Trying New Flies

Sometimes I get in a fly fishing rut and that’s not healthy.  There are times that I only fish with an olive and white wooly bugger because it looks a lot like a minnow.  Sometimes I fish a John Deere under a float because it ALWAYS catches bluegill.  I’ve gotten into a particularly bad rut at the trout parks in Missouri.  There have been a few trips over the last year that I only use my “skeleton” mini jig (that’s what my son likes to call it).  Even worse, if I don’t catch anything on my limited selection of flies, I blame the fish and just tell my fishing buddies that they weren’t biting when I share my story of woe with them.  But sometimes I choose to venture out of my comfort zone and throw a fly that I have never used before.  If I don’t catch squat with the new fly, then I simply vow to strip all of my copies of that fly down to the hook with a razor blade when I get home.  That’s not healthy either.  However, most of the time, I don’t regret the decision and often I find a new fly to add to my arsenal.  That is exactly what happened when I decided to tie on a big rabbit strip streamer last spring.

It all started when I was looking up some articulated streamer patterns on YouTube one day.  I ran across a fly that looked simple enough and whipped up a couple.  It was called an “Action Jackson” and if you want to check out the video, feel free to do so.

But then I got to tinkering.  I got to playing around with making the fly a single hook fly.  I played around with the collar and used some red hackle as well as webby black hackle.  I also made the body out of a white rabbit strip and pulled a olive and black rabbit strip over the top with a hook’s length of strip hanging off the back.  I changed the hook size to a large number two stinger hook.  I also got rid of the sili legs because I thought they looked out of place and forced.  Before I knew it, well I guess I had a variant on my hands.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming to be a genius.  All fly tiers tinker with patterns and while I thought the product of my tinkering looked cool, it was unproven.  I thought it had potential though…but then again potential just means it hadn’t done jack or squat yet.  That changed one cold spring day.

I wanted to do a little pre spawn bass fishing at a farm pond that I had a lot of success on a week prior with spinning tackle.  I thought that if the bass would eat a spinner bait, then they would surely be interested in a big old streamer like my white and olive creation.  I fished for about a half hour without a bite and was about ready to commit the fly to the junk pile when I felt a definite thump come vibrating up the fly line.  Low and behold I landed a seven pound channel catfish on my variation which as far as I can remember is the biggest channel cat that I have ever landed from a farm pond.  I also landed a two pound bass for good measure.  Unfortunately, I had places I needed to be on that particular day and had to get moving but not before my new favorite fly in the whole wide world had made an impression on me.  There was only one problem.  This particular fly didn’t have a name, or should I say…it hadn’t earned a name until that day.

I had already gone through the phase where I wanted to name every variant I came up with after my first or last name.  What can I say?  I was young and egotistical at the time.  I don’t know if it is a common thing for other fly fishermen, but I can see where others might go through the same thing.  Thankfully, I grew out of that phase and came out a little more sentimental as a result.  After I had landed my fish and was satisfied with my new product, I stuck it in my hat to dry and show off to the world.  (Alright, I guess I still have a little of that ego left).  It just so happened to be that this particular hat was an Atlanta Braves hat.  From hence forth, my undulating fly became known as “The Brave”.

A wiper that I landed on The Brave.

You might have seen this picture a while back but thought I would point
out the fly the time.  This is a Brave with a little UV Polar Chenille worked
into the collar to trigger some bites on bright days.

Now that name is a little bit of a double entendre.  I have since landed many more bass when fishing the Brave along weed lines and even landed an eight pound wiper just about ten days after the big channel cat.  After it had been eaten by three different species, with some of them being a little on the big side, I thought that the fly had to be pretty brave to go where I was asking it to go.  See what I did there?  Okay, so it’s cheesy, and corny, and now I want cheesy corn, but hey man, it kind of makes sense right?  If not, whatever dude.  Don't judge me.

So what’s my point?  No, this is not a post to stroke my already overinflated ego.  The point is, don’t be afraid to get out there and throw a fly you’ve never thrown before.  There’s a pretty good chance that you will learn SOMETHING in the process.  Maybe a fly doesn’t wiggle enough or looks too skinny in the water.  Maybe you realize you need to tweak it a little in order for it to imitate what you want it to imitate. Or maybe, you your new fly becomes your new favorite fly or catches a whopper.  Heck, maybe it becomes a regular or even the new standard fly.  If I hadn’t tried new flies like a mouse, or a cone head madonna, or a backstabber then I would have missed out on a lot of fish and would have stayed in the rut I was in before I decided to give these flies a shot.

Cone head Madonna

Morrish Mouse