For reasons known only to Paul Arnold, when he forwarded me some goods he had picked up for me, he sent along a piece of yarn from the skein his wife had used to knit him a pair socks.
What to do with a piece of two tone white and tan yarn ???
Why, of course, furl a piece, tie it to a hook along with some centipede legs, add a deer hair wing, and GO FISHING.
So there you have it - Paul’s sock it to 'em hopper. And that ain’t no yarn. Or is it ??
Just three years ago, Bob and Angie from Dallas TX were camped at River Junction on the Blackfoot. They took a break from fishing just as I drove up. Bob was a really outgoing guy and immediately struck up a conversation. Turned out he was a novice angler who also wanted to learn fly tying while he was at it.
In the course of conversation, the FEB Hopper came up. It had been doing really well, and Bob was interested. I asked if he had a fly tying kit with him. Yep. A really low end vice. A few assorted hooks. Some rather bulky tan yarn. Some large round rubber legs. And a patch of really short elk hair. And some black thread. That was about it.
So I tied him the “Bob’s Blackfoot Beast” verson of an FEB Hopper, and that Beast was about the crudest fly I have ever tied. Then we rigged up Bob’s rod and both proceeded to catch some fishies with it. Surprised me, and blew Bob’s mind.
That incident came back to me while I was looking at the piece of yarn that Paul had sent along. The rest is history …
Well,I’m just blown away, John. Including that chunk of yarn was an afterthought, and you sure make me happy that I stuck it into the envelope.
Based on your story about the Blackfoot Beast, the fly you tied from Carol’s yarn scrap may look crude to you, but compared to what customarily comes out of my vise, your fly is a champ. I showed your post and pix to Carol the Knitter, and we both thought it a hoot. I was so impressed with the pix that one of yourstream shots (the one with the large evergreens across the water from the camera) that the image now serves as the wallpaper on the desktop of my computer.
That excellent image motivated me to attach a picture from Indiana for you to use as your desktop wallpaper if you choose to do so. No obligation, of course,and you may prefer a different picture for your screen. None of us have exactly the same tastes. The photo I suggest is below (click on it to enlarge).
… but I think I will keep this one on my desktop for the time being.***
Actually, it is just upstream of the rock at the left side of the pic in the first post.
The other day when I fished this creek, I raised a really nice cutt that hit the fly but did not hook up. So when I went out to fish the Paul’s Sock It To 'em Hopper, that is where I started. And on the very first cast, a good size cutt hit your sock yarn but didn’t hook up. Don’t know if it was the same fish, but it was in exactly the same place.
John
*** Just got back from Glacier NP. There are a number of pix from our hike to Ptarmigan Lake out of Many Glacier that might end up on the desktop later today.
Aw, shucks. I guess this means that Carol’s socks with their double-knit, reinforced heels and knitted with wool from Bath, Maine, won’t make it to your desktop after all. I’ll wait 'til she’s in a cheery mood before I tell her. My mediocre camera work is likely the cause of the problem. ~Paul
… in several different spots on a remote tributary stream of the Lochsa yesterday. And caught fish in all of them with it.
Just a reminder that flies with the simplest materials tied to a proven pattern will generally catch fishies just as well as those tied with exotic materials to a more complicated pattern.
Yesterday, the fishies were up on a hatch, and the fly du jour was a Renegade - another example of the simplest materials tied on a proven pattern.
