At this time of the year I wouldn't be without a good skwala pattern; most
of the patterns sold in fly shops don't resemble the real thing very much.
I don't care much for the Stimulator, though a dark-colored one is not too
bad. But, at the very least, I'd clip most of the hackle off the bottom to
make it float lower in the water. I tie a pattern that I've been refining
for seven or eight years now that a friend of mine has dubbed the Slackwater
Black. It has peccary bristle tails and antennae, a black dubbed body,
moose hair wing and dark dun hackle tied in front of the wing, Trude style.
It's been quite effective.
I tie BWOs down to size 20, usually parachutes or trailing shuck
parachutes. Although it still seems a bit early, especially in the canyon,
on my last couple of trips to the Yakima I've seen a fair number of what
I've taken to be March Browns. My March Brown patterns are parachutes with
a coastal deer hair wingpost and a dark dun (or cree, which gives it a
really buggy look) hackle.
