Thing One and Thing Two

Right to Left - The Original, The Original Variation 1 AKA Thing One, The Original Variation 2 AKA Thing Two

I have long professed my love for Dan Delekta's Double Screamer. Specifically, the black, olive and silver variation, dubbed The Original. When I was introduced to streamer fishing, it was The Original that produced both quality and quantity. Since taking up the time suck that is tying flies, I've stuck to tying patterns that I fish. My proven patterns. As such, The Original was my first streamer tie. Suck eggs, wooly bugger. It's all about The OG. During a recent tying session with a fellow Croat, I decided to get fancy and tie some variations. Check it.

toxic

A foggy morning on the Bitterroot turned into a tough day of fishing. No epic streamer fishing was to be had. Two streamer takes all day. A 17-18" brown was angry and/or hungry enough to take an original and a 20" rainbow wanted to become internet famous until it threw the streamer's hook. When 2:30 rolled around the BWOs started hatching and some fish were caught up top. Check it out in HD.

music: yael naim "toxic"

Also, this is the 100th post on YGF. Fitting that it is a video.

UPDATE: It's actually my 87th post. Apparently, I have 13 drafts laying around.

toxic from Yukon Goes Fishing on Vimeo.

All talk, some fish

My friends Bucko, Laura, and I went to the Missouri River this weekend. The forecast for Saturday was supposed to be in the low 50s, partly cloudy/party sunny/cloudy with a 20% chance of precipitation. Great fishing weather. With everybody and their mother fishing the Bitterroot's skwala stonefly hatch, we had high hopes for some superb surface action and big Mo trout on streamers.

When we checked in with SOL and Scumliner at Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig, they told us that the nymphing had been slower than usual and most people seemed to be having success swinging streamers. The surface action was patchy, but present. They also told us that it seemed like all of the Mo's rainbows had left the river and began to spawn, as evidenced by the majority of people's quarry being brown trout. By the way, if you ever go to the Missouri, I highly recommend Headhunters Fly Shop.

The weather seemed to be cooperating and an epic day of fishing was about to be had. I started out the day with a 14 inch brown trout - a small Missouri trout to say the least. I bumped my way into a pod of feeding browns and was able to swing the Original to them and elicited several strikes. Finally, I was able to wrangle a 19" brown to my net. Noon arrived and while it was snowing and the temperature had stayed in the 30s, the day was off to a solid start. I was catching fish.

Somewhere between noon and 3:00 pm, the productive fishing fell apart. The temperature never rose into the 50s. It seemed to stay in the low to mid 40s. There was more wind than expected and clouds dominated the sky. We left our original stretch of water and headed upstream only to find a gentleman in a boat fishing to rising fish. However, this guy was no more than a rod's length from the boat launch at the Silver Bridge. A frustrating sight to say the least. As a wade fisherman, it is more than annoying to see someone fishing "wader's water" in a boat. You have the advantage of the boat, use it and let those of us on foot to cover the water closer to the put-ins. We left the Silver Bridge and went upstream to Holter Dam. Fished below the dam for 15 or 20 minutes, then returned to the Silver Bridge, only to find the same guy in the same boat about 20 yards downstream from the put-in. Did I mention this guy missed three or four fish on the surface then at least two while nymphing?

At the end of the day, I brought three fish to hand. Bucko managed a tiny rainbow and Laura was skunked. Not the epic day we had hoped for.

I am trying something a little bit different with this video. Since, the fishing was slower than we hoped, I decided to include some of the conversations that were had on the way up to the Mo. Unfortunately, the microphone in the Flip doesn't capture sound that well, so my voice is the clearest. Bucko's comes and goes and Laura's is nearly non-existent. Topics included: the vaunted South-Weastern Conference (spelling intended), the Birthday Donut from The Donut Hole of Helena, the Belt Rock Supergroup, mica-rich environments, bleeping out swear words, the Chappelle Show, streamers, sarcastic encouragement, and heckling of the boat ramp fishing man in a boat. Topics not caught on camera: my domination over my fellow anglers and options for travel within Helena (did you know that it doesn't matter which direction you turn in Helena, you will end up at your intended destination. Left or Right? It doesn't matter.)

If you like your YGF without three idiots talking, I have provided the no-talking cut (see V2). If you want to venture into the black hole that is our conversations, check out the V1 cut. Let me know which one you prefer. I don't think I will do another video like this, with talking throughout, but I want to include some in the future.

secrets from my streamer box

I don't tie flies...yet. I have a thesis to write. I am intrigued by the act of tying flies. But, if I am to be honest, I am little worried about my fine motor skills. While, my Montessori education has maximized my fine motor skills, I think the apex of said skills is quite low (see ability to fold napkins for thanksgiving celebrations). I started fly fishing in April of 2009. Over the past year and a half(ish), I have learned to appreciate and enjoy the delicate art of presenting tiny dry flies to rising trout, the systematic approach of nymphing, and slapping large hoppers or stones next to the bank. But, I have fallen for streamer fishing. And I have fallen hard. I now prefer to throw gobs of weighted rabbit fur at browns, bows, cutties, and bulls. I particularly like double hooked articulated streamers. The aggression and size of the fish that a streamer attracts, attracts me to streamer fishing. It also attracts Alex at 40 Rivers to Freedom to streamer fishing. So in the spirit of the holiday season, I have decided to share some of the patterns that have had great success and some of the patterns that have not. Note: All of these patterns were skillfully purchased at fly shops.

Stars of the Great Bugger Barn of Glory (or the GBBG)

Officially, the three streamers seen above are known as double screamers. My friend Bucko and I have devised our own names for each color variation. We refer to the pattern itself as "it". "it" is an articulated, approximately five-inch long conehead streamer available in a wide variety of colors.

The Original - black, olive, and silver

The Original killed the browns during the pre-pre-spawn period of a wide variety of in western and southwestern montana. This streamer has dark and flashy elements. I surmise these elements make it irresistible to large brown trout. I lost one of these in a card game. Quite possibly, the saddest night of my life.

The Modified - red, yellow, rainbowy gold

The Modified enjoyed success on the Big Hole during the brown trout pre-spawn period. At one point, when fishing it in some backwater, I had three 16 to 19 inch browns following it. The 17 incher won.

The Rasta - white, red, yellow, green, and seasonally shiny tinsel

Someone in the fly shop where this fly was purchased, referred to it as The Traffic Light (red, yellow, green). We dubbed it The Rasta. I think Jimmy Cliff or Marley was playing on the way to Ennis. This color scheme saw great success on the Madison in November (see yukon goes to the madison). It was only recently discovered by myself and has not been used during any other period of time.

Flies that havent made it out of the GBBG

officially known as the Clarke's Rat - known personally as the 5-weight destroyer

Based on the amount of rabbit fur involved with this fly, I should love it. I secretly do. But, it shattered my 5 weight redington red2fly rod on the first cast. Not a clean break either. The rod suffered vertical stress fractures immediately above the cork handle around the entire circumference of the rod. Admittedly, I shouldn't have been trying to throw this massive fly with a five-weight. Probably a good-to-great fly for large trout, I suspect the bulls would love it, but it has not been used since it shattered my rod.

Globs of Green

Never used it. Never will. Don't know why I bought it.

Kind of Brown

Like the great Miles Davis album, except brown, not sonically pleasing, and terrible at catching trout. I used it once on a late August morning. This late August morning turned into the day that the Original became the Original. This fly hasn't been used since.

Articulated Rubber Legs of Crap

As I have expressed, I am enthralled with articulated streamers. Not this one. This has to be fished with sinking tip or a full sinking line. I like a streamer that I can fish on both floating and sinking line. This is not one of them. It stays high in the water column, often breaking the surface. Like the rest of the streamers of doom, I haven't given it much of a chance.

Excluded from the list of greatness are Kelly Galloup's famous streamers like the sex dungeon, the boogie man, the heifer groomer, and the articulated butt monkey. This is not a function of the gobs of animal fur not working. I just haven't had a chance to purchase any. Missoula's local shops do not carry his streamers and his shop was closed when I went down to the Madison in November. One of these days....one of these days.

What about your streamer box? What are your go to patterns? What do you regret buying or tying?