Fly Trying

My kids have been itching to put some of the flies they tied this winter to the test in front of some fish.  We have had a few short outings during this unseasonably cold spring, but things finally lined up. I was able to get us in front of some of Mass Wildlife’s freshly-released brown trout at the Stillwater River.

It was a difficult cast for my daughter to present a fly properly to the other side of the river.  So, we used some teamwork: She would select the fly, I would make the cast and set the hook, and then I would quickly hand the rod off so she could fight the fish.

Fish on!

It worked out in our favor a few times, so Brooke was very excited that we caught trout on flies that she had tied.

There was some extra pride involved in that she had accomplished this before her older brother.

Brooke’s first fish on her own hand-tied fly

There were plenty of white suckers in the area as well, drawn into the river by the call of spring spawning.  Some of them were among the biggest suckers I’ve seen.

My son was captivated, and he was “suckered” into spending all of his time fishing for those; he did eventually manage to land a few that were hooked near the mouth.

A lot of anglers scoping the fishing spot from the bridge thought that the suckers were trout or even salmon; so, when we saw their eyes growing large, we would politely make a comment about all of the suckers, and they would play it off cool and move on to another spot.

Sucker!
One happy angler

Our best stocked trout fly this spring has been a small streamer of Brooke’s design.  After landing several fish on it, I told here that she needed to name it, so it is now referred to as the “Diving Queen.”

It features a white bucktail tail, a body of french tinsel over a black base, a few brown marabou feathers as a very minimalist wing on top, and black thread gives a very small head.

It has a very slender profile in the water, and tied on a size 10 hook, it seems to be enough to make fish move when stripped and small enough to let them engulf it.  It’s not something I would ever tie at the vise or tie on at the river, but it has proven itself.  It has me rethinking how minimalist streamers can be and still be effective.

Wrapping up a “Diving Queen”

Also, I just found a fly box near the Stillwater River yesterday afternoon.  No name or anything to identify the owner, but I’m going to leave a note at the spot in hopes of finding the owner.

If this is yours get in touch with me, so I can return it to you!

I have been meaning to put my name on all my fly boxes this year, and this is a reminder to do so in case the worst happens!

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7 thoughts on “Fly Trying

    1. Hey Ashu- my son and I got in some time on some “hop across” streams with some fun results. He beat me to taking a fish on a dry this year. I got some great shots in the clear water so I think that’ll be the next post 😉 How about you? Any more small stream action?

      1. Good to hear! I’ve fished small streams a few times this year. There are a couple nice ones on my way to work.

  1. The smile on the kids’ faces says it all! I get that from my 8 yr. old granddaughter. She’s still at the worm and bobber stage, but has tied a few flies and is ready to step up. Hope she does as well as your daughter.

    1. That’s great to hear Gary, any way you get them near the water is the right way. Keep it up! One good way for any age to discover fly fishing is with ant patterns for bluegills and a short fixed length of line. Cast from a dock on a pond with lots of small fish, all they have to do is flip it over and get it in the water. Just size the ant to not be too small to get inhaled deeply, but not too big for the size that is most common 😉

  2. Congrats to Brooke on the proven success of her streamer. Props for getting your youngsters fly fishing early in their lives. It will bring them a life time of enjoyment, along with tying flies.

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