Fly Fishing: Fly Friday...

...Not long after devoting self to becoming the High Priest of fly chuckers that I found in a heap of socks and underwear beneath the Xmas tree a box marked "Master Guide Fly Tying Kit" or something along those lines...And so began yet another quest...Master...well, you know... 

With nothing much to go on save knowing what a proper trout fly should look like and not a clue--other than a few crude line drawings included in the MGFTK Instruction Manual (at no additional cost, imagine)--how to roll a trout fly...proper or otherwise...

...Well, as was my style back in the day (and some might say continues unabated all these many years later) I gave the  "Instruction Manual" the once over...Then proceeded to whip one up MY WAY...No surprise then the OM pretty much blew it off, "Nice son, but for now think I'll keep on buyin' mine at Dewey's (local sporting goods store). Later he really took me down a peg or two when I heard him say to an uncle, "Don't tell the boy but to me it looked more like a crippled bird."

OK so it might take awhile to rise to the top of the heap, eh?

Admittedly, the Stimulator (above) fell off the vice several decades later...But c'mon now, you gotta admit this baby is way more "proper" than your basic "crippled bird"...Right? Right.

OK any illusions of rising to the top of the fly chucker/tier heap (or to the top of any heap actually) have long since been flushed down the drain. For many years now I've been content in knowing some of my deliveries will fool some of the trout some of the time and for me that is more than good enough all of the time. I know also that of a dozen Stimis rolling off the vice at least a couple in the bunch will turn out "proper" enough to fool at least the dumbest trout in the pool...the rest? Who cares...for if the past half century and change flailings (failings) have taught me one thing...always another pool and...you guessed it...yet another dummy in waiting...Don't spread it around but bottom feeding really ain't all that bad a deal...over and out

Fly Fishig: Times Past and Far Away Places

Early on I discovered the Hornberg...Wet or dry didn't seem to matter so long as I pitched 'em on the straight and narrow...

...but that was later. In the beginning we drowned garden hackle but the bait of choice, seined minnows--run stripers in case you are interested--really got it done. We fished almost exclusively for half-starved brook trout since Pap ran the show and as far as I know never in all his life fished anywhere near where the stock trucks dumped "those friggin' fakes the bastards try to pawn off as trout." Pap was, you might say, somewhat opinionated when it came to fish and fishing methods. Later after I had decided to dedicate my life to becoming an "expert" fly chucker, Pap snorted at the idea. Said to the old man, "Charlie there's somethin' wrong with the boy, I mean, gezzus mighty, fishin' a sissy stick!!!

But as I say flies came later; half-starved brookies were flat out suckers for a strung up "minnie" as we called 'em.  And while it took a few seasons to get the hang of it by the time I graduated high school, not to brag, the hardest part of hauling a limit (8 daily, 6-inch minimum) was keeping the minnies alive in the jar, e.g. for the uninitiated in the audience, "dead minnies work but not for much."  Pap... 


Spinning rods were out there I guess but I didn't own one. Instead made do with telescoping steel poles and later el cheapo bamboo which of course were better though not much. My first bamboo was made somewhere in Asia--probably Japan--back in the day "Made in Japan" was something of a sick joke. The OM won it on a punch board at the Legion and I'm pretty sure the only reason he gave it to me was to try and appease Mom for yet another boys late night out. But that was their business. The important thing was "I" was now proud owner of a "real fly rod" and...Well, as they say, the rest is history; albeit a rather convoluted tale which I will continue to post off and on in the near future as time and duty dictate...over and out...

Fly Fishing: Fly Friday

The Black Magic is one of many spinoffs of the venerable Chernobyl Ant...What the trout think is of course more than I know? But if I was a hungry trout...well I'd be hard pressed to let a buggy lookin' critter such as it is pass by...And probably that's all there is to it...Another one of those imponderables just is...

In my boat, as an attractor patterns go the Black Magic ranks right up there with the Wulffs, Purple Haze, Stimis, PMXs, Gypsy Kings and all the rest. Some days it really is "magic" especially anytime the light dims--early mornings, storm clouds rolling in, darkness falling--but there are days particularly on the upper Big Hole when trout gobble it all day long, bright sun, high cloudless sky be damned...

Such a day last summer serves as prime example...Two older, as in more ancient than even your intrepid reporter, N.C. gentlemen scoffed as I rigged their leaders with Magics...John Robert actually guffawed quite nasty like I might adds...."Sam I told ya'll we shoulda canceled soon as Al pawned us off on Chuck here...In all my days ain't never seen a guide tie on a stupider lookin' bug and two of 'em mind!!!"

Fast forward now to lunchtime...See the pair of Magics, one bears no legs and most of the wing is missing; the other minus a pair legs, just a few wisps of wing hair remains and half the foam body is flat out gone! What you thinkin' now Bro? Chuck you are the MAN! No less a friggin' genius...I rest my case.