Common names assigned by fly anglers

Started by Mudwall Gatewood 3.0, September 30, 2020, 10:43:49 AM

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The Dude

Anyone who has ever asked me for knowledge has been fed misinformation.

#playerhater
I was born by the river in a little tent, And just like the river I've been running ever since, It's been a long, long time coming, But I know change is gonna come.

Phil

"1. Biggest rainbow I caught on the flats of Henry's Fork was on a black beetle during a mayfly hatch

2. No trout were caught on DePuy spring creek during a PMD hatch until I tied on one of Harry Steeves' monstrosities – a huge black UFO"

Spring creek/famous river hard-fished trout out west aren't less picky, they just get tired of counting the # of tails on imitations imo. I had the same experience on DePuy's spring creek the one time I fished there. Nobody was catching much on #18 PMD's in the middle of a hatch. I got tired of it and tied on a #8 foam beetle and started hammering fish. One of the guides left his client, walked over, and asked me what PMD pattern I was using, I held up my big dripping beetle, and he turned away with a disgusted look. Of course, I saw him opening and rooting through his chest pack when he got back to his client.

Freestone streams around here -- I tie on a yaller fly or a thunderhead. Tailwaters -- I suck at fishing anyway so it doesn't matter much.  :P

hcrum87hc

Honestly, most of my fishing is done on small/medium blue lines, typically of the native variety. 90% of my fish are caught on PA, Stimulators, and EHC with Pheasant Tails and Hares Ears droppers.  It's what I enjoy, and it works for me.

Of course, my knowledge of bug life has been hampered by this fishing style.  It certainly has hasn't helped my productivity on larger/deeper water.  Then again, I can always just hit some DH water and throw whatever looks good and get results.   :drum
Jeremiah 17:7

Onslow

Quote from: Mudwall Gatewood 3.0 on September 30, 2020, 10:43:49 AMI'll start.

If someone, a stranger, tells you there's been an amazing late evening hatch of Pale Evening Duns at your local hotspot, how would you interpret and prepare?  What questions would you ask this bearer of potential great news to determine if he or she was indeed knowledgeable?  Or do you really care; it is a hatch and that is all the info you need.


I cared about hatches when I was  15 years of age, reading books about flyfishing.  If someone were to provide with intel regarding a fly hatch, I would politely smile, and plan to avoid said hatch.

I value control.  Fly hatches minimize my control over my fishing experience. That is also why I generally fish alone.

 


Phil

"I value control.  Fly hatches minimize my control over my fishing experience. That is also why I generally fish alone."

That's a strange way to put it, but -- ummmm, --- OK, then....  :o

Mudwall Gatewood 3.0

Quote from: Onslow on October 01, 2020, 08:30:23 AM
Quote from: Mudwall Gatewood 3.0 on September 30, 2020, 10:43:49 AMI'll start.

If someone, a stranger, tells you there's been an amazing late evening hatch of Pale Evening Duns at your local hotspot, how would you interpret and prepare?  What questions would you ask this bearer of potential great news to determine if he or she was indeed knowledgeable?  Or do you really care; it is a hatch and that is all the info you need.


I cared about hatches when I was  15 years of age, reading books about flyfishing.  If someone were to provide with intel regarding a fly hatch, I would politely smile, and plan to avoid said hatch.

I value control.  Fly hatches minimize my control over my fishing experience. That is also why I generally fish alone.

 



I value control as well.  Just ask the Mrs. about my fear of flying, and my anxiety attack years ago when I discovered on a flight returning from Alaska that the pilot was female, which was one of my weakest moments.  The fear of lack of control can be a bitch!

For me, knowing things by their correct name, how they operated, and what made them tick (hatches, common names, scientific names, life cycles, natural functions, interaction with others in the environment, etc.) were important to me.  I wanted more control.

I am surprised you seek control, I believe, through experimentation and acquiring knowledge, for your bees, garden, etc., but not the hatches on your favorite waters.  Perhaps your only measure of success in fly angling is the number and size of the fish you catch. 

Ken, we have more in common than you would think.
"Enjoy every sandwich."  Warren Zevon

Yallerhammer

I just don't really understand the fascination with hatches. Everything you read and hear about fly fishing, the word "hatch" is in every sentence, seemingly, and people don't even want to fish when there isn't a hatch.

To be honest, in forty years or so of fly fishing, I have only encountered what I would call a "hatch" a handful of times, usually just before dark. I see all these hatch charts and flies to match them for the Smokies and my area. I just usually never see these hatches. I see a bug flying around here and there, but often as not, five bugs I see in an hour are five different kinds. If I waited until I saw a hatch before fishing, I'd probably only fish once  a year.

Over the years, I have figured out about a dozen and change flies that usually always work for me. Partly old traditional flies, ones I've come up with myself, and a few newer ones. I mostly use those. And often seem to catch more fish than the folks who worry about the hatch charts and pattern selections and keeping up with the latest hot fly.
Women want me, doughbellies fear me. - Little Debbie Prostaff

Mudwall Gatewood 3.0

Interesting discussion and some valid observations of insect emergence.   

I no longer give a damn about understanding or fishing "the hatch", but there was a time when the pursuit was very appealing to me.  In fact, the first trout caught on a dry when I was a kid, and having no clue of what just happened, steered me in a direction where I could make a living.

I'll bore you and may have told you before.  Opening day of trout season on Back Creek, I saw what I thought was a flying ant.  The stockers were taking them from the surface.  A greased Grey Hackle Peacock, purchased in pairs by my late father from the Marlinton WV Western Auto, was the answer.  Only later, perhaps in high school or maybe in early college, did I learn the flying ants were actually the last hatching individuals of something called a winter stonefly.  I was hooked, no pun intended.
 
While studying fish, in hopes of one day managing a trout hatchery (my boyhood dream), I eventually migrated to an overwhelming fascination in aquatic invertebrates.  My first college grade of an A was in Aquatic Entomology, and instilled a confidence in this hill hayseed, with one leg shorter than the other.  I never looked back, and the professor of that aquatic ent course later hired me.  We worked together for over 30 years and never had a misunderstanding.  I still credit his class and what he observed in me, that I could not see myself, for my fate.  I've told him and others that if I had not taken that class under his tutelage, likely I would have ended back in mountains of Bath, married to a gal named Bertha, had a passel of kids, and living in a trailer.  I am one lucky sons-a-bitch!

Chasing hatches or not, fishing is a hoot.
 
Now someone tell me how to hit a damned fairway wood from the short stuff with consistency.
"Enjoy every sandwich."  Warren Zevon

Yallerhammer

Quote from: Mudwall Gatewood 3.0 on October 01, 2020, 13:14:38 PMInteresting discussion and some valid observations of insect emergence.   

I no longer give a damn about understanding or fishing "the hatch", but there was a time when the pursuit was very appealing to me.  In fact, the first trout caught on a dry when I was a kid, and having no clue of what just happened, steered me in a direction where I could make a living.

I'll bore you and may have told you before.  Opening day of trout season on Back Creek, I saw what I thought was a flying ant.  The stockers were taking them from the surface.  A greased Grey Hackle Peacock, purchased in pairs by my late father from the Marlinton WV Western Auto, was the answer.  Only later, perhaps in high school or maybe in early college, did I learn the flying ants were actually the last hatching individuals of something called a winter stonefly.  I was hooked, no pun intended.
 
While studying fish, in hopes of one day managing a trout hatchery (my boyhood dream), I eventually migrated to an overwhelming fascination in aquatic invertebrates.  My first college grade of an A was in Aquatic Entomology, and instilled a confidence in this hill hayseed, with one leg shorter than the other.  I never looked back, and the professor of that aquatic ent course later hired me.  We worked together for over 30 years and never had a misunderstanding.  I still credit his class and what he observed in me, that I could not see myself, for my fate.  I've told him and others that if I had not taken that class under his tutelage, likely I would have ended back in mountains of Bath, married to a gal named Bertha, had a passel of kids, and living in a trailer.  I am one lucky sons-a-bitch!

Chasing hatches or not, fishing is a hoot.
 
Now someone tell me how to hit a damned fairway wood from the short stuff with consistency.

I find entomology interesting and worthwhile in itself, but I feel that trout probably don't give a fuck what the Linnaean binomial of a bug is that they think looks tasty, any more than I care what breed of cow my ribeye came from.
Women want me, doughbellies fear me. - Little Debbie Prostaff

Mudwall Gatewood 3.0

Quote from: Yallerhammer on October 01, 2020, 17:19:49 PMI find entomology interesting and worthwhile in itself, but I feel that trout probably don't give a fuck what the Linnaean binomial of a bug is that they think looks tasty, any more than I care what breed of cow my ribeye came from.

"Probably"?  In the spirit of anthropomorphizing I am sure the trout could care less.

Even if you don't care where your ribeye comes from, Galloway beef is the best tasting.
"Enjoy every sandwich."  Warren Zevon

Big J

Quote from: Mudwall Gatewood 3.0 on October 01, 2020, 20:47:47 PM
Quote from: Yallerhammer on October 01, 2020, 17:19:49 PMI find entomology interesting and worthwhile in itself, but I feel that trout probably don't give a fuck what the Linnaean binomial of a bug is that they think looks tasty, any more than I care what breed of cow my ribeye came from.

"Probably"?  In the spirit of anthropomorphizing I am sure the trout could care less.

Even if you don't care where your ribeye comes from, Galloway beef is the best tasting.

Says someone who has obviously never had Kobe Beef!

Mudwall Gatewood 3.0

Quote from: Big J on October 02, 2020, 07:35:29 AMSays someone who has obviously never had Kobe Beef!

You've been had!!!

"If you are not at one of the eight certified restaurants, simply assume any Kobe beef claim is a lie,....."

https://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/trends-news/article/kobe-wagyu-steak-myths
"Enjoy every sandwich."  Warren Zevon

Big J

Quote from: Mudwall Gatewood 3.0 on October 02, 2020, 08:41:48 AM
Quote from: Big J on October 02, 2020, 07:35:29 AMSays someone who has obviously never had Kobe Beef!

You've been had!!!

"If you are not at one of the eight certified restaurants, simply assume any Kobe beef claim is a lie,....."

https://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/trends-news/article/kobe-wagyu-steak-myths

That article is from 2016. And way too Pretentious for a backwoods hays.....oh yes, you golf now. 

American Kobe Beef has made great strides since then and there is a good head going here in the States.  Japanese are pricks when it comes to their food and prices, so any chance of having decent supply of Wagyu is going to come from the American Kobe Beef taking off.  Marbling on the American Kobe might not be Japanese A5 meat, but it certainly is better than most USDA Prime grade meat.

Mudwall Gatewood 3.0

Quote from: Big J on October 02, 2020, 09:19:54 AMThat article is from 2016. And way too Pretentious for a backwoods hays.....oh yes, you golf now. 


I bet others on this forum play golf but are so consumed with image they would never admit it.  Screw image --- real, internet persona, or imagined.

Now back to common names.

Would anyone like to discuss how screwed up BWO is as a common name?
"Enjoy every sandwich."  Warren Zevon

Aka

I took the fam to Tasmania this past March. My dad & I spent several weeks working out an itinerary beforehand with plans to tour the island in his sailboat & new to him used RV. We camped most places, the first of which was the central highlands where a number of hydro projects were put in decades ago and then stocked with trout. The now wild self reproducing populations produce some great fish. The first night camping on the shore of a small lake I saw a bunch of mayflies and decided to rig up and wade in. Trout the size of salmon were breaking the surface and eating flies. I tried every fly in my box but couldn't get an eat and ended up watching the biggest trout I have ever seen rise within casting distance with no hope of catching one. I had booked a guide for the next day and on the drive to the lake he planned for us to fish I asked him what I had witnessed the night before. He asked a couple of questions, how did they rise, how much of their body came out of the water etc. then told me not to feel bad, I watched a damselfly hatch and there is no way to imitate it with a fly rod. When we got to the lake and started rigging up I was asking about what flies he planned to use and he said, a brown dun. What brown dun I asked, a size 12 he said with no more specifics. That is how the rest of the day went. Brown dun, grey dun, olive dun etc. I realized they're not interested in the specific species the hatch is, if there is one, they just mimic color and size. I would have thought less of him if I hadn't caught some decent fish, but since I did I'm glad he knew his brown duns.

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