| This is my version of the Marion Sculpin. It's so similar
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| to the Marion you could argue it doesn't deserve its own
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| name. But if I called it a Marion somebody would flame me
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| for getting the pattern wrong. Hence the name. This is a
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| good fly. I've caught some of my best brown trout on this fly.
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|
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| I go out of my way to choose and use extra-large olive-dyed
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| grizzly saddles with thick fuzzy marabou at the
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| base of the hackle. I use red thread so I get a dot of red color at the head of the
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| fly and I add a few wisps of crystal flash as pectoral fins, just prior
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| to winding the hackle. I tie them on stainless steel bonefish
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| hooks or on medium-length grasshopper fly hooks. I don't like
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| extra-long-shanked hooks--for this fly or any other.
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| Years ago, when I was finishing my BS in Computer Science at
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| Montana State, at the age of 45, I fished with my department head,
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| Denbigh Starkey, several times. Denbigh is a legendary
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| bridge player, mathematician and 3D graphics programmer.
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| Denigh's a decent fisherman too, but he can't row a driftboat
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| to save his life. In fact he nearly drowned us both on the
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| lower Big Hole once. So I did most of the rowing.
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| I'd only ask Denbigh to row for short periods when I new the river would be easy, and when
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| I new a sure-thing spot was coming right up.
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|
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| I'd have Denbigh take over the oars just in time to false cast
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| once or twice, toss a Pig Sticker into the right spot
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| and hook a fish. Then I'd take the oars again. Denbigh still thinks I can catch a fish anytime I
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| want. I never did tell him I only let him row past the best
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| spots on the river.
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Pig Sticker 1
Pig Sticker 2