|
 IF YOU ONLY HAD ONE FLY...
We asked several of the Ranch guides this question:
If you only had one fly to fish Mother Lake during
the first part of May, which would you choose?
Chuck Prather of Fly Fishing
Services in Denver decided
on a black midge pupa, size 18, tied with a black body,
fine silver wire rib, and a tuft of white ostrich herl
in front. He would use a 12 foot leader with a 5X tippet,
and sight fish to cruisers close to shore.
Bill Franz, Ranch guide, would choose a small
black beetle pattern he designed himself, with a
size 16 foam body, spindly legs, and white zylon "wings"
that protrude from the back of the beetle, to imitate
the partially folded beetle wings after it first lands.
Greg Sheets of Bob’s Fly Shop in Loveland also
chose a midge emerger, size 16, sight fished with a.
5X tippet on a leader greased to within 3-4 inches
of the fly, so that it remains near the surface. Since
that option was already taken we asked for an alternative.
He chose an olive & black cone head woolly bugger,
size 8, fished with a full sinking line from a float
tube, or if wading, an intermediate line, weight forward,
with 6-8 feet of leader tapered to 3X.
GIANT ORANGE MIDGES
If you’re lucky enough to fish Mother Lake during
a hatch of the giant chironomid midge, you won’t
want to be without our orange midge pupa imitation.
It mimics the dipteran’s shocking reddish orange
emerging stage, which swims up to hang vertically in
the surface film, allowing the adult to pop straight
up like a missile getting ready for launch. Instead
of blasting off, however, the two-winged fly keels
over onto the surface to dry before it skitters momentarily
in take-off, skimming the water. Seen through binoculars,
the toppling of these size 10-12 monster gnats makes
you want to yell, “timber!”
The hatch sometimes lasts all day, and without the
orange midge in your flybox, it will be a frustrating
day indeed as huge trout porpoise all around you ignoring
everything else you throw at them. The orange midge
is fished on 5X tippet greased with floatant to within
4 inches of the fly. You allow the fly to float just
under the surface, then twitch it ever so slightly
to make it “swim” toward the surface. You’ll
see the line move when the strike occurs, and you have
to set the hook gently, or say good-by to these big
trout.
Tying the Orange Midge: Use a size 12 or 14 dry fly
hook, 1XF. The tail is a tuft of pure white poly yarn
tied slightly into the bend. The body is tightly packed
reddish-orange dubbing with a hint of brown. I prefer
rabbit myself. Rib with peacock crystal flash. Another
body choice is a wound orthodontic rubber band colored
with an orange-brown marking pen. Then tie in 3 peacock
herl feathers about 1/8 inch behind the eye, followed
by some white poly yarn for gills extending on either
side of the hook. Wind the herl past the cross-tied
poly, and tie off the head. Trim the poly gills to
mere tufts.
NEW BOOK ON COLORADO FLY FISHING
"With all the comforts of home and true western
hospitality, the Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch is a favorite
destination for fly anglers and nonfishermen alike. With
two chains of spring-fed trophy trout lakes and private
access on the Big Thompson River, anglers can find solitude
and an excellent chance to enter "The 24-Inch Club." Thus
begins a description of Sylvan Dale in the brand new
Fly Fisher's Guide to Colorado, by Marty Bartholomew,
with an introduction by A.K. Best and warmwater contributions
by Barry Reynolds, published by Wilderness Adventures
Press. The book, a comprehensive guide to Colorado's
fishing waters, with maps, and places to stay, goes on
to state, "The big attractions to Sylvan Dale are
the lakes in the Big Valley. Ranch foreman Darlys Koschel
told me, 'The lakes are spring fed with water that runs
51 degrees Fahrenheit and (they) can be fished all year.
Sylvan Dale has developed them into a unique experience,
stocking different species in each lake.' All of the
lakes in the Big Valley are managed as flyfishing only,
catch and release with a maximum of four rods on them
a day. Those regulations have paid off. Get this: each
year approximately 50 trout over 24 inches are landed
from the lakes."
THE EASY MIDGE
The Easy Midge is a simple larval/pupal pattern that
takes a lot of fish during this period of low water.
The trick is to fish it correctly, which means absolutely
dead drift and not spooking the fish on your first
cast. Because the (Easy Midge) is basically a nymph,
you fish it the same way. Small shot about 18" ahead
of the fly and a small strike indicator several feet
above it, depending on the depth of the water. …Don't
use the "hard" type indicator such as a
pinch-on or styrofoam bobber. They make a distinct "splat" on
the water which usually alerts the fish, if not outright
spooking them. A better rig is the "puff ball" type
that has become popular on many of the western tail
water rivers such as the San Juan and Bighorn. It's
basically a 1" piece of yarn that is slip knotted
onto the leader. Pull apart the strands until you
have something resembling a wad of cotton candy.
Put a little floatant on the ball and there you go.
This rig casts well, floats high, and most importantly,
lands on the water with barely a whisper. It will
not spook the fish, and looks more natural to them
as it floats over their noses.
DAMSELS IN DISTRESS
Beginning with the third week in June and lasting through
the summer months, the Big Valley lakes are prolific
with damsel flies. During hatches, you can see the
olive green nymphs swimming to shore, undulating
their bodies side-to-side. The brilliant blue adults,
and their plainer greenish mates, can be seen in
swarms over the water near shore and weed beds.
Small olive woolly buggers, fished not to deep and
retrieved toward the shore line, will snag trout. But
a dry fly damsel pattern has produced even more exciting
results in past summers. Guide Greg Sheets from Bob’s
Fly Shop in Loveland recommends the following pattern,
a modified Borger damsel. It’s fished on a 5X
tippet. Set it gently down near a rising trout at the
edge of a weed bed, and get ready for a spectacular
strike on a damsel in distress.
On a size 14 dry fly hook, tie in a one-inch extended
body of a dyed blue grizzly hackle quill clipped close
on each side with scissors. Near the bend of the hook,
tie in a post of narrow flat closed cell fly foam,
also colored blue with permanent markers. Just ahead
of the post, tie in 4 strands of pearlescent crystal
flash, 2 on each side, to mimic the swept back wings.
Then wind a large white hackle feather around the post
two or three turns, then tie off. Dub a blue fur body,
then bring the foam post up over the back and tie off,
leaving a flared “head” extending just
past the eye of the hook. Use olive green materials
for the opposite sex.
X-LEGGED HOPPERS
When humans see a hopper they notice the large back
legs. When trout see a hopper, they usually see the
front legs displayed prominently on the water. The
back legs are tucked against the abdomen and are
indistinguishable from it. This I discovered when
examining a series of "fish-eye-view" photographs
I took from the bottom of an aquarium several years
ago. That was enough to convince me to change hopper
patterns to the "Madam-X" variety. These
cross-legged hopper patterns, size 8, usually a sure
bet for enticing the big trout in the trophy lakes
to a rise even when nothing else is working. You
fish this rubber-legged wonder by plopping it down,
letting it rest for 30 seconds, then giving it a
tiny twitch, then resting again, then twitch, rest,
and so on. Moving in this fashion, the hopper is
usually irresistible at some point in its slow journey
into shore.
Tying The X-Legged Hopper
Hook: Size 8, 2xl, 1xf, perfect bend
Thread: light yellow kevlar
Body: light yellow fly foam, cut in thin strips for
winding (one-eighth inch wide).
Wings: mottled turkey quill, sprayed with clear spray
or to keep fibers from separating.
Head: Natural deer hair tied bullet head, Madam X style.
Legs. round rubber legs, colored light yellow with
permanent marker and spotted with black.
After tying the kevlar on the hook, coat with cement
to keep the foam body from twisting. Then tie on the
strip of yellow foam with a horizontal loop extending
just slightly beyond the hook bend. Lightly wind the
foam forward, creating 5-6 rounded abdominal segments,
and tie off approximately one-fourth inch behind the
eye. Onto this remaining front portion of the hook,
tie on a clump of stacked deer hair with tips facing
forward, with enough bulk and length to fold back to
form a bullet head and a hair collar that reaches to
the beginning of the hook bend. Before forming the
bullet head, tie on the turkey quill wings over the
top of the deer hair, with the wing tips extending
one-eighth inch beyond the end of the foam body. Then
pull the deer hair back over the top of the wings and
body, and tie off to form a bullet head about one-fourth
inch long. Trim off the top and sides of the flared
hair collar so that it lies flat over the top of the
wings. Tie a rubber leg onto each side of the base
of the bullet head. Snub tight to make the legs stick
out at a sharp angle. Whip finish behind the head (and
between the legs), and cement the thread between each
leg. Cut the front legs a little shorter than the back.
|
