Stewart's "Black Spider"

The "Black Spider"...why have I waited so long to feature this "classic"...well wait no more. This fly was created by W.C. Stewart and published in his book "The Practical Angler" in the year 1857. Now here is a fly that defines the word "minimal". It consists of but two materials, thread and hackle. Stewart felt that a simple fly, properly presented would catch fish. He felt so strongly that he pretty much used one fly for all of his fishing.

Stewart along a few others of his time knew that the sparse subtle movement within the various currents of the river would be the trigger needed for a trout to strike the fly. There are many insects the black spider can represent, but it represents many more that it doesn't. It's the movement, size and shape that makes it so deadly.

Stewart's "Black Spider"

The fly consists of a brown thread body, and hackle from a Starling. The trick is to wind the starling feather from the back of the hook forward to the eye, about 3 turns, without breaking the feather. I can't recall finding this pattern in fly shop bins...maybe that's a good thing.

Orange Butt "Kebari"

I truly enjoy tying "Tenkara" flies. Their simplistic look, and the reversed hackle just hits me in a fine way. It also takes it's share of fish.

Now for some breakfast.

Catch Up, Again #2

This is another venture into wild brook trout territory, one that was made on the 24th of February. It was a day like early April with clear skies, and a sun that brought temperatures into the light fleece range. Talk about comfort, t-shirt, a mid weight flannel and a fleece jacket. The stream was in it's sparkling glory with flows that made for comfortable wading and fly movement. It also brought a few midges to the surface as well as a few dimples on the slick runs. My these days are to be cherished deeply, for since that outing we in Connecticut have had some drastic changes...more on that in a later post.

I was fishing a small marabou wet fly in the pockets, just like the one in the first photo. It is there that I managed to get this fellow to take. The fly is a size 10, with thread body and marabou from a hen pheasant. Great fly.

Now here is a place to find a fish or two. Have I ever told you that I like fishing riffled waters?

In the little seams in the riffles your find moving and feeding brookies, so a fly moved through those areas will usually bring a strike.

Another bit of experimenting. A Mickey Finn tied on a Partridge low water salmon hook, #10. I have also done a Black Ghost tied on the same hook.

What a gnarly piece of stream bank, looks more like a wood pile than a trout stream. Currents swirl in funny ways in places like this. Note make a couple of extra patterns, for your sure to leave one in the pile.

Sunshine in the form of a wild brookie. I hope that these photos brighten up your day.

A wet fly from a previous post. It's tied on an unusual hook, one I found while shopping at a Fly Fishing, Fly Tying museum. The hook is a Mustad 94843...more later.

It's Simple Friends, Yeah Right

I really need to get a handle on this desk. I say I'm going to get organized and then an idea comes to mind and the organization plan gets sidelined. See that bodkin and threader on the desk, that's the work of Mike Kattner over at "Cane and Silk" he makes these tools from pieces of bamboo. A little elegance to the simplicity of my flies.

Fly patterns, I mean fly pattern names. They can be confusing to some or more like insanity to me. A couple of patterns I'm focused on here will confuse that I'm certain of. But what the hell....

The "February Red"...simple indeed. Red Pearsall's silk some light dubbing at the thorax, and a couple of turns of a grouse feather. Now can the "February Red" be fished in March?

Here's a mind blower..the "March Brown"...some partridge feathers for a tail, dark dubbing for the body, a gold tinsel rib, and a brown partridge hackle. Can this fly be fished in May and June?

Here's another turn, a "March Brown" also...more partridge tail, hare's ear dubbing, gold tinsel rib and a couple of turns of brown partridge.

A little side by side. "March Brown" and "March Brown"

Yes another "March Brown"...coq-de-leon tail, olive dubbing with a gold tinsel rib, a dark bit of squirrel dubbing for the thorax, and light partridge hackle. Now these patterns are all March Brown flymphs and from my experience they fish well in all months of the year. As for the February Red the jury is still out.

Some Catch-Up...#1

March is living up to the phrase "in like a lion"...here in Connecticut we are experiencing a "nor'easter"...the winds are swirling and the rain is falling sideways. We will pull through as we have before and the sun will shine and hopefully the trout will rise in their swollen streams.

Connecticut's trout streams have closed. February 28th was the last day to fish many of them. The streams that remain open are Class 1 WTMA's and certain other rivers such as the Farmington and Salmon, but have special regulations that apply...check your anglers guide. So for the last ten days I have fished a number of streams some of which I have not fished in a year. The weather has been awesome with warm temps. The streams have been graced with ample flows and the wild trout have been active. The photo above was taken on the 20th of February, looks like the end of March. It was beautiful that day.

The brookies that inhabit that stream are vivid, their spots are so pronounced. They also have no objection with eating from the surface.

One of the things I like to do when fishing is turning over rocks within the stream. Most times it gives me an idea what is available for the trout to eat. This will not alway's change what I'm fishing with but it is a guide if things don't work with what I'm using. This stone had the usual nymphs, typical black or brown in color. Also there a various crawling little green worms, green caddis perhaps. But as you can see they are quite small, so when a "bomber" is presented the thought is "wow that's a big meal"

She is a beautiful lady

On this particular outing both a black soft-hackle an woodchuck caddis worked.

This simple spider covers much of what the fish feed on. This fly is a 14, but a 16 or 18 would probably have been better....black thread, black thorax, and a turn or two of black hen hackle....How about a black thread body and some black ice dub?

This lovely little freestone stream has a name but I'll just refer to it a stream 2/20....