Gummy Bears
I made two entries into the Fly of the Week => Stoneflies thread, which I'll leave as is.
But I do have a few more experimental stonefly nymph ideas some might find interesting. These flies tend to evoke strong reaction, both positive and negative. Their shape and color isn't the problem--they do look a lot like stoneflies. The soft flexible rubbery materials used are, I guess, the problem. They are good fish-catching flies.
The Golden Stone above is made with bass tube material layered over a strip of un-dyed open cell mattress foam.
The second nymph was snipped out of a bass worm. The third nymph has a layer of "plastic leather" sandwiched on top of a slab of nearly transparent bass worm resin I cooked up in a tupperware dish, inside a microwave. And then snipped to shape with scissors. The final photo is Marshmallow Nymph, made with brown-dyed open-cell mattress foam.
I fished several of these flies on the Gallatin this past June, just a few days before the Salmon fly hatch. And had one of the best big fish days I've had in a long time. The photo below is the same stretch of the Gallatin, also in June, the year before that. When I had a similar deja-vu-all-over-again day fishing Marshmallow Nymphs. As you can see, I am a bit of a stonefly nut. I've caught so many of the best ever fish on these flies--at least in the early season--it's hard not to get hooked.
Some of the best big-nymph fishing of the year comes during high brown water...
One final note about the brown-water photo above. That day, above, as I sat on the tailgate of my pickup on the upper Gallatin, cussing my way into my waders (it was a bright sunny Sunday in June) at least a half a dozen cars filled with fishermen slowed down as they crossed the nearby bridge. And then turned around and left. Presumably they all thought the water was too high and brown to fish. I wacked'em like never before. I really did have one of the best-ever big fish days, right after taking that photo. I've had days when I caught more. I think I only actually landed a little more than a dozen that day. But they all seemed to be 16 - 20+ inches long. Twenty inch fish are common on the Missouri and Yellowstone. But darned rare on the Gallatin. To catch so many big fish in one day was astonishing. Another interesting note: if you measure water quality by the state of the fish, there is little doubt. Brown water fish in June are fatter and more vigorous than at any other time of year.
Reply With Quote