Most of Montana's rivers are (still) too high and muddy to fish right now.
Two weeks ago (it's July 9 today) I hiked up into the Beartrap Canyon on the
Madison, with my buddy Steve. The water was high and muddy, but clear enough to
fish. Salmon Flies have not started yet, so the local fly shops said to dead drift crayfish and sculpins near the bank. We tried that without much success.
I eventually put on a big stonefly nymph with a hair hackle wet fly trailer.
I absolutely wacked'em. I'm not sure I ever remember a day when switching
flies made such a huge difference.
I only caught one fish all day long on the big stonefly nymph. But I think it
was an indispensable part of the deal. I fished without the stonefly and didn't
do so well. Perhaps the big fly got their attention, in the muddy water, and
then they couldn't resist the Pott fly trailer. Mabye fish have a limited
ability to refuse.
Maybe they were turning down the big fly, which used up their discretion
quotient for the next 2 seconds. The explanation doesn't matter. That two-fly
combo knocked'em dead when nothing else did.
What I'm now calling the Pott Sticker is my takeoff on the old Sandy Mite:
Franz Pott's most famous woven hair hackle fly. Weaving hackles is a bit too
involved for me. So I've developed a quicker and easier way to imitate those
wonderful wet flies. I don't use the classic dropper rig either, when fishing
more than one fly (which I almost always do). Instead I knot a trailing length
of mono-filament to the bend of the hook in front. Rigging that way is easier
to setup and less likely to tangle too.
https://localhost/mrb/Pages/Fly-Tying/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Nymphs/Pott-Stickers/index.html <b> Pott Stickers </b></a>
https://localhost/mrb/Pages/Fly-Tying/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Nymphs/Marshmallow-Nymph/Article.html <b> Marshmallows </b></a>