Bigs And Littles

FOR THE LOVE OF FEATHERS

Great Giant Heavy Ones

wee small dainty ones

Lt. Colonel Esmond Drury Tied One For The River Test

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.. Some folks who tie flies specialize in the wee ones. Others specialize in the wiggly ones with rubber bands. Some work on big flies with many whole feathers. A few even pick apart feather fibers and marry them into new feathers - or some such. It's all a fascinating bit of craft designed to fool creatures with pea sized brains.
.. One of the things that Atlantic Salmon, (and the Flemish Cap,) and Pacific Steelhead, (and the North Pacific,) have in common is the northern shrimp, (often called prawns.) The Pacific Ocean migration of the steelhead corresponds almost one to one with the distribution of the northern shrimp, (LINK.)
.. These fish remember that very food source for quite a long time. Even deep into their natal waters. We love the General Practitioner for big fish with long memories. We once caught a harbor seal on this fly, (perhaps saving a steelhead.)  [[A couple of links for the GP and Esmond Drury: #1, #2.]] The GP is good for scaring our local trout as well.
.. Should we need to fool a local trout, (rather than scare it,) we tie on some very small bits of feathers. The neighborhood trout are lucky to live in fairly fertile waters. The Hebgen Tailwater fishery, (known locally as "Between The Lakes,") seldom freezes solid and is blessed with nutrients from the reservoir.
.. This time of year the trout Between The Lakes are gifted with masses of wee bits of protein. Immature mayflies in the form of small nymphs and the "Snow Flies:" midges of miniscule and diminutive stature.
.. We've been gifted with a few dozen dinkers. These flies are from the talented fingers of the neighborhood kids who pity us because of our blindness, poor manual dexterity, and inability to fathom the concept that trout eat what we can't see. The biggest of these flies is a size 14 and the smallest is in the 20 range. And yes, they take trout with regularity, when fished with aplumb by those that can. We've been assured that pattern is far less important than size and presentation.
.. Off we go - pattern be damned.

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A Little Selection