OK Don O,
I think this could be a good lesson of "Study". For a new, or
intermediate fly fisher, it pays to watch and ask questions of a more
experienced, (or in some cases the one catching fish), fisherman. If the fly
is a known producer, (lets say this weeks top fly at the local waters fly
shop). Now, they fish it the best they know how and are skunked. If the fly
is the producer, then the presentation needs to looked at. Closer to the
bank? If a nymph, is it deep enough? To deep? Should it skirt the pool or
sink into the middle and ride the bottom?
At Grindstone one of the year round producers is a black and purple
woollies, weighted. However, the fish tend to be around 10' deep and along
the reeds on the west side. The few times I have got to fish it, I have
found that retrieve, (presentation), has to be hunted out. Sometimes it is
pull pause, sometimes pull, pause, pull, pull. Sometimes strip, pause,
strip, presentation. I have never failed to catch at least a few with this
fly when there, but the presentation has always been different, sometimes
changing through the day. I have one particular woollies that I always use
there, same fly, but how I present it is always a challenge to discover to
make them want it.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Jimi
Sorry, Paul.
I meant for this to be a scholarly expression of ideas, the experienced
sharing with the inexperienced.
That's why I wanted to stay away from pattern variations. Too much fuel for
a fire and a different thread altogether- which we've done.
My premise is practical and concerns every fly-fisherman. Does one cut that
unproductive fly off or try another way to present it? It may be the 'fly
of the year' with a different presentation, or be stuck in a seldom used fly
box having missed the opportunity to do its thing.
DonO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Marriner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 2:12 PM
Subject: Re: [VFB] Re: presentation vs pattern- the great debate rages on...
> I'm quickly quitting this because it's getting out of hand. Murf, PLEASE
> READ WHAT I WROTE. I didn't say variations were "bad", I wrote, "One of
> the things that truly makes my blood boil is to listen to some dolt
> bad-mouth a pattern when in fact they aren't fishing anything resembling
> the original." Read it carefully, particularly the words, "bad-mouth a
> pattern when in fact they aren't fishing anything resembling the
> original."
> Paul
> --
> Paul Marriner
> Outdoor Writing & Photography. Owner: Gale's End Press. Member: OWAA &
> OWC.
> Author of Stillwater Fly Fishing: Tools & Tactics, How to Choose & Use
> Fly-tying Thread, Modern Atlantic Salmon Flies, Miramichi River Journal,
> Ausable River Journal, and Atlantic Salmon.
