After two solid days of rain the streams are a wash. I decided to take advantage of the break and put in some time tying. It's a bit overdue- I've been donating flies to the stream beds for about a month now and stocks are dwindling.
I tied a dozen size 16 pheasant tails, which is about as small as I can get with any kind of quality control. Also some Caddis nymphs with some cool new black tungsten beads. Also tried a new pattern- a sulphur emerger. I think this could be a real producer in the coming weeks- especially as a dropper in the film. There's only one way to find out, but it looks like a few more days before the flows get back to normal.
Dry fly fishing is really my first love, there's just nothing quite like seeing a fish take your fly on the surface. Especially when you've spotted an active riser and made just the right cast to get in their lane. And my favorite time to fish dries is almost here- the Sulphur hatch. We had a great one last year and this time I want to be prepared and try using my own flies. I tied a lot of nymphs and streamers over the winter, with varying success, but I haven't had much experience tying dries. I thought I'd start with the Light Cahill, a fly that I had a lot of success with last year. This one is far from perfect, but I think it might get the job done. Apparently there is much debate as to the "proper" way of tying a Light Cahill in the traditional Catskill style . That doesn't concern me much- if these flies catch fish that's all I care about. We'll see.
