Several times now, I’ve decided to start over. Get rid of all the flies I won’t be using in the next week or so and start tying only flies that I’ll use in the near future.
The last two times I decided to do this, it did help me focus on improving my fly tying in several different ways. And both times, there just happened to be someone who could use my inventory of old but fishable flies.
This time I think I will start with a Renegade, which was the fly du jour on my outing yesterday.
And again, there is someone with a good cause who can use a box of flies …
John, I’ve had good luck putting a little red ice dub butt on my renegades. Not enough cutts here to compare, but you have a captive audience, and cutts do love renegades.
I typically tie Renegades with a bright red thread, and make a “tag” with the thread before tying in the rear hackle. Not sure when and why I started doing that, but I won’t eliminate it while starting over. For me it is just a given when tying that particular fly.
… I’m not aware of any “standard” for the Renegade. When I first tied them, I don’t think I even used a tag. I have tied them with yellow thread and used it for the tag way back when but somewhere along the line I settled on the red thread.
Westfly is one of the good sites around for entomology, and they do have a good selection of fly patterns / recipes. But their flies, to my way of thinking, do not reflect or create any standards for the patterns presented.
In Snake River Country Flies and Waters ( the book with a picture of your brother on the cover ), Bruce Staples states that “A red or gold tag is optional.” That suggests to me that if there is a “standard” pattern, it would have no tag at all. And I would bet that Bruce is as good an authority on this fly as anyone around.
OMG! That is one of my biggest concerns whenever I have my flybox is out on fast moving waters. I’ve come close on a number of occassions. Have fun building your box back up.
I was not happy. Thankfully, a lot of it was easy foam stuff - matchstick ants, beetles, GFA’s in cricket and hopper. The harder stuff, AK Hopper and Crickets, parachute hoppers and crickets, hardbodied ants etc. will wait for the end of the season.
… and, of course, when I got to the tying desk there was no red thread so I ended up with gold tags !!
Tied some Griffith’s Gnats while I was at it.
After tying and fishing nothing but big stonefly, hopper, and drake patterns for the past four and a half months, tying size 16 and 18 flies took some getting used to.
Good looking start to refilling that box. It looked so lonely in that first picture.
Step out of the comfort zone, though. Don’t forget to tie a few realistics or Atlantics to impress the onlookers.
I never would have thought of it looking lonely, but that certainly is an interesting observation.
I only tie what I will fish. That, for sure, doesn’t include realistics or Atlantics. If the onlookers are trout in the waters I fish, I hope they are impressed. Otherwise, not so much.
Last year, in the fall, I happened upon a couple very large cutthroat trout actively feeding in a rather complex lie, within a “V” created by currents coming in at different speeds on either side about 30-35’ out. Almost every fish in the system had been up on and happy to eat a good size October Caddis. Not these two. For about an hour, I worked my way down, size-wise, through my fly box. Five or six flies, each smaller than the last. I lined those fish, I leadered them, I hit them with big flies, I bounced smaller flies off their noses, and never interrupted their feeding activity.
Finally, I looked into the fly box and saw a couple scraggly size 18 Griffith’s Gnats left over from the prior year for tricos on the Bitterroot. Smallest thing in the box. Tied one on. Two casts - got one of them. Didn’t really see the fly, but could tell by the fishy’s movement he was hooked. Got him right to my hand before he spit the hook and went bye-bye. About 19".
Two more casts - got the other one. Didn’t really see the fly, but could tell the fishy had eaten it. This one raced downstream so fast I thought I would lose it for sure. Not so. Got a good look at him. A bit bigger than the first one. But then he tucked in behind some instream rocks just downstream of my position. Broke off and took the Griffith Gnat with him.
I had a few other interesting surprises last summer and fall going with a Griffith Gnat when the trouts had mostly been eating big stuff. So there are always a few in my fly box. Which is why it was the second fly I tied when I started over today.
I caught this guy six times last fall in the space of about two to three weeks, so we ended up on a first name basis. I think Howard took a Griffith Gnat four of the six times I got him. The other two times, I think he took an October Caddis and a deer hair caddis ( without checking the records ).
John
P.S. Follow the link for some more information on Howard and his eating habits, starting at post #18 on that thread.
So to make up for the lack of red tags, I had to do a particularly good job of presenting them to the trouts today. :roll:
The presentations of those gold tag Renegades were good enough that something over twenty fishies needed help getting the gold tags unstuck from their jaws.
This guy volunteered to represent the nearsighted, colorblind, dumb and starving fish I went after today ( although he is a bit bigger than the average ).
This guy was so proud of his take that he insisted on a close up of the gold thread ( like he could tell what color it was anyway ?? ).
The good news is that if I had used red tags I would have caught twice as many fishies and therefore been too tired to update this thread. Some of you might consider that bad news ??
On a serious note - I think it has been three years since I fished a Renegade on the river I was on today. The last couple years the fishies stayed on big flies, for the most part, through the hopper / golden stone transition to October Caddis. But for the time being anyway, they are passing on the big bugs pretty regularly and waiting for the smaller offering. Curious, and interesting.
John
P.S. If you’re gonna start over, this is the way to start over. :shock:
