This fly has saved my session many times. Purchase Here : Mop Fly We like to tie these flies from size 12 and 14 with bead sizes from 4.0 – 2.5 Hooks: Highland Rod Co. G2 size 12-14 Bead: Eat Sleep Fly Fish slotted Tungsten Black Nickel Sizes 4.0-2.5 Thread: UTC 70 Cream Hareline…...
Amazingly simple, amazingly effective. For wild fish or highly pressured stocked fish, the Plain Pheasant Tail is one of the most effective, all-around patterns ever created. Purchase here: Copper Beaded Pheasant Tail We like to tie these flies from size 14 all the way down to size 20. Hooks: Highland Rod Co. G2 size 14-20…...
Most likely the most effective fly pattern created. Purchase here: Egg Fly https://youtu.be/ve8DgRcvZZM… This content is for Lifetime Membership members only.RegisterAlready a member? Log in here...
Amazingly Effective pattern for winter time trout. Purchase Here: Walts Worm We like to tie these flies from size 14 all the way down to size 20. Hooks: Highland Rod Co. G2 size 14-20 Bead: Eat Sleep Fly Fish slotted Tungsten Copper, Silver, Lt Metalic Pink size 3.5-2.0 Thread: Veevus 16/0 Olive Dunn Dark Hares…...
With this system we are simply looking for what bead color, fly profile, and technique the fish are wanting. Keeping spooky wild fish in mind, we are starting with the most subtle of flies and technique and then building up to the most aggressive. With the first two rigs being double Waltz rigs, we are simply searching for the bead color the fish want. I have often believed that the tails on flies are more for the fisherman than the fish, and with this being a winter set up, there should be less baetis nymphs than in the spring/summer, making the Waltz worm the perfect experimental, small. Natural fly choice. If a fish is picked up here on one of the Waltz patterns, I would immediately switch the positions from tag to point to verify the result.
The General Water and the Trophy Water of the Ravens Fork had not been stocked in some time. The temperatures had dropped down in the high 20’s and the water was falling from a previous hard rain the day before the competition. The river gauge was showing right at 1,000cfs. Wading would be tough, and the fishing would be even tougher.
Talk about being in a slump, I am sure in one. In a technique application and beat drawing slump. I have drawn the worst beats of the entire tournament for the past two tournaments and I have not been able to overcome them. I have seen top anglers overcome them, but when top anglers are also getting really good beats, it makes things awfully difficult. With that being said, I will reiterate one of my favorite passages from the Serenity Prayer written by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr: Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. You talk about one of the most appropriate sayings in all history relative to competitive fly angling………..this one is it! One of the things that I know that I cannot and never will be able to change is the beat draw, so that just leaves us with technique in which to alter.
In the book “A Hero’s Journey” by Joseph Campbell, he describes the similarities of all real life’s hero’s, the mythical ones, and the common paths that each take. Each journey begins with the CALL TO ADVENTURE, where the character is awakened by his ambitious calling and sets out on accomplishing some audacious feat or goal. They cross the threshold of everyday routine here and begin the ROAD OF TRIALS into the abyss. The abyss is where they experience rock bottom due to their failures and can either stay there or be transformed by virtue of a great METAMORPHISES into an area of what the author calls the ULTIMATE BOON. The “Ultimate Boon” is the benefit, favor, or blessing that is bestowed upon the hero figure. It is the actual deeming or the awarding of the title of hero or the title of champion.
Participating in this year’s Cherokee Championship was definitely my journey of trials……………..straight into the abyss.
Venues were the Davidson, East Fork of the French Broad, Tanasee Creek Lake, and Wolf Creek Lake. I had only fished one of these venues before, that being Tanasee Lake. One of my teammates and I had fished it fairly close to the boat launch back in September and had moderate success finding a few…...
I may sound like a broken record at times when conducting these tournament studies, but when it seems like things are being repeated (hence the sounding like a broken record), you need to recognize the patterns and learn from them. Recognizing patterns can only come from experience, and we all know what kind of factor experience plays in any competitive sport.
Two of the things we cannot control when it comes to competition fly angling, but unfortunately play a giant role in our outcomes, is group and beat draws. The group draws rarely ever bothers me, because you are really not against the other anglers, you are up against your beat or more specifically, the fish within your beat.
Drawing a good beat or a bad beat in itself is not the only factor…………but in addition to which beat you draw is when you draw them. My partner Peyton and I learned that difficult lesson yet once again at this year’s version of the Rumble in the Rhododendron.