Silk Threads

Ephemera, YLI, Pearsall's

For years Pearsall's Gossamer silk has been the standard silk for tying spider and soft hackle flies. When I first started using Pearsall's I was impressed with how easy it was to use. Reports of it being a "pain" to work with were not even close. It's translucency when used with various dubbing material could not be achieved with any other thread. A happy spider tyer I was. Then I was told that Pearsall's would no longer be making their silk threads and that sent the buyers and hoarders into full swing. Within a short time Pearsall's was no longer available. Oh sure it could be found but not in the color you wanted or for a price you could afford.

Then I found YLI silk. Wow was this thread nice. It's uniform color and feel were very nice. I could not find any issues with it with exception of the large spool it came on. Well I found recently YLI was a bit difficult to find especially in the color orange that I use. I don't know why the shortage, but I have a few thoughts on it and I won't get into that now. Just in time I found on line a silk thread named "Ephemera"...thank you.

Ephemera a first class thread for fly tying. My first impression of it was the smoothness of the silk. This stuff flows onto the hook like butter. It has a very deep color and it is quite strong.

I can't give you a description on how it work in the water, meaning if it holds it's color, how much it darkens and so on. I plan on giving it a work out on the stream soon. Here are two spiders one tied with Ephemera the other with YIL...you can see a difference.

A spider tied with sparse dubbing...the Little Winter Brown... So far so good.

Now that's a fine way to break the still of a morning.....

It was a still morning as I approached a long slick pool. There was a heavy riffle leading into it, and it is that riffle that I hoped I'd find a willing trout. I worked my way to a point above the riffle and positioned myself to make my casts so as to be able to cover the complete riffle. I had made several casts and did not find any takers. So I worked my way towards the pool. Most times there will be at least one brookie within the confines of such a pool but on a day like this I guessed there might be several. The fly I had on was a large dry fly, lot's of deer hair, a substantial meal. The draw back would be in the noise that would be made when it was cast upon the quiet pool. Well what the heck, let it rip I said. The fly landed on the water and began a slow slow drift. At one point it seemed the line had gotten in front of the fly. Twitching the fly and tightening the line I got it corrected. The fly remained motionless for a few moments and suddenly the pool exploded. I have seen many a rise but not like this. The fish was on and it ran me into every tight spot in that pool. I did not know what I had on, the stream has both brookies and browns. After several runs including one right at me I finally saw the trout, it was a brookie.

As I lay my hand in the water and gently lifted him out of the water to take a photo he made a bolt to freedom. The fly held and I was able to capture him for a second chance. The photo taken , the fly removed and off into the dark pool he swam.

North Country Spiders

North Country Spiders have long been a favorite of mine both tying and fishing. My love of these simple wonders seems at times overdone when I write about them. I have found many variations of these flies in the years I have researched them and I believe those who tied them in a certain fashion had a reason for it. Many of these variations are over-tied. What I'm saying is that these North Country Spiders should be tied very sparse. My opinion is, and this comes from my experiences is that the sparsely tied flies are much more effective.

Over the next few posts I will be highlighting a few classics that feature game bird feathers in their construction. This first North Country Spider features the Partridge.

The "Partridge and Orange"...simple materials, silk thread body and a single partridge feather. A side note here. The YLI silk thread used on this fly was a replacement for the Pearsall's silk that was discontinued. Now for some reason the YLI is in extremely short supply.

The "classic"...the few turns of partridge make this fly "simply" deadly.

North Of Whittemore

One of the most famous places on the Farmington river is Whittemore Pool. A lovely and very challenging piece of quiet water. It's said that if you are successful on catching one of the browns that reside in Whittemore you are capable of catching browns anywhere in the world.

Well this day we were on our way to fish the waters north of this famous pool. The waters I speak of are that of Hogback, or the West Branch Reservoir. The reservoir is a place I have fished for many years, in fact it was the only place I fished in the fall of the year. Some memorable trout have been taken in it's confines. Now I fish it in spring and several times in the summer. This 100' deep cold reservoir not only offers up trout, but is also a great warm water fishery. It has several species of bass as well as a variety of panfish.

So on this warm morning in August we headed down the trail to the lakes edge. This path nears a small stream that flows into the lake a favorite spot of mine.

The lake was a sheet of glass. A rise or two could be seen from time to time. There were several canoes and kayaks on the lake, gas motors are not allowed. The lake is quite clear and that can be a problem sometimes. I was not here for any special type of fish or for anything big. Just "fishin"... Only two flies were used, one a small bucktail the other a soft-hackle.

These guys were all over the soft-hackle.

These fanatical tail walkers kept me busy. While not monsters they were a workout for my CGR 3wt. These smallies also preferred the soft-hackle. It was odd in the way they liked the fly presented. I would make the cast and just allow the fly to sink naturally. Usually before it hit bottom the bass would take the fly.

I have to stop one day and eat here. Great history in this establishment.

At home later in the day it was time to clean up the odds and ends in the fridge. A mixed grill of kielbasa, hot dogs, steak and hot peppers.