WHICH TYPE OF FLY - Neil - June 14, 2010

WHICH TYPE OF FLY

I normally do not spend much time reading the posts on the FAOL bulletin board. I leave that to the Ladyfisher since she loves to pour over the posts. Occasionally, when I am glancing at the headings, something will catch my eye and I will read through the various postings to get the gist discussion. A recent post about the fishing qualities of comparaduns in comparison to other types of dry flies was the topic of discussion. The writer made the following statement: "They float well in the water and catch a lot of fish......can you think of a better pattern to fish....let's hear your feed back and tell why yours works the best."

Amen! They all catch fish. It's just a matter of searching until you find just exactly "which" fish that happens to be:^)

It seems to me that man (even moreso than woman) is an inherently lazy creature. Thus, he is always looking for the perfect mouse trap - the one-size-fits-all solution to every problem that will simplify his life. Even most of us who are not physically lazy tend to be mentally lazy, and would prefer not to have to think too hard or remember too many details. Puzzle-solvers are actually fairly rare. Fly fishing tends to attract more of us than many other endeavors, but even in fly fishing we see this tendancy toward over-simplification: the quest for the "one rod," the perfect fly for all scenarios, the "best" reel, and so on. Personally, I've never understood why a fellow needs a $200+ reel with a scaled-down big game grade drag and internal gears and bearings for his 2-4wt, but I certainly understand putting such a reel on an 8wt or larger. I've never spent more than $75 for a trout reel. And that was a splurge because it was so aesthetically pleasing and my wife had been given a fancy new 4wt custom built rod that I bought it for. It's just a place to keep my excess fly line out of the way. But I have spent several hundred dollars each on a saltwater reel or two and not much less for spare spools.

You're right, Trav. Flies are no different than anything else. You have to choose the right tool for the job. And there are pretty good reasons why all of the proven patterns are proven. They ALL work well in various situations. I have a friend who is an excellent guide, but he and I have somewhat divergent philosophies on flies. He thinks a quality trout pattern should catch trout equally well under all conditions in all streams. He believes this is true of the pheasant tail nymph, for example. I could take him places where this is simply not the case because there is nothing resembling a mayfly in those waters. While he may catch the sporadic fish using a PTN as an attractor, it certainly won't be an EFFECTIVE pattern there. However, where HE guides and does most all of his trout fishing, you really can't beat a PTN. You can match it, but not beat it. I did some considerable experimentation on his rivers to develop my own conclusions about that.

As usual Neil has nailed it. We all know there is no one fly that is a panacea, but still tend to rely on favorite styles to our detriment. Some guys love the parachute, comparadun, I had a brief afair with the no-hackle, but no one thing does the trick ever. I just got back from a trip to the Delaware River in the Catskills, and fished some tough slow water there. Two friends and I fished hard for a couple of hours during what appeared to be a BWO hatch, fish rising everywhere, and were hitless. Finially I looked down in the water and saw a rusty spinner, put one on and caught a very nice brown. Then, after giving rusty spinners to one of my friends, nothing. I then saw a brown take a big mayfly, probably a brown drake, there were the odd ones on the water. I put one of those on, a Western Brown Drake Emerger by Rene Harrop. Caught another good fish with it. Gave out Brown Drake Emergers. Not another hit on one. Switched to a small no-hackle BWO, got another nice fish. The biggest fish of the day was caught by my friend Bruce, a gorgeous 19" brown, on an olive emerger. It was tough and somewhat crazy at the same time. If we had arrived with pre-conceived notions, we would have been dead meat. Great article Neil, as usual!