Gerald Hickman's Blog - Posts Tagged "wet-trout-flies"
Ready for Spring?
Winter is the time to get some trout gear ready for spring or late winter fishing. I have had fun of late trying to tie some new patterns and here are some thoughts for anyone new to fly fishing and tying. I have been making my own trout flies since I was in Junior high, in Clarkston, WA. This is good fishing country, you might say the Snake River Ran Through It. Many of my group got our start fishing the River for steelhead and bass and Asotin Creek for trout.
I think anyone would enjoy learning to tie up some flies as a craft if not to use them for fishing.
But it is not my aim to start teaching you how to tie flies. On the internet you can type in any trout fly by name and it will give you several webpages that will show better than I can describe how to tie any flies or make your own fishing gear. I wish I had had the net to help me learn because most of my skills were taken and learned from books, and outdoor magazines.
If you are a fly fisher, you can start this winter by taking out your fly boxes and removing any rusty hooks, flies that are overly well used and replace the ones that worked well last year for new home tied flies or order replacements from usual sources. It is always in the best interest of the angler to visit your local fly shop and buy some needed items and keep up on the local fishing scene.
I just went through my gear about a hundred times this last winter and among flies to be replaced, there is a double taper fly line that has seen better days. In this case I will spool the new line on the same reel and use the backing on the reel for another season or two.
Now, in early February I have only to wait for the ice to go out on the local winter lakes and get my fly fishing gear in action. And in my local area of Eastern Washington, the low land lakes that open on March first each year will be ready to fish. I have never figured out how to fly cast for ice fishing and though I have gone ice fishing in Oklahoma and Washington I have never been a big fan of thin ice.
It is the 6th of March and the ice is still not “out” or melted yet. I bet those trout are getting hungry under the ice.
But let’s return to the fishing part, if you don’t tie trout flies and don’t wish to start, then I have some suggestions for you. You can purchase new flies at your local fly shop and mine is Silver Bow Fly Shop in Spokane, Washington. I have had good service buying gear from Red’s Fly Shop near Ellensberg, Washington on the Yakima River and Worley Bugger Fly Shop in Ellensberg right at the end of the I-90 off ramp for town. The Spokane and Yakima Rivers are both blue ribbon trout waters as designated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Early in the spring you want to buy wet flies like: Soft Hackles, Stone fly nymphs, smaller wet flies for imitating mayfly nymphs, leech and Wooly Worm patterns. All these types of wet flies are available from orvis.com, or Big Y fly company at info@fbigflyco.com or flyshack.com, because all have given me good service and help when asked. The last two online fly shops are large volume dealers and will give you especially good prices for their flies and other products. In May and June you may find insects hatching and you can invest in some dry flies when the trout are looking up (watching for hatching critters on the surface). Please look for my next book which will be about how to fish the wet fly for trout.
I think anyone would enjoy learning to tie up some flies as a craft if not to use them for fishing.
But it is not my aim to start teaching you how to tie flies. On the internet you can type in any trout fly by name and it will give you several webpages that will show better than I can describe how to tie any flies or make your own fishing gear. I wish I had had the net to help me learn because most of my skills were taken and learned from books, and outdoor magazines.
If you are a fly fisher, you can start this winter by taking out your fly boxes and removing any rusty hooks, flies that are overly well used and replace the ones that worked well last year for new home tied flies or order replacements from usual sources. It is always in the best interest of the angler to visit your local fly shop and buy some needed items and keep up on the local fishing scene.
I just went through my gear about a hundred times this last winter and among flies to be replaced, there is a double taper fly line that has seen better days. In this case I will spool the new line on the same reel and use the backing on the reel for another season or two.
Now, in early February I have only to wait for the ice to go out on the local winter lakes and get my fly fishing gear in action. And in my local area of Eastern Washington, the low land lakes that open on March first each year will be ready to fish. I have never figured out how to fly cast for ice fishing and though I have gone ice fishing in Oklahoma and Washington I have never been a big fan of thin ice.
It is the 6th of March and the ice is still not “out” or melted yet. I bet those trout are getting hungry under the ice.
But let’s return to the fishing part, if you don’t tie trout flies and don’t wish to start, then I have some suggestions for you. You can purchase new flies at your local fly shop and mine is Silver Bow Fly Shop in Spokane, Washington. I have had good service buying gear from Red’s Fly Shop near Ellensberg, Washington on the Yakima River and Worley Bugger Fly Shop in Ellensberg right at the end of the I-90 off ramp for town. The Spokane and Yakima Rivers are both blue ribbon trout waters as designated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Early in the spring you want to buy wet flies like: Soft Hackles, Stone fly nymphs, smaller wet flies for imitating mayfly nymphs, leech and Wooly Worm patterns. All these types of wet flies are available from orvis.com, or Big Y fly company at info@fbigflyco.com or flyshack.com, because all have given me good service and help when asked. The last two online fly shops are large volume dealers and will give you especially good prices for their flies and other products. In May and June you may find insects hatching and you can invest in some dry flies when the trout are looking up (watching for hatching critters on the surface). Please look for my next book which will be about how to fish the wet fly for trout.
