The Blessed Gray Day

FLOAT YOUR SOFTY

Pick A Fly

.. We've had a few gray days and a few more are in the offing over the next 10 days. It's not picnic weather but it is good for catching. The Firehole River warms a bit more slowly, the bugs are a bit more evident, the visitors a bit fewer, and the polarized glasses seem to work a bit better.
.. This is an excellent chance to float your soft hackle fly. From the classic "HACKLES," through the specialized "FLYMPHS," to the contemporary renditions; these versatile flies will serve you well on gray days and multiple concurrent hatches. Just about any color combination, and any rendition is successful on a gray day. Try 'em, you'll like 'em.
.. For an excellent brief summary of the history and use of these flies, click on over to Jack Gartside's site. There are a few recipes that are quick, easy, and effective.

Jack's Money Quote:
". . . Probably the most common way to fish a soft-hackle wet fly is to cast it across and slightly downstream, letting it sink and then swing in the current, rising with the tightening line much as a natural rises to the surface before hatching. It's on this rise that fish usually strike. Another productive method is to cast the fly upstream on a short cast and then let it dead-drift back to you just under the surface (or, if tied on a light-wire hook, in the surface film). On lakes and ponds a soft hackle fly cast in front of a cruising trout and then twitched slightly can be absolutely deadly. Many soft-hackle fly anglers, especially in Europe, favor fishing two or three of these flies (of different colors and sizes) at a time. . ."

.. The floated wet fly can probably be traced to "Greenwell's Glory" and the emerging 'dry fly' fishing tradition of the mid 1800's. For an excellent recap of those events and some surprisingly modern looking flies a visit to Dr. Andrew Herd's "A FLY FISHING HISTORY" is a must venture. And if success should strike while you are exploring these flies a brief click on over to the SOFT HACKLE PAGE at the English Fly Fishing Shop will give you some additional insight. There is an excellent note about fishing in the rain at the end of the page.

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.. Via MOLDY CHUM, comes news of "THE COMPLETE HATCH." For those of you that would like to fish a complete hatch and imitate the bugs in their whole emergent and death cycle there is a tool for you. Presented in a tidy box are some flies designed to allow fishing to stages of the hatch.
.. Currently there are 15 mayflies represented. These are newly designed flies for each cycle.

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.. Check our local fly shop reports at: Blue Ribbon Flies, Bud Lilly's Trout Shop, Madison River Outfitter's.
.. It's gray outside. It's going to be gray for a couple of days. There may be some sun for lunch. This is the time to wet something.