An October Day

As these days of October wind down, the nights are cooler to almost frosty, and the days find themselves in the 50's. One day last week found me on a wild trout stream. This stream flows through some beautiful countryside, its waters so very clear. The fly selection was one of southern origin, The Yellowhammer, the fly was given to me by Apache Trout, a fly fisher who just returned form North Carolina.

I dabbed some flotant on it and sent it on its way. The fly is designed to be fished as a wet fly and thats the way it worked best. At the end of the drift I allowed it to just sit at the tail of the pool for a second, when the fly was moved foward with the retrieve all hell broke loose. Orange fire could be seen from the belly of the brook trout as he tried to eat the fly. When brought to hand and admired, then sent on his way, that beautiful image remained. I never tire of those wild wonders.

As I walked the stream several brook trout could be seen on their redds, with several of the males competing for the right to mate with a lone female. I passed up on the opportunity to drift a fly through and let nature take care of the future.

A beautiful orange bellied brook trout

A brook trout lies at the tail of the pool.

A wild wonder who was fooled bt The Yellarhammer.

The "Royal Bomber"

The "Royal Bomber"

The "Royal Bomber" Variant

The Ausable Bomber has been one of the best producing flies I've ever fished. It has fooled trout in all of the streams I've fished. The Royal Coachman has also been a fly I'll reach for in streams that holds lots of brookies. So what I did in this pattern is to take the best of both patterns to create the "Royal Bomber"

I have not fished this fly as of yet but plan on doing so soon.

The "Royal Bomber"

Hook, Mustad 9671
Tail, Golden Pheasant Tippets
Butt, Peacock Herl... Grizzly and Brown Hackle
Body, Red Floss
Front, Peacock Herl,... Brown Hackle
Wing, White Calftail

The Variant has the grizzly and brown hackle wrapped from the back to the front, the same as the Ausable Bomber.



Thorns, Briars, and Weeds

At this ime of the year nature puts on a color show that few worldly artists could duplicate. It's also a time when much of the flora dies, and reverts to seed. But for some strange reason the briars and thorns seem to grow and become sharper.

Yesterday while walking into a stream I crossed a field full of weeds, and when I got home 2/3rds of the seeds were in my clothes and lungs. As for the other problem, the thorns proceeded to play tic tac toe on my exposed skin, and perforating my jeans, causing damage. Most of the small streams I fish I don't wade in, so its a constant fight with the thorns.

As for the cuts, the ones that are visable by the blood are nothing compared to the ones you can't see. Just take a shower, and the hot water will tell you where the others are.

The green briars.

The stream was low and clear, not easy to fool a wild trout

This guy could'nt resist.



S.S. Reflections, "Good Books"

A wonderful easy reading book. Its a book I pick up and glance through many times.

The book contains many of James Prosek's beautiful watercolor paintings.

This is another good book. It takes you to a special cabin in Michigan's upper penisula.

While I spend a lot of my time outdoors, there are times when its not comfortable to do so. Thats when a good book will fill in some time.

These are two of my favorites. They are well written, with lots of facts, and beautiful photos and paintings. They are not part of the throngs of "How To" books but they are of real life stories that show us how wonderful fly fishing is.

With the Holidays coming soon perhaps you should consider putting one of these fine books on your list.