Morrisfoam Golden Stone
Those-in-the-know will tell you that to the trout fisher, the golden stone is
just as important as the famous salmonfly, perhaps even more
important. That is, they will tell you this if they are first given sodium penothal.
That’s the problem with those-in-the-know: they like to know what those-not-in-the-know
don’t know. But I know what they know, which is why I can tell
you what those-in-the-know, know. And it’s time you knew.
Each spring or early summer (here in Oregon it’s around mid-May; in the Rocky
Mountains it’s about a month later); giant, corpulent orange-bellied stoneflies
called salmonflies begin emerging from and fluttering about a few western rivers.
Regardless of what trout do, anglers go into a frenzy, generally a sort of quiet frenzy.
Around Portland, Oregon, fly fishers all seem to be planning trips and with raised
eyebrows saying, “I hear the salmonflies are coming off the Deschutes” and asking,
“What have you heard about the salmonflies?” I like seeing fly fishers excited - it’s
got to be good for our sport, overall. But they never this this excited over the
golden stone, and that seems a little crazy.
The golden stonefly hatches from nearly every western river that has some quick water,
in other words nearly every western river. But the salmonfly emerges in significant numbers
for only a precious few rivers. Therefore, the goldenstone hatch is the more
common and more accessible of the two. In the Deschutes River, the salmonfly
shows first, followed soon by the golden. Their hatches often overlap. In my
experience, the goldens come off the Deschutes in roughly equal numbers to
the salmonflies. So here is a great salmonfly river, and yet it produces just as
many golden stones.
My friends-in-the-know (don’t worry, I won’t start into that again) -
who include guides, outdoor writers, and even an entomologist - agree that the
golden’s habit of dropping to the water to release its eggs makes it more
available to trout than the salmonfly, which usually performs an aerial egg
release.
The points behind all of this are (1) that the goldenstone fly is of vital importance
to the western fly fisher and (2) that I’m going to show you how to tie my soft-foam
imitation of one. Though I’ll tie my golden-stone version, the tying of the salmonfly
version is identical. The only differences between the two flies are color and,
sometimes, size.
. . .[they] have proved themselves on western trout. I invite you to prove them
on eastern trout. (After all, they could easily be adapted for imitating eastern
stone.)
In a stonefly imitation, foam and an extended body are a blessing - they help
keep the fly afloat in swift, broken currents. Stoneflies hatch from such
water, so the adults often wind up back in it. But often enough, stonefly
adults wind up in gentle back eddies and quiet water where trout have plenty
of opportunity for close inspection. For their clean outline and detail, the
Morrisfoam stone fish here as well as they do in fast water.
My greatest experience is with Morrisfoam stones of Ethafoam, but I like what
soft-foam has to offer - greater durability, inherent color - so I now use it
more often.
Morrisfoam Golden Stone
Hooks: Short shank (regular shank as an alternate, dry fly,
size 8. (The hook shown is a Tiemco 921.)
Thread: Gold or yellow 3/0.
Tails: A tan (or brown) turkey flat (or other body feather).
Body: Antique-gold soft-foam (or a similar color such as
yellow or yellow colored over with a gold marking pen - I don’t think exact color
is critical) or colored Ethafoam, about 1/8" to 3/16" thick.
Wing: Ethafoam colored tan (or brown), 1/16" thick or less.
Legs: Tan (or brown, yellow, or gold), medium - or fine-diameter
round rubber-strands.
Head and Back: The same foam used for the body.
Originally published May 15, 2000 on Fly Anglers Online by Skip Morris.