Feathers and Fur
First published in Prairie Times, April 2006
Although an amateur fisherman, I have considered myself rather knowledgeable in the finer points of fishing. After moving to Eastern Colorado, my pride in my fishing ability was completely obliterated when introduced to a different kind of fishing called fly fishing. This happened several years ago, through the help of my sadistic coworkers. To get my bait-fishing mind up to speed, many hours were spent at the whiteboard in our office educating me concerning the intricacies of the required equipment. With their assistance I was able to identify the difference between a tapered leader and tippet material. The mental exercises that I endured finally allowed me to resolved the fact that a size 12 fly is much larger than a size 20 fly while a 2 weight rod is much smaller than a 7 weight rod. Once the confusion of the equipment was settled, I attempted to grasp the nature of the flies that were used. I have now attained a level that I can fake my way through a conversation with a reasonably seasoned fly fishing veteran. I even know what a bead-headed gold-ribbed hair's ear nymph is and have successfully caught fish with it. So I decided that I graduated to the state of fly tying.
If you didn't know this, you might be enlightened to know that the flies that fly fisherman use for fishing actually imitate aquatic insects in different stages of their lives. They are not just hooks with fur and feathers, they truly resemble bugs that some fish enjoy eating. I was always quite impressed listening to my friends describe how they tied their fly to look like a certain nymph as it was emerging (some day I might truly understand what that means). They would go into great detail as they discussed their choice of thread and the feathers and tying technique. I was dumbfounded by the description of the specific characteristics of the fly that allowed it to behave in such a way as to be irresistible to the fish. After being duly impressed and slightly intimidated I asked for and received a beginners fly tying kit as a birthday gift.
Anxious to prove my abilities as an artist I attempted to tie one of the more complicated looking flies. You have probably seen flies that look like this on the cover of fishing magazines or displayed in a glass case at the local fly fishing store. If you haven't seen one, it has wings, legs, antennae, and a tail, not to mention the striped body. In short, it looks like a real fly. So I grabbed a bright and shiny gold bait hook from my tackle box and fastened it to the vise. I then located a couple of feathers that I thought might serve as a wings. After carefully placing the feathers on the hook, I began to wrap thread around them to fasten them to the hook. The feathers were fastened tight after a few dozen wraps of thread. Unfortunately, so was my index finger and by loosening the thread to free my finger, the feathers fell to the floor. I attempted to attach the feathers using slight variations of the previously mentioned technique and attained more or less the same results. It became obvious that I should attempt something at a more elementary skill level.
Trying to identify an simple fly to tie, I remembered watching a friend craft a fly called a Wooly Bugger. All that the fly required was a tail, some form of a body, and something that provided the appearance of legs. It certainly appeared quite simple and actually looked like something that you might find in the water. Not remembering the materials that were used, I dug through my collection of feathers and fur and found a few items that might work. I located a few strands of fur and tied them to my hook for a tail. I wrapped some dubbing around the hook to make it look like it had a body. Finally, I wound a long thin feather around the body to give it the appearance of having legs. After spending an hour or so, I completed the three previously mentioned steps, sat back, and admired the results. I could recall how the experts could identify the particular creature that their fly resembled. Having successfully completed my first fly, I tried to do the same. I knew that I could rule out anything that the woolly bugger was supposed to mimic as it certainly did not look like the woolly bugger that I had attempted to model. It really didn't look like any type of creature that I ever found in the water, unless you can count the time the wind blew a wad of lint that I accidentally released from my pocket. The best that I could come up with is that it resembled a hook with fur and feathers.
Even if the resemblance of the fly did not coincide with any earthly creature that I was aware of, I wanted the opinion of the fish at a nearby pond. On my first opportunity at the pond, while no one was looking, I attached the fly to the end of my line, and gave it a try. After the first half an hour of use, it appeared as if the fish were not hungry for feathers and fur, or even pocket lint. I couldn't claim that there were no fish in the lake, because I could see them all over the place. They even looked at that strange looking fly and quickly moved on. But things changed as the wind started to blow and the water became slightly murky. Under these conditions the visual capabilities of the fish were significantly hampered and as surprising as it might sound, I caught a fish. Not only did I catch one but I caught and released four rainbow trout before I called it a day. So don't become too impressed when a fly tier describes the intricate details of an elk-hair caddis. Just keep in mind that there are fish that can be caught on fly that no more resembles a bug than does a hook with feathers and fur.