Works For Me
By Neil M. Travis, Montana/Arizona
There was this guy that I knew many years ago. I say that
I knew him, but in reality I was only aware of him. If I ever
knew his name I have long since forgotten it, and I doubt
that I could pick him out of a photo lineup after all these
years. I suspect that we may have spoken less than a dozen
times over the years but I was aware when he was not
around. He was a loner, not sullen or unfriendly but someone
who seemed to enjoy his own company.
While I never actually fished with him I watched him fish
many times, and he always seemed to be hooking his share
of fish. It was also obvious that he enjoyed the sport because
I usually saw him each time I was on the stream. We shared
a log along the stream one late afternoon and the conversation
got around to fly patterns. My vest was bulging with a multitude
of boxes crammed full of a variety of imitations tied to cover
every possible bug that I might encounter. His vest only had a
few pockets and even fewer fly boxes. To be exact he only
had one box, and it contained only two types of fly patterns;
light and dark. There were light colored dry flies and dark
colored ones. There were light colored nymphs and dark
colored ones. They were tied in a variety of sizes, but they
were all basically two colors; light and dark and mostly just
varying shades of gray. "Works for me," he said.
Over the intervening years I have spent an inordinate amount
of time trying to fool a fish that has a brain the size of a pea.
The list of patterns that I have tied and tried would fill a
sizeable book, and yet the patterns that are consistently
productive for me have remained relatively small. For me
there is a certain sense of comfort which comes from having
a pattern I know will match anything I might possibly encounter
even if the chance of encountering that one oddball hatching
situation might only occur once in a lifetime. It works for me.
I rarely use a strike indicator preferring to detect the
strike by watching for that slight hesitation made by
my leader when a fish mouths my fly, or by watching
for that subtle flash as the trout inhales my offering. Do
I miss lots of takes? Probably, but it works for me.
I rarely use a leader much longer than ten feet, and
seldom do I feel the need to use a tippet finer than 5x.
Over the years I have found that by careful wading,
informed observing, and good presentation my "fish
hooked to casts made" ratio is generally on the plus
side. Do I get an occasional inspection/refusal that
could be attributed to subtle drag which might have
been negated by a smaller tippet? Probably, but the
number is inconsequential and besides it works for me.
I occasionally have a tailing loop when I'm casting, I
have hooked more than my share of trees and streamside
grass, and at the end of a long day of fishing my leader
may have a knot or two that I did not tie. I've lost more
than a couple fish by errors I committed trying to bring
them to net. I could eliminate those errors by being more
focused, but overall I am content with my performance.
Since I'm not trying to please anyone but myself it works
for me.
Perhaps, the guy whose name I may have never known found
the 'Holy Grail' that so many people spend their lives searching
for and never find. He had a simple philosophy for matching the
various hatches and while he might not have a perfect match for
every situation he was content with his solution. It worked for
him, and in the final analysis that really is all that matters. Over
the years I have discovered that his simple approach to fly fishing
might not appeal to everyone, but being content with what works
for you really is a precious gift. If you haven't already figured that
out you might give it a try this season. ~ The Chronicler
From A Journal Archives
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