On Sunday I had one of those quiet days at home. After week-end, upon week-end of a days fishing plus a day of some other activity, I needed to re-group, and sort out my fishing tackle. Fly reels were turning up in cool-boxes in the kitchen, leaders in my briefcase, fly floatant smeared on my drivers license, that sort of thing. It was time to sort it all out. I also needed to empty the fly-patch, since I am sure I have been dropping flies off of there into bankside vegetation all over the province.
So I emptied what was in there onto the coffee table.
It is not a complete collection, but a fairly representative sample of what I have been tying on the business end lately.
This has all of course been on stillwater, with the rivers having been closed until this week.
At the top there is a klink syle buzzer and two woolly buggers. Down the left hand side, those olive jobs are: a Minkie, an FMD and a Papa Roach.
Centre left going down, are : an egg pattern, a gill-bodied nymph, and a San Juan worm.
Centre right: a black DDD, a cdc emerger, a caddis larva, a PTN flashback, and a red-eyed damsel.
Far right, a snail, a humpy and a DDD.
The largest one is a #6 (the Minkie), and the smallest the CDC emerger at #18.
And the flies that have done some damage?
The FMD, The egg pattern, and that red and black woolly bugger.
What patterns would you have added to a stillwater winter collection?
4 Responses
Odd, I know, but I do the majority of my stillwater fishing with dries. I’m looking forward to some great fall caddis hatches.
I do wish I could say the same, since there is nothing quite like taking them on dries. I just wish that were always a viable option here, but more often our stillwater Trout are sullen deep water feeders for a significant part of the day. As we are moving into summer our midges, caddis and tricos hatches are just starting in earnest.
Andrew, there are people that will shout at me for the second fly here but I have to add two patterns there. One would be a white zonker with a little red collar and the other a Mrs Simpson. That simpson just seems to produce the goods when nothing else will.
Even with as little as I’ve fished this year I’ve had to stop and regroup. Get your second wind and get out there!