Spending More Time Tying Flies Than Fishing

I’ve been prospecting with my dry flies recently and don’t have much to show for my time on the water. I fished last week and noticed small mayflies, probably size 20 – 22 Blue Wing Olives, floating downstream. A couple of fish rose sporadically. But drifting a fly over them didn’t produce even a look. I continued watching the water hoping for more rises. Another rise…once. I call that consistently sporadic. Yes, it’s a technical term I use for fish in my local waters. Slow fishing and looking out the window at my snowy landscape means I’m spending more time tying flies than fishing.

I’ve been at the vise working on a fly tying order for a good friend headed to Argentina in early January. It turns out many of my favorite dry flies work there too!

He sent me a list of the recommended flies which I reviewed. We sat down last week and went through the list. I told him I could tie most of them, but I looked at the fly profile and recommended reliable flies we both fish with great success. The X Caddis was at the top of the list.

I just finished six dozen X Caddis flies in tan, gray, and olive brown.

He asked me to tie a dozen each, but since I had the materials out, I decided to tie another dozen for the provider box.

We fish a lot of X Caddis in July on the Madison River. Turns out the trout really like them!

If you need a little nudge to tie a fly or two, here is a link to my RiverKeeper Flies YouTube Channel where I demonstrate how to tie the fly.

Next fly to tie…a Cicada imitation.

See you soon!

Enjoy…go fish!