Spring Flies 2014

THE EINSTEIN FLY BOX

It's Fully Inexplicable

some are even used by experts

WALLPAPER: A RED DRY ?

-------

.. Come Saturday the faithful and the less so will descend upon the rivers of Yellowstone National Park for a ritual deflowering of the year's fishing season: some fish will be caught. Most of the fish will remain unmolested for the moment.
.. Einstein said that "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." By that definition many of the fisher folks on Saturday are experiencing that condition. They will go to the same places, with the same flies, using the same techniques, and following the same sage advice as failed them last year.
.. This year's runoff event has not been exceptionally notable. This year's runoff  has, on the other hand, has changed some portions of the west side rivers in significant ways. Do it the same as granny did if you choose. Read those old books if you like. Go find the illustrated sacred rocks and boulders if you must.
.. The Spring Fly Box this year is heavily dependent on nymphs and, of course, the kind generosity of a few of the neighbor kids that have taken pity on our ineptitude and poor vision.
.. Some of the flies are recognizable as old favorites. Others are unique creations or modifications of recognizable patterns. All have and will catch fish.  Many will catch fish on Saturday. Some won't catch any fish at all - such is fly fishing.
.. We have been accused of being touched with the insanity germ and will start our riverside stroll on Saturday with a Feather Duster. It usually takes a fish or two so we're not expecting different results.

FEATHER DUSTER - ORIGINAL

FEATHER DUSTER - WHITE THORAX

FEATHER DUSTER - YELLOW THORAX

.. Our fall back nymph is,  also,  an old standby that is seldom seen in fancy fly shops these days. The Casual Dress is an oldie that has fallen out of favor in these days of beads and synthetics.

CASUAL DRESS

.. Albert also said that "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." We're very amenable to that.
.. On Saturday we will also be packing some of the neighborhood deviants, (not the folks but traditional, standard patterns, nymphs in various sizes and colors and materials.) This should change the facts of the matter pretty significantly.

BLACK WOOL NYMPH

CREAM WOOL NYMPH

ORANGE WOOL NYMPH

.. Should a change of facts not accomplish the compliance with our theory that the fish are eager, starved for attention and food, and in need of traditional nymphs.
.. We, again, turn to Albert for some sage insight: "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it." Since our consciousness is stuck in the retro rut and, we almost always first use antique flies,  perhaps a bit of synthetic consciousness is in order. These are the flies that the neighbor kids use to begin their day.

NEON WHAMME

ROCK WORM

PENGUIN

.. Again, we find our self agreeing with one of Einstein's most famous maxims: "The only real valuable thing is intuition." The intuition of some famous fisher folks is legend among fly fishers. Some say it's just a long history of experience.
.. On the other hand there are very young and inexperienced fishers that seem to have all the "luck." Go figure! The collective intuition of the neighborhood youngsters currently holds that the chamois leech-worm should be the go-to fly on opening day.

CHAMOIS WORM

.. The bugs that live in the water are more or less active and available as fish food year 'round. Anticipation in this part of the universe is firstly aimed at big bugs and then floating bugs. Right now there are a few floating bugs on the Firehole River. That same river is usually the first in the neighborhood to produce big bugs.
.. Of course Albert had something apropos to say about this kind of situation: "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." Perhaps the big bugs are moving.

BLACK STONEFLY NYMPH

.. Gifts from the gods arrive in various forms. On opening day there will probably be some surface scraps for both the fish and fishers to examine. These gifts and maybe some early caddis could be present if the sun is out.
.. Maybe even glorious flights of dinky fluff will arrive if the dreary days of Spring returns. A few floaters in the Einstein box should do for openers. We can't afford all the fancy new stuff dreamed up by the feather merchants over the Winter so we stick with things like the "Squished Caddis," or a Royal Coachman. Some of the limited production flies from around the neighborhood are in the box as well.
.. What would Albert say? "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

ROYAL COACHMAN

MASHED CADDIS

RUBBER BAND CADDIS

FURNACE AND GREEN CUL de CANARD

MINI MUDDLER - (sort of)

.. You can be sure that only a few folks will be fishing any of these flies come Saturday. The feather merchant catalogs are full of the latest and greatest - far different than the latest super stuff of a half decade ago, (it also caught a lot of fish.)
.. The good Doctor Einstein had something to say about this as well: "A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be."
.. Come Saturday a lot of visitors will be insanely thrashing familiar haunts with spiffy electric fly patterns seeking to prick a fish with what they think the fish is supposed to be gobbling up. We are going to have a go at it too.

-------

Spring Caddis Variation

ONE MORE CADDIS

Very Simple Stuff

floats high, highly visible

WALLPAPER:    PARACHUTE ELK HAIR CADDIS

-------

.. So, the neighbor kids are at it again. Nothing fancy here, just a variation on the good ol' elk hair caddis. They pretend that they invented it for our aged peepers. We're pretty sure that was an afterthought. We can see it though.
.. The variations are simple: elk hair tail,  peacock herl body,  poly yarn wing,  furnace hackle parachute,  no head. Works fine.

-------

WALLPAPER:  ELK HAIR CADDIS

Small Streamers

FOR LARGE MIGRANTS

A Bit Off Center

the neighbors are swinging

WALLPAPER:  THIN WING STREAMER

-------

.. Into to the hint of Spring march our neighbors and the soon to spawn fish Between The Lakes. Late Winter, (so far,) has been gentle and moist. It seems that the bitter cold has left us for the moment. Our days are bright and snowy. Temperatures just cold enough to keep the snow on the ground and warm enough to stir the catching lust among those that fish.
.. Many fishers, around here, abandon the streams for skiing or sledding or other cold weather activities. Some, (more than you'd think,) keep at it and they catch the hungry fish of Winter. The fisher folk are now switching froom midges and other bits of fluff to streamers of various sorts.
.. Right now there is a brief window of opportunity to beguile large migrating fish that are on their way to sexual revels in the shallows. These fish move, nay - are driven to the spawning gravels and are angry, aggressive, and hungry. Soon they will be just aggressive and there's little sport in that.
.. These two flies are working wonders as we write. Simple little darlings they are. They are tied on 6x long Limerick hooks and take advantage of the keel-like properties of that design. They are also very sparse and wispy. Fleeting targets that induce firm or even violent strikes, (some of which miss entirely.)
.. These are fished in the seam between the main current and the soft water along the shore. Drift a bit - then short smooth jerks, - etc.
.. There are no formal names for these two flies. There  could be 50 of them in existence. Maybe a few more or less. The names used here are the current reference names that the fishers in the neighborhood are using at the moment. The flies have become fairly standardized over the last few years but there's always room for innovation. The neighbors have been at it for about two weeks and will now allow us to share them with you.

-------

SIMPLE RECIPES

Thin Wing Streamer
Hook: 6xl Limerick, (or other of your choice,)
Thread: Whatchagot,
Tail: Wood Duck Sprig,
Body: Gold colored metal tinsel,
Rib: Twisted silver wire,
Wing: Single pair white or light gray,
Overwing: A few bits of peacock herl,
Hackle: Red calf tail hair.


Sparse Wing Streamer
Hook: 6xl Limerick, (or your choice,)
Thread: Whatchagot
Tail: Elk inner thigh hair,
Body: Rear = yellow wool,   Front = orange wool,
Rib:Gold colored metal tinsel,
Wing: Calf tail in sparse layers = yellow, orange, chartreuse,
Hackle: White calf tail,
Eye: Herter's flat celluloid spade base eye, (optional.)

-------

WALLPAPER: SPARSE WING STREAMER

Purpose Built

THE ORANGE STILLI

Winter Trials

just a lark - for now

 "ORANGE STILLI" : a favorite neighborhood still water fly.

-------

.. It's a tough proposition to test a summer fly in the dead of winter. We've been grudgingly granted permission to tell you about this purpose-built fly.
.. This is a backwater eddy, film-fished, pattern that demands frisky trout, warm days, still or slack water, and bright sun: rare indeed this time of year. It is fished with a long leader on a slack line and sinks slowly in the gyre produced in slack water whirlpools.
.. The neighbor kids are busy tying these for the upcoming summer. Many are needed because many are lost. Many of the gyres that the local kids fish are seasonal phenomena and depend on rate of flow and water depth. They come and go with river conditions. Many are behind snags and sweepers with sunken limbs and branches. Some are shore-side features behind mini-headlands where debris and trout accumulate.
.. Trout hang out in the slack water that is adjacent to the gyre and pick off tidbits of flotsam that slowly move about in the hydraulic "Lazy Susan."
.. This fly is designed to take advantage of the rotating gyre. Very long tail fibers balance the puffy body and allow the fly to respond to the complex, (albeit it slow,) cross currents of each gyre. The kids are constantly experimenting with the various components of the fly. How much wire? How long the tails? How puffy the body? The current fly design is successful and beginning to become standardized.

THE CURRENT SIMPLE RECIPE
Hook: 10 - 14
Thread: 6/0 black
Tail: Pheasant tail fibers,
Body: Orange Antron, (or wool.)
Rib: red or copper colored wire
Thorax: Tan Antron - combed out  puffy and trimmed
Wing case: Pheasant tail fibers
Head: thread

.. All elements are variable, particularly the length of the tail fibers and the amount of copper wire.

-------