They don't always play by the rules....

Go to the stream, cast a few flies and catch brookies. What's the big deal right. I have said a few times that small stream brookies do not play by the rules. Show a brook trout a bright, gaudy fly and bring him to hand. As I fished a stream last week I was again taken to school by those not to smart brook trout.

A lovely piece of trout water. This time of year you expect the trout to be holding bottom. While looking closer I noticed a rise, not uncommon it happens even on cold days. But the rises kept coming and I determined it was more then one fish doing it. So I reached into the box and plucked a bomber, it was tied on and sent into action. Four or five drifts and nothing. Elk hair caddis up next, same result. Lights go on and I'm thinking that they are taking just under the surface. I tied on a soft-hackle and it fared like the caddis and bomber. All the while they kept on rising. The only flies left were a streamer or a nymph. I selected the nymph. First cast fish on, and soon fish off. A few more casts and a take with a good hookup.

The first fish to hand, and the only fish to hand. A couple of more hookups with none to hand...why did these brookies take a nymph? Rising to nymphs? Thus the lesson and a lesson learned and filed.

Some fine hackle on display. Stream side oddity.

Snow's A Coming....

Good morning...bacon and fried potatoes...it's just not for breakfast. Please make the bacon crisp and likewise the potatoes. A couple of things I especially don't like are "wet" bacon and "white potatoes.

Olive silk thread makes some pretty effective fly bodies. The two patterns featured here use olive silk, suqirrel dubbed thorax and one has partridge hackle and the other woodcock.

Partridge and olive

Woodcock and olive

"Creamsicle"

I love tying these flies...steelhead-salmon-trout all inclusive. While they are good for all three species I'm going to focus using them for rainbow trout. A very distant cousin to the steelhead the rainbow should take to this style of fly. While not representing any type of food that either steelhead or rainbow might find in a river, but it's that color that will draw a strike.

This simple little gray nymph has been working for me at times lately.

"Brooklets"

Those little waters that flow into my little streams often hold a brookie or two. I love to walk along these brooklets and see what's going on. Winter is a good time to do this exploring because of the better than average flows. To walk along and actually see a brookie is great but to get one to take a fly is really special. On this outing I had the chance to walk along two of the brooklets and I was rewarded. Not only did I see several brookies I also managed to catch a couple. Most of the fish were hanging in the plunge pools or very close to them. With no tree canopy your presence was known quickly. I like to mark in my mind the spot where I spooked a fish and return there on the way down, using a softer approach. Most times this works.

Real dark...they blend in with the rocks and boulders along the creek.

This pool has got to hold a couple of fish. It looks tough to fish but it actually wasn't.

This plumpie was holding along the bank.

Some "Spiders"....

The "Winter Brown" a North Country Spider. The fly has been with us since around 1790. Do you wonder why you never see it in the bins of fly shops? It's tied using orange silk for the body, just a dusting of hares ear and woodcock hackle. The head is formed by using peacock herl. Now in the photo above the images are in black and white, the reason is that is the way trout see the fly. Do you have an opinion?

This is the Winter Brown in color. It's a better than average fish taker and I fish it all year long.

Pearsall's Orange Gossamer Silk.

The Yellow Woodcock...again in black and white.

The Yellow Woodcock. Yellow silk body, with a dusting of hares ear. The hackle is woodcock.

Pearsall's Yellow Gossamer Silk.

Both of these flies embody "simplicity"...they are effective. The next group of spiders will incorporate peacock.