"True Colors"

Those of us who tie flies, especially those who tie soft-hackles and spiders know that a famous maker of fly tying silk which is used in the construction of so many of the soft-hackles and spiders. The Pearsall Gossemer silk is no longer on the market. The availability of some odd colors and from sources such as estate sales and ebay are pretty much the only places to get Pearsall's. A couple of years ago I was made aware of another company offering a silk thread. The company name is YLI. Since I first learned of YLI's offering's I have purchased several colors and have tied many flies using it. It offers the same quality as Pearsall's, and it holds what I consider to be most important factor in silk thread it's true color when wet. Above is a spool of YLI olive thread. Olive is one of my staples and many of my flies use olive silk as a body.

Here is a spool of Pearsall's silk thread. It is a chestnut brown and one of my favorite colors for soft-hackles and spiders.

I have several flies tied with both YLI and Pearsall's. Using thread bodies and both grouse and woodcock feathers for hackle. The first is a Woodcock and Olive.

This one is a Grouse and Olive

This one is a Woodcock and Chestnut

And this one is a Grouse and Chestnut. Now you can see the colors of both silks as they are dry. The test taken was to show what they look like when wet. You will see that they hold their color. Some threads will darken when wet and that's OK in some cases. But I prefer they stay true.

Woodcock and Chestnut, wet.

Grouse and Olive wet.

Does all this color make a difference to the fish, I would say it does.

Wet And Wild..Soft Hackles, Spiders And Flymphs

A somewhat different look at soft-hackles, spiders and flymphs. When these are wet and viewed as the fish see them you'll see better why the can be so very effective. As you look down through this post you will also see that most all freshwater fish will take these flies, and in a variety of waters, from still water lakes and ponds to small streams and large rivers. Using a couple of retrieves as well as just letting them roll with the flow you'll be very surprised how effective these simple flies can be.

Tie up a few, or pick some up at your local fly shop and give them a try.

What A January Day

Good morning folks. A few days ago I had one of my best days on the stream this year. Kirk and Rowan and myself joined up to fish a little stream. The day started out cloudy but mild. The water flows were perfect and the clarity of the stream was unbelievable. I must say upfront that I did not move much from where I entered the stream, maybe a 100 yards and that maybe stretching it some. My reasoning for this was...the very first cast that Rowan made as we reached the streams edge was a rise to a caddis dry and subsequent hook-up. After seeing that how could I change locations.

Kirk and Rowan moved upstream and downstream, both had very good success. The brookies were very hungry this day.

Gin clear, very nice temperatures, and the sun made an entry which felt so good.

My first of the day took a purple and starling spider. The fish was so beautiful and still holding brilliant colors.

These fish were strong, healthy and so pretty.

Lots of "nooks and crannies" here, and lots of brook trout too.

Most of the fish today were taken on just two spider patterns. The purple and starling and this one.

A size 18, brown thread body, a sparse hares thorax, and two turns of starling.

My last brookie of the day, and the prettiest. That Cane And Silk glass rod is so perfect for this type of fishing....right Mr. Fontinallis?

Winter Angling, And North Country Spiders

Winter angling is at best a "maybe" and most times it's a "not going to happen".....the the "maybe" I'll take every time if given the choice but if the latter is dished out well I'll make the best of it. Such was the case of my last few outings. They were day's of extreme over night cold temps, like the teens. A day when the thaw had taken place and chunks of ice were floating downstream. The days when just reaching the stream was hazardous. But I'm not making excuses just telling how it was.

But even on those slow days I was able to capture several beautiful scenes that make small stream angling special at any time of year.

I love natural waterfalls....don't you?

This beautiful plunge spilling into the river. And just a few feet from that plunge was....

This remarkable scene. There were daffodils, or iris sprouting up.

I tied up a few size 18 spiders. I think they will be acceptable when those early stone flies are about. This one uses purple thread, peacock thorax, and starling hackle.

This one has an olive thread body, hares mask thorax, and bleached starling hackle.

"Legends" and "Winter Spiders"

I received a gift of a most wonderful book a few months ago. It's title is "Limestone Legends" The Papers and Recollections of the Fly Fishers' Club of Harrisburg...1947-1997. The book is a delight to read for it is like being there as these stories were being told. Many of the writers were just folks who had a story to tell, and some are pretty eloquently written. The members of this club are icons that I remember reading about as I entered into fly fishing, and the stories told were that of the famed waters of Pennsylvania's Cumberland County.

I'm not a guy who reads a book cover to cover "in that order" but thumb through it and when I spot something interesting and read it. Such was this fine piece written by Charles Fox.

In the article Mr. Fox compares two types of dry fly fishing. One where the angler uses a fine crisp Catskill dry fly, one that matches the hatch, and the other dry fly is an attractor or big bushy dry fly that gets the trouts attention. And this is so Pennsylvania..most anglers here also hunt, thus a precise Catskill dry "rifle" and a gaudy bushy dry fly "shotgun" applies so perfectly. I wish my typing skills were better for I would put forth the entire article for it's truly a gem.

I tied up some of those "winter spiders"..although they can be used successfully all year long.

The "Winter Brown"..Body Pearsalls Orange Silk- Hackle, Woodcock, and the head is Peacock.

The "February Red"...Body Pearsalls Red Silk, Hackle Grouse.

North Country Fly "buzz"

The North Country Fly is the epitome of simplicity. Most can be constructed with as few as three materials and be trout takers to the top level. The patterns tied here will show the simplicity of those three materials plus one. The patterns naturally have a hook, be it one of the materials but also a body material usually thread which can be silk or a blend of various fiber be it natural or synthetic, and hackle. In addition I have included a dubbing material. The dubbing is very sparse, and sometimes even less than sparse as you will see.

In his book "The North Country Fly" Robert L Smith mentions the word "buzz" when talking of the subtle movement of the hackle in the various currents of streams and rivers. This movement represents a natural insects struggle to free itself of the current which is trying to hamper it. With this thought I also add a scant amount of dubbing to the thread and a life like body is obtained. The fibers allow the thread to show through giving a translucent effect to the fly as would be the case of the natural insect. Those fiber also allow for more subtle movement which make the fly effective.

This fly has a body of gray thread, and a few touches of gray dubbing and light hackle.

On this fly a primrose silk body, with yellow dubbing and partridge hackle.

This very seductive looking fly has a yellow silk thread body, a bit of natural hares dubbing, and a bleached starling hackle.

This last fly uses a green thread body, a peacock herl thorax, the peacock will act as the "buzz" and the hackle is grizzly hen.