Chamois Streamer.

If there is one fly pattern I can share with you that you have likely never seen, its this one. First off, this pattern IS deadly. At a quick thought, I'd say I've been throwing this for a decade or so. Maybe more....maybe less. It has provided me some of my best days fishing, and all of my best bass at this point. During one recent season when I was unable to fish much due to injury, I fished this almost exclusively. I can't claim its mine. It's too obvious not have been done before. I can guarantee you I have never seen it elsewhere. Its something that just seemed a natural. Any predatory species I've fished it too has responded well. It's bass candy. Trout love it too. Pike.........if its something that likes chowing on fish it will take this. Its success is simple. Its the Chamois.

A guy I used to fish with showed me a pattern he tied........a Chamois Worm. This was unlike any worm fly I'd seen previously. This was a big honking affair along the lines of a dew worm. A great pattern that seems to shine especially in adverse conditions like high, off coloured water. When it is dead drifted it tumbles just like the natural would. The thing I immediately noticed, was that when it was held still in the current, it would undulate like a minnow. This was the impetus to try it as a minnow pattern........and wow..........the only way for me to convey to you the effectiveness of this pattern is for you to try it. Like the worm that inspired it, when dead drifted in a rivers current, it tumbles like a dead minnow. When stripped, it will undulate........in calmer water, fluttering as it falls. Held in the current it undulates like a fish. Held just under the surface where fish are rising to a hatch? ;)

I have tried, and keep trying this in variations....looking for the next best thing....but here is how I default tie it. Nothing has really proven anymore effective....styles, colours, dying the chamois........been there, always end back here.

Chamois Muddler.
Hook: Not a biggy. I tend to tie it on #8 Streamer hooks....I think. I add lead wire as a straight strip across the shank for weight. Stop Short of were you want to tie in the spun deer hair head. Actually, besides weight, I use it to bulk up the body a bit....so a few strips are in order, depending on the wire gauge. My ties are still anorexic......most of my flies are.........my style? Or constant error?
Body: Silver tinsel.
Wing. A strip of chamois, cut to resemble a baitfishes body. I dunno....maybe 1 1/2 the length of the hook? I often exaggerate the tail.....thinking this may vibrate the chamois with a better action.
Head. Deer Hair. Spun like the muddler minnow.

And thats it. The only thing you actually need, is the chamois body. That can be lashed directly to a hook on its own and still produce. The one problem ( which can be solved by tying in a different style ) is the body will wrap itself around the hook on occasion. One way I combated this was to tie it on a short shank, wide gap hook where there was just enough room to spin the head and attach the chamois.

Again............not claiming to have created this. I'm sure someones tying Chamois as a minnow somewhere........just ain't seen it myself. It's a no-brainer. Otherwise it wouldn't have occurred to me. If you've seen it, know who originated it, lemme know.

I have no reservation about this fly. It is my go to streamer. There is no arguing with the success it achieves. Especially with Bass. Even on some of the marginal fisheries I frequent it produces extremely well.

I added a pic for reference at this point. Pretty fly ain't it? ;) You won't see me spending any time to gussy them up. No point. They go to the ball as is. To me, a good fly not only has to be effective, but it should also be a quick, easy, tie. Most patterns I fish fall into this category.

A day later...........

What a difference 24hrs can make. Yesterday morning the entire river was alive with fish on the rise, smashing caddis with wild abondon. Today? Fuck me if the trout hadn't packed up and moved to Brazil. I could count the number of surface breakers on one hand. Not what I was hoping for or expecting. Oh well. Thats Karmic payback. I know walking away from rising fish is a bad thing so I honestly wasn't surprised that the trout weren't coming up to play.

I believe there has to be balance. If the fishing is unreal one day, I'm never surprised when its the shits the next. Mind you, I could list of a slew of reasons why this happened to us today, but in the end I'm not sure it really matters. It happened. Sussing out the how's and why's may make for interesting mental gymnastics.....we can come up with a well thought out reasoning which may be correct, give ourselves a pat on the back for solving the puzzle, but thats not going to turn back time and make the fish rise. Hopefully we can apply what we learned on another............when a whole new set of variables will come along and mess up our well planned fun.................but.......as I said, I've learned this lesson before. Walk away from rising fish, pay the price. Leave while the fishing is good, return when its sucking ass. Turning down open opportunities has never served me well in this sport.

Micro Caddis

So, I guess a little more on the MC20. I had a question as to the pattern. ITs simply a Deer Hair Caddis. Light Tan Body, Light Elk/Deer Hair Wing on a #20 hook. Easy peasy.

I was out again today. Fish were very active, sucking up the MC's like crack. Too bad I couldn't stay out long. Migraine, bad back, inclement weather served to royally piss me off. Likely back to it tomorrow to get more kicks in while they last.

A vid of the Micro Caddis tie. Suitable for beginners. MICRO CADDIS VIDEO in HD

Don't sweat the small stuff.

So, just a heads up. Of sorts. I've noticed some folks have had a tough time with the Grand over the last couple of days..........this may help a bit.

When I hit the river in the Fergus area yesterday morning......first thing I noticed as I got to the water was the presence of small caddis.........by small, I mean the Micro's. This gave me pause, as I had just reorganized my fly box and knew I had one single fly for that hatch.

Fortunately, the fish were initially more than happy to take the foam post caddis emergrs I've been fishing of late. This lasted while the surface activity was still sporadic. Eventually, the river started churning with rising fish and the emerger stopped producing as well. So, to the box and pretty much every Caddis or Crane ( selection's based on observations ) with very limited results. Certainly not in-line with the number of rising fish.

So, I finally bit the bullet and tied on the one Micro Caddis I had. Instant, and utter success. Now I was getting the fishes attention the way their activity suggested as possible..............up until the fly eventually blew up. Once that was done, so was I. No point in fishing patterns they would just snub. I went home and tied up a couple of dozen Micro's. The patterns I use are #20, Light tan Body, Tan wings.

This is hardly the first time I've encountered Micro's, or this particular reaction on the part of the fish. It maybe tough lumps the first day, but if you go back prepared the next, you'll clean house. I enjoy this hatch. The number of bugs is so prolific, that it can bring up what you'd swear is every fish in the river. The pattern to match is an easy tie, and you can do incredibly well with it.

edit: My apologies, the fly pictured is not a Micro Caddis. That is a 'Foam Post Emerger' tied in an 18. The picture is there for aesthetics, not reference. Sorry for any confusion

Retracing Steps.

There is always more to learn. In this sport, life, whatever. We are never finished.

Every year, I find myself rereading a lot of the same literature I have in the past. Its very easy to ‘forget’ what you already know. It’s never a bad idea to give ones self a refresher course every once in a while. One book I picked up sometime in the early 90’s, FlyFishing Made Easy by Dave Card and Michael Rutter, always seems to get a look over. I recall picking up some great tips from that book.


I mention this for a reason. I notice a lot of folks on the water, or these days on Internet chat rooms as well, who are missing some very basic knowledge which could easily be solved with a little learning. My biggest pet peeve would be in regards to etiquette. Far too many folks using the water are absolutely clueless, or absolutely inconsiderate. Whether they feel they have more right to the water than we do, or they know nothing about how to properly approach the situation……..I dunno. I do know I’ve never seen a beginners book which didn’t cover this.

And this is just the start, questions about basic knots, how to rig your gear for different situations, how/when/why to match a hatch, how to read water……………this list goes on. Mind you, books aren’t the only place to get the kind of learning. People could also try using ‘Google’, but that seems to be an effort for some as well. Apparently, in this age of instant gratification, actual making the effort seems to be a little daunting for some.

I would advise anyone to take what they get from internet forums with a grain of salt. You get a diverse cross section of anglers, from the old pro to the neophyte………and that newbie is almost guaranteed to be as vociferous with his advice as the old hand. Often its difficult to tell which is which, especially if your new to the game. I’ve seen beginners tell others to forget matching the hatch, just chuck streamers, only to tell the other side of the story next season when they learnt better.

I can’t recall ever picking up a book covering the basics and found it to be negligent. There is some great literature available penned by some very accomplished anglers. It is never going to hurt to see what they have to say. No matter what your skill level, your almost invariably going to garner some new gem to add to your knowledge base.

I’ll leave with a video made by Gary Borger. It covers…….the ‘basics’. But I wonder if there is anyone who watches who won’t glean something new………..or be reminded of something they forgot.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Gary Borger: Fly Fishing for Trout.

Learning to keep with the Drummers beat.

Do you play music? Have a band? Have a set of ears? Nothing sounds worse than a group out of sync. Its nasty, grating, and difficult to bare. Being out of sync with the river wears on me the same way. Its not overly enjoyable. Nothing drives this home more for me than when fish key in on a hatch I haven't encountered before.

This was the case this week. Brown Drakes. Yup. Never encountered that hatch before. So when I happened to be in the right place at the right time for some good fishing opportunities. I was at a distinct deficit.

The boys that know the hatch well had been following it up river. Each night or so, moving up the river to a different location as the river warmed up, hoping to catch the spinner fall. On the night in question I managed to have myself on a prime location on the river that was packed by dusk by those in the know. Mind you, I was expecting to be fishing Fox spinners. The realization that Brown Drakes would be falling was disconcerting. I tend to travel lightly, and the box containing my larger assortment of spinners was at home. Nothing in my box was going to suffice for a Drake pattern. If those started to fall in any number it would be unlikely the fish would look at the less appetizing Fox patterns................mind you, I'd still be game to give it a go.......but wouldn't be overly optimistic about my potential results.

In the end, my results on this night weren't going to be affected by my lack or preparedness. One of the group that descended on the location was a local guide who happily shared a couple of flies that would keep me in the game. My problem was my back had gone completely ballistic and curtailed my staying out on the water past 10:30 or so. When spinner fishing you can often find yourself on the water well after midnight. FML, whatever, but the night wasn't totally lost.

The guide I was talking with, Jim, was extremely informative ( all guides are not created equal. ), and filled me in on the knowledge I needed for this hatch in the future. I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for such opportunities. Listen carefully, learn what your being told, apply the knowledge. A recipe for success in my books. The spinner pattern he gave me is now part of my ever growing collection of patterns, tied and used by accomplished fisherman. I've picked up some great ones.

Over 2 days I did decent enough to keep myself happy. I didn't manage anything over 16", but I've stopped becoming dissapointed when I don't hit the pigs. I was happy that I managed to figure out the majority of fish........there were more competing hatches going on than you'd like. For the most part, fish that were sipping would take a #20 BWO or Crane Fly, fish on emergers could often be counted on to take a caddis emerger.

A good week. For once. God damnit.

I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I am to start putting in some real time on the water this season. After losing the previous four, I'm downright ecstatic.

Having been knocked out of beat, my rythym with the river disrupted, I hadn't been expecting to enjoy the success I have. But for whatever the reason, the river gods have been kind to me. The bugs have been doing what I expected, when I expected. The fish were behaving properly, rising to the plethora of insect activity. In my limited outings over the previous few years, this was certainly not the case. I don't want to even get into how I could walk into a blanket hatch and find no fish rising. And, well, that really screwed with my shit.

Fishing the Grand over four days last week, one evening, 3 days, provided some great fun. The fish were co-operative, taking Caddis adults and emergers. Being somewhat limited in mobility, and time ( back is still bad, I have to limit my hours on the water ), I've stopped obsessing with the piggy hunt. Now I'm generally content just to peg whatever rises. That fish were caught requiring a net was a happy bonus.

I'll finish this off with some footage shot over a couple of days. Unfortunately, my camera person on the occasion wasn't as keen on getting footage as they were fish. Can't blame'em.........but it is a fail if you are designated 'CAMERA OPERATOR'. I certainly have no inate need to show off fish I catch, but they certainly do add some flavour to a 'fishing' video. Certainly it was an opportunity missed...........you just can't gaurantee good fishing. But hey, something is better than nothing............... High and Dry.

Crappie

Welcome to my newest foray into cyberspace with fishing. This is not new for me. I have been involved in some form with a number of sites. Before 'blogs' existed, I had one called 'Credit River Fly Fishing' in the 'early' days of the net when very little in the way of resources existed. Thinking back that site garnered an inordinate amount of traffic. So now I'm back. A little older and ( hopefully ) wiser.

Every spring, when possible, I like to get out for early season Crappie fun. When early season is depends on where you live, and how fast the lake/pond in question warms up. Once the required temps are reached, the Crappie come into the shallows to spawn. I have to admit. I have never bothered to research what those temperatures are. I have a general idea of the timing on the lakes I fish just by the habit of so many seasons. I also know by what stage the foliage is at.

When they do hit the shallows, they are easily sighted with the aid of polarized sunglasses. They school, so when you do find them, you will find them thick. They can easily be fished from shore, providing you have ample casting room. I prefer to wade as it does allow much better access to the fish. You will take so many fish that you'll be surprised when a cast doesn't result in a hook up. Like anything though, too much of a good thing............ It can become a little boring and repetitive after awhile ( same can be said of sex I suppose. ). Its probably best to limit ones time in this endeavour. Crappie also have a tendency to inhale flies. No matter how careful you are, there is always some mortality related to catch and release fishing. One doesn't need to sting every fish in a lake to enjoy themselves.

Gear is very simple. I generally use a 3 or 4wt rod with a floating line, with a leader never more than 9'. Although, when I know wind will be a major factor, I maybe tempted to bring a 5wt. For beginners this ( 5wt ) is what I would recommend. Choice of flies is an even simpler affair. Crappie are not picky. Olive Wolly Buggers will almost never fail you. Small streamers, large Nymphs, Poppers...........I actually think it would be harder to find something they will not take, than what they will. Within reason. If you start fishing #26 Caenis for them with no luck.........well, reread that beginners handbook of yours.

I will try to provide as much video here as possible. At this point I'm hoping to release some weekly. Here is the first instalment. Keeping in theme with the post, Fly Fishing For Crappie.

Video Test

A brief test video