John:
Did I get the first skwala photo from you?
I remember asking someone permission to use it.
John:
Did I get the first skwala photo from you?
I remember asking someone permission to use it.
Not from me, Sandy.Originally Posted by pittendrigh
The fish are always right.
That is unique . I got so much to learn about flies and fly fishing .
I was beginning to wonder ...
.... if the FEB Skwala would ever see any action. Just haven't been doing anything on the Bitterroot, and the other places I've been fishing don't really have skwala hatches, at least from what I've read and seen.
But today, things started looking up. Things being fishies. On the Lochsa.
While I was nymphing this stretch, there were several sporadic, splashy rises. So I decided to give the skwala a chance. Rigged up and moved up to where the fish were rising. One showed itself. First pass - a look and a refusal. Second pass - another look. Third pass - nada. Fourth pass - bingo.
It may not have been the same fish all four times, but if it wasn't they sure were sharing close quarters. On the fourth pass, the fishy just crushed the fly. A really impressive take. Then the thing was to land him to get a pic of the fly with its first catch. Mission accomplished.
After releasing the first fishy, I had another cutt refuse it twice and then go sulk, or whatever they do after deciding not to eat. A few minutes later, another cutt hit it pretty hard on its first rise - saw him coming to the fly and hit it, felt when the hook knicked him, and then he was gone.
All in all, a good start with this one when I finally got it on the water. Not sure if there are actually skwalas on the Lochsa, but I have seen a few neumora, which are a much smaller later winter stone. Not likely the fish would mistake the skwala for a neumora, just as likely they were getting active on the surface and this was an acceptable attractor.
John
The fish are always right.
Tied up three fresh FEB Skwalas ...
... this morning, with a commitment to fish only this fly on the Lochsa today.
In about three hours of fishing, on three different stretches of the river, this fly really outdid itself. An unqualified success. Whether taken as a skwala or an attractor, the fly just kept accounting for the local westslope cutts.
When all was said and done, had between 20 and 25 fishies in hand, pulled the trigger too quickly on four or five more, had another three or four hit the fly but not hook up, and saw another ten or so trouts that refused the fly, for itself or perhaps because of a presentation problem on my part.
That all comes up to around forty fishies. Got to see most of the hooked fish before they got to the fly. Several did just sip it down and the take was barely visible, and one took it after it submerged. Obviously got to see the refusals.
John
P.S. For more details on the outing, there will be a new post on my "Lochsa" thread on the Fishing Reports Forum later today.
The fish are always right.
Nine years on ...
... and still producing.
Yesterday, I began my fishing year on my Northern Idaho home water with an FEB Skwala virtually identical to the fly which was the subject of this thread.
I only fished one section of the river, and for less than hour, but the slightly modified version of the FEB Skwala did quite nicely. Had good action with nine fishies hitting the fly, a good number hooking up, albeit with only a few landed. That is one "drawback" to some of the FEB patterns, including this one, obviously - short strikes that don't result in a solid hookup. That would clearly be a negative to a lot of fly anglers, but doesn't bother me in the least.
I had planned to start a new thread on this pattern, but in looking for some history on it I found this one and just decided to update it.
For those interested, the FEB Skwala is in the FAOL FOTW Archives in May 2012. ( There is also an FEB October Caddis in the June 2012 FOTW archive which may be a better illustration of the tying sequence for the skwala pattern. )
John
P.S. For those recently lamenting the decline of this BB, this thread might prove a fun trip down memory lane. Robert Behnke observed that when trout stop growing, they die. Just saying.
The fish are always right.
Very good P.S. Thank you for the memories.
God Bless America
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