Some fishermen frown on the use of weighted flies. In the case of the nymph, however, in order to reach the lower feeding strata of water, it is sometimes necessary. The added weight should ordinarily be built into the nymph when it was tied. A weight added to the leader will work but some difficulty [...]
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Many authors have delved into this subject very thoroughly and have presented their findings in elaborate passages explaining the whys and wherefores of hooks for fly tying. I can only say I agree with most of ‘em. To save your time this chapter will be brief and I hope will not leave you in a [...]
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On dry flies, the tail has an extremely important function, in that it assists greatly in floating the fly in a natural position. Also, inasmuch as the mayflies have this graceful appendage, it is a necessary part in simulating the appearance of the fly.Tails are generally fashioned from stripped hackle fibers or barbs, hackle tips, [...]
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I cannot emphasize too strongly the necessity of observing and studying the insects in and on the fishing water. Not necessarily from the technical, diagnostic standpoint of an entomological student but with the idea of outward appearance in an attempt to solve the riddle of the fishes’ viewpoint. By no stretch of the imagination am [...]
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Practically every fiber, animal and vegetable, has been tried and used in some way or other as a body on flies. New ones are discovered daily. Those that have been experimented with and found not wanting and have proven their value are primarily the dubbing furs such as fox, muskrat, opossum, seal, mole, badger, [...]
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Perhaps I seem derisive when I touch on the old-fashioned cut wings from flight feathers of the duck, the starling, etc., but I am convinced they’re on their way out. They do look quite prepossessing when tied correctly even though they are opaque, which the wings they are supposed to imitate are not, but after [...]
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There are many variations of the principal types of necks (capes) or hackle quills. For instance, the Grizzly or Plymouth Rock hackle ranges from a deeply marked pattern which overall looks dark gray, to an extremely sparse marking which is almost to the white range. This light hackle with the sparse markings is often called [...]
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A FLY is only as good as the material that goes into it. Mediocre or actually poor material will only result in an inferior product even when tied by the most skillful craftsman. It is difficult in the extreme to verbally portray, in all aspects, just what is good and what is not so good [...]
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As we mentioned before in other articles, many fancy flies resemble nothing in nature. The outstanding examples of this are the old type salmon flies, the steelhead flies and in trout flies one well-known fly is the Royal Coachman. This fly has been a leader since 1878. Until we think like or experience a like [...]
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Another step upwards, in the rating of the cast fly, is its ACTION. It would perhaps be more apt to say, “Its lack of action,” because this pertains to naturalness of the fly on the water. It means, in other words, that there is a complete lack of drag, the fly presenting a cocky realistic [...]
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I have, throughout many seasons of fishing, experimented by using two different shades of color in the same fly pattern. For instance, a light blue dun quill bodied fly alternated with one of a darker shade of blue dun. The same experiment with a light Cahill type fly alternated with one of a darker pattern [...]
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Many years ago, on the Manistee River in Michigan, I overheard a statement made by a fisherman, in skill with the rod and fly and in sportsmanship. The more I have thought about this assertion over the years the more convinced I am that he was right.He said, “Forget everything about your fly except in [...]
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Trout Stream Insects From the standpoint of imitating the trout’s most important food, wet flies lead all other artificials. This is because aquatic insects in their underwater, or non-flying, stages constitute by far the largest portions of the food of all stream trout. This is true for Brook trout, Brown trout, Rainbows, Cutthroats and Dolly [...]
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LIVE BAIT FISHING FOR TROUT You can take trout with a wet fly, nymph or bucktail, especially in water above 40°, and I’ll tell you just how to do it later on. Just now though, let’s see what is the best way to use the lowly but very fish-taking angle worm or minnow in conditions [...]
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Bass are ravenous eaters and are known to eat prey up to half of their own length. Because bass swallow their prey whole, the size of bass fishing flies must be smaller than the width of the bass mouth. Being hungry predators, they usually seek out the largest prey they can find that will fit [...]
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