The question I get asked most often about fly fishing: How often do you go?
It's a hard question to answer because sometimes I go without leaving home. Time at my fly tying bench is just as much fly fishing as time on the water. That could be important this summer with our lakes high and heavy generation expected on our tailwaters.
There may not be anything more fun than to build a fly from scratch on the vise, then take it to the river and find that a new creation catches a large brown trout.
I'll go to the craft store in town to buy different supplies, often from the embroidery aisle. My wife gives me gift cards for my birthday to Hobby Lobby. They cover my expenses for months since my purchases are generally about 40 cents. I'm competing with elderly women for the colors of DMC cotton floss that are required for several of my favorite flies. I've got a color chart which helps me decide on the different hues of brown or green, all coded by number.
The ladies sometimes ask me about my embrodiery style. They are interesting conversations. I tell them, "I'm going for brown trout." They nod their heads.
Then, there are the spools of wire that I buy in various thickness and colors at the fly shop. I also use a couple of different colors and sizes of tungsten beads.
Basically, it's arts and crafts for old men. It gives me great pleasure to tie flies that others might covet. I've never sold flies, but I have filled fly boxes to be auctioned at Trout Unlimited banquets for many years. It's always a thrill when others want my flies.
Clearly, there is paranoia in all of this. I'm always wondering if someone else has a better fly, or a different pattern that trout might prefer. You ask about what's working as you pass someone on the river. Sometimes they'll tell you, sometimes they won't. And, of course, you might question whether they are truthful.
Bruce Ritter is one of my favorite fishing companions. We have fished together dozens of times, but not much lately. The bulk of our trips came over a 5-year period just after his retirement from P&G. I work weekends and can fish week days. He could, too.
Ritter ruined that by coming out of retirement. We've hardly gone since.
We fish the same tiny midges that he also ties. We may use similar beads, but we prefer a different base material, often using different style hooks to produce similar sized flies. His deal is to construct the most durable fly, catching 100 without fear of an odd strand coming loose.
I'm not worried if mine tear apart after 30 fish and must be replaced. So we opt for different material, mine of softer threads and floss, usually cotton. He wants tougher stuff. However, our catch rate is almost identical.
This spring there was an afternoon trip to Beaver tailwater that is a perfect example. We both landed about 35 trout in the two hours we were on the river. I knew there was a great chance he was fishing a different fly than the root beer midge that was working for me.
Steve Burkhead, another good friend, was out, too. He stopped to find out about my fly. I don't mind sharing information and or handing a stranger three or four.
Steve was fishing something close to mine. He stopped to check Bruce's fly, too.
Just as I did, Bruce came out of the river. They were about 75 yards away, but not out of ear shot. The light breeze carried their conversation to me.
"Don't tell Clay, but I've got a new fly," Ritter said.
I stopped casting. I pretended to be checking my rig, but listening. Yes, there is paranoia. Ritter provided the recipe and detailed tying instructions. I made mental notes. I heard enough.
I really didn't need Ritter's new fly, but a fly fisher has to have new weapons. Maybe it is the next great thing.
So when we got back to my truck, it was obvious I had heard everything. Ritter quickly handed me one of his flies. The real fun is to take someone else's fly and make it better. It can make you giggle.
My ruby midge with a bright silver bead is better than the original brought to our region by David Knowles. That pattern recipe called for a nickel silver bead. And, I had hopes of changing Ritter's fly with a different color rib or a slightly different base.
So two weeks later, we met for lunch. I took him some of mine. Not the same, he said. I almost grinned. I knew I had probably used a different shade of wire and a different shade of thread. All things purple are not the same. There is lavender, there is deep, rich purple. And, there can be different shades of the same wire: copper, copper/brown, amber and red.
Do the fish care? Absolutely they do. A midge might be drifting at 0.5 miles per hour and the trout's take might be as close as from two inches away. Hold a fly two inches from your nose. These are tiny flies, but different shades are obvious from point-blank range. Plus, size matters.
The cool thing about smart phones, you can take a picture and text with amazing detail. How does this compare to your midge? Ritter and I were doing that one night when it hit him that I needed help.
So he gathered up his materials -- and some flies -- and told his wife, "I'm going over to see Clay. He needs help."
Our wives know we are crazy. But it's stuff that has to be done.
We don't really know how good this new fly is going to be on our tailwater fisheries, but we both think it's equally as good as the excellent flies in our boxes now. It's been confirmed to work well at Beaver and also Norfork. It's yet to have received extensive field testing by us on Bull Shoals tailwater. But, I think it's promising.
I've tied three dozen already with four variations in wire and base material. I won't know the best until there's been six or seven tests, both when the bite is good and not. The trout will talk.
I'm not ready to reveal the fly. It may not be any good. Sometimes it's the arrow, but sometimes it's the indian.
Ritter and I both do a decent job with about any midge. We can put it in the trout's kitchen with the correct drift. We fish what we do because of the confidence in the fly.
But some days, it is about the arrow. Just a slight variation is huge.
It's Ritter's fly for now. It's up to him to provide the recipe or not. It may stay a secret. That's how it works. We run in the same circles, so at some point I'm going to know if it's gotten out. I'll know pretty quickly if he likes the person.
They may not have the right arrow.
Sports on 05/20/2017