By Gus, on August 11th, 2010
Partridge and Oranges lined up and ready to go...
As I’ve traveled this road of continuous learning and fly fishing, I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone has a go-to fly, or fly type. Some people love the dry fly – the sipping, the matching of insects and the puritan quality that dries seem to give. Some utilitarian fishers go straight to the nymphs – good old Hare’s Ear or PT, the Prince or some new variation of something similar.
Personally, on a small stream, I reach for my little silver Wheatley first and foremost… it’s a tiny box, dedicated to one specific type of fly, the venerable old soft hackle. Soft hackles, for me, are the epitome of a fishing fly. They are arguably the oldest documented fly, and have been called funny things over the years, including a favorite funky name – “flymphs.”
Continue reading Soft Hackle Flies – my “go-to” box…
By Gus, on July 27th, 2010
This was the winning entry of the smallstreams.com writing contest a few years ago… brought back to life recently in the forum by the author, member John M. Larson (Alpinefly.) Enjoy…
The Winter had been bitterly cold and dreary. Then again, what more can be said of Colorado’s San Luis Valley; the cold spot of the nation most of the time. With the Sangre De Christo Mountains to the East, the Methodist Mountains to the North, and the San Juan Mountains to the West, arctic air would sweep down into the valley with an unrestrained vengeance. Survival experts will simply tell you that an exposed body would be hypothermic and dead within minutes as the air sucks the water and life out of every living thing. There was something more then just arctic air that had sucked the life out of me on this Christmas day. Seven years before, I was married on this magical day. Now the magic had turned to a bitter divorce. On this Christmas day, I went hunting, more out of tradition then desire.
Continue reading The Tale Of The Little Snow Fly
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