How it's viewed from both sides....soft hackles and spiders....

An icy stream in NW CT. yesterday. This place is off limits for awhile. Beautiful scene. Now the weather guessers are saying a major snow event for tonight and tomorrow. The snow I can deal with but when it covers up the ice underneath it's time to stay home and plan, tie flies, cook and maybe get organized, things such as fly boxes which have no organization what's so ever.  Somehow the disorganized fly box is OK and works well for most of the year I still like to get it in shape for at least one month.

 

 

A soft hackle/spider. Just tied it looks beautiful in its dry state. But that's not how the trout see it and that's what matters. Below you will see just how these soft hackles appear when in the water.
 

This fly has a sparse dubbed body and hackles. If you look closely you will see tiny air bubbles on the whispy fibers. To a trout this shows life.
 

This fly shows those air bubbles on the dubbing and hackles. It also shows how the hackles move simulating life.
 

Here you can see lots of air tiny bubbles on the dubbing and hackles. Also shown the the orange silk thread body through the sparse dubbing.
 

This spider really shows how life like a few turns of hackle along with some sparse hares ear thorax dubbing can show life. Also the trapped air bubble in the thorax area  is just what a mayfly does as it is moving to the surface to hatch.
 

Chilly days call for a hot bowel of "chili" No whimpy stuff here.
 

 

The "Pool".......

On a recent outing I found some willing brookies in an unlikely place. The day was sunny and rather bright. The air temp was enhanced quite a bit from the strong rays. On days like this I tend to fish the dark places in the stream, areas that have decent cover for the brookies. I will from time to time try other areas and on this day I was fortunate to find some willing fish. I had on a soft-hackle fly, a Partridge and Green. I came up on this pool. It was not deep but had enough water to hold a trout. The log laying in stream provided some cover and there was enough woody debris in stream to make the fish feel safe. I cast the fly and allowed for a short drift. As the fly neared the log I stopped it and began to lift it up toward the surface. As it reached the surface I saw a brookie come up and swipe at it.

Several more casts and another one swiped at it. The pool was clear so I could see the action. These fish were coming right off the bottom.  The soft hackle fly was pulsating as if it were hatching I could see it doing what it was supposed to do.
 

 

 

Partridge and Green.
 

These are a couple of the brookies I brought to hand. I estimate there were at least ten brookies in that little pool. Again very healthy well fed fish.
 

This guy looked like something tried to make a meal out of it.
 

 

This and that, and here and there...

Good morning folks. I hope your New Year is better then your last year. I'm a pretty frugal individual. I'm a person who likes a bargain that's genuine. It's not a bargain if it's crap if you know what I mean. While shopping at the grocery store I saw a package of blueberry muffins that were going out of code. These are not bad but are a bit on the stale side. I bought them and split them, buttered a fry pan and grilled them. They were totally awesome. Our breakfast this morning.
 

 

Maybe you have been wondering why I have not posted much about my Tiny Ten. Well that is because I broke it. While fishing it I got hung up on the bottom, attempting to free the fly I broke a section. I notified Sam Kates told him of the issue and he promptly sent me a replacement section. That my friends is service. While Sam's company is small his customer service in great.

Here is a stream that is perfect for the Tiny Ten. Yesterday while walking in the woods we gazed into the pool just ahead of the tree. There we saw 3 beautiful brookies soaking up the sun. I will get back there soon.

Great fly that has been working well .... Partridge and Green...that green silk body takes on a different shade when wet.... Notice the Tiny Ten rod is lying in the photo. Trout Flies and Flowers.

Sometimes it's not to bad...

 Sometimes while fishing I  hit the record button by accident. Most times I record a bunch of sky or trees. This time I managed to get some decent small stream action. The pool where this brookie was caught on a Olive and Partridge soft hackle also produced several others.