Fall Flies - 1

Here in eastern WA, we had several chilly mornings last week but now it warms up again. But from what I hear, southwestern MT is experiencing a really cold weather. That's where I am heading in a week.......I suddenly feel I might be insane. Well, I have to.

I am starting to pack my stuff. Of course all the Long-John (tops and bottoms) are already packed. Then flies. Right after I came back from my Aug/Sep trip, I tied a lot for what I would be needing in the fall. I even accumulated some of them till I ran out of hooks. Two of "go-to" & "must" flies are $3 Serendipity and Beadhead Crystal Serendipity. I don't have to explain the effectiveness of these two as in my fishing report from my last trip. I know I will have to deal with lots of whitefish but on slow days or times of the day, these two nymphs will keep me busy. I have made a "Dipity Box" exclusively. I have tied sizes 14, 16, 18 (from left to right). This is a "storage box". From here, as I lose them or they get chewed up by fish, I pick some to a box in my vest. I will also trail these with streamers too.

Then the rest is about heavy "artilleries". "Meat & Eggs", I call.

Last year, rubber-legs was the best ticket for larger trout. Besides, whitefish doesn't seem to be able to bite on these biggies with their small mouth. Also, I learned that nothing wrong with using egg-flies as long as that's what fish want.

I recall I tied some rubber-legs quickly in my motel room. Then these hungry trout liked them.

Since rubber-legs and eggs are easy & quick to tie, I can fix some quickly in my motel room if I have to. But hopefully not.....

Of course, I like to "chuck & duck" streamers too. First, I enjoy spending time to tie big flies on my bench. It's fun to play with marabou feathers and trim & shape up deer hair. I like anything from classic to modern patterns. I ended up having several streamer boxes and wallets for these big-&-uglys. Below is only two of them.

I agree to "big fly = big fish" theory. When I go with streamers, I personally follow Kelly Galloup's "Predatory Theory" along with his own rigging and styles he does. I bought his streamer fishing VHS for ONLY $5 the other day!!

Here are my own ties of Kelly's signature flies; Zoo Couger and Heifer Groomer, along with a classic Marabou Muddler and Scott Sanchez's famous Double Bunny in two colors.

Another box here contains Blue Ribbon Flies' Baker's Hole Bugger and Doug McKnight's Home Invader. Can you recognize Doug's Home Invader was somewhere in one of my previous posts?? If you can, we might see somewhere at the same spots with same flies......

Are you full with all these biggies and uglies? I am. I will post a "softer" one next. And that will be the last one before I hit the road.