & Olive
Materials:
Hook: Tiemco 3769, Size 10. Any standard length, or short, straight-shanked nymph hook will work, in any size.
Thread: 8/0 Uni-thread, black
Body: Olive Uni-floss
Rib: Silver Ultra Wire, X-Small
Dubbing: SLF Squirrel
Hackle: Partridge
Instructions:
1. Place hook in vise. Start thread about 1.5 eye lengths behind eye. Advance thread to bend and tie in ribbing wire extending out over the back of the hook.
2. Advance thread to thread tie-in point. Tie in floss, trim tag.
3. Maintaining tension on the floss, wind onto the hook, advancing floss to the bend (where the wire is tied in). Keep the body as flat and smooth as possible, and not overlapping. Basically, you want as thin of a body as possible without having bare spots.
4. While keeping tension on the floss with your left hand, grab the ribbing wire with your right and start to wind it forward, locking the floss in place with your first wrap, which should be made tight. Though you've wrapped both the floss and the wire in the normal direction (away from you, on top of the shank), you'll still be creating a counter-wrap, because the floss was wrapped toward the bend and the rib was wrapped toward the eye.
5. Trim tag ends of both floss and wire, as close to the body as is possible.
6. Prepare a tiny amount of dubbing, and twist tightly onto the thread.
7. Dub a tiny ball of the squirrel dubbing near the head of the fly, about 1 eye length back.
8. Select a speckled partridge feather, from the front of one of the wings.
9. Prepare the feather by stripping away fibers and stroking the rest (save for the tip) back against the grain as shown.
10. Tie in feather by the tip, curvature down, at the front of the hook, just a bit behind the eye.
11. Wind the hackle 1-2 turns tie off and trim feather.
12. Whip finish. Cement if desired.
Fish this fly, really, any way you like. Drift it, weight it, grease it, swing it, strip it...there isnt a wrong way to present a soft hackle, though most agree that some combination of drifting and tight-line swinging will entice the most fish. These elegant, impressionistic flies can imitate everything from emerging mayflies to caddis pupae, to terrestrials.
This is a fly that always seems to get a little extra attention when you show someone your fly box. I've even had far more experienced fly fishers and tyers look at a box with a few laser flies in it and make a comment specifically about this fly. I think its so eye catching because its simple but also unique, blurring the lines between an egg and a streamer in some sizes and colors...an impressive feat.
Sorry about the truly horrendous image quality. I took roughly triple the amount of shots seen here and the force wasn't strong with me. Maybe I'll try again soon and replace the shots, but for now, they give you a decent visual aid as to what's going on. Just pretend that Monet does my visuals. 
Anyway, here it is:
Laser Fly
Materials:
Hook: Mustad 36890, Size 8
Thread: 8/o Uni-thread, black
Tail: Laser Tail
Body: Laser yarn, usually 2 colors
Instructions:
1. Place hook in vise, start thread, and move to roughly the midpoint of the shank.
2. Tie in laser tail, then untwist fibers. You can rub the fibers between your fingers to “fluff them out”.
3. Start tying in small pinches of laser yarn at the midpoint of the shank. The key here is to keep the bulk at the shank to a minimum. Use only two wraps per pinch of thread tied down. Try to minimize the amount of laser yarn in front of your tie down point. Basically, get a little bit of laser yarn, do two wraps, then pull the laser yarn away from the fly. The fibers that were tied down will become part of the body, and the loose fibers will be pulled free.
4. Continue tying in small clumps of laser yarn immediately in front of the previous one, forming a body as you progress toward the eye. Smaller clumps will actually make for a fuller body, as tying in a large clump will greatly increase bulk, as well as the wraps needed to secure it. Keep the amounts tied in small, and tie in as many small clumps as you can by moving forward slowly. Each tie-in should be only two wraps of thread, on top of one another, and not take up much space.
5. When you are almost close enough to the eye to finish the fly, switch colors, to a contrasting color, and tie in 2-5 pinches of that color using the same method as before. At this point, if there are unruly fibers projecting out over the eye, trim them as close to your thread wraps as you can. Whip finish, cement if desired, and stroke back the fibers.
The finished fly.
This one is actually a bit fuller than I normally like to tie them, preferring a body more like the size of just the gold portion, but with the red stripe incorporated. The fly's creator felt that the second color was a necessary part of the fly. I agree, noting how much the contrast enhances the appearance. With a good selection of laser yarn, the color combinations are nearly endless. Also, there is a great deal of customization that may take place from this basic platform. As I mentioned before, changing the tailing material would be a common variation. In addition, you could add a set of hourglass eyes, a hackle or marabou collar, egg veil, a floss or tinsel tail wrap, wire or tinsel rib, herl overwing, etc.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and, if you can find some Laser yarn, I hope you'll give this pattern a try!
As always, please feel free to leave your questions and comments about this fly and the tutorial itself.
This is just an update in my
review of the Vibram FiveFingers KSO shoes that I posted yesterday.
I finally got a few hours to spare in this unbelievably busy week, so I hit the stream to see what the trout were up to. I'd originally planned to just put on a pair of hip boots that I keep in my car at all times for just such an occasion, but then decided that it'd be a great opportunity to try out my KSOs (that I had on), in the water.
So, once I got to the stream (in this case, the Loyalhanna), I simply strung up my rod (Diamondglass 7'-0" 4wt), rolled up my jeans, and headed for the water.
The first thing I noticed was that the water was cold!
The second thing I noticed was the unbelievable amount of feeling the FiveFingers offered as I walked around the freestone streambed. Far better than the Teva sandals I normally use to wet wade, and obviously leaps and bounds better than hip boots or wading boots, I could feel each and every pebble underfoot.
Whether because of the individual toe pockets, the flexible sole, the zigzag siping, or, more likely, a combination of the three, I found myself walking around in the water far more naturally. While wading in hip boots is normally a cause for abandoning all fishing and worrying about secure placement of each step, the FiveFingers seemed to find solid purchase anywhere my foot fell on the slick, rounded stones in the Loyalhanna, freeing up my concentration, and allowing me to fish as I moved.
The Loyalhanna, like most freestone streams, has few, if any, jagged stones in the streambottom, so I didnt have to worry about sharp portrusions jabbing me underfoot, and the seperate pockets allowed my toes to flare a bit, increasing my footing in the silty sand that covers slower portions of the stream.
When I was ready to head home (or rather, when I had to tear myself away from fishing and head back to the busy schedule), it was nice to have such good traction for navigating up the bank in wet shoes. This, however, proved to be the only drawback of the FiveFingers that I've encountered so far: several times, I picked up stems of weeds and blades of grass between my toes. While it wasn't a huge issue, you definitely cant just bust through the weeds like you're used to doing with rubber hip boots.
When I got back to the car, I took off the shoes to see if the KSOs really kept stuff out, and was pleasantly surprised. While there were a very few tiny bits of sand and leaf litter in each shoe, the total amount was insignificant. In each shoe, I could count the individual bits of 'stuff' that got in. There was about 10 grains of sand in each shoe. Not hardly enough to notice. Overally, I was highly impressed, as I thought the elastic around the ankle would keep largers bits out, but allow silt to get all through the inside of the shoe. Nice job there, Vibram.
Back at the car, I took off my KSOs, dried my feet, and put on a pair of regular shoes, tossing the Vibrams behind my seat to dry. This was at about 6:30pm. Now, in the mean time, they were in my car, not in a normal airflow situation, but this morning they were still a little bit damp, something to consider if you plan on wearing them as an everyday shoe, or in extremely wet surroundings. I'm sure while being worn they'd dry much quicker.
By the way...I had one take on a #22 snowshoe caddis that I didn't get a good hookset on, and caught a nice healthy brown male on a #12 olive wulff. I saw alot of caddis fluttering around, in the #16-#20 neighborhood, but didn't see any trout eating any caddis. My guess is that standard caddis patterns will become effective very soon, and will remain effective until the first good frost.
...this IS a fishing blog, after all.
While the woolly bugger is a simple, highly effective fly that nearly every beginning tyer learns, this variation incorporates a woven body, to challenge intermediate tyers to learn a new technique that makes very realistic bodies, and a wide range of body color choices for nymphs, streamers, wet flies, and buggers.
Woven Body Woolly Bugger Tutorial
Materials:
Hook: Mustad 36890 Up-Eye Salmon Hook
Thread: 8/0 Uni (Black)
Weight: .020 Lead Wire
Tail: Marabou Blood Quill
Body: Embroidery Floss, 2 colors, woven
Hackle: Rear: Short barb streamer saddle hackle
Front: Long, webby, strung neck hackle
Instructions:
1. Place hook in vise and wrap lead onto shank, leaving plenty of room in front of the bend to tie marabou tail. Wind up to the point where the wire from the hook eye ends. Press wraps up against the end of the hook wire and ensure that the lead underbody is smooth & even.
2. Select a piece of marabou in your chosen color for the tail. In this case, i'll be using hot pink. I prefer to use the "blood quill" marabou for bugger tails.
3. Tie in marabou tail in a length about equal to the hook shank. Trim the butt of the quill and tie down ends.
4. Select a saddle hackle in an appropriate color. This is a good place to use the hackle on a dry saddle with barbs to long or soft to be of any use in a dry fly. I have a few cheap saddles from Keough that I like to use on my buggers, but any saddle with shorter barbs will work. A size #6 salmon hook is shown for scale.
5. Prepare the hackle by trimming away the "fluff" at the base...
6. ...and sweeping the fibers of the feather 'against the grain', leaving a portion of the fibers at the tip in their natural position.
7. Tie in the hackle over the top of the shank, protruding off of the rear end of the hook over the bend (sorry about the slightly blurry image, but you get the idea). Be sure to leave a bit of space between the tie-in point and where your swept back fibers start. This will give you room to start wrapping your hackle later, and will make for a neater looking fly.
8. Select two contrasting colors of embroidery floss. This can be purchased at nearly any craft store, and, unless you get special neon, metallic, or other specialty flosses, the standard colors are quite cheap and available in a wide array of colors. I got three colors of this floss for just over $1 today.
9. Cut a 6-12" strand of each color. 6" will be just about right for a single fly, with enough of a tag leftover to hold comfortably. 12" will be long for the first few flies, but will tie as many as 3-5 flies or more, thus there's far less waste if you tie multiples. Even so, at 35-40 cents per mini-skein, you dont have to feel too awful bad about wasting a few inches.
10. Tie both strands down the length of the shank, extending out over the rear of the hook. Tie in the top color (top of the hook shank after weaving) on the side closest to you, and tie the bottom color on the side opposite you. After both strands of floss are secure, try to smooth out any lumps in the existing body with thread, then whip finish and trim the thread off, otherwise, the bobbin will interfere with the weaving process. Alternately, you can tie a half-hitch to secure the thread, then hang the bobbin straight back off of the rear of the hook somehow, and weave over the standing thread. Then, when you finish the weave and tie off, you'll have a small piece of thread running the length of your body that will need to be cut off with scissors. Either method will work.
Beginning the Weave
11. Start the weaving process by first orienting your vise so that the hook shank is pointing directly toward you. This will make weaving much easier, and will enable you to weave the entire body without having to let go of the floss, and it will also allow you to weave tightly, without tying knots, until you tie things off at the front end of the body. Once the hook is facing you, bring the top color, in this case, the white floss, over the top of the hook shank.
12. Pass the top thread beneath the bottom thread, passing under from the bend toward the eye. Grasp the end of the top thread with your left hand and the end of the bottom thread with your right. From this point on, you should not have to let go of the floss threads until you are ready to finish up the weave.
13. Pass the top (white) thread back up over the top of the hook shank to the other side. From this point on, the top thread should never get lower than halfway down the side of the shank, and the bottom thread should never pass higher than halfway up the shank.
14. Bring the bottom thread down, underneath the shank, to the left side of the hook (the top thread is already over here). In the picture, the 'knot' formed where the top and bottom threads hook each other is not in the correct position. Ideally, you should keep these hooked knots in line with one another, on opposite sides of the shank, halfway up/down the side. Dont worry, though, the knot is easy to adjust by pulling on the ends of the threads. Just get it where you want it and keep some tension until you complete the next hook-weave, which will lock the previous one in place.
15. Now bring the top thread under the bottom thread to once again 'hook' it, then pass it back up over the top of the body. This will have the effect of crossing your hands, and will seem awkward, but it's the correct method. The picture is taken after passing the top thread under the bottom one, but before carrying it over the shank. In the picture, I'm holding both strands of floss in one hand, but only so I can take the picture. While weaving, the ends of the threads should never leave your grasp.
16. Now bring the bottom thread back under the hook shank to the right side of the hook. This completes one set of the hook weave, and uncrosses your arms. To continue the weave, just repeat these steps, with the threads hooking one another on opposite sides of the shank.
17. Finish the weave off. This can be a little tricky, because you need to maintain tension on the floss strands and restart your thread at the same time. For me, the easiest way to do this is to weave until both colors of floss are on the left side of the shank (still looking down from above), then wrap the top color up over one last time, then pull both strands down. The hook shank will be supporting the top thread and the top thread in turn will support the bottom thread. With both threads being pulled down, transfer the tips of both threads into your right hand. This is a good time to swing the vise back around to the normal tying position.
18. Then pick up your bobbin with your left hand and grasp the free end of the thread along with the floss in your right hand and pass your bobbin up and over the hook shank.
19. Make a few tight wraps, dropping the bobbin on the far side of the shank (because your right hand will prevent standard wrapping). After 2-3 good tight wraps, binding the tag ends of the floss down, you can let go with your right hand.
20. Trim the tag ends of both strands of floss and your recently restarted thread, and build a smooth thread taper. If you didnt trim your thread, but rather had it hanging off the back of the vise, steps 17-19 would change by having you lift the thread over the back of the body, pinching it with the strands of floss, and making your wraps. Then once you had the floss tied off, not only would you have the tag ends to trim, but also the short length of black thread between the tail and the front of your body.
21. Palmer your saddle hackle forward over the body. As you wind the hackle, it should rest in the notches in the sides of your woven body made by the points where the floss threads hooked each other on the sides.
22. Select a webby piece of strung neck hackle, with long fibers, in an appropriate color. A #6 hook is shown for scale.
23. Pull the fibers back, against the grain, except for a small bit at the tip, to give you a place to tie in. I like to leave the fluffly base of the feather on this hackle to make it easier to grip, which, for me, eliminates the need to use hackle pliers.
24. Tie in the piece of strung neck hackle by the tip, along the thread taper you just made on your fly.
25. Trim the hackle tip, advance your thread to the eye, and wind up the entire hackle (the webby portion only, do not wind up the fluffy feather base). Be sure to gently sweep your fingers back from the eye of the hook toward the bend prior to making each wrap, to avoid binding down any hackle fibers pointing forward. At this point, its not critical to keep your fibers angled in any direction, as long as they're not getting bound down by your hackle stem in a position out over the eye of the hook. If this happens, just back up, sweep your fingers back along the fly, and place another hackle wrap immediately in front of the last one. Tie off the hackle and trim.
26. Build a thread head that extends back to just over the front edge of the hackle. This will give your hackle collar a swept-back effect that, in my opinion, makes for a much better looking fly. Try to make this head small, neat, and smooth. If it turns out a little bulky, though, don't worry. The fish dont mind. Whip finish, trim your thread, and apply a coat of Sally Hansens' Hard-as-nails if you desire.
The Finished Fly:
Well, its been quite some time since I've posted anything here at Tailing Loops, longer still since I posted a review, so here goes.
While this isn't a review of a piece of fly fishing equipment, a book, or some other directly-related item, I feel its worth talking about.
The Vibram FiveFingers line of shoes are a radical departure from typical shoe design. Made for a wide range of activities from walking to yoga, running, trekking, and even boating, these shoes are designed to allow your foot to do what it was designed to do: support your body.
The FiveFingers line consists of four specific models of shoe: Classic, Sprint, KSO, and Flow. The Classic is the baseline model, while the Spring incorporates a strap across the open top, the KSO provides a closed-top that fits against the underside of the ankle made of light synthetic fabric, and the Flow replaces the light material with neoprene, for water and cold-weather activity. For my purposes, I picked up a pair of the KSOs (short for keep-stuff-out), and that's the specific shoe I'm dealing with in this review.
Taking a minimalist approach, Vibram's goal with this shoe is to provide all the sensations and benefits of walking barefoot, with the protection of their TC-1 rubber to eliminate the dangers posed by sun-baked asphalt, bees, and bits of glass and metal that normally make going barefoot a bad idea, especially in urban areas. Vibram approached the design of this shoe based on the idea of letting feet do what they were meant to do.
The design of the human foot is superb for walking, running, and jumping. While many animals are capable of impressive sprints, the human body, specifically the feet, are made for long-distance running, and some tribal people in Africa actually participate in persistence hunting, where they will literally chase antelopes and other animals to exhaustion. Wearing rigid, inflexible shoes prevents your feet from flexing and adapting properly to conditions. Many common foot problems today are caused or aggravated by shoes that impede the function of the foot, or provide too much rigidity and support, allowing the joints and muscles to weaken. In fact, it is believed that many high-end running shoes do more harm than good! To the contrary, the FiveFingers provide basic protection and cushioning for the foot without interfering with the natural motions of the foot and toes while walking. It is also believed that walking barefoot may improve posture, strengthen feet, ankles, and calves, and reduce back pain. With these shoes, your feet will be able to function properly again.
Description
The first things you notice when looking at any of the FiveFingers shoes are the toes. These minimalist shoes feature individual pockets for every toe on your foot, literally fitting like a glove. This design keeps your toes spaced out, which allows them to settle individually onto the ground with each step, improving balance and footing. It also means that these shoes wont keep all your toes crowded together, basically acting as an extension of your foot, rather than the individual elements they really are. While the feeling of the fabric between the toes is unusual, and at first, maybe even uncomfortable for some, once you get past that, the freedom your toes have while wearing these shoes is great. When out on a trail, the increased footing and stability is subtle but definitely noticeable, as your toes each settle independently of the rest.
The second most striking feature of the shoe is the sole. The soles are thin, and flex to conform to the ground you're walking on and carry the feeling through to your foot. As you walk, you can easily tell the difference between the difference surfaces you're walking on, from grass, to weeds, to dirt, gravel, pavement, brick, etc. The rubber also does a good job of protecting your foot from pointy objects, and while a large (baseball-sized) pointy rock under your arch will still be uncomfortable, you can run across gravel, even big, rough gravel, without worry.
First Impressions
As advertised, the KSO, with its full upper, does indeed keep stuff out. I took my puppy, Taka for a walk in my KSOs and we covered gravel, concrete pavement, grass (freshly cut), and sand. When we got home and I took my shoes off, there wasn't even one blade of grass or grain of sand inside. The mesh upper is elastic enough to remain form-fitting around the base of the ankle, throughout its range of motion, and the strap keeps the shoe from working loose as you walk, even up and down steep grades.
The tread on the sole is not very aggressive, as you can see from the picture, incorporating some low-relief scalloping in the high-wear areas, and siping (tiny zig-zag patterns that spread open as you step to form treads) everywhere except the arch and toes. This fairly tame tread design, combines with the Vibram rubber to give surprisingly good traction, even on wet grass. I was also surprised by how much "grip" I was able to get on wet or loose surfaces just from my toes being able to make individual contact with the ground.
The shoe is unmistakable unique in appearance, and although nobody has said anything, I've already gotten a few curious looks in stores and on sidewalks. They're the type of shoes one might call "dorky", and I'd imagine its one of those things that you either love it or hate it. Its definitely not for everyone, but if you don't mind standing out a little and getting some quizzical stares, the FiveFingers is a great shoe for exercise as well as everyday wear. I wear my KSOs without socks, though I may get a pair of the Injinji toe socks to wear with them once the weather cools off, as the thin mesh upper is very breatheable, and will allow feet to get quite cold.
Fit
Out of the box, these shoes can be a challenge to don properly. Try as I might the first day I had them, I couldn't convince the toes beside my big toes to go in the right pockets of the shoes. It's best to start with the big toe and work your way out, though, at first, it will take you a bit longer to put on these shoes than your normal sneakers. Once they're on though, these KSOs do a good job of staying secure to your foot, combining the form fitting fabric of the top of the shoe with an adjustable velcro strap that wraps around the heel, then over the top of the foot. I've read some reviews and blogs that made it seem impossible to do, but within 2-3 days, the FiveFingers are not at all difficult to put on. Yes, they do take a few seconds more attention than most shoes, but it really isn't a big ordeal. Like Vibram suggests, just start with the big toe and fit each toe in one at a time, and usually, you'll get the shoe on within a few moments. If not, just wiggle your toes and guide them into the proper places with your hands. When you get them in place, it's all worth it.
Once I got the shoes on my feet, they fit great and stayed secure on my foot, almost like a second skin. The entire FiveFingers line is light, and my KSO model weighs in at 5.7 oz per shoe. This lightness really helps enhance the experience of "barefooting". My toes at first didn't seems to want to wort themselves into the proper pockets of the shoes, but once they're in, they really stay put quite well, and the mesh upper stretches across the top of my foot without any feeling of being pulled tight.
One of my biggest issues when buying shoes is that while I'm not flat-footed, my arches are fairly low and wide. This pretty much rules out any true running shoe for the most part. With their high, cushioned arches for increased support, just walking in most of them is a painful experience for me. Normally, I just end up getting a vaguely defined "Casual" shoe, or I spend quite a long time trying on various athletic shoes until I find one with an arch to suit me. Though I don't skateboard, I've found that "skate shoes", like Vans are typically a good choice for me as well. Still, finding anything between a walking shoe and a boot has been challenging. These shoes presented no arch challenge at all, and in fact, feel great on my feet, conforming to the shape of my arch with every step.
One of the first things I noticed when taking my first few steps in the FiveFingers was that, without the thick sole of a conventional shoe, my stride was a little bit off. Each time I wear them, it gets more natural, but I did notice that just wearing these shoes has changed both my posture and stride, hopefully for the better.
The Verdict
Overall, in the short time I've had my Vibram FiveFingers KSO shoes, I've been very pleased with them. The separate toe pockets and thin sole feel unlike any shoe I've ever worn before, and the difference feels great. They offer an improved level of balance and allow the toes to move independently, improving posture, stride, and, in the long term, making your foot stronger.
Though I have yet to do so, I plan to wear my FiveFingers while fishing a few times, to see how they do in a flowing stream, on silty and sandy bottoms and slippery, moss-covered rocks. The Vibram website indicates that the KSOs are recommended for flats fishing, so I'd imagine that they'd hold up fairly well in a trout stream too!
For anyone who does any amount of hiking, you know what a difference lighter footwear can make in terms of fatigue and hiking enjoyment. These shoes are quite light and even short walks are a noticeable pleasant activity. The 'barefoot' feel of these shoes makes a walk in a pair of FiveFingers unlike a walk in any other shoe. Just feeling the textures, temperatures, and subtle details of the ground beneath you makes any walk a very interesting experience, and you'll be strengthening your foot and ankle muscles in the process! Long story short: if you like walking in the woods, walking barefoot, or walking in general, try on a pair of FiveFingers.
Hey there to all my readers!
I just wanted to post an update to let you know that Tailing Loops is not 'dead' by any meaning of the word. Its just that I haven't been fishing much over the past month or so, mostly due to a new addition to the family in the form of an energetic young chocolate lab pup, Taka.
Got on a trout stream for the first time in weeks last night, and while I didnt catch anything but trees and rocks, it felt good. Hopefully, as Taka matures, I'll get more chances to fish...and post! I have a new rod to put through the paces and I owe you, the reader, a few reviews! Also, my sophomore steelhead season is just a few weeks away, and I hope to put up some pictures of some streamers I've been tying as well as an assortment of laser eggs. I've also got plans bouncing around the mind for a pattern that might be very effective both drifted and swung, but none of those ideas have come close to a bare hook shank...yet!
Just wanted to thank people for their comments and their continued interest in the blog, and to encourage you to keep checking back!
Maybe I'll have to put up a few pictures of Taka too, to prove I'm not just making up excuses!
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While I was at wal-mart over the weekend to get a hunting license, standing in the loooong line (courtesy of the new, faster system), I couldnt help but spot a new crop of fishing rods sprouting from the display. Specifically catching my eye were the bright yellow eagle claws. I'd picked up one of the spinning models a few months ago, and thought about converting it to a fly rod (there werent any fly-models available at the store), but decided it'd be more trouble than it was worth. Now though, mixed in with the spinning rods, I saw what appeared to be fly rod handles and reel seats. Sure enough, after getting my license, I was pleased to see a few of the 7' 5-6wt rods. Mass-produced and cheaply made, general consensus on the rods still seems to be that, for $20, they're still a heck of a buy and a fun rod inside, say, 40 feet. With the totally pointless, but totally necessary ritual "test shake" complete (kind of like the tire kick when buying a car), I took one home.
Saturday looked like rain, so I postponed the planned trip to a bass & gill pond, but Sunday was beautiful, so I decided to take it out for trout instead. Attaching the only spare reel I've got, the battered graphite reel that came with my starter kit spooled up with some SA AirCel 2 line, I headed out for Indian creek. Once I got to the water, I remembered why I'd retired the reel. It's never quite been the same ever since it tangled with a fresh fall run steelie, and it basically free-spools in both directions. After adjusting for that, I was throwing some nice loops and really found the slooooow rod to my liking. No, it wasnt about to throw a tight loop 60' into a wind gust, but the little cheap rod was, as I'd heard, reliable inside 40' and could roll cast surprisingly well.
I decided to start simple, and found a pool holing some nice trout and threw a few different colors of woolly bugger. Most of these fish were fairly spooky in the slow, clear water, but one was a consistent chaser, and eventually, I got him to take the fly. For a brief moment, I felt the pull of a nice fish on the full-flex rod then, almost as if he knew the game, the trout did a quick loop around a submerged stick, pulled himself tight, and gave a quick head shake, easily snapping the 4X tippet and freeing himself. It was all over within 5 seconds. Disappointed, but encouraged, I got back on the trail and hiked upstream to a few other pools that had held trout last summer. One was devoid of anything larger than a 3" chub this year, but the next one was home to about a half dozen fish, one of which was actually a smallish tiger. Trying the buggers again, I got very little interest so I decided to go smaller, especially after seeing a few of the trout taking something underwater, near the streambed. I switched to a #14 cream caddis larva and tried a drift & swing approach. I was hesitant to drift it through the group, as they were lying fairly close together, and there was a real risk of bumping them with my leader and spooking them or worse, getting my leader across one of them and snagging it when it felt the line and bolted.
Luckily, the drift & swing worked. My first cast saw three trout following, and within ten minutes or so, a cast that had a few chasers saw one of the bigger fish, a slightly battle-scarred brown, move up and take the fly.
As my friend Jerry might have described it, the rod danced to match the trout's fight, flexing from the tip, most of the way to the (surprisingly nice) cork grip. I was pleased to note that while the top half of the rod was soft and supple, the lower half showed a surprising amount of backbone, allowing me to play the fish out and direct it into more open water.
Before long, the trout came to net, and after a quick snapshot, was released, still full of fight, taking off out of my grip as soon as it felt the water.
I just read a short
write-up about the World Fly Fishing Championships over at PAFlyFish.com, and was interested to note that for a tournament held in Scotland, the native Scots, fishing their home waters, were bested by both the Brits and the French. It got me to thinking about the whole notion of "home waters" and how it might or might not matter in the taking of fish on any given day. Sure, you get to know the subtlelities of each riffle and pool, as well as how the fish tend to respond in certain circumstances. If you're really into it, you may know of specific insects that hatch there and the little things you can do at the tying bench to better match them. But on any single day (or series of days, as evinced by the Championships here), what determines whether this day will be a learning experience, or a day to reap the benefits of past learning days (of few fish)?
Also, it makes me realize just how much a "good day" is a relative thing, even in terms of catching, with all notions of "getting out of the office" and "reconnecting with nature" as side benefits. When I go to one of the two trout streams I hit most often (I feel I'm still too new into fly fishing to have true "home waters"), a true good day in terms of catching usually sees me land at least 2-3 trout, depending onhow long I stay out. For me, its not about catching huge numbers of trout, but catching, for me, certainly is a part of it.
Now that I'm starting to use dries, I'm missing a lot more strikes...or maybe I'm missing the same amount of strikes, but now I just notice it. Either way, each refusal and missed strike, at this point, is as encouraging as it is frustrating. On one hand, yes, I've failed to connect with yet another fish, failed to put it all together with a good cast, drag free drift, line mends, slack management, hookset, etc. Somewhere along the line, I failed to get things just right and the result was a fish that didn't come to the net. On the other hand, each refusal and missed take is an encouragement to me, because it shows me I've at least got something right. A refusal usually means that presentation, the approach, cast, and drift, were satisfactory, acceptable if not great, but the fly itself was objectionable to the fish in some way. A missed take means, usually, that either I was allowing too much slack, or wasn't paying attention. Either way, it shows I'm slowly but surely learning.
But getting back to the tournament...why is it that the fish have a knack for putting us in our place? (Apparently, for the Scots, that place is third place.) I've heard it said, simply, that, "The fish are always right." And I believe that describes the tournament situation better than any analysis anyone could give. For whatever reason, the fish liked the offerings of the other fishermen better than those of the Scots. Its the same reason a fish will ignore, or even dodge away from, the lovingly rendered flawless imitation of the most prolific nymph in the stream, only to rise to a #12 royal wulff or clamp onto a hot pink wooly bugger. Its why fish consistently confound scientist and anglers alike who preach that each time a trout feeds, its a careful calculation, balancing calorie intake versus calorie burn...until they start ignoring the plentiful nymphs and charging across the stream and leaping into the air for emergers. It's why, on any given day, the rank amateur has a truly plausible chance at showing up the seasoned vet. Why, although we can get damn good at this, noone's yet mastered it. And ultimately, the quest to hook a few more is what hooks us in return, and keeps us coming back for more.
Though a bottle of fine scotch whisky and those two ladies in the plaid skirts make a pretty good incentive too..
For a fly fisherman...that's a good thing!
Like I said earlier, I've been getting into fishing dries. After Jerry and I fished the Little Mahoning on Saturday, we met up again on the Loyalhanna, the closest thing I have to a "home water". No the fishing isnt always spectacular, but unless the trout are getting overpressured by the flocks of weekend anglers, I can usually manage to pull one or two in a full evening of fishing. Sunday was a nice day, and the fish were surfacing all around us...unfortunately, it was to something small and difficult to imitate.
Jerry was getting some attention with beetles and nymphs, while I was only getting limited glances at my dry and wet offerings. It was one of those afternoons where you burn through more tippet by switching flies than tangles, fish, or wear and tear. Finally, I managed to convince a fish, a 14" rainbow, on a #18 Griffith's gnat. I was pleased to have caught a fish on such a small fly, especially aftercutting my teeth in fly fishing on #8 buggers. At the same time, Jerry pulled in a fish lower in the pool, for a double hookup on an otherwise slow, but beautiful day.
We fished for a few hours with little further success...a few bites and rises, but no major activity...and after a while, Jerry headed up to his van and returned with his 3 wt. Diamondglass rod. I'd asked about the Diamondglass line before, so he made sure to bring it along for me to try out with the Cortland Sylk line he's got it rigged with. As we traded rods, me accepting the Diamondglass in return for my 3 wt Avid, Jerry advised me to take my time and slow it down, as the rod was considerably slower than most. He had a very light 7X tippet on, so I decided to stick with my MO of the afternoon and tied on another #18 Griffith's Gnat. I worked some of the mustard colored Sylk line out of the tip top then threw it into my first loop on the rod.
As was to be expected, I was a little quick on the draw, and the first loop collapsed ineffectively, running out of 'oomph' well short of turnover. Lifting the line again, I false cast a few times to get the hang of the action, finding it was definitely slower than my Avid, though not by a vast margin. Within a few more practice casts, I was throwing tight, delicate loops in the thin line, across the modest distance to the rising trout in the feeding lane.
Jerry seemed to discover this at about the same time, remarking that the "Moderate-Fast" descriptor didnt really describe the Avid exactly, and that he felt it was closer to a Moderate. For his part, Jerry had tied on one of his beetles, which seemed to excite the trout in front of him, as he had several risers come to the beetle as I got to know the Diamondglass.
As I fished with it, I found it to be a pleasant little rod that forced you to slow your cast down before you could appreciate its exceptional smoothness. My Avid is certainly more crisp, and seems to communicate better what it's doing during the cast, while the Diamondglass is seamlessly smooth and delicate, loading and unloading with an unmistakeable feel that manages to be definite and tangible but also silky smooth and inseperable at the same time, with load transitioning into unload without any distinct point at which it hapens. In short: while I like my St. Croix for its precision, versatility, and the way it "talks to me in plain language", I like the Diamondglass for its delicacy, smoothness, and the way it almost seemed to cast itself. The Avid is certainly the more useful rod for me, but, with enough space to cast and maneuver, that Diamondglass was a true delight to cast, and if I ever see one at a price my budget can justify, it'll be near-impossible to pass it up. I was casting Jerry's 3 wt. 7'-0", but I'd probably go for the 8'-0" 4 wt. to better round out my quiver.
As we fished, Jerry remarked a few times that he really wanted me to catch one on the glass rod, just as I wanted him to get a fish on the end of the Avid. While he eventually got a few bites on his beetle, I drifted that Griffiths gnat again and again, with only casual interest from the otherwise active, feeding trout.
Suddenly, though, with little flash, one trout decided it was time, and firmly attached himself to the fly with a quick rise and sip and the fight was on! The first thing I noticed was that the soft rod made a good hookset a whole new issue, as a flick of the wrist was just as likely to simply flex the rod as it was to actually drive the hook home. Lucky for me, the trout had taken care of that, lodging the #18 hook firmly in the corner of its jaw. As the healthy 12" brown ran and leapt, I was grinning from ear to ear, enjoying the grace with which the rod came alive with a fish on the line. Just as Jerry had described it, the rod "danced" as I fought the fish, eventually pulling it within range of my net. A quick scoop, and the fight was over. I freed the brown and was back to fishing quickly, but the memory of the fish on the line will be one that will make it hard for me to pass up a deal on a nice, light glass rod.
Eventually, it was time for Jerry to head out, so we bot made the walk back to the parking area, where we traded rods back and Jerry changed out of waders. For my part, I slipped my Avid into the passenger seat of my car, and, waders still on, I headed for Mill Creek. Fishing had been slow here on the 'hanna, and I didn't expect much out of the smaller creek to the north, but I wasn't done fishing, and I figured that Mill creek would be less crowded, even if it was slow.
Little did I know, that while I would indeed have my chosen section of mill creek all to myself, the fishing would be anything but slow...
This morning I made the drive up, farther than I normally go for trout, to the Little Mahoning creek in northern Indiana County. I was meeting J, a friend from both a previous fishing adventure in Erie as well as the vast melting pot we call the internet. He's both an extremely knowledgeable trout fisherman and an extremely talented writer who shares many of his adventures with anyone who cares to read
his blog.
Recently, I've become interested in tackling dry fly fishing, and, along with several others on the
FishUSA boards, J has stepped up and offered all sorts of valuable tips and suggestions. His offer to join him on the Little M was eagerly accepted. As I made my way up Rte. 119 my excitement grew, until i reached the stream, where I noticed J's motorcycle parked in the gravel between the road and the stream. Quickly, I parked, got out, and started donning my gear, thankful that I had my 3 wt. already strung up, riding VIP-style in the passenger seat for the trip this morning.
After i had my waders and vest situated, I got back in the front of the car for the pair of #18 para-sulphurs I'd tied the night before. (Which, by the way, looked damn fine for a first attempt at a #18 parachute tie, if I do say so myself...). I checked the passenger seat, the cupholder, the center console...even the glove compartment. Rats! No sulphurs! Suddenly, in my mind's eye, I could see the otherwise empty Dai-riki hook box, sitting all alone on my tying desk. With a sigh and a mental shrug, I abandoned the thought of using the little yellow flies today. Retrieving my rod from the car, I noted that in my excitement, I'd totally neglected to even open the lid of the coffee I'd brought along, a rarity indeed for this caffeine junky.
As I finished donning the armor of a fly angler, the man across the stream (who I'd already seen bringing a trout to hand) called out, "You wouldn't happen to be Mark, would you?"
"That's me", I replied, figuring that this was probably J, who I'd only ever met once before.
A pause, then, "Cold, right?", a nickname I have gone by on websites across the internet for years.
"Yup."
"Get down here, man! They're all over the place, and they're rising!"
Even more excited, I made my way over, and after a brief, no-nonsense greeting, we got to the task at hand. The fish were active, and more "stacked up" that I was used to seeing. Feeding, but managing to be choosy just the same. I got several tips and suggestions and a few flies (which I tucked away to use as patterns), and managed to raise a few fish, but missed the few that actually took. After some time, J headed off downstream. I fished the tail of the pool to let him get a good lead on me, then slowly followed, taking a drift through any water that looked promising. At one point, something rose to my parachute adams, just enough to disturb its downstream voyage and make a few ripples. It didnt sink the fly, but it was definitely a fish. A few drifts later, the fly went under and I set the hook. All at once, I felt the weight of a fish...barely. The tiny 2" minnow came out of the water behind line, leader, and fly as I set the hook...landing at my feet. With a little disappointment, I freed the little guy and continued on, eventually meeting back up with J at a nice, deep little pool.
"There's two real nice ones in there.", came the greeting of a true fisherman, as he crouched beside the pool, throwing some sort of light colored nymph into the head of the pool, "Here."
J offered his polarized glasses which helped me realize that the two dark-colored "rocks" in the back of the pool were actually large trout. At first I thought they were motionless, but little by little, I noticed them working the bottom, though not nearly as active as the mess of trout sharing the pool with them, feeding higher in the water.
After a few moments, he instructed me to cover the lower half of the pool, showing me the albino nymph he was using and giving me one of my own to try. I seemed to be getting more attention by swinging my albino nymph rather than drifting, so I went with it, and soon had 3-4 energetic browns nipping at my offering as it crossed in front of them.
Finally, one, braver than the rest, darted forward and bit hard.
"All right!", I exclaimed, letting J know I had one on. Soon after, I brought a 14" brown to the net.
We continued to fish that hole for some time, J hooking up with several fish, before finally, he had to head out. He gave me a second albino nymph, just in case, and headed back toward his bike.
As for me, I felt certain I could persuade at least one more fish in this pool, so I stuck around, continuing to work the albino nymph, with a small piece of shot a few inches up the line. Every few swings through the pool would attract a crowd of interested, but hesitant trout.
Finally I decided to drift it straight into them rather than swinging past. Just before it got there, however, a large dark form rose and intercepted the nymph purposefully and without flair. CHOMP! In disbelief, I set the hook and the battle was on!
The big fish gave me the obligiatory head shake then pulled me purposefully into deeper water. He was headed upstream, so I just maintained constant pressure and let him fight the current. At the top of the pool, he gave another head shake, then tried to nose into slower water on the opposite shore. With a fish like this on a light rod, I used a few bits of wisdom learned from steelhead fishing, where you want to make the fish fight you AND the current, and not give him a rest to regain energy, otherwise he'll fight all day. Using what backbone my 3 weight offered against such a large fish, I got his nose into the faster water, which got him once again swimming hard, this time toward me.
I stripped in line as he got to my side, but then he saw me moving and then he showed me a whole new set of gears. He als showed me a good side view, and it was then that I saw some markings that made this a special fish indeed: the worm-like pattern of a tiger trout.
Before I could dwell on it too much, though, he darted downstream fast as a fish half his size, and it was then that I realized that from stripping, I had a pile of slack! Bad move, Mark!
With the best approximation of drag I could muster with my hands, I gave the fish line, and even took half a step at following him downstream. Just then, he turned back into the pool and dove deep and I raised my rod tip accordingly. While he was down, I took the change to furiously reel in the slack at my arms and finally get this fish "on the reel". After another moment of thought, I tightened my drag down a touch. Still, plenty light to protect my 5X tippet, but with enough stubbornness to keep him occupied should he decide to run again.
Back more or less to where he started, the big tiger tried to lay low and catch his breath. He seemed stuck fast to the bottom, and for a moment, I feared he'd looped me around a rock or log. Then the sensitive tip of my St. Croix felt a slight headshake, and with a grin, I applied some sideways pressure, which aggrivated him into another run, swooping in a wide curve, up and out of the hole, this time, the drag on my Tioga reel clicking at a good pace.
Again at the top of the pool, the tiger and I both realized that he had run out of tricks...and space...and he became content to make like a smallmouth, and make quick, powerful pulls into the deepest water he could find, his bright orange belly occasionally betraying his position in brief flickering reflections. It was all I could do to hang on at this point and enjoy the fight, as my Avid rod did most of the work, "dancing", as J likes to describe it, as it matched the tiger's fight move for move. I was grateful for the softer action of the Avid rod as the big trout darted around, attached to the light tippet.
For the first time, the brute showed some signs of fatigue, allowing himself to be lifted to the surface. Just as fast, though, he'd nose back down, as if to show me he was still the boss. Each time he came close, I'd get the net ready, and each time, just as I was about to scoop him up, he'd charge off, back to the deeper water, and it was all I could do to stay connected.
Finally, the runs became shorter, and I was able to keep the net with him, and just like that, the battle was over.
After posing for a few shots, the stubborn old fish was gently lowered back into his stream, and held there gently until he'd caught his breath enough to hold position in the faster current. After release he sat motionless in the side of the pool, getting his bearings for a few minutes, then gracefully drifted back to the same position he started in, looking much like the rock he appeared to be, before he saw my albino nymph...
