Flies and the Materials of Which They Are Made

Oh the mysteries of fly fishing. One can read thousands of articles (no exaggeration here) about matching the hatch. Theories abound about why fish strike one fly and not another of the same pattern. Should the fly have been a size 18 or a 28? With all that concern about matching a hatch some guy fishing next to me can be constantly hooking up only to find that he is using a Renegade or a Royal Wolf or a Prince Nymph. Now I ask, "What is that Royal Wolf matching?" Joke is on us fly fishermen. Some of the best flies don't match anything that fish regularly dine upon. Oh, one other thing. One can read article after article about how fly fishing is a stress reliever. If one wants to relieve stress he needs to dig up a canful of worms, cut a fine willow branch, tie on some line, attach a bobber and a hook, sit back with a fine book on a warm, slightly breezy day. Que sera, sera.

In the mid-seventies I started backpacking for a full week once a year with a friend, Otto Rast. A few years later we added Delbert Kuntz and some years a relative or two would tag along. I met Otto while bowling in the Nisei Night Owl League. Later he became the State Tournament Director of the Idaho State Bowling Association. At the same time I was on the State Board of Directors representing the Western Idaho District. On long car rides across the state we became aware of our mutual love for fishing mountain lakes. In twenty of the next twenty-one years we spent one of his two valuable weeks of annual vacation time packing deep into the Idaho mountains and definitely off the beaten trail. And did we ever catch fish! Over the years I have managed to walk into over 700 mountain lakes. Otto has probably visited over 800 lakes. We owe our wives a big thank you for putting up with our passion. Otto started off as a worm fisherman, but was concerned about hooking fish deep because some of the fish needed to be released. I had learned at Priest Lake from an Idaho Fish and Game fisheries specialist to use a spin casting reel and rod and a clear plastic bubble in which water can be trapped. A leader of about seven to nine feet is added after the bubble and a fly attached. The fly can be made barbless and I find a barbless hook lands as many fish as a barbed hook if the fish is played properly. Fish do not swallow flies, but on the very rarest of occaision, so we could catch 50 to a 100 fish in a day, keeping only a few for our dinner.
I started to tie a fly pictured above. I used seal fur mixed with some muskrat or beaver. This fly can be fished dry, but works best just under the surface of the water while being retrieved in quick, long jerks. The theory about quick, long jerks is that the fish does not get a good look and has to make a quick decision to strike or the opportunity is lost. So matching the hatch is not so important--in theory at least. We also used a black or dark olive green Woolly Bugger. These two patterns will keep a mountain lake fisher in all the fish he can hope to catch. The fly I tied with seal fur was as they say a real killer. Except we only killed enough to eat. And so for years we had great success and then in steps the Federal Government and bans my fly. Really!----from the NOAA.gov website

"The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) [pdf] was enacted on October 21, 1972. All marine mammals are protected under the MMPA. The MMPA prohibits, with certain exceptions, the "take" of marine mammals in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens on the high seas, and the importation of marine mammals and marine mammal products into the U.S."

So now a U.S. citizen can only legally possess a fly tied of seal fur if the seal fur was in his or her possession prior to 1972. An Australian, a Canadien, or New Zealander can continue to fish with seal-fur-tied flies for trout while laughing at their American counterparts' attempts to duplicate their succees.

Seal fur was regularly sold in fly fishing shops throughout the Seventies as stock on hand was sold out. Not being able to obtain seal fur I have tried numerous substitutes. There is SLF and STS Trlobal Dub designed to be used in lieu of the real thing. The texture is different and the ease of spinning the dubbing material is definitely easier with these substitutes. But, as the owner of the West Wind Fly Shop in Calgary says, "All the substitutes lack the translucency of the real seal fur and therefore cannot really substitute for seal fur." He is right. Forget theorizing, he is right.

Some how or another I came into possession of several packets of the real thing. I cannot remember for the life of me how this happened. Dang Al! So I am back to tying the Betts Mountain Special (BMS). I gave one of the flies to Mary, the treasurer of the Indianhead Fly Fishers organization of which I am now the president. We had hiked into a mountain lake (in a snow storm). She used the fly and had a few bites. I had one. Fishing for cutthroats at 7500 in a snowstorm is probably not conducive to catching fish. She then used the same fly on her next four fishing trips and constantly caught fish until she wore the fly out. Her husband tried to copy the pattern without the same success. He does not have seal fur. I have tied some more for her and will give them to her when I next see her.

So what does this fly match? Beats me. Kind of like the Royal Wolf, but this fly is always my go to fly while fishing anywhere, especially mountain lakes.

Got to go work on the basement wall where we had the plumbing done.
Until later,
Papa Coyote