Odds and Ends

This week’s post includes a few odds and ends. First, the fishing. It’s been a top priority because I know it will end in the near future. Why do I say that? I think the fish gods flip a switch on November 1 (OK, maybe there’s a grace period of a week or so) and most of the hatches end for the year. 

I’ve written posts the last two years about how fishing changes the first of November – Normal Fishing Season Ends and Fishing Changes in November.

Sure, Blue Wing Olives and a few small stoneflies continue to be available, but it changes dramatically from the great fall fishing we’ve experienced.

So I’ve been out as much as I can. I’m deciding as I write this post where to fish the next couple of days.

Last week, I was was in Salem, OR for my Fly Fishing Road Trip presentation to the Santiam Flycasters. I tied up a few Arrick’s Parachute Ant and Galloup’s Ant Acid before the meeting. I had a great time connecting with a few old friends.

And I’m still tying flies. I plan to finish a fly order in the next couple of days. It includes a couple of midge fly patterns shown below – #18 Mercury Midge and #20 Griffith’s Gnat Emerger.

When I’m not fishing, giving presentations, or tying flies, I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at books listed on the Links to Free Old Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Books page on my website. I recently added a few new titles on the page. I’m happy to see how popular this page has been in the last couple of years. Whenever I find another old book where the copyright has expired, I add it to the list on my page. As of today, there are 42 links, some of them are the same title, but newer editions where the book content may have been updated. The books were written between 1740 and 1922.

One of my readers asked me about an older wet fly and that one question led me to several books, including The Practical Angler (1857) by W.C Stewart. I found three flies that might be what he was looking for; the Black Spider, Red Spider, and Dun Spider. Looks like a perfect setup for this week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly post!

I continued to look for the Black Spider, which led me to Oliver Edwards who referenced North Country Flies by T.E. Pritt and Brook and River Trouting (1916) by Edmonds and Lee. For some reason, I didn’t have Brook and River Trouting on my list. It is now! It’s a terrific book which has color pictures showing the materials used to tie the popular soft hackle flies used in the North Country region of the UK.

The list of books you can download can be daunting. I highly recommend the following books to get you started.

• Yorkshire Trout Flies (1885) by T.E. Pritt or North Country Flies (1886) – It’s the same book, but title was changed to reflect a wider region in the UK.
• Brook and River Trouting (1916) by Edmonds and Lee

Try not to spend too much time going down the rabbit hole as you click and read each book.

Remember, time is short, so get out and fish!

You might find something interesting…a Sockeye Salmon on the Metolius River.

Enjoy…go fish!