We all know the joy of catching a nice trout on a new patterned, but what is unfathomably more enjoyable is catching trout on a pattern that you tied personally; a desire that most fly fishermen have, but few end up ever pursuing the art, usually because they do not know where to begin, faced most commonly with the question, “Where do I get the material.”
Buying the tools to begin tying is as simply as a trip to your local sports outfitter, however, acquiring the actually materials can be quite a challenge if you do not know where to look.

This time of year, as well as during other hunting seasons, the availability of materials increases greatly. Around the country there are thousands of gaming clubs, at which, hunters gather to register their trophies. Furthermore, there are many times throughout the year that these clubs engage in large bird roasts, and other such activities, resulting in large amounts of unused feathers and furs, that can readily be obtained.

Furthermore, there is another resource that I have found to be very useful when I am in need of material: the DEP. Over the past few years I have made friends with a member of the Maine DEP. Thanks to this contact, I have had access to a number of materials not readily available to me here in Connecticut. Therefore I highly recommend that you make friends with your local game clubs and DEP.

More than just natural materials alone, there are many other materials that can be found in a number of other places, such as your local arts and crafts store, filled with different yarns and colored feathers. I have found that some of the most useful materials I have in my arsenal are not ordered from magazines, or found attatched to an animal, but rather have been found strolling the aisles of ‘Crafts R Us.’

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When we arrived at the canal, we adorned our rods with Slug-Os, and began our quest. After hours of slippery slopes, and sand flies, we walked away completely ‘skunked.’ Why, you might ask, am I telling you fail stories? Simply because today I don’t want to discuss techniques or equipment, but rather simply make a pitch for fly fishing.

Although I do enjoy the occasional excursion, handicapped by the use of spin-rods, nothing can beat the thrill of catching a large cow on nine-weight. Furthermore, regardless of its productivity, the simple joy that comes from casting a fly-rod, due to the skill that is involved, makes it that much more fun.

In my mind, the simple action of casting, then reeling, then casting, then reeling, just seems to get to me after a short while. All in all, I simply wish to suggest that if anyone out there has never had the opportunity to cast for striper; try it.

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However, cork falls subject to a number of unavoidable mishaps throughout use. The two major factors that play into the wearing of cork handles, are moisture, and insect. Contrary to what might be readily accepted, dirt and grime are actually good for your cork handle. This layer not only helps to break in the handle to make it more fitted, but will also create a protective coating over the handle, thereby keeping off termites and other wood-eating insects.

I own a number of cork-handled rods, and recently found small larva living inside the handle. Because of this, I had to cut a section out of the handle, and reconstruct that section, an art that I will explain more about tomorrow. Today, however, I wish to discuss the precautionary measures that can taken to maintain a cork handle, and thereby extend its use.

First, I stated that water was a leading cause of decomposition of cork handles. This is mostly due to the fact that the water can soak into the handle, and actually rot the handle from the inside out. To avoid this, be sure to not store a cork handled rod without first making sure that the handle has dried out. Furthermore, do not store such rods in musty sheds, or other such placed that tend to maintained a humid atmosphere. This leads to the next point.

Be sure to store such rods indoors in a place where bugs will not not be able to get to the cork to eat and lay larva. This is actually more of a problem than people seem to understand. Following proper storing instructions will definitely extend the life of your cork handle, and will allow it to serve you better.

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The U.F.O. is particularly successful during the dry seasons, when the rivers, streams, and lakes, tend to have less water than normal, and the temperature of the water warms. During these odd times, when trout seem to almost become dormant, terrestrials generally become a must-have, if you want to fill your creel. The U.F.O. is an extraordinarily useful fly because it can be used as a substitution for almost the entire beetle and ant families.

When fishing with the U.F.O., placement and presentation are key to catching fish. Acting as a terrestrial, the U.F.O. is best if fished across the banks of the streams, preferably under overhanging branches and shrubs.

To better give the illusion that the U.F.O. has fallen from hanging undergrowth, once should present the fly more ‘floatly’ than usual. Generally, when presenting a dry fly, it is recommended that the caster lays the line perfectly parallel with the water, about a foot above the surface, before allowing it to touch down. When fishing the U.F.O., it is important to delay this leveling process, and instead, allow the line to lay out with the line hitting the water just slightly before the fly. This will allow the fly to have the appearance that it is falling, in its own weight to the water. To furthermore present the fly as real, try to keep it from hitting the water with more force than would be natural. This will keep the fly from startling the fish, and causing them to disperse.

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The WEW can be used as an imitator of the damsel nymph, which makes this pattern particularly effective on those hot summer days when there seems to be no other hatches rising. The WEW can also be used as a wooly bugger supplement when fishing on those last few cold months of fishing toward the beginning and end of fishing season.

The WEW is most effective in dark, murky areas of rivers, or the outside edges of bends in the river. The reason for fishing this fly on the outsides edges of a turn in the river is because that is where drift wood and leaves will tend to wash ashore in the most abundant amounts. These sticks and leaves sink to the riverbed and rot, creating an ever growing area of black mud where these damsel flies make themselves at home.

When fishing the Wild-Eyed Wooly, it is best to use a quarter turn sweep, and then retrieve it in short smooth bursts of movement, allowing the fly to bounce along the riverbed. It is important to remember to never let the WEW lay dormant for any period of time while in the water. The WEW’s tail and gills, being comprised of black malibu, gives the WEW the realistic appearance of having moving body parts. What you must keep in mind, however, is that on a real damsel nymph, these body parts are almost continuously moving, and therefore, your imitation should keep moving as well, not giving the fish a chance to inspect the fly before making the choice to strike, which they tend to do during the pause directly after the head of the streamer hits the riverbed.

Another important thing to remember is not to back-cast this fly unless it is weighted with lead! I have tried before to back cast this fly in order to achieve a greater distance to fish, and found that if you back cast more than one cast rotation (once back-then forward), the fly becomes to dry that it can take excruciating amounts of time to sink. If you prefer to not roll cast, and enjoy the art of back casting, as do I, you can tie the fly using copper beads for eyes, as opposed to plastic, and add further weight using lead wire. This will allow you to back cast, and still have the WEW sink efficiently.

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Although sealed cases are popular among most fishermen, many of us have that special, handcrafted, bamboo rod that we just cannot help but display, whether it be hung from a wall, or stood in a corner, it is important to remember that bamboo bows. If the rod is not properly supported, such as if it is stood in a corner, the tip of the rod will begin to bend, and eventually will hold the curve, compromising the casting of the rod, and making it structurally unstable.

The best way to show off that beautiful rod, is to simply hang the rod for the wall. It is important, however, to make sure that the rod is supported along its entirety, and not simple just at its ends. Furthermore, I have found it most effective to display such rods in their separated pieces; this will completely remove all chances of damaging the rod.

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Because of how vast the ocean is, it can be a difficult task to keep all of your bearings, such as the distance and windage location of your line, and the times of strikes. Furthermore, due to offshore currents it can be very easy to miscalculate how much line you actually have in the water. Most inland fishermen are able to judge the amount of outgoing line by relating it to another distance, such as the width of the stream, or the distance to a specific rock. However, with such vast expanses, there are very few ways to calculate this.

When fishing during daylight hours, it can be very effective to simple take a number of colored, permanent markers, and systematically color code the float line, marking out different lengths of reference. This can be very effective, and will allow you to keep from overextending casts, as well as will keep you from falling short or desired distances. Although this is very effective during the daytime, there is one problem; it is only useful during the daytime.

For night fishing, there is a similar technique, involving thread instead of marker. Simply tie a small piece of thread, or preferable yarn, to the distances of the line. As the line masses through your fingers, it is possible to count how many feet of line you have released into the water. This method is only advised for fast moving fishing, where a disturbance to the flow of the line will not be noticed by the targeted fish. Furthermore, this method may lead to a hindered flow of line from the reel, as the float line may become caught on the yarn markers. If one has a reel large enough that the line is not too constricted, this problem will not occur.

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Just as bass tend to make their way from hiding, and enter to now warm streams, trout tend to find their place in dormancy, seeming to disappear from nature entirely. In reality, trout simple lay low during the heat of the day by avoiding unnecessary exhaustion, primarily by laying still, and not eating.

Furthermore, when fishing for ‘lates,’ it is best to fish under in the shadows of overhanging trees, typically large pines that are growing along the bank. As well as these shadows, there are two other key locations to find trophy lates: in deep holes, and at the deltas of tributary runoffs.

In the late summer, it is not uncommon to find masses of trout sitting at the delta of a tributary, the place where a mountain runoff meets the main stream. It is at these places where very cool water enters, and where fish have a place to lay without being subject to warm water. Also, these runoffs tend to have a very high oxygen level, and therefore are able to support the trout far better that the slower moving body of the stream. It is in these deltas that one can be guaranteed to catch late trout. So, when approaching a stream, keep an eye out for tributary water, keep you distance, and land those lates.

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As the discussion with these two men continued, it became clear that regardless of what coast you are on, or how different of lived we lived being in different areas of the country, we still were able to communicate perfectly on one topic, clear water fishing. These two men used a technique that is very common to use around the east coast as well, called “hopper and dropper.” By utilizing this method, a fisherman has the ability to fish two very different patterns at the same time, more readily appealing to the different desires of different fish.

In the case of “hopper and dropper,” the fisherman ties a hopper pattern, the lead, to the tippet as usual, then, selecting a nymph of some sort, ties short piece of tippet material, about nine inches will do, to the shank of the hopper, then attach the dropper nymph to that tippet. It is important to make sure that your lead fly is always a highly buoyant dry fly, and your dropper is a very non-buoyant nymph or wet fly pattern. It is key to balance the flies appropriately, to ensure that the dropper does not sink the lead, nor should the lead cause the dropper to float unnaturally. This technique will undoubtedly serve you well, and, in some cases will lead to an interesting tale of a ‘double catch.’

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Due to the rise is the water levels, as a result of the rainy season, the banks of the rivers become submerged, as do the homes of inumerable mud worms, such as the Tubiflew worm, an aquatic worm that closely resembles the common earthworm, although red in color. The rising water forces these worms from their homes, resulting in a buffet for local trout. Fly fishermen capitalize on this natural occurance using patterns that mimick these worms, such as the San Jaun Worm, discussed earlier on the website.

From speaking with other fishermen along the Rio Grande, I learned that many New Mexican fishermen prefer darkwater fishing due to the fact that the murky waters, coupled with the loud rushing water, make it almost impossible for the trout to see or sense the danger of approaching fishermen, giving the fisherman the upperhand when trying to land ‘the big one.’

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