What Can Brown Do For You?

As alluded to in a previous post, there's a parallel between many of my southeastern Oregon successful fishing stories and parcel carrier UPS. While I, as most of you, carry a plethora of flies afield (or is that a-water?), there is a small handful of patterns which seem to find their way consistently to the end of my tippet. I'm sure that a good percentage of still waters in this area give up trout to the "simple six": Prince Nymph, Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail Nymph, Chromies, Wooly Worms and Wooly Buggers. It's that final pattern, the one we often tie in the first lesson of fly tying classes, which my compadres are quick to chastise me about as the "only" fly I fish. I will swear on a stack of Ernest Schwiebert volumes that this is simply not true. However, I would be committing perjury if I said a very high percentage of my fish are not caught on said pattern...and in brown. And yes, it's often the first fly I tie on. And with success, it's often the fly which is still stuck in the hook keeper at day's end.  It just works. In size 6. With 12 wraps of 0.025" lead, positioned in the front third of the shank. And copper Krystal Flash. That's three strands on each side of the marabou tail. By the way, that's a tail which is a couple of hook eye lengths shorter than the length of the hook shank.  And that hackle - not the long, webby stuff. Use what you'd use on a #10 Wooly Worm.  And since we are talking SE Oregon reservoirs, remember that for most the year it's a dry line, 3X leader, and a 10 second sink before retrieval of the leech imposter, unless the wind is blowing, than go ahead and use that spool with the intermediate line.

Chickahominy is full. Possibly as full as I've seen it in 30+ years. Stories of a few fish in the 10-12" range taken on chironomid patterns are circulating the area. Again, we just don't know of the population in the reservoir. 

Beulah is 95% full. 

The Blitzen is running at 157 cfs.

Krumbo provided a humbling moment this past weekend. While the water level and quality is great, the fishing wasn't quite that way. There were three boats/'toons on the water, several bankies soaking bait, and only a couple fish noted to the net, with a couple others lost. I cannot account for any of the said fish, even though a previous trip had my rod bent often, and with two of us taking 9 of 10 fish on the brown pattern.  But not this time. Not a strike.  My fishing partner, however, touched three fish, landing one. (She even tried THE pattern, to no avail.)  But I know, next trip out, BROWN will do it for me.