Seasons Change

November 1^st is a time when seasons change for me.

I just finished tying 100 dozen flies for the year. Whew! Finally got ‘em done. Wasn’t sure if I would meet my goal this year. Had to tie about 10 dozen the last two days to reach that goal.

So here is my 1,200^th fly…a size 18 PMD Sparkle Dun.

But let me back up a bit.

I’ve had some great fishing this year. November 1^st marks a major milestone in trout fishing. Some rivers, streams, and lakes close. On my home river, the upper river is now closed to protect rainbows and brown trout as they begin to spawn during the winter months.

Hopefully, good fishing will linger on for another couple of weeks. It’s already off to a good start. Here’s a beautiful rainbow my fishing partner caught yesterday.

And another…yup, took the Sparkle Dun!

But Mother Nature may have other plans for us and not extend our good fall fly fishing season. Time will tell.

November 1^st is also the start of a new “fly tying season” for me. I decided several years ago to begin counting all the flies I tied. I was curious how many I really tied in a year. The problem was when to begin counting? Use a calendar year? Fishing season?

Well, I finally settled on November 1 to October 31. It seemed to coincide with the seasonal change in fly fishing. To me, bad weather provides more opportunities to tie flies and re-stock fly boxes. Perfect!

With my “fly tying year” established, I started tying flies and counting them. Perhaps a little anal, but I had to know!

Year 1 – 111 dozen

Year 2 – 120 dozen

Year 3 – 106 dozen

Last year – 100 dozen

Here are a few flies from the last couple of days…Sparkle Duns and my RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple. 

Why 100 dozen? It just seemed like a good round number. I certainly don’t need that many. I’ve been known to hook a tree behind me on occasion, but if I was that bad, you’d find all my secret fishin’ holes!!

I donate a lot of flies to my local fly club for monthly raffles. I tie for a few friends. I’ve handed out flies at Central Oregon Project Healing Waters (see my Project Healing Waters blog post if you haven’t read it). And I’ve been known to hand out a few flies along the river too.

But the real reason is I truly enjoy tying flies. So I keep tying.

So what were the popular flies this year?

Well, I tied 23 dozen Sparkle Duns ranging in sizes 20 to 8…Blue Wing Olives to Green Drakes. And they all caught fish.

Another popular fly that caught fish was my RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple. 

RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple

I tied a total of 11 dozen of them in a variety of sizes and colors. 

So now that I’ve finished my 100 dozen, it’s time to clean off my fly tying desk, organize my space, and get ready for the next 100 dozen.

I think I’ll start with a few spey flies. We’ll see how they turn out.

Go fish!

(Be sure to Follow RiverKeeper Flies on Facebook)