Update: Searching For The Juice

I suppose you’re thinking, “Hey Chaz!  What have you been up to since your last post?”

Well, I’m glad you asked.

Old School: The Muskrat's Regret

One of  first flies my dad wanted me to tie for him, was a wet fly pattern called the Muskrat's Regret.  I had all the materials from when Dad bought the tying kit, and it was really simple - a Muskrat fur body with brown hackle , tied palmer-style.  That was it.   It was a popular pattern on Wisconsin rivers like the Brule in those days.  A lot of the old-timers my dad had me tie flies for asked for it, so I tied a lot of them.

I don't know where the pattern came from or why.  It's one of those patterns that represented almost anything in general and nothing in particular.  About all you could say with certainty was that it represented food, because the trout sure liked to eat it.

Encounter: Earl and the Arrowhead.

Earl and Sadie Grummet

Fly Tyers

..... at least that's what the sign said.

Out in TheMiddleOf Nowhere, Wisconsin, I saw this sign by the side of the road, hand painted and nailed to the mailbox post.

Little did I know ....

Encounter: The Wildcat Kid

The tail-out of Wildcat Rapids - Courtesy of Jason Neuswanger

There are two lakes on Wisconsin's Brule River - Big Lake and Lucius Lake. There's a stretch of fast water between them, less than 1/4 mile, called Wildcat Rapids.  It isn't the best known quarter mile of Wisconsin trout water, but I learned a lot there.

Encounters: The Special Red Ant

Sometimes it's better to try something old, rather than something new.

Three Passes

One of the first flies I had success with was a bucktail called the Pass Lake.  It was then and by all accounts, is still widely used and effective for Brook and Brown Trout in the western Lake Superior watershed.  I think it was my Dad who introduced me to it.  He wasn't much of a fly fisher, himself, but he encouraged my early interest and passed along what he knew.  One of those things was that on the rivers and creeks we fished you couldn't go wrong with a Pass Lake. Since then many a Brookie and Brown, and even some Rainbows have fallen to this old and reliable pattern.

The Buckskin - Keepin' It Simple

Plain Ol' Buckskin

One of the first Colorado flies I was introduced to when I moved out here was the Buckskin.  I went into Anglers All and was looking through their fly bins, and there I found a fly called a Buckskin, obviously tied using chamois.  I'd never seen anything like it. It was simple in the extreme - chamois wrapped around a hook shank, and tied off. I thought bout what the fly would look like wet, and I figured it could be a killer pattern.  I asked one of the staff about it and he confirmed that - it was a old Colorado pattern and yes, it was very effective.

The first time I fished the South Platte near Deckers, I found out that yes, indeed, the Buckskin could be deadly.  It's been in my box ever since and is a go-to nymph pattern.