On Saturday, March 28th, Troutbitten will host a live podcast at New Trail Brewing Company in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Join us for good times and an important conversation. With your ticket purchase, your first drink is on the house, and we have a sticker for you. Also, part of the proceeds benefit Clearwater Conservancy. Here are the details . . .
The down wing dry fly style is a perfect match for one of the most ubiquitous insects found in trout rivers across the planet: caddis. The down wing platform is also a first choice for matching many terrestrials, like moths and hoppers, and it finds it’s way to stonefly patterns as well.
But for this discussion, we cover the down wing and its progression into fly boxes, by looking at three standouts: the Elk Hair Caddis, the X-Caddis and the CDC & Elk. Because the arrival of each of these patterns brought forth major innovations to the world of dry flies. All three of these are down wings, but they are very different players on the water.
Lessons like these linger, and they have an impact. His was a message not to fear the winter, but to respect it, to venture forth but to prepare for the unexpected. Seek adventure, with provision as your companion.
Most of Dad’s lessons were ingrained that way. And, years later, when fishing became a life for me, I saw no reason why snowy roads or ice in the rod guides should keep me from fishing . . .
With its simple form of wing, body and tail, the Comparadun is another template for the dry fly angle — another perfectly adaptable platform.
When the Comparadun hit the scene in the 1970’s, it was a significant departure from the norm. Anglers recognized this, but more importantly, the trout recognized this. The Comparadun became a hatch matcher. It became the closer, because the Comparadun specialized in fooling selective trout, with perhaps the most realistic profile of a mayfly out there.
The unique design of the Comparadun caught on quickly, because, once again, it solved problems on the water. And it’s been fooling wise River trout ever since.
Brandon barely cut the engine before I jumped out of the truck and into my waders, I strung up lines and laces in no time.
“I’m gonna head upstream past the second flat, into that woodsy section away from the road. When I pick off a few fish up there, I might circle back around to the lower end,” I said to Brandon.
“K. Those are big plans.” he replied flatly.
Brandon spoke again, while staring at the water. “Dom, when fishing for stockies, sometimes it does not pay to be ambitious . . .”
The parachute platform is our favorite style of dry fly and the favorite of many other anglers, because of its utility. Because it form is functional. Because it casts well, lands upright and keeps floating, even though heavy water. It fools picky trout and looks enough like an emerger and a spinner that you might get away with one fly, all the way through cycle. It’s a great dry-dropper fly, it’s easily adaptable. And perhaps its best quality . . . you can see the parachute post.
And from somewhere subconscious, a part of me made the choice . . .
“I’m gonna stay on till dark,” I told Smith. “I tied on a dry-dropper, and I’ll cover the edges.”
I watched Smith walk toward home, toward the rest of life, into the lights, into the warmth, into the friendships. I stayed with the river and remained alone — pensive in the rain, resolute in the wind.
Season 18 is a unique look at dry fly styles, through the concept of platforms. By taking a fly shape, a form or a set of materials, we can adapt the elements like color, wing style, tailing material or hackle length to meet the moment. Within the fly platform, we vary its properties to the river conditions or to a specific hatch.
In this episode, we look at the specifics for hook, tail, body, wing and hackle for our first platform in this Skills Series — the Upright Hackle.