Opening Day Flies: Michigan 2018

At left, public domain image of Alanson Dunham of Norway, Maine and snowshoes he's made for the Peary expedition (North Pole, 1909).

Mr. Dunham's creations may have a use come open the last Saturday of the month. Right now, I'm sitting out an ice storm of minor proportion (only substantial power outages and downed trees in my neck of the woods, much as you'd expect). Up north in trout country, they're getting hammered.

I might haul my chainsaw north as I'm expecting the campsites to have received very little in the way of clearing downed timber. We'll see.


Yesterday, attended party at my local to celebrate Dirk Fischbach taking over as the Winston area rep. Dirk's been on their pro-staff forever and is the sort of fellow you want to see do well in the industry. He's a consummate commercial angler always ready with a word of encouragement, knowledge about our sport, or a ready smile. Sometimes all three.

I'm also putting together my year. I'm hoping some of the Amber Liquid guys might go to the Colorado front-range for instructional fishing -- the "learn a new approach" style rather than the "let me put a bobber on that" style. I want these guys to have a blast in a new local scene (they're far more social than I am), gain a new skill and the confidence to use it, and see someplace new. If not Colorado, then maybe YNP.

I'm going to RMNP right before July 4th. Canada on the first week of August back to the wilds of Wabakimi and Woodland Caribou National Park on a fly-in,  somewhere in September after kiddies return to school (maybe the epic Michigan UP trip), and in early October out to points west.

I've got a good year lining up.

Flies for Opener


Opener in Michigan looks tough. Entomologically speaking, we are behind on the seasonal development of aquatic insects. Prospects for the Hendrickson hatch are poor.

Subsurface: streamers under and along downed timber (of which I'm sure we're adding inventory this very second), small nymphs and soft-hackles in the flow and eddies, sculpin and crayfish patterns low and slow.

Hendrickson nymphs will be active. They "practice" in the flow sometimes for several weeks before hatching. I just doubt we'll see dry fly action this year. 

I'm tying accordingly.

I started this effort in the middle of last week as the long-term forecasts and the water temperature survey information started popping-up. Snow in Grayling last weekend and this weekend didn't help much (looks like 6" of accumulation in the past 48 hours). Snow is also forecast through Tuesday up there.

The water has been low but ice run-off is still a great deal of very cold water going into the rivers. It might warm quicker with the lower flow rates but that's a process.

I'm still expecting the fly shop reports to contain "saw some BWO and a couple Hendricksons" three mornings this next week because: fly shops. You don't attract patrons by saying "snow chains required on river access roads."  It's money.

You might see some bugs too if it were your money riding on it. Not faulting anyone.

The good news: the rivers are still full of fish and if you can get on them without combat fishing, so much the better. Nothing wrong with catching fish on streamers and nymphs.

I'm going with attractors: coachmen in soft-hackle wet and streamer varieties; Stewart spiders lightly wrapped with a little non-lead; some hare's ear streamers and flymphs.

Twist my arm and I could spend the entire year only fishing coachmen-style flies. I've tied some royal trude based on what I've seen over on Alan's Small Stream Reflections site (link at right). I'm still working out the proportions.  Look at his. They're lovely.

Friday night lubrication. With the bucket of cold water I dispensed on the opener hopes up above, one can use the liquid courage. Gin, gin, gin, and bitters.

Royal Coachman with a dun hackle. I'm reflecting on early season meaning subdued, darker, and largely smaller. This is a size 15 barbless Tiemco.

 Alec Jackson "irons" hook in 7 1x short 1x heavy. I think these are perfect for early streamers that I won't have to weight.

Nice hooks. I'm using them for trout but I understand one needs to be careful debarbing them (if one does) for steelhead and salmon as the debarbing can stress the hook at the barb and weaken it.

A buddy who now uses "debarbing" pliars and is a steelhead junky says he's never broken one since become aware that his water-pump-pliers method of smashing the barb was stressing the tip. Good to know.

A Coachman streamer tied on the above hook using a large dark orange-dyed "crawfish" colored hen hackle.

I think this is a good search streamer for holes, banks, and timber given the seasonal set-back in the fishing calendar.

I can easily be both stupid and wrong. I'm a rank amateur, remember. Always consult your local commercial fisherman for advice

A more traditional coachman streamer tied with a flag of dyed bucktail tied-in under and behind the dual hackles.

I'm using raspberry dyed coastal deer hair for the tails on this series. Seems to fit the "dark, early" intent as well.

Why the yellow bucktail?

Attractor-style streamer. I'm attracted to it.




I've also been tying some Gartside style maribou soft-hackled streamers in small (10-12) sizes. Meh. Mixed results.

I'm learning to master the materials. Some ways to go.

At left, mating some barred maribou for the micro-streamers in neutral colors.

Practice, practice.










I need to tie up some of Steve's scuplin patterns this week as well. Big soft-hackle heads making the sculpin wake as drawn along the bottom on a tight line could save the day.


There are some fish on the other side of the gloom. Let's be ready for them.

Prost.

Fly Talk: Isonychia, The Drakes

One of the Amber Liquid guys suggested I actually contribute something to the fly fishing codex of our group instead of the "Baked Goods Illustrated" segment.

No cookies for you.

So, Michigan. Let's cover a series of  invertebrates which casual anglers here in the mitten can expect to reasonably encounter in our streams.

I'll start here because the isonychia is one of my favorites; is active as trout food for long stretches of the season; and is found in the types of places anglers love to fish: cobble, boulder, and -- in Michigan -- gravel strewn riffle.

The isonychia is a mayfly.

This genus is common all over the northeast and has a couple sub-species in the Yellowstone area ... though I am not qualified to speak on western insects.

Above, an iso flymph tied today on a new vise. First fly tied on it.

The iso genus has several sub-species. In common names:

• the Slate Drake (bi-color iso nymph), 
• the White-Gloved Howdy, 
• the Lead Winged Coachmen (yes, just like the classic fly pattern), 
• and the Mahogany Drake.

The slate drake nymph is famous for its "racing stripe" down the middle of its back from head to tail. Unmistakable identification when you find this trait.

The iso is active in the fastest parts of streams. He is a great swimmer dashing from rock to rock within his habitat.

He perches on rocks in the mainstream or just off it with his back legs gripping tightly while his foreparts and forelegs make a basket from which he catches and consumes bits and pieces.

He's in the water actively from May through September in one form or another and crawls to the slower water on the stream's side to emerge.

I make great generalizations here across all the species because they all behave the same. It really isn't too important to know one from another.

He's a dark beastie in the water 12 - 17 mm long. He's longer than your thumbnail, then. Orvis sells an articulated imitation which gives you an idea of the substantial length of the nymph. ( I'd don't find tying two-piece flies fun and I can't imagine anyone else does either).

So ... the iso is about an inch long. He lives in rocks, gravel beds, and on small boulders. He's in the mainstream. Trout see displaced iso nymphs all year long. He lives in large populations on stretches of Michigan rivers like the Au Sable.

Most hatches occur in the late afternoon towards evening. I'm not covering the fishing of the hatch or the spinner here. I haven't had good luck with either beyond normal "throw an Adams at it" so I can't really say much about chasing during the hatch.

I have had good luck swinging iso nymphs into pools at the end of cobble and gravel runs right about dinner time. Think of the stretch below Powerline on the Upper Branch Au Sable.

The fishing is simple: bottom 1/3 of the water column. 

I like a tight-line swing with small jerky tugs of 1-2" as the swing progresses and I know I'm at depth. It helps the hook-ups and helps the imitation as isonychia do have a jerky style of swimming.

I use other means to get the fly down to that level rather than weighting the nymph. I want the nymph to float free as if lost in the current rather than thump along at the bottom mixed in with the bits of organic detritus.

The color is a bit lost on me though Ann Miller says he is reddish-brown to purplish-brown in body. Sounds good.

The fly above is a #10 3xl heavy U205 umpqua hook.

The fly is tied short way above the curve of the hook. That's important for the swing. You'll get aggressive trout dashing up to take the fly and turning quickly back downstream. I think the exposed hook helps. At least, having the fly tied this way has ended some of my frustration at slow strip-sets.

Tail and abdomen: pheasant.5-6 barbs. Trout cannot count how many tails a fly has.

Thorax: Wotton SLF in dark claret sparsely wound and picked until ragged. I use a dubbing loop and get a good ratty twist with it.

Hackle: Barred hen in black, solid brown, or dun grey. Early season, the barred or all-black hackle seems to help. No, I don't know why.

It's a good fly and I'll have three dozen in the quiver before opener.

I lost four in a row on one stretch of the Mason Tract last year. Took a fat brown on the fifth tie. There was a lot of timber partially buried on the South Branch Au Sable last year. More than I remember previously being partially buried mid-stream. Snaggy.


References:

Hatch Guide for Upper Midwest Streams. Ann Miller. pp 116 - 121.
Nymphs. Ernest Schweibert. pp. 204 - 210. (In my 2nd edition with all the corrections).
Mayflies: An Angler's Study of Trout Water Ephemeroptera. Malcolm Knopp and Robert Cormier. pp. 84 - 91.

I'm cleaning up my go-to-stream boxes from all of last season. You should do the same.
















Prost.

Wax On -- Fine. Wax Off? Maybe Not.

At left, some Bailey's Fly Tyer's Wax.

Yes, that's a small KaBar and it was just sitting on my desk so I used it for a size reference. I wear one when I go trout camping and the library shows a little wear from a hard-run at late-season trout.

There's a story behind this but let me show another picture.

Here's the puck of wax. I removed a piece on the left -- too much -- for a Monday night session here at the Beer Grotto.












I read about the Bailey's Wax--probably named for Dan Bailey-- in an article I found in the magazine FlyFishing & FlyTying as written by Magnus Angus. (Article Here). Mr. Angus does a great job on his review of the product and I encourage you to have a look.

However, you do need to read all of the words. I might not have done that.

This Bailey's stuff is a dubbing wax. Great - I need it for dubbing and if it has sufficient tack (it does) I can use it for my hand-tied whip finishes and never smell the Hard As Nails again on a Sunday morning. (Enough of that you in the peanut gallery).

I sort of ignored the wise words of Mr. Angus about using spirits to remove the stuff from his fingers. Missed that part entirely much to my peril.

The stuff melts if you stick it on your paw. It softens. It also spreads a bit.

Imagine pine tree pitch with a bad attitude from a Christmas tree gathering expedition in your prospective father-in-law's new Mercedes which he has graciously loaned you for the day to take his daughter to get the seasonal pagan symbol.

Oh yea, the stuff went everywhere.

Now, dubbing with the stuff was amazing. I'm a dubbing loop fellow and I've never had such wonderful bottle-brush dubbing spins as when I used a bit to help my dubbing adhere in the early twists (I don't use a weighted little spinner).  There is no comparison between low-tack stick wax and this Bailey's stuff.

Though trying my new wax with a generous dollop--read "too bloody much"-- on my left index finger looked very cool, it rapidly emerged that I might have done something unwise.

A bit of loose dubbing stuck to my finger and I thought "no problem." Then a bit of trimmed deer hair stuck to my paw as I was tying up some Warden's Worry bucktail streamers and had some trimmings on the table.

Then the  hen feathers -- red -- stuck to my fingers as I was using a few barbs at a time to make the tail per the tying example of Joseph Bates in his Streamers & Bucktails. The increasing tackiness of most of my fingers and some of my tools was becoming a problem.

Then my beverage suck to my fingers.

No, not the wax hand fingers. The glass stuck to my other fingers on the hand which didn't even have the wax globbet clinging to it.

Hmm. Time to clean up.

Soap? This stuff laughs at soap. Laughs.

Luckily I was in a bar and there were some "counter grade" spirits readily at hand, as it were.

So, a little goes a long way. Wax that is. I used enough for something like ten tying sessions on my first try.

Advice: a small flake one-half the size of a dime shaved, kneaded, and adhered to a finger  and not a finger joint would be plenty for at least a dozen fully dubbed fly bodies in size six or eight.

The package is wonderful: that's a screw cap aluminum container and the wax is packaged in parchment within.

The wax is completely non-tacky to start. Knead it for ten seconds and place it on the surface of one medium sized bear paw and ... aggressive pine tar resin.

Works great to dub, though. Works great.

It's a tool. Most tools require a bit of knowledge to work well. Bailey's wax falls in that category.

I bought mine from a great guy named Christopher Stewart at Tenkara Bum ((Tenkarabum.com). Awesome service.

I like the stuff. I like what it did for my dubbed bodies.

I still had a bit on the back of my left forefinger this morning sort of matted into the hair; but, I burned it off. Clean now.

Prost.

Going Boardman and Soft Hackles

At left, the Adams Fly in a nice tie made possible by Mike Cline who granted this photograph copyright-free status as hosted on wikicommons. Thanks, Mike! (Oh, nice tie!).

At left, the Adams. It is in every box. I don't put wings on mine but am prone to include a tiny piece of white Antron as a centerpost so I can see them in the dusk.

The Boardman River in Michigan is where the fly first was developed. I'm going there this weekend on a trout camping outing.

It's spring. It will probably rain. The roads are crap this early before the commission has a chance to get out. No worries. I've a new heavy-duty trout car and no longer do I fear bad terrain. I'm fine with rain, too. Keeps the other anglers at bay.

Will not freeze on the Boardman this week since Monday night. That's a good sign.

I'm a little punchy. My wife says I've gone a bit off. It's the spring. I need to be in the woods. I'm going. You should too.

You've heard of "going bodmin" ... well I'm "going boardman." Just about the same thing.

Some odds and ends below ....

My fly photography drew some catcalls from a couple guys I ran into outside my flyshop. Here's a better image of the BWO Soft Hackle Hare's Ear. The hare is quite dark but I used better light for this photo and it shows up well.

Steel gray SLF and dark hare's mask dubbed together with a touch of possum in there too, Pheasant hen tails, waxed.. Herl. Dun hackle on this one. I use darker hackle early in spring but I grabbed this guy from my box of leftovers from last fall for this shot.

A fully plamered Herl-and-Hackle after Stewart's Spider. This fellow is a plump beast because he also does duty as beetle bait here in later spring. I do occasionally chase bluegills.

This is on a size 13 barbless TMC hook and I probably will end up drifting a few along the bank in brookie country this weekend.

I tied more than a dozen last year and have none left. They work.

A hackled streamer using grizz feathers for tails. Small. I am tossing these next week in the morning on Mill Creek. I'm going to try and fish this sort of streamer by imparting my own action to it instead of the "dead drift."

I saw Jonathan Barnes do so and I want to give it a try. Small stream work with streamers has been pretty weak for me. I think the action of "dancing" the thing has merit.

We'll try.

Outing boxes sorted and ready to go. I need a few more scud for the Driftless but I'm pretty good right now through early June.

I'm a lazy caddis and Partridge-and-Yellow sort of fellow for most of the summer turning to Partridge-and-Orange later towards fall.


I'm all excited in spring but come fall, I'm convinced a stray bit of cork can be presented well enough to catch trout.

My concession to Ed Engle. I read his book last spring and tried to decide on pursuing the 20/20 club. I did so only halfheartedly.

This year I made the effort to tie some very small soft hackles. There are some PTN and some Hare's Ear in here too ... though the Hare's Ear are actually tied with beaver. I like its very smooth texture quality for flies in the film.

 The ant patterns in this Tacky box are tied on #17 hooks.


I'm not Ed Engle but I have wanted for small flies on occasion. I'm going to try and use these extremely small flies this year. I've 7X and an arsenal of several 3 wt rods.

Somebody stop me.

Prost.

Hendrickson Soft Hackle and Spring

It's spring and Lou the foxhound is unhappy. He has the heartbreak of bunnies in his meadow, in his yard, in the woods. This must be a bunny year for us.

Alternately, the four brush piles that I didn't get burned last fall might have contributed to the heavy carry over.


It's spring today.

My local fly shop had a talk on a restoration stream.  I got to see a bunch of folks I run into only once or twice a year. I fondled gear. I talked about the opener.

I complained that the rivers are in the trees and one or two of them seem to be actively plotting a drowning: mine.

*** Disclaimer *** I know Hendrickson's have three distinct tails. I assure you that the trout has no idea how many "three" might be. My wife's cat is a predatory mammal (predators have higher reasoning skills) and can barely handle the difference between "one" and "more than one." There is no way a trout is going to turn from your fly because it has two or five tails. No. Way. That. Happens.

Above: Hendrickson dun, male. Photograph by Judy Gallagher in 2013 as stored on wikicommons and available for use with the attribution we list here. Judy: nice picture. This one is listed as on the SFSU Field Campus in Bassetts, CA. Males have big red eyes and I thing those eyes are red. Color is lost on me.


Hendrickson Flymph

At left, a soft hackle flymph I've worked up based on the Hendrickson mayfly. It's buggy. It uses four to six turns of non-lead so has enough mass to work on a -- gasp -- jigging sort of action.

It's basically a rust-brown hare's ear (I use SLF in rust blended with gray) with added waxed tail from pheasant rooster, a rust hen hackle, and an orange UV seal-x dubbed collar.  Size 12.

I like to let these sorts of weighted flies "hover" downstream on the swing through troughs and across drop offs. Works for me. Probably not the only way to fish these sort of bottom column flymphs but is what I've done.

I've not made a species specific flymph before because I'm a presentationist and a representationist. I don't subscribe to "match the hatch" but it's spring and so in that spirit: a try. I usually fish "black", "brown", and "not black or brown" for flymphs.

Two Hendrickson Soft Hackles:

These are designed to imitate the mayfly itself either dun or adult. I have had evidence of fish preferring the male to female or female to male. I think. I'm never quite sure why a fish takes a natural nearly like my fly but ignores my fly on repeated drifts. Does anyone really know?

Ned the Trout still won't say.

If I fish the Michigan Opener and find any Hendricksons (snort of amusement), then I'll fish one of these two attempts.

I should add that the usual Michigan opener is a bug-free zone for me. I'm hoping for intermittent driving rain with occasional sleet this year. One, that'll really cut down on the number of other anglers hanging about and; two, Hendricksons love to hatch when the weather is absolute crap.

I've been skipping the opener weekend because I hate combat fishing. Might go this year if the forecast is ugly.


First: a full-bodied Hendrickson Soft-Hackle.

Hook: Umpqua #12 3x long down-eye.

Tail: Cock pheasant fibers, waxed, split with dubbing needle.

Tag: Ball of Pearsall's orange silk, well waxed.

Body: Pheasant Tail, twisted, wrapped.

Thorax: Possum.

Rib: Micro wire (over body and thorax).

Hackle: Brown or Rust Hen.

Collar: UV Seal-X orange dubbing or, as on this one, an exaggerated ball of Pearsall's orange thread.

The fly's shape is a relatively stout tube for a soft-hackle fly. I'd say it is three times the diameter of a customary thread-bodied fly.

It'll float as a dry in the surface layer with a drop of floatant else it'll behave like any soft hackle. It is a buoyant beast, however. There is an underlayer of waxed silk under all of it.

I tested these in the fly tier's usual method: I dropped it in my glass of water and saw how many I could tie before it sunk. I tied four more before the fly started to sink below the surface.

I've not fished it so no real voice of experience. Use at your own risk.

I was playing. I will fish them.

Maybe I'll give them away.

Thread-Body Hendrickson "North County Style"

Hook: Umpqua #12 3x long down-eye.

Tail: Cock pheasant fibers, waxed, split with dubbing needle.

Body: Peasall's orange silk.

Rib: Microwire (covers body and not thorax).

Thorax: very lightly dubbed possum left rough.

Hackle: Brown or Rust Hen.

Collar: UV Seal-X orange dubbing or, as in this one, an exaggerated ball of Pearsall's orange thread.

This fly behaves as a normal soft hackle in the glass of water. I heavily wax my flies and this one will float in the film through three more ties. Maybe more but I needed fresh water. End of test.

I do fish a Partridge and Orange and find it a reliable pattern all through the season. Will this version do for Hendricksons?  A pure thread-bodied P-and-O does so sure, why wouldn't it?

It's spring. Let's go ask a trout.

Prost.

Blue-Winged Olives and Trout Dreams

First, I want to wish The Senator a happy birthday. Here he is from  May '15 when we had a snack of Girl Scout cookies streamside ... before I tumbled into the stream.

I think he was actually predicting such an action in this scene.

If he manages to get on the stream in the next six months, it'll be a minor miracle.

Blue-Winged Olives

I want to cover some seasonal hatches here in the north-central and maybe pass on just a few of things we all knew last spring but might have forgotten what with all the brain cells that died over the winter. [  Note to self: drink better scotch. ]

The Blue-Winged Olive is a mayfly. 

It lives in almost every aquatic micro-environment from cobble to gravel to leaf detritus to woody debris. We'll speak here of the general Baetis related species though the genera encompasses members from the  baetis, diphetor, labiobaetis and acerpenna. There are many many sub-species and in this instance the fly anglers' lumping together the various members as BWO is quite convenient.

The general BWO is multivoltine which means it has many breeding cycles throughout the year. It's more bunny -- many yearly broods -- than  deer -- single fawning season.

All of this means the BWO is a year-round companion on most eastern streams. It is also highly likely to be the first true hatch a shoulder-season angler encounters. 

Yes, stoneflies are also quite possible to be early-season encounters.

Unlike the BWO, the trout frequently ignore the stoneflies but for their nymphal larvae. I've watched the stoneflies emerge and crawl and fly and land be completely ignored by feeding trout in the mainstream. I've also seen trout pick stoneflies off root balls as they emerged.

Why the different behaviors? Ned the Trout won't tell me. Stubborn bastard.

The BWO do usually have the trout "looking up" and at least in my experience, I've not observed the same disinterest among our browns towards the BWO as they've shown me repeatedly on stoneflies.

Yes, I do carry something for the little black stoneflies in the spring in case they are hatching and the trout do notice. I'm not dogmatic enough to be an idiot.

The BWO is a good swimmer and is likely found in a drift sample. I mean here they're likely found in a mid-day kick-net sample and in a pre-dawn behavioral drift sample. The things are hugely prolific life forms on most Michigan streams.

Also, the BWO is frequently dislodged from his forage ground and cast into the flow during the usual spring high-water season where flows vary widely week-to-week. He's in the water column even when not actively hatching and the trout know this.

Hatches in the cool season of spring occur mid-day and slightly past. 

On overcast afternoons, the hatch might continue sporadically until the shadows crawl back and cool the water. Following days where the nightly low is above freezing, you can bet on some afternoon BWO hatches starting. These can be individual localized sparse hatches or they can infrequently be mind-boggling blanket action. Best advice: be prepared.

The BWO emerges from the water film poorly.

Mortality of the hatch is high with a good number of cripples and stillborn drifting at or near the surface. Even successful duns might drift two or three cast lengths downstream from where they successfully crawled onto their shuck waiting in cool weather for their wings to harden and flight to be possible.

The trout love this. Look for very subtle bulging riseforms "sipping" flies with no bubble telltales of the take. The mayfly simply disappears. Sometime the bulge is under the emerged fly. Sometimes it is immediately before the dun crawls out on a subsurface take.

Because of the good quantity of subsurface action, I like to swing soft-hackles below the surface just when I see something emerging. I'm usually too excited when I see an early season hatch to even bother to identify what it is by chasing down duns with my hand.

I put on a hare's ear soft-hackle flymph in an unweighted version and fish directly below the film.

Don't let this imply I have some sort of remarkable catching prowess in this action. I'm usually so excited with early-season trout fever that my fish to hand are brookies and rainbows. I'm a complete wildman on the river until I get past that "first dozen" trout count in the spring. Yes, it's been June before that threshold has been crossed in some years.

As long as no one is nearby to observe me tossing an eight-inch brown a dozen feet through the air on a too-excited hookset, it's all good. Right? I mean it isn't like it really happened or anything?

If you don't know what I mean, your winters are too short. I'm an occasional angler. I'm not a commercial-grade angler.

Strategies when the BWO is suspected involve weighted hare's ear soft hackles in searching swings until a hatch is actively sighted, then unweighted hare's ears swung under the surface film or cast to active feeding lanes upstream. 

Size 16 seems to hit the sweet spot of the BWO activity.

Note that the BWO females return to the water to lay their eggs and several species (all ?) land on obstructions and debris then crawl underwater. Naturally, many of these egg-layers are also washed into the current and are served well by soft-hackles in the upper 1/3 of the water column.


BWO Pattern (hardly original):

 Ugly little cuss tied on #16 Hends barbless 345.

Tail: hen pheasant, 4 or 5 fibers.

Abdomen: Hare's ear cut fine and touch-dubbed onto waxed thread. Chop the hare's ear if it isn't fine enough. You only need enough dubbing to change the color of your thread. If you are building mass into the fly, you're using too much dubbing.

Rib: micro-wire.

Thorax: Herl - two strands wrapped with the microwire and twisted short onto the hook shank or something black -- like Wotton SLF in black -- again chopped fine and tied in a dubbing loop. I find too much of the material dissolves away when fishing if I just touch-dub the thorax. I like a dubbing loop here. The herl-and-wire will produce the most durable outcome and it should be favored.

Hackle: hen in rust brown or back. Sparse tie using the tip method. [ better picture here with my late-season variant when I use dun hackle. Same dubbing. ]

Head: liberal wraps of the thread as shown here (in chartreuse for no good reason). Finish with a varnished thread to keep any glue off the hackle. The weather is cold and so the bias towards a fly that has the greatest possible durability is a solid idea.

A free-body diagram of the fly (from a class hand-out I used once). I'm not sure how these diagrams show-up in photos so I thought I'd try it here. I am colorblind and so my illustrations favor the monochrome pen-and-ink style drawings. I'll have to hire an illustrator to color the things if I ever publish.

Technical sources for more reading:

Ann Miller's excellent Hatch Guide for Upper Midwest Streams. (Frank Amato Publiucations, Inc., 2011.).

and

Malcom Knopp and Robert Cormier's Mayflies, An Angler's Study of Trout Water Ephemeroptera (Greycliff Publishing Company, 1997.).

Next weekend: trout camping on the Au Sable with fishing on the North Branch.

It's only going to sleet a little. The trout won't mind at all.

Prost.

Drunken Chimpanzees and Trout

Public domain image at left from the New York Zoological Society, 1906 as hosted on wikicommons.

How spoiled are we? I send into the ether a request for a public domain image of a monkey at a typewriter and I am overwhelmed in replies. Truly, I lead a charmed life in this age.  I can buy a bag of turnips with only walkaround money any time I want.

We're at the river's edge today. 

We're suited up and we've exchanged the usual bullshit parking-lot conversation with our fishing buddies. Nobody tries to solve the world's problems when we're anticipating trout.

Then comes the question: "What are you gonna use?"

A few days ago I wrote of my limited flybox this year. I'm a presentationist.

Your buddies however are not. They need that thing that's hard to acquire with just three flies in a wallet: confidence.

I'm convinced that confidence by an angler is a directly related to the skills mastery they'll demonstrate and thus proportional to the trout they'll hook. Anglers -- infrequent and occasional anglers alike -- need confidence.

There's a fly shop out there trying to help: Red's.

Let me just back-up a half step here. There are three stages to any angling we pursue:

• At the stream;
• On the water;
• The period before-and-after the stream.

At the stream we are observing. We're looking for clues like Columbo on a Sunday night.

On the water we're practicing our avocation and demonstrating our competencies to the trout all the while updating our mental model of the conditions influencing our catching.

Before-and-after the stream is where we improve our skills, knowledge, and transition the "can almost do it consistently" to a core competency in our arsenal. It's also where we earn confidence.

Now, we're back at the water's edge and the question arises. 

It's rarely all that direct. It's usually more like "Whatcha think?" or the famous indirect approach: "Hmmm, Humpies?"

Whatever the consensus might be, it sends us digging into our box. 

"Damn, I don't have any Lemon Gimlets with marachino."

Confidence ebbs. You were late to the water or hurried there directly from the other world without a chance to stop at The Local and find that special cocktail the trout desire this week. The bar business is fickle like that.

Here's the deal. It isn't as much the fly as it is you. How can you know you're all lined up with the regional favorites for an outing? 

Use your "before and after the stream" time and ask the folks at Red's.  (Fly order: deadly dozen ).

They've made it idiot-simple and we can all use that help!

Red's will assemble a twelve-count fly selection for your region and your season all from a web page.

Yes, I trust these guys to know there's a chance the Au Sable has a Hex on a June evening or that brookies on the North Branch are stupid for scarlet wet flies.

Now, the local shop is where you ought to go: your local shop. They sell gear but they're in the service and advice business. If you want the best price on gear, you'll be an idiot and go to ebay. If you want to be a better angler, you'll have a relationship with the local shop proprietors and give them your business. Award business based on service and support: not price.

If not your local, then use the river's local shop.

Service varies, however. A crowded shop can be a hard place to get help on Saturday morning and angling time is precious. Maybe -- like me -- you just don't like to talk to strangers especially to ask a question (it's a bear thing).

Red's has on-line ( here  ) a selector to build a fly collection for you and your water and your outing. 

You won't feel like you don't have a clue standing on the stream's edge when a Sidecar is the fly of the day for your buddies. You'll know that Borcher's Special from Red's will do the job.

You'll also be making use of that all-important before-and-after the stream time to make yourself better. This is how it works: do something to help your catching BEFORE and AFTER you are on the outing. I know. It is exactly what its label says. Surprise!

You'll fish with confidence and the trout will know the difference.

Give it a try. It helps.

Red's (whole shop here).

I'm at the keyboard today typing like the chimp of our picture.

I'm working on finishing a survey of the Driftless of Vernon County for my local anglers and on finishing a solid annotated outline of another non-fiction work. It's a big weekend for pounding keys and scotch.

Lou and I are on our own but for the two local does standing outside my library window. They look in wondering if I'm as beguiling as I seem.

I'm not; but, there is work to do. Have at the hostas, ladies.

Type, monkey. Type.

Prost.

Drinkin' in the Drift

At left, a jug of corn liquor from Weston Missouri as photographed by Ken444444 on wikicommons and allowed for use here by way of attribution.

Thanks Ken.

One of my buddies from another state saw our little bog here and wired me in response to my limited fly box assertions. (here)

After reminding me that it didn't matter because I don't catch many fish anyway,  he called me "crazy drunk" for a limited box this year.

He said I should just go whole hog and use only one fly if I felt that I could do well enough to avoid selling my gear on Ebay fishing with a limited box.

I'm not worried that will happen. I have more gear now than when we last fished together. Too much trouble to sell it.

I did want to briefly bring forward a few facts related to the limited box I'll push this year.

(1) My presentation matters most of all. If you've seen my dragging flies, you'd know that. Clean up the presentation and start adding up the fish.

We're all going to fix that technique before we start spending money on guides in remote places.

(2) I picked my flies with some care. I cheat. I hedge. I have all winter to read.

Tom Rosenbauer in The Orvis Guide to Prospecting for Trout has a section (p. 88-89.) where he relates a little statistical background on trout and feeding. He uses this as a transition section after discussing the daily behavioral drift during the night.

Behavioral Drift: For those who did not take Invertebrate Biology (I was a physiology track guy and never took it myself), the drift is a phenomenon of freshwater streams where certain invertebrates "let go" during the night allowing the current to seed them down the river to a new habitat.

It's a bug's version of cows moving around that pasture.

The bugs drift with the prospect of landing in fertile fields for whatever it is they eat and thus avoid "eating themselves out of house and home" if they were to stay in one place. They use the current and drift probably because they move relatively poorly on their own.

Trout feed during the drift. Usually it begins late at night (driven by ph changes in the water chemistry) and ends just before dawn.

Two types of insects have however been found to have daytime behavioral drift: Caddis pupae and larvae; and Baetis larvae.

You know the Baetis as a type of mayfly. You know it as the Blue-Winged Olive.

In Michigan, the pre-adults of these species are among the most numerous in our streams. 

Finally, The Pheasant Tail (Soft-Hackled Pheasant Tail for me, thank you) is a dead ringer for the BWO nymph.

Ann Miller's excellent Hatch Guide for Upper Midwest Streams which  I believe all of the Amber Anglers have as an autographed copy (Thanks Ann!) shows on page 28 a Blue-Winged Olive nymph.

Ann however photographed the insect against an opaque background.

As trout see them in the drift, they're a little translucent against the hard sun and it is here where the Pheasant Tail is a dead ringer.

Ann shows flies to use: the 80's Baetis, the Peek-a-boo baetis, and the BWO bead head the first two tied by Mike Schmidt and the last by Tim Scott.

I say the pheasant tail does a damn fine job, too. Tom makes this point in an illustration and he's way better at this than I will ever be.

I'm not a trout.

I'm also not an aquatic biologist and Ann is.

If you don't have her book, ask in your local fly shop. They need to have it on hand. I've read it twice this winter which is to say I've been entranced by the wonderful photography and sharp "punchy" prose all winter.

We need local fly shops. They sell service and knowledge. Buy from them. Please.

(3) Trout eat some flies more than others even when all food sources are available.

Tom Rosenbauser cites two studies to support this claim.

In Wisconsin, a study of autopsied trout stomachs and compared that to same-time drift samples. The ratio of 1 indicates that an insect was as prevalent in the stream as it was in the trout. A ratio of 2 shows trout ate twice as many insects of a type proportionally to how many were in the stream sample.

Results?

Caddis fly larvae has a ratio of 2.1

Mayflies ... 0.5

Tiny midge larvae? 6.4

Are you fishing small enough? I must not be.

He goes on to clarify that in a New York study conducted in the 1930's, caddis were the first food choice of trout but for the months of May, August and December when mayfly nymphs were a first choice.

Hare's Ear is a great caddis.

I'm not a fellow to play fair. In this game, the trout has the upper hand. I'm not above using science to gain an edge.

An indicator over a nymph?  I'm not that desperate. I'll go all tight-lines, please.

One has to draw the line somewhere. Bobbers and live bait are kissing cousins.

Not all the Amber Liquid Anglers feel this way.

I'll laugh at their bobbers. I'll curse the fish they catch with them.

Then I'll offer them Scotch from my flask.

Prost.

Filling the Box

Freyfisher provides us with permission to use the image on the left from wikicommons. These are Elk Hair Caddis.  Nice. Lovely snap.

I'm looking at the spring boxes.

I've too many diverse specialist flies that I love but never use.

I'm done with it.

Back to basics. I'll break down and go with terrestrial patterns later in the year but for now, my stocking will focus on  an mix of whim and logic. If you've got your boxes out at home, follow along. You know the dance steps already.

I also say that I was taught to select your likely flies and put those in your day box. Leave the big boxes back at the cabin.

So, this list constitutes the spring flies I'll have in the day box - depending - and in the resupply box back in the cabin.

(1) Royal Wulff. - I can see these well. I like them as dries and I like them as indicators I can follow when I have a nymph down below.

(2) Elk Hair Caddis - These are sentimental favorite. I learned on dry flies and the caddis was my go-to. Of course, this was on Colorado streams in the summer when fish were starving and ate anything that fell on the water. I thought the EHC was some special fly. I didn't know I was fishing it as a hopper at the time. I see these well in the drift.

(3) Parachute Adams. - I prefer the Wulff but I've a couple dozen of these in various sizes and will use them. Most of the time, I drown them and fish them in the film with the little parachute sticking up. I don't like them for an "on the water" dry but that's me. I've more confidence in the EHC or Wulff for a pure dry presentation to a rising fish.

(4) Griffith's Gnat - I use this fly too seldom. I love it as a dropper on the surface. I tie it 18" behind a Wulff at the end of the day and I can follow the wulff and not have to strain to see the 18 Gnat in the growing gloom. I should fish it more. I'm probably not alone in that either.

(5) Hackled Pheasant Tail. I'll use some with beads (not too proud there) and most without. I catch fish on the hackled. Not so much with the unhacked version.

(6) Hare's Ear Flymph - I like this fly in spring. I should fish this more in the early summer evening. I stay too long with something else and I think the dark color and flutter from the hackle is perfect for the light from the golden hour on out. I'm not using it enough. I tire of subsurface too quickly.

(7)  Partridge and Orange - I will  be using this as my exploration pattern when I don't see rishing fish. I'll still use it when I see rising fish. I'll use upstream drifts more.

(8) Partridge and Green/Olive - I have a bunch of these very light and very dark beasts that are perfect for the early season.

(9) Ants. - I don't try an ant often enough. I like the size 12 hard-bodies as beetle and bug imitation for under trees. I've been too lazy to tie them on in the evenings, though. I should try them more with the little trout in the backwater. I'm not above taking a 7" rainbow on a barbless hook with a 3 wt. I'll do a little dance for a bluegill.

(10)  Olive and Black Buggar. - I've no excuse for not trying for large trout more often with a great streamer set-up I own. The Ambush line makes it effortless to fish streamers without any of the voodoo of flying big hooks by my ear.

Big fish eat other fish. An 18" trout eats baitfish. I need to get over it.

On food rich streams in Michigan, fish don't have to feed all day. Big fish don't have to eat insects at all. More streamers very early, and very late. I should be casting streamers when I can't see to tie on again. Big eyes are easy with a threader even in the evening.

There it is. I'm not helping myself with a selection of Hendricksons in my day box. A partridge and olive in 14 and 18 will do just fine. I should be using those.

Better presentation. More flies under the surface than on it. More Hare's ear. More streamer very early and very late.

Simple. Cuts down on the flies needed. Puts the onus on me.

If you're borrowing flies, you'll know what I've got.

I'm going for more catching. I'm already happy just being on the water fishing so, no worries.