I haven’t downloaded it yet, but will be tonight after work!

Imagine you are planning a fly fishing trip to the Yellowstone River in June and want to know what to fill your fly box with? Or if you are organizing your flies for a fishing trip tomorrow and need to know what to pack. Make planning your fly fishing trip a little easier with ‘The Hatch’.

‘The Hatch’ gives you a hatch chart in your pocket. The Hatch has a growing number of States and Rivers being added, make sure your fly box is ready for whatever may be hatching where ever your trip takes you.

Simply pick the Month, State, and River and you will be provided with helpful information including recommended patterns, pictures of bugs, and links to recipes and patterns at http://www.flyrecipes.com.

‘The Hatch’ works offline, so its use can be found on the river where service may not exist. Access to http://www.flyrecipes.com will require internet access.

Vist http://www.corypratt.com to see a list of the included states and rivers. More states and rivers will be provided in future releases. 

I don’t even remember what got me on my kayak kick, but I had to have one. Whenever I had free time or even when I was suppose to be working I was researching on these water-crafts.

Personally I was more fond of the Big Game Prowler due to its stability in most water conditions. It runs just under 3′ wide and 12′ 9″ in length. It’s a pretty solid kayak. On many occasions I would take it out, float with the current and be standing up casting with no problems. It is truly hassle free.

Storage was no problem. It has an over-sized tank well which runs throughout the hull. In addition you have bungees on top of the hatch and a nice sized storage area in the stern of the kayak. Directly in front of the seat there is one last storage compartment. You can obviously use this section for whatever you want, I chose to use it for important things like a cell phone or wallet. It buckles in a watertight space.

Modding is the big thing with fishing kayaks these days, everyone is brainstorming out new ideas and really bringing some cool things to the table. From sails, to a foot paddle system. I got right to work when I received mine. I installed a fish finder. It sounds a lot easier then it really was, but in the long run it still wasn’t to difficult. I put the mount directly in front of the storage compartment in the front on a flat surface. Directly in the middle of two rod holders I had installed on it. I drilled three holes below it, two to connect it two the kayak and one to run the cords down to the under area. These would run to the transducer and batter pack I made. I then used marine goop and sealed down the transducer in a piece of PVC on the bottom of the hull. The battery pack sat in a shelf in the under area of the hull. I used rechargeable AA’s in a battery pack from Radio Shack and connected the cords from both devices. Pretty simple once you have it done. Besides that people install anchor trolleys, lights, rod holders, storage boxes, stability buoys, sails, GPS, carts to push the kayak around and many more, that’s just a few!

Overall the Ocean Kayak Big Game Prowler definitely is how it sounds. Big Game, period. It’s made for big water and many water conditions. It’s for sure a safe way to go fishing, especially if you plan on going in the ocean. Comes with many storage areas, and is actually very comfortable. Plenty of room for me to relax and fish. It IS quite awkward when trying to put it in or on a vehicle, due to it’s shape and weight(69lbs). You learn how to make things easier for yourself. For any kind of fishing I would recommend this yak, especially for a fly fisherman. Mostly because most other kayaks aren’t nearly as stable, it would make fly fishing much more difficult!

Have fun!

The surface rippled under a sweeping wind. The line as thin as dental floss billowed down to the water, the hooked fly slapping the surface first. A weathered American flag flapped against a backdrop of snowcapped mountains.

Gomez was on his second deployment to Iraq in 2005 when the seven-ton truck he was driving was hit by an improvised explosive device. A piece of shrapnel, about the size of a quarter, struck Gomez in the head and penetrated his skull, leaving him with traumatic brain injury.

Now 24, he came home unable to read or write, without any sensation on the right side of his body, a half-moon shaped scar carved into the side of his head.

He had to relearn everything.

And here he was on this frigid day, attempting to coordinate mind and body, casting line after line out into the water as part of a Sun Valley Adaptive Sports program designed to help wounded service members rebuild their physical skills, rediscover their confidence and independence, and reintegrate into their communities through sports and recreation.

The weeklong fly fishing program is one of eight sports and recreation camps held each year in this central Idaho resort region for wounded service members. This fall, the fly fishing camp was designed for veterans with severe traumatic brain injury.

The men carry postwar burdens that include chronic headaches, post traumatic stress disorder, hearing and short-term memory loss, renal failure, seizures and spinal injuries.

At a private estate along State Highway 75, the seven men embarked on their first day of fishing, practicing awkward casts in the grass before their fishing guides deemed them ready.

Two of the veterans at the pond are in wheelchairs, some use canes. Knit caps are eventually removed, revealing scars and offering a small glimpse into the turmoil these men and their families have undergone.

Lisa Antoine sat underneath a tree, grinning at her husband David, an Army reservist who was called up in 2007, as he worked his fly line. Last February, she received in the middle of the night a phone call telling her that David’s military vehicle had been hit by a roadside bomb, and that he had suffered nerve damage to his back and neck.

Now 44, he continues to suffer from headaches, photosensitivity, blurred vision and severe hearing loss. Along also struggles with post traumatic stress disorder.

“He still can’t deal with it,” said Lisa Antoine, 44, a certified nursing assistant who has watched her formerly outgoing husband withdraw since he came home. “He doesn’t like to go anywhere, I have to drag him.”

Her hope for the fly fishing camp is that it will inspire her husband to realize “you don’t have to be secluded from everybody.” She then leaped to her feet as David reeled in a trout.

She squealed in delight, screaming, “Go get it, honey! Go get it!”

Across the pond, Jordan Riddle watched the fun, but was determined to claim the most fish. The former Army combat medic was the only member of his platoon to survive after a building they occupied was blown up.

Riddle, 26, was in a coma for nine weeks. He said his family and a former high school classmate were the only outside contacts he had during his long recovery. He and his classmate married Sept. 26.

His new wife, Hope, traveled here with him from Arlington, Texas.

“I’m looking for a break, I’m looking for my soldiers because ever since I’ve retired from the Army I’ve felt like I’m alone,” Riddle said, his voice choked with emotion. “I don’t have my brothers anymore.”

During the weeklong fly fishing program, the veterans will hear about different ways to combat their depression and isolation, about how to harness the frustration and anger that erupts when they can’t perform what used to be simple tasks. They’ll talk about their struggles with their spouses and other veterans who suffered traumatic brain injuries.
Sun Valley Adaptive Sports is one of 100 chapters of the Disabled Sports/USA, a national nonprofit established by Vietnam veterans in 1967 to serve the wounded after they return home from war through sports rehabilitation.

The Idaho organization started a sports and recreation program for severely injured service members about five years ago, adding the fly fishing camp last fall. The nonprofit has since held three fly fishing events, covering all expenses for the veterans, their wives and offering to pay for any child care they may need while traveling to Sun Valley.

Therapists consult with each service member before and after their Idaho experience, helping them identify goals and map out a plan to achieve them. The organization will follow up with the veterans for three years, said Tom Iselin, Sun Valley Adaptive Sports executive director.

Before the veterans even touch a rod, the fishing guides from Silver Creek outfitters and the adaptive sports employees are briefed on the injuries and needs of each veteran. They are shown what to do in case someone has a seizure. They learn how to help the veterans recognize what triggers their stress, and how to better manage it through recreation.

Over the course of the week, their confidence builds. They hear words of encouragement from their guides and the adaptive sports team.

But on this day, at the beginning, retired Marine gunner Christian Ellis, among the first vets to participate in the camp last year, knew just how the new men felt — skeptical that a week of fly fishing could help chase away mental and physical demons.

“When we first got there, you could see in our faces, we don’t want to be here. We’re very suspicious, we’re on edge,” said Ellis, who was part of a convoy in Fallujah insurgents ambushed in 2004.

His back was broken, he suffered severe spinal injuries. The post traumatic stress disorder would come later, invisible scars he took with him after he was discharged in 2007 and described as “a giant hole you can never jump over.”

Ellis had previously participated in another weeklong recreational program for wounded soldiers at a ranch in Texas.

“It was great, but once you leave that environment, you end up feeling twice as lonely, twice as worthless,” said Ellis, who lives in San Diego.

When his Veterans Administration social worker recommended the Idaho program, he was leery. He had never gone fly fishing. It didn’t help that this program included spouses, he was gay and might have to explain this to other veterans.

But with Sun Valley Adaptive Sports, he found himself, over the course of the week, opening up.

“I didn’t even know I was talking about issues that bother me,” Ellis said. “I didn’t have any nightmares, I didn’t feel any anxiety. They made us feel important.”

The organization also found out that Ellis, who had been classically trained in opera before joining the military, wanted to start singing again. A week after he returned to California, the San Diego Opera contacted him and he started voice lessons, which Sun Valley Adaptive Sports has paid for over the past year.

The last group of veterans to participate in the fly fishing program left Idaho last week. The organization is now working on helping them achieve a new set of goals, which include securing jobs they can do with their disabilities. Others want to go back to school and need help.

It all worked for Ellis. Sun Valley Adaptive Sports also put him in touch with a nonprofit that helped him get a car. He’s enrolled in community college. And he’s singing.

“Everything I lost, they gave it back to me tenfold,” he said.

____

On the Net:

Sun Valley Adaptive Sports: http://www.svasp.org

Disabled Sports/USA: http://www.dsusa.org

The Bristol Bay Watershed, emptying into the Bering Sea, has sustained Alaskans for generations. It is not only home to some of the largest salmon runs in the world, but also trout, brown bears, moose, one of Alaska’s largest herds of caribou, and a rare population of freshwater seal.

Its remote location, southwest of Anchorage, has long protected the watershed from the meddling of man. Even today, there are few roads in the region.

But the Pebble Mine, proposed by Northern Dynasty Minerals, would change all that, taking this precious habitat and turning it into one of the largest gold and copper mines in the world.

Northern Dynasty has not yet applied for permits, but their current proposal involves both a large open pit and an underground mine. The open pit mine alone would cover more than two square miles and spew toxic pollutants into the water, killing marine life. And worst of all, the Pebble Mine, if approved, would likely open the door for other mines in the region.

That’s unacceptable to many Alaskans – and to the Pebble Pedalers as well. They have ridden before as individuals and as brothers. But never like this. In an effort to stop the mine, the two cyclists have mapped out a trip that will take them from Prudhoe Bay, the northern most point accessible by road in Alaska, to Tierra del Fuego, the southern most tip of Argentina. Before it’s over, they’ll travel through 13 countries, two continents and two hemispheres. They will be forced to learn the words “flat tire” in at least one other language. And the two brothers – Seth and Parker Berling – know that it will not be easy. Their trip is projected to last at least a year.

But as they see it, it’s worth it. From where they stand, there has never been a better reason to ride.

They ride to save Bristol Bay.

To keep up on their progress and read the blog entries click here.

Recently a friend I made off of Facebook launched a new website with the help of Red Dirt Studios. It’s called “Fishy Kid” and is dedicated to the younger generations of fisherman and woman. In registering for the site you have access to a coloring book created by many different artists. After they have colored a picture you can upload it to the site and be entered into a random drawing for prizes from their sponsors.

Personally, I think what they are doing is great and the organization will be very successful in every aspect.

To check out the site and print off a coloring book for your child, click here.

No Fish for a Tiger
By: Chris Santella

Told by Mark O’Meara

It’s been said that fly-fishing for Atlantic salmon is a great equalizer. The fish don’t care how much money you have, what clubs you belong to, how high your IQ is or how well-received your latest movie has been. They only care about how your fly is presented—and if the bite isn’t on, even that doesn’t matter. Just ask Mark O’Meara, who witnessed some Irish salmon’s snubbing of one of the greatest golf champions of all time.

“I go over to Ireland to fish for Atlantic salmon twice a year,” Mark began, “and one of my favorite rivers to fish is the River Blackwater. One visit is just after the Master’s Tournament in April. The other is in the summer, just before the British Open. The spring is a great time to be on the Blackwater, as this is when the river gets its run of bigger fish. I was there a few years back at the Careysville House, with a group that included Tiger Woods, who is a dear friend. That particular week, the fishing had been a bit slow, though we’d been fishing pretty hard. Of course, anyone who fishes for salmon or steelhead on a fly understands that there’s always the possibility of getting shut out. We weren’t shut out, but we were doing none too well, especially Tiger.

“One morning, Tiger and I were on a run with two guides—Sean McMannon, who is a member of the Irish Fly Fishing Team and a guide at the K Club in County Kildare, and a local ghillie named Paddy.

Paddy was a slightly older gentleman, and had one of the thickest Irish brogues that I’ve ever heard. It was barely comprehensible. Tiger and I had worked our way through most of the run, and breakfast time was coming around. Sean, Paddy and Tiger decided to take a break and grab a sandwich. I reminded Tiger that the best way to catch a fish is to stay in the river and keep fishing, but they all retired to the bank. They were barely on shore when I hooked into a nice fish, about seven or eight pounds. I played it to hand as they went to the ghillie’s hut for their snack. As they were coming back down to the river, I hooked into another fish. I played it for a while as they looked on, and it eventually came off. I went over to the bank, and I could see immediately that Tiger was getting a little worked up about his lack of success. I said to him, ‘Don’t worry, the fish are in here. Let’s put you right in the middle of this run where I’ve been getting some takes. I’ll stay with you and get you all fired up. When your confidence is up, you’ll get a fish.’

“I stayed with Tiger in the river for a while to help him get in the swing of things. He was in a nice long run, and it was just a matter of getting into a rhythm—cast, swing, step; cast, swing, step. After a time, I left Tiger to his own devices and joined Sean and Paddy up on the bank. It was a pleasure to watch Tiger cast. The mechanics of golf swing and a fly cast are pretty similar, and as you might expect, Tiger’s golf swing translates into an excellent casting form. Though a fish would roll out in the run every now and again, Tiger was having no luck. As he made his way downstream, I could see that Tiger was beginning to rush his casts a bit, and sensed he was getting frustrated again.

“As we watched Tiger cast through the bottom of the run, Paddy, who had been pretty quiet most of the morning, suddenly spoke. Apropos of nothing, he said, ‘Boyz, if those salmon only knew who was on the other end of that line, they’d be stackin’ up to take that fly.’”

Mark O’Meara took up golf when he was 13, and turned pro in 1980, shortly after graduating from Long Beach State University. Since turning pro, Mark has won more than a dozen PGA tourneys, including the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (five times), the Masters (1998) and the British Open (1998). He is an avid and accomplished fly fisherman and fly tier, and recently teamed with PGA TOUR Design Services to build TPC of Valencia, California. Mark lives in the Orlando, Florida area with his wife Alicia and children Michelle and Shaun Robert.

Blackwater Salmon
Rising in the mountains east of Killarney, the River Blackwater flows through counties Cork and Waterford until it reaches the Irish Sea, 75 miles later. It has traditionally been one of Ireland’s most prolific Atlantic salmon rivers, yielding between five and six thousand salmon per annum. Like most European salmon rivers, much of the Blackwater is private, though there are ample beats available for lease. (The largest lessee is the Blackwater Lodge [www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net], which holds beats on 15 miles of the river; the Careysville House [+353-58-54424], where Mark and Tiger fished, offers beats on 1.75 miles of prime water. While Blackwater salmon (and Irish salmon in general) run a bit smaller than the fish that return to neighboring Scotland, the beauty of the rolling countryside of the valley, the welcoming charm of the villages that dot its banks—and the promise of a fresh Guinness at the local pub—more than make up for the absence of trophy specimens.

Click here to buy Fifty Favorite Fly-Fishing Tales

Florida is full of gators, they are everywhere. I see one almost every time I fish a pond here on base at the golf course. Hence the name “Gator Lakes Golf Course”. The last few outings to the pond has been kind of irritating, but fun at the same time. I will start throwing poppers trying to entice anything that will come to the surface and snatch it. Then minutes later I will see something moving on the surface swimming towards it. Guess who? A friggen gator. He will either sit there and watch or get curious and slam that popper like it’s no ones business. The fight usually doesn’t last to long with razor sharp teeth. Another problem I have with them is they steal the fish off my line! It’s pretty funny, but gets old fast.

The weekend before last I was fishing with poppers as well. Fished the whole bank of the lake all the way around. Finally got a fish, fought for a short while and got it close so I could grab it with my hand. It was good sized fish, roughly 16″. Went to grab it and saw a gator coming up fast from the depths of the lake. I could litterally see the bass below me, and below him was the alligator. He snatched it and the line broke!! All gone! One thing did come out of it though, I saw a huge largemouth right next to him scoping out what was going on. Probably 20″ and atleast 6lbs!

So even with having these gators in Florida and always around, there is still many large fish to be caught. Just takes a little more technique which I am still learning! More to come!

Blue Winged Olive

Style: Dry Fly

The Skinny: This important dry fly comes fittingly at the end of my list. Although the naturals hatch at least intermittently all year, the most intense hatches seem to come at the end of the season in September or even October, when I’ve seen the little olive duns flying among sporadic snowflakes. The naturals are tiny, roughly a size 18 down to a miniscule 26 (depending on species). Rising trout key on them and can be maddeningly difficult to fool. Of all the common dry-fly styles I’ve tried, I keep coming back to this thorax-style tie as being the most effective. Hackle is trimmed away from the bottom to make the fly low-floating, and I think that helps. The pattern is not infallible, though, and I’m still looking for a better one.

Dahlberg Diver

Style: Popper

The Skinny: Larry Dahlberg is a clever guy, and this brilliantly designed bass bug proves it. The tapered deerhair head acts as a diving plate. Twitch the bug gently, and it wiggles enticingly on the surface. Pull hard, and the head and collar force the fly underwater, after which it bobs back to the surface. This drives bass nuts, and their reaction is usually violent. Notably, Dahlberg extends the concept to so-called mega-divers and rabbit-strip divers that can be 6 inches long or more and work well for both northern pike and muskies. His basic bass bug is available in sizes 2 and 6, in a variety of colors.

Deer Hair Bass Bug

Style: Popper

The Skinny: It seems that every 10 years or so a cadre of flyfishing majordomos forecasts a renaissance for bass flyfishing. For all the periodic predictions, this has yet to happen. Bass flyfishermen are still a small minority, but they’re also still having lots of fun. Deerhair bugs like this one are the best of it–soft wiggly things that draw explosive surface strikes from bass and are just a hoot to fish. The only drawback is that deerhair bodies eventually become waterlogged, heavy, and hard to cast. You’ll want plenty of spares in your box, sizes 2 through 10. White, yellow, and black are basic, and there are numerous multi-colored versions.

Sponge Spider

Style: Terrestrial

The Skinny: Though not very popular among fly anglers at large, catching bluegills and other sunfishes is some of the greatest sport, so here’s a fly just for that. The sponge spider has been wiggling its rubber legs on the surfaces of ponds, lakes, and warmwater streams for years, but it still pulls big bluegills as well as ever. When the sponge body becomes waterlogged, fish it as a wet fly; or simply squeeze water from the body and keep fishing it dry. A size 12 will do for most sunfish, while a size 6 is big enough to draw strikes from bass.

Lefty’s Deceiver

Style: Streamer

The Skinny: I may take heat for not ranking this streamer pattern higher in the list, so here’s my reasoning. Almost all major fly retailers include the Deceiver only in their saltwater fly sections. It works perfectly well for bass, trout, and other freshwater fish, but the ties you’ll find are all on saltwater hooks. And, of course, the pattern excels in saltwater for just about all big fish that eat small fish. The design, by the redoubtable Lefty Kreh, is ingenious. The long, trailing feather wing extends only from the rear of the hook, which means it won’t tangle with the hook in casting and you will thereby never waste a cast. I most often use this pattern in white, chartreuse, or all black (for stripers after dark) in sizes 2/0 to 4.

Egg Fly

Style: Wet Fly

The Skinny: By most accepted terms, this is not even a fly—just a ball of yarn on a short-­shanked hook. It doesn’t even imitate an insect, but a gooey fish egg. I know anglers who refuse to fish the things for that reason. I am not among them because they work so well. A California fly shop has trademarked the name Glo Bugs, so other outlets call them Egg Flies. They are tied on heavy-wire short-­shanked hooks, sizes 6 to 10, in an array of colors.

Dave’s Hopper

Style: Terrestrial

The Skinny: It is the quintessential grasshopper pattern for trout, created at the vise of Dave Whitlock. Larger sizes work well for smallmouths, and sunfish love the smaller ones. Picking a size for trout is tricky—most people are inclined to go large on Western rivers. The problem is that trout in those waters see lots of hopper patterns every summer day. Smaller sizes may get you more strikes. Pay attention, because trout often sip these quietly.

Ant

Style: Terrestrial

The Skinny: Among the simplest of flies, the Fur Ant is also among the deadliest. It’s tied in sizes 12 through 20. Fish the smaller sizes dry on a 6X or 7X tippet to gently sipping trout during warm summer and early-fall afternoons. Black is usually best, although there are times when cinnamon is worth a try. In the high-tech world of modern flyfishing, basic patterns such as the Fur Ant are often neglected. The trout won’t neglect them, and neither should you.

Prince

Style: Nymph

The Skinny: A size 16 Prince Nymph with a tungsten beadhead has probably accounted for more 20-plus-inch trout for me than any other fly in recent years. One reason is because tungsten beads are heavier than brass beads of the same size, so the nymph fishes deep easily. It has the buggy look common to many successful trout flies. Smaller versions (sizes 16, 18) have always worked better for me, with or without a strike indicator.

Copper John

Style: Nymph

The Skinny: Created by John Barr, this wire-­bodied nymph has become a trout fishing sensation over the past 10 years. The reason is simple: It sinks rapidly and stays deep, where many of the fish are. Copper wire, lead wire, and a brass bead all add weight, while the nymph’s overall shape is streamlined to aid sinking. In smaller sizes, from 16 to 22, that fast sink rate means it’s an ideal pattern to fish under a strike indicator or high-floating hopper pattern.

Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear

Style: Nymph

The Skinny: One of the bestselling nymph patterns worldwide, the Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear is buggy-looking in the same sort of generic way as the Adams dry fly. It roughly imitates a wide array of trout-stream insects and precisely imitates nothing. The pattern is useful in sizes 20 up to 8, but sizes 14 and 16 take most of my trout most of the time. Its performance can be enhanced by roughing up its surface with a toothbrush.

March Brown Spider

Style: Wet Fly

The Skinny: This is one of several old soft-hackled wet flies that underwent a renaissance in the 1970s. The concept of a small fur body surrounded by long, flexible hackle fibers is almost as old as flyfishing itself. Trout, however, still chomp these flies in thoroughly modern lust. Fish size 10 to 18 soft hackles upstream, and either dead-drift them or swing them down and across the current. These are also excellent subsurface patterns for bluegills.

RS-2

Style: Emerger

The Skinny: Sure, this odd little pattern doesn’t look like much, but it’s indispensable during common small mayfly hatches. Bluewing olives, especially, emerge from spring through fall on most trout streams, and the RS-2 is the most successful olive-emerger imitation I’ve used. It was developed in the 1970s by Colorado angler Rim Chung for the trout of the South Platte (the name stands for “Rim’s semblance No. 2”). Fish it deep or near the surface, depending on the hatch.

Rusty Spinner

Style: Dry Fly

The Skinny: When trout are rising but you can’t see what they’re eating, they could be dining on a spinner fall. Trout usually take the flush-floating spent mayflies with gentle sips; their rise forms can be a clue. Spinners with rusty-red bodies are the most common, in sizes 10 to 22. Smaller sizes, in particular, work well for trout that are sipping intermittently. Most commercial patterns are overdressed. Thin the wings with scissors, without changing their length, to boost your score.

Sparkle Dun

Style: Dry Fly

The Skinny: This dry traces back to Fran Betters’s Haystack, in which a wing of splayed deer hair rather than hackle holds the fly upright on the water. Caucci and Nastasi used this concept in their Comparadun series, which was further refined by Craig Matthews as the Sparkle Dun: He included a synthetic-fiber tail as generally representative of a nymphal shuck. Sparkle Duns can be tied in various colors and sizes to match the pattern of the mayfly hatch of the moment.

Stimulator

Style: Dry Fly

The Skinny: Western tier Randall Kaufmann came up with this one, which is kind of a takeoff on the Elk Hair Caddis but on a longer-shanked hook with more hackle and more buoyant hair for the wing. It’s designed to be twitched hard on the surface to elicit strikes from trout; hence the name. Generally tied in sizes 6 down to 16, in various colors, the pattern imitates a variety of stoneflies. One tip: After twitching it on the surface, pull the fly underwater and fish out the retrieve twitching it as a wet fly. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Muddler Minnow

Style: Streamer

The Skinny: Tied as a scruffy-looking sculpin imitation by Don Gapen in the 1930s, the Muddler in its present, trimmed form was refined by Dan Bailey in Montana and popularized by the likes of Joe Brooks and A.J. McClane. In a wide range of sizes, it’s deadly on trout, steelhead, and salmon, and it doubles as an excellent bass fly. Fran Betters first turned me onto so-called mini Muddlers 30 years ago on New York’s West Branch Ausable. To this day, that diminutive wet fly style is still one of my first choices for targeting trout in rough pocket water.

Griffith’s Gnat

Style: Dry Fly

The Skinny: To this day there are brook trout rising in Michigan’s Au Sable River in front of George Griffith’s cabin, where Trout Unlimited was founded in the 1950s. These fish can be unbelievably picky and there, as elsewhere, this midge pattern is often what fools them. Tied with barred grizzly hackle palmered over a peacock-herl body, the fly is best in sizes 18 to 22. I can’t see it on the water, but when I see a rise where I think the fly might be, I set the hook.

Royal Wulff

Style: Dry Fly

The Skinny: Despite the name, Lee Wulff did not invent this fly. It’s based on a version of the hair-wing Royal Coachman called the Quack Coachman. It took Wulff’s renown to make his adapted Royal Wulff a huge success. In sizes 6 to 20, the Royal Wulff is a trout-stream standard not because it imitates anything in particular but because the white wings make it easy for fishermen to see. Use the larger sizes when dry-fly fishing for browns after dark in the summer. You can see it. The fish can, too.

Adams

Style: Dry Fly

The Skinny: This Michigan pattern is the prototypical trout dry fly. Or it was until contemporary tiers got all wussy over things like hopped-up, semi­suspending emergers with foam-bubble hackle. Nuts to that. The old Adams with its looks-like-everything gray body and two-toned hackle still gets the job done. A great searching pattern, it also lends itself to scissor work. Trim away the top and bottom hackle to turn it into a spinner imitation. Trim more and you’ve got a nymph.

Elk Hair Caddis

Style: Dry Fly

The Skinny: Here’s the one dry to have if you’re having only one. This pattern was the brainchild of the great Montana guide Al Troth, who knew his trout flies. In sizes 10 to 20, and in tan, gray, or black, this high-floating dry often works best when twitched, then dead-drifted. That motion imitates an emerging caddis trying to get off the water, and slashing strikes are often the response. They aren’t just for trout, either. Smallmouths and panfish love them, too.

Zonker

Stlye: Streamer

The Skinny: This sounds like something from the menu of a Cockney restaurant, a side dish, maybe, with your bangers and mash. Such is the inelegant state of modern fly names. A formed lead-foil underbody acts as both weight and keel, keeping the fly running deep and upright. A strip of rabbit fur for a wing is what drives fish crazy. Use black, chartreuse, or white in sizes 3/0 down to 10 in fresh- and saltwater. It may be known as a trout fly, but an all-black Zonker in a larger size can be great for northern pike.

Black Ghost

Style: Streamer

The Skinny: Something about the black, yellow, and white color combination in this venerable streamer pattern seems to make trout—especially big browns—want to kill it. Created by Herb Welch, the Black Ghost is one of the last remnants of the streamer tradition developed by Maine fly-tiers in the years before and shortly after World War II. I often fish sizes ranging from a big 2/0 giant-killer on down to a size 6. I’ve had browns come to this fly that were so big I had to sit on the bank afterward to stop shaking. Really.

Woolly Bugger

Style: Streamer

The Skinny: Although best known as a streamer fly for trout, Buggers work well for bass and myriad other species in fresh- and saltwater. The basic Bugger is all black, in sizes 2/0 to as small as 12 for panfish. Historians see this pattern as nothing more than an ancient Woolly Worm wet fly with a wiggly marabou tail. Often it is tied with strands of flashy tinsel or with a heavy metal cone head for a jiglike action, but the original unweighted version is the most versatile.

Clouser Deep Minnow

Style: Streamer

The Skinny: This lead-eyed bucktail is the world’s best pattern because it looks and acts like a small jig when stripped through the water. Its prime color combination is chartreuse over white, and it works on everything from trout and bass to stripers and redfish, in sizes 2/0 down to 10. The best retrieve is fast. It’s also the only pattern name to have become a verb. To “Clouser” your rod means to hit and probably crack your tip with the weighted fly because of your sloppy casting.

From Field and Stream Magazine