Vol. 13 No. 12

THE GIFT

He went to the big trout stream in the sky November 1967. He left behind a 39 year old bride and 6 children; five daughters varying in age from 17 to 3 years old and one son 10 years old. This was not how Len Harris Sr. had pictured his life ending. He had always believed that he would live to be an old grandpa with many grandchildren. He could not even envision his bride being left alone again. Fate could not be that cruel twice in her lifetime.

TYING DRY FLIES WITH DRY CELL FOAM

I have encountered many fly tiers that have an aversion to materials that are not natural. Both in the United Kingdom and United States, I have heard fly tier’s say: “Well, Bergman didn’t have any of that”, or “Halford would never have used something like that!”, and so on and so forth.

WINTER FISHING

Yes, that time has come, and despite our denials summer has retreated before the relentless onslaught of blasts of arctic air, and global warming is not yet strong enough to deflect its determined will. It has been a long time coming, and it will certainly overstay its welcome. For those of us that due to circumstances beyond our control, such niceties like jobs, bills, and other more mundane reasons, make it impossible for us to escape to warmer climes we must find a way to avoid shooting the TV or kicking the cat. Thus we try to find a way to fish during the winter. It’s possible, even enjoyable, but the rules are different than those that apply during the warmer months.

ACT - F.A.S.T.

Every once in a while you stumble across something really valuable. In 2007 Ronn Lucas Sr. sent me an email with very important information. I did some research and found the information was true. I wrote a column then,  How To Survive a Heart Attack When Alone.

LORD IRIS

Here is a rather unusual streamer from Preston Jennings. It puts into practice some of his theories regarding the way trout see underwater. He thought that the water would break up images into their component colors, as a prism breaks up light into individual sections of the spectrum. This theory was just one component of his scientific approach and treatment of all things fly fishing. He stated: The proper coloring of the lure is determined by viewing the object which it is desired to simulate through a prism and coloring the lure in exactly the same manner as it appears through the prism.

GREENBACK CUTTHROAT TROUT

“We’ve been asked many times, ‘Why write a book about the greenback cutthroat trout?’ It’s been pointed out by several fishermen that the greenback is one of the smallest of all trout in Colorado [an 18 inch fish is a monster], perhaps the most gullible, not the greatest fighter [you won’t likely see any aerobatics], and probably the hardest to find [for the most part plan on hiking if you’re looking for them]. We can’t argue with the fact but once you’ve caught and released one we think you will understand.”

EASY HEX - FLY OF THE WEEK

The creator of this fly is Jay Neve who was a commercial tyer from Bellevue, Michigan. This fly is extremely effective during the “hex hatch”. By varying the amount of brown and yellow dubbing you can match the color of the hex in your area. It is so easy to tie I often use it in my beginning fly tying classes. You can use any dubbing you want. I prefer dyed rabbit.