Fly Boxes

My first tackle box had a flip up handle which could be held fairly upright under my bike handlebar along with my rod. It held lots of stuff, mostly bobbers & lead weights, snelled hooks and a small knife along with some marbles and even an odd army figure.

As i progressed my aunt & uncle bought me a fiberglass Sears set up (Zebco i think?) it had a closed bail and it worked most of the time. I split my time between a small pond & a large one. The small one was Thomas Paine's home pond, it was shallow and mostly filled with sunnies or the occasional cat fish, turtle or bass.

I would dig up some worms and peddle down with a furry. The fishing was always good (or it just seems that way in hindsight). I love sunnies b/c they are eager willing fish and a good fight for the size.

Today fly boxes are a thing of beauty (& the associated costs). I have one i generally fish and one that never leaves the house. I have one that when i open it i just can't bear to take any flies out as they all look perfect as they are in their rows & by colors. I have a 6 pane Whitley (a really small box) which is perfect for a summer shirt and several w/ rubber gaskets all of which are plastic boxes.

One that predates most is an old Orvis plastic with ripple foam insert, this one was damaged by a plastic worm left on top of it which melted into the plastic (this seems to happen a lot, does anyone know what this is all about?). I don't recall buying or how i got this Orvis box, it held old (really old) traditional flies, like Parma Belle and other bright gaudy flies which I did not initially fish and now thankfully have about a dozen left which i just look at once in a while. Hard to believe fish would ever go for some of these but that is how it was...

I have 2 other old (50+ year old) flies one is a Hornberg in the original package from a company in Wisconsin and the other is the largest fly i have ever seen, It looks like a modern tan Wulff dry fly but the hackle could easily hide a silver dollar. The hook is about a 2 or a 4 & i don't know if it would actually float but i guess i can't really risk loosing it.

Fran Betters once scolded me (well he recommended) that you not buy flies to look at, they are meant to be used in (or on) the water only & i think this is good advise but sometimes i just like to watch...

3 Wt's are Fun

My friends all fish 5 or 6 wt rods. Generally they use 8 1/2 or 9 footers and i guess if you are on big water, chasing big fish or are throwing 60' of line this makes sense. But this seems like a lot or rod for a 6-12" and once in a while even up to a 16" fish which is where I spend much of my time. Lately i am more focused on small water; typically this means a 3wt either my 8.4 for open water where casting is easy although not generally not more than 25 or 30'. I also have a 3 wt 5' (shortie) J.P. Ross that i love for small, tight "cripple creek water". People say you can't cast a 5' rod but like anything it just takes a bit of time. 

I call anything where tree branches & bushes scratch both my cheeks as I move up stream a cripple creek. At the head or tail of most any pool you can simply step over a few rocks and move from one bank to the far side. Generally there is nothing more than an 8 or 9" fish in these waters but a good day brings a 11-12" and i have caught em up to 16 in these waters. In here you can go a whole day without ever seeing another person. I think this has more meaning to someone like me who works with 50 folks a day and literally passed through 10s of thousands every day. I enjoy going a whole day with out a word or the necessities of polite conversation and while a 7" rainbow or brookie might not be worth mentioning at the club (or in print) it sure has made for good memories. Besides with all the snakes, bears, deer, beaver, otters, bats, not to mention the chipmunks, and frogs i have had more than my fair share of heart racing excitement.

One reason to choose a lighter weight rod is that a 8" fish on a 3 wt = a 15" on a 5 wt or a 18" on a 6 wt and if it is all relative than i guess i am doing ok. Also most places i fish do not have a trail or even a rough fisherman's path, i spend entire days bushwhacking through some rough ground and a bigger rod either gets in the way, breaks or needs to be broken down (which i only do at the end of the day and not even then sometimes). Lastly i love to be able to "clear" a tangle in the tip while holding the butt and I just can't do that on a 7' or 9' rod.

It is true you can't cast far with a 5' rod, but far is a relative thing. When most pools are a 6' to 15' across far can be the leader or the leader + a few feet of line. It is more a game of flipping than casting and stealth trumps a smooth stroke. I am most successful when i  stay out of the trees.

Ok so what can't it do? Well you can forget about hi-sticking (nymphing) unless you are atop a rock overhanging the water and if you manage to shimmy up a large erratic without your rod or reel or some jingling object from your vest clanking against the rock and spoiling the pool you’re a better man than me. What else? Well when you do hit the 30' pool you can't roll cast to the tongue (that is even if you could chain saw a path over head for the cast to unroll in).

Aside from these i think i will stick with my shortie for small water and pack the 5 wt just in case i find big open water.

1st post summer hurricane rain

You need to head out as soon after the debris and fallen trees have been cleared as you can.

The 1st post summer hurricane rain is really the start of the fall season. Water levels rise and the temps fall from the terminal levels of summer. The big rivers are drains for the mountains so give them a few days to clear to a safe level. The best bet is to find small water a day after the storm passes. Typically the next day the water is falling (generally good fishing) and always best sheltered from the wind which invariably follows these storms.

I have written about “known pockets”, the trick here is not to fish those but instead to re-learn or explore anew the water you thought you knew & understood. This weekend was such a weekend. I have fished it to the point where I know where and even how many / how big the fish will be.

Casting as good as I ever do (not that great) but for me solid pinpoint casts. Every known pocket was now wrong or empty or worse still all the fish were dead from this drought plagued toxic summer. I fished up to my favorite pool where I know ever rock and branch and from the car up but had only raised one small fish. I thought for a moment if these fish survived from the ice age till now they were likely still here just not where they were supposed to be. Ok time to improvise…

I tied on an Ausable Wulff and went back to work – in the past on small water I fish upstream and then hike home. Today I would fish only the larger pools and the impossible root ball flushes I always bypassed due to never having taken a fish in promising spots.

knew this would be a day to remember when I approached the heavily canopied section which I often see fish rise but can never approach let alone cast to. On this day however I approached from above and fished the dry wet and down jerking it like Fran always preaches (this too never worked before).  I took fish after fish on this pool even though they could plainly see me, even though I was splashing like a young boy with a new “Slip & Slide”. I can not explain this other than to say it worked. I moved down to the most open pool any small water has ever seen, where no man ever took a fish and again down & wet took the first small fish, the best fish of the head of the pool, several small fish along the bank, the best mid-pool funnel fish and several in the tail.

moved downstream with the confidence which can only yield new even greater discovery (or a nasty fall). At the flush rush of one of the best scourers I sat lit a cigar and pitched my fly into the abyss of roots & tangles no sane ff would go. Before I could get a full char glow on my AVO I was fast the best fish of the day. Full bodied silky and firm but with some give (is this about the cigar or the fish?). The fish dove for the rock and snags & I thought wow this guy is getting away, but there is really no where for them to go in small water and finally I held in my hand and raise a perfect jewel of color, symmetry, balance and life. He was back in the water before he knew it and I was moving down confident there could not be another fish in this small pool (without being dinner for the guy I just released).

Since the day was going so well I moved down to the lower water and at the confluence with the “other” brook I fish wet and down into the seam pulling the fly upstream a foot or more ever so often until I was again fast to the best fish of the day / outing. This one was a full 13” and firm and wide. He took me out to tail of the broad pool (~ 25’) and back to hand. Again beautiful this was a good one to close out the day.

On my way out I “found” a new stream I have driven by 20 times and never saw or recognize it for what it was a new undiscovered jewel (next time).

Last thought, when Old Guy says try this, it may or may not work, but store it away for a day when nothing else is working and bring it out you may be astonished at the results. Also fish the pools you never catch fish on (or even see fish on odd days). Both may not make any sense in the world you have come to know but is that not the fun of this game?