Very early Tuesday morning, 2am to be exact. I am sitting at my kitchen counter having just finished the book River Flowers. Looking out the window the snow is falling pretty heavy, a clipper they call it. My second cup of coffee is brewing, a McCafe K-cup and my thoughts are all over the place. River Flowers takes place mostly in western Maine. It's well written and covers it all as far as I'm concerned. Although Bob Romano does not list the actual places the descriptions he gives put me there again.
Reading reflections of others always brings me back to where many of mine originated. Those little things that may have happened and were not really block buster stuff seem to come back so vividly. I'm certain most of you can relate to what I'm saying.
A late spring day. A free flowing stream. Lush surroundings. A 5' bamboo rod with a soft hackle fly attached starts a drift through the stream. As it bounces willy nilly over rock and boulder like some something totally out of control it's progress stops. Suddenly there is resistance ans a quick movement upstream. I pull back and the fish does not like the sting. A valiant effort is made by the brookie in an effort to rid itself from the fly now in it's lip. What is only seconds the brookie is at hand and does one last maneuver to free itself....and mission accomplished. It swims off like a lightning bolt and a memory is created and not to be forgotten.
Soft hackles, will they work?
Alan,
ReplyDeleteNice ties on the soft hackles.
I guess the jar of salmon eggs is the reason you haven't had any replies yet though. My favorite tenkara bait in the winter with a #10 barbless hook. Over 95% are hooked in the lip with easy release.
bill
billp
DeleteThanks
Bill the jar is full of cinnamon jelly beans..egg patterns can be effective.
Ha! should have known those were too big.
DeleteHi Alan
ReplyDeleteYou ask the question of the soft hackles 'Will they work?'. I have no doubts that they will!
Take care and stay safe
Alistair
Anonymous
DeleteThanks
Alistair you being a man from the Yorkshire would have a strong faith in what these flies will accomplish.
Great things Alan, great things
DeleteIf I'm awake at 2am it's only because I'm throwing wood into the furnace. Soft hackles fit for the Christmas tree. Beautiful, Alan.
ReplyDeletemike
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Mike a very necessary chore up north. They do have a festive color to them....how about those purple body ones?
What a nice stream in a tunnel of green to look forward to on a cold winter day!
ReplyDeleteShawn
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Does it not look refreshing? We are about to get a dose of winter's reality this weekend. There was a time when I would be out there fishing in it.
G'Day Alan,
ReplyDeleteIt's 8.30am here in Victoria, OZ and we are having a spectacular thunder and lightning storm. The rain is bucketing down. Refreshingly cool after the spell of hot, humid weather we've had over the last week. All this rain will blow out all the streams, so today's Small Stream Reflections is my fishing trip. No complaints about that.
Lovely little stream. It looks about the size of the Stevenson River, upstream of Marysville here in Victoria, OZ. I need to give my small collection of North Country Spiders a decent workout. Whenever I've tried them in the past they have worked well. Very nice looking soft hackle flies ,Alan.
Kindest Regards,
Steve
I love this place; Steve is talking about hot, humid weather in Victoria, ...and I'm bracing for -34C tonight. We may be a world apart, but we're still a family.
DeleteSteve
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Steve it's a long way from thunderstorms here. I do like to hear about them especially from downunder. The Stevenson river is a brown trout stream? Bless those soft hackles.
mike family we are. even though are butt's are freezing
DeleteG'Day Alan,
DeleteUp until fairly recently, I only caught brown trout in the Stevenson but now get about the same amount of rainbows--still all wild not stockies. The browns tend to be in the deeper and more sheltered pools and the rainbows in the faster runs, which is pretty normal for these trout. There were a few multiple escapes/releases of large brook trout from a trout farm a few valleys away over the last few years. They were the huge brute lake brook trout, not the pretty jewels that you catch. They may be breeding in the wild as I've seen photos of recently caught brookies and they are much smaller. I've heard that brook trout are being caught in streams connected to the original stream where they escaped, so maybe they will eventually come into the Stevenson. I hope so. There's plenty of room for all of them!
Kindest Regards,
Steve
Of source the soft hackles will work great! Bob Romano has a book called "Fishing with Faeries" that talks of Bonnie Brook, my favorite stream.
ReplyDeleteNJpatbee
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Pat that was Bob's first book and it was a great one. His little stream was right across the Big D from where I fished in PA.
Alan
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to use your soft hackles Euro Nymphing as soon as the Sipsey gets back to normal. A tungsten point fly and your soft hackle attached about a foot above. Stay safe---- weather forecast shows huge storm headed your way! Thanks for sharing
Bill Trussell
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Bill your two fly set up will work very well for you. The weather guessers are all over the place with total snow amounts 6-16...will see.