Sixteen years and 3 days ago, I collected this model on the shore of the Henry’s Fork in SE Idaho …
A couple days later, I tied the prototype for what became the FEB Salmonfly, which eventually was refined to be more like this one, tied just a few days ago …
Sixteen years ago today, I fished the prototype on the Henry’s Fork just below the Three Rivers put in. As a wader, I watched numerous boats launch and fish the far side of the river as I waded upstream from about half mile below the launch, and hooked up with about a dozen fishies while observing virtually zero action for any of the boats as they floated down past me.
Over the past sixteen years the FEB style fly in Salmonfly size and colors has caught many, many thousands of trout, more than any other fly that I’ve tied - and FEB style flies in appropriate sizes and colors for golden stones, hoppers, skwalas and October caddis have added many hundreds of additional fishies, mostly on freestone creeks and rivers in the Intermountain West of Idaho and the Bitterroot Mountains of Western Montana and Northern Idaho.
Here’s hoping I have another sixteen years left in my fly angling and tying experience - that would put me close to the century mark.
John
The fish are always right.
We do know South Dakota and Wyoming have no trouts) Thank you, John!
