The Euro-style Golden Stone has duped many big browns for me. It’s an easy fly to tie, as it’s basically a Pheasant Tail with a few tweaks. I fish it as an anchor fly in my tightline nymphing set-up. I’ve noticed that browns tend to go for it, whilst rainbows still tend to prefer the
Category: Flies and fly tying
Super-Sized Rainbows at the Westfield River
Given the long drive to the Westfield River’s East Branch section, I fish it only a few times a year. And, today was one of those glorious days. I awoke at 3 am and made it to the river just after sunrise. The water temp. in the morning was 72 °F and flows were quite
Size 20s
When I occasionally stomach-pump trout these days, I’m seeing a clear pattern. They’re feeding on small bugs. That’s surprising to me. I read online about these major mayfly and caddis hatches starting to happen on our freestones. So, I would think that the fish would be full of bugs in sizes 14 to 18. There
Soft-Hackled Frenchies
(Oct. 13, 2016 edit: I’m starting to call these “Glam Frenchies” because they’re so in-your-face.) Soft-hackled Frenchies rule. They catch plenty of trout, both new stockies and grizzled veterans. Sometimes, trout want a very simple fly with few details, as it means there’s less to which they can object. Sometimes, “busy” flies with many strike