LaFontaine's Theory of Color Attraction

While the winter time on the Missouri River still offers solid fishing, I find myself taking more time during these shorter days to read about, think about, and participate in tying flies. I don’t know if it’s cabin fever, but at this time of year, I find myself drawn down into the mysterious undercurrent of the sport and begin to contemplate questions that, dare I say, verge on the theoretical. For instance, why have flies like the Royal Coachman or its more buoyant cousin the Royal Wulff been responsible for so many fish over the decades? These flies don’t imitate any particular hatch or insect. Lee Wulff, the originator of the Royal Wulff, described his invention simply as “strawberry shortcake.” Recently I’ve been rereading what I believe is the best explanation to the effectiveness of this, and many other, attractor flies.

The answer lies in The Dry Fly: New Angles by Gary LaFontaine. In this excellent book, he proposes a Theory of Color Attraction based on two suppositions.

“First, the ‘color’ of the surrounding light affects the intensity of a fly’s color. And second, flies with ‘intense colors’ attract trout (when trout are in the mood to be attracted).”

Let’s take a minute to think about these two statements a little more. We’ve all noticed that the “color” of the surrounding light changes. For instance, at sunrise or sunset, the light takes on an orange or reddish color. When fishing around bankside vegetation, the light takes on a greenish color. When fishing on overcast days, the light takes on a grayish color. Fly patterns that incorporate the same color as the surrounding light will absorb more light and therefore be more intensely colored in the eyes of the fish.

Now, let’s get back to the Royal Coachman/Wulff. This fly has a body or iridescent green peacock herl and a hot spot of red floss in it’s middle. As we all learned in elementary school, the visible spectrum of light (as seen in a rainbow) goes in the order ROY G. BIV: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. Thus, a fly that incorporates the colors red and green spans the spectrum and has a pretty good chance of one color or the other matching the color of the ambient light. Fish a Royal Wulff around sunrise or sunset and the red hot spot will appear intensely to the fish. Fish a Royal Wulff over a weedy bottom or under streamside vegetation and the green peacock herl will appear more intensely.

So, what’s this mean for anglers on the Missouri River? This is a hatch-matching river, right? A Royal Wulff won’t work here will it? Well, check out this excerpt from Trout Flies: Proven Patterns, another book by Gary Lafontaine published in 1993 in which he describes a pattern of his creation called the Double Wing that is very similar to a Royal Trude:

Frank Obrist, guiding out of Great Falls, wrote, “From 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. the Royal Double Wing was the best fly on the Missouri River all summer. My clients racked up more big trout with it than they did even with streamers, fish up to 6 ½ pounds. I kept saying to myself, ‘Maybe it imitates this or maybe it imitates that.’ I couldn’t believe that a pure attractor would work on the Missouri, but finally I had to admit that it did.”

Will a royal attractor pattern work for you this summer? There’s only one way to find out. As the new season approaches, take some time this winter to have some fun and experiment with colors, because learning and experimentation is what makes fly fishing so much fun.

Here is a synthetic royal double wing tied by Parks' Fly Shop
out of Gardiner, MT.

Top 20 Flies of 2013: Part 4 of 4

It's time to close this initial thread and move on to other things. So here is the last installment of flies that proved themselves in 2013. Will they be the same in 2014? Only time will tell. This final installment includes two dries, two nymphs, and a streamer. A friend recently mentioned to me that my selection doesn't include that many dries. This is completely true. Although I prefer catching fish on top, I catch more fish subsurface and this selection of 20 flies features those that put the most fish into my net this past year.


16. Elk Hair Caddis

This is a classic fly pattern that should be in every fly selection. It is durable, floats well, and catches fish. The fly works best during a caddis hatch when the adults are skittering across the surface. Various caddis flies emerge all summer long, and unlike mayflies, the adults can survive in stream-side vegetation for several weeks. So this fly works well as a searching pattern even if there aren't any caddis hatching. At times, you'll probably also need a lower profile pattern to imitate spent or egg laying caddis, but this fly is a good place to start when you observe caddis activity. Tightline Productions has produced a great tying video.


17. LaFontaine's Foam Beetle

This pattern was a new entry to my fly box this past summer and it quickly earned a returning spot in the lineup. I learned about this pattern from Gary LaFontaine's book Trout Flies: Proven Patterns. I intend to provide a more thorough overview of the book in the future, but for now, take my advice and buy yourself a copy if you're into tying flies. This fly is not your typical foam beetle. Think of it more as a trimmed Griffith's Gnat with a closed-cell, packing foam wing. It doesn't look like much but it works. On a trip to the Spotted Bear River, this fly took every rising fish from a pool, even those that had rejected several gaudier terrestrials.


18. Barr's Slumpbuster Streamer

It's easy to get carried away with streamer patterns. They're a lot of fun to tie and fish. Nowadays, it seems like massive articulated patterns are the norm. There's a time and a place for them, but I typically find myself fishing something a little smaller and more simple like Barr's Slumpbuster Streamer. I like them in natural color schemes, but black seems to work well in off colored water and white seems to work well at times that remain mysterious to me. In addition to the hook and conehead, the fly only uses two other materials: zonker strips and body braid. Check out this link for an Orvis blog article by Eric Rickstad featuring a tying video by Kevin McKay.


19. Damselfly nymph

I love flies that incorporate hare's ear and I love weird hooks. When I first saw swimming larvae hooks in the fly shop I had to buy a pack. These hooks give the fly a cool swimming profile. The above picture is from an article at flytyer.com by John Gierach (as close as you can get to a hero of mine). I tie my pattern the way he describes it in his book Good Flies. I think of this pattern primarily as a lake fly, but it also works well in sections of slow moving water in rivers. It also makes a passable hexagenia nymph (pictured below) which would be found in similar habitats as damselfly nymphs including a good hatch on Whitefish Lake in late June / early July.

20. Girdle Bug

This pattern is so ugly it's charming in it's own way. It's usual purpose is to sink another fly, but it catches its fair share of fish. It's a great year-round fly here in the Flathead River system where large stoneflies are found in the river all year round. It's also a pretty easy tie. Check out this tying video by Rob Weiker of Lakestream Fly Shop. The pattern doesn't look very realistic when dry, but once it gets wet it is a dead ringer for golden stone or salmonfly nymphs depending on its size and color scheme. This picture from fishinmissions blog shows what a realistic imitation it can be. I like to fish the pattern in brown or a variegated brown and black color scheme.

Photo Credits:
Elk Hair Caddis pic taken from tightline productions vimeo page.
Lafontaine's Foam Beetle pic taken from www.flyanglersonline.com
Barr's Slumpbuster Streamer pic taken from www.hatchesmagazine.com
Girdle Bug Pic taken from www.lakestream.com
Damselfly nymph pic taken from www.flytyer.com

Missouri River Fishing Report 1/17

I returned from the Missouri River yesterday. Despite forecasted gusts of 30 mph, the wind was never much of an issue. I've fished in much worse and the fact of the matter is that if you want to be a good Missouri River angler, you've got to be able to fish with the wind. John Arnold from Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig, MT, recently blogged this great guide to fly fishing in the wind. It is definitely worthwhile reading and will help you plan your next windy day wade/float more effectively.

Bobber fishing was the name of the game on Wednesday. Most of the fish I caught were on the bottom in waist deep, slower water. Pink and rainbow Czechs/scuds with firebeads took the most fish. Scud body color seemed to make little difference with fish hitting pink and rainbow with equal frequency. The largest trout of the trip, a fat rainbow around five pounds hit a pink soft-hackle Ray Charles with a firebead. Smaller flies (around size 16) seemed to work better than larger patterns. While talking with John at Headhunters, I also learned that there are rainbows in the river that have a fall spawning schedule. This means that there are eggs in the water column from browns, rainbows, and whitefish throughout the winter months.

If you're thinking: fall spawning rainbows?!? What's he talking about?  Here's the deal: Holter Lake is stocked with two strains of rainbow trout by Montana FWP. The two strains are the Eagle Lake and the Arlee strains. The two strains are often indistinguishable by sight. The Eagle Lake rainbows spawn in the spring. The Arlee rainbows spawn in the fall. The Eagle Lake rainbows are stocked into Holter during the fall. The Arlee rainbows are stocked into Holter during the spring. Both strains are stocked at a size of 6-8 inches so that they are less likely to become food for walleyes. Eagle Lake rainbows are more piscivorous and Arlee rainbows eat more insects and crustaceans. If you want to read the original article about these two strains you can find it on FWP's webpage here.

So what's the significance of this information? Well, it might help explain why pink flies and firebeads work so well in the winter. Sure, your fly might be designed to imitate a scud, but the orange firebead on it is probably perceived as "egg" by the fish. That's not to say that scuds aren't an important part of the fish's diet during the winter. Scuds and sowbugs are abundant in the river and patterns imitating these crustaceans in muted tans and greys without beads will still take their share of fish.

Next week, I should be returning to the river with a couple of buddies. The only question is: Should we feel guilty for fishing the eggs firebeads???

Top 20 Flies of 2013: Part 3 of 4

Today's installment of fly patterns includes 3 nymphs, one streamer, and a terrestrial dry fly. All five are definitely flies that I would not want to be caught without.

11. Rainbow Warrior

Designed by Lance Egan of the U.S. Fly Fishing Team, this fly makes a great small nymph / midge pattern. Sizes 18 and 20 seem to work best for me. Like the lightning bug, this pattern is a really bright fish attractor. The flashabou body, dubbed rainbow thorax, and hot-spot collar combine for some real flash. If a small pheasant tail isn't working, this fly is a good change-up option. Tailwaters are home to many small mayflies and midges that this fly imitates well. The gentlemen at Tightline Productions have produced a great tying video.

12. Hare's Ear Nymph

This classic fly needs no introduction. I must admit, that since moving to Montana, I haven't fished this pattern as much as I used to as a teenager in Pennsylvania. Lately, I'm more likely to tie on some sort of pheasant tail. However, there are still quite a few hare's ear nymphs in my box. Picked out rabbit fur has a great buggy look that traps air bubbles and suggests gills/legs/life to the fish. Tightline Productions nails it again with this tying video. I'll fish the pattern in a range of sizes. In sizes 10 or larger, it makes a decent stonefly imitation. In smaller sizes, it makes a great mayfly imitation. Another variation of the pattern that I've been fishing a lot lately is the Guide's Choice Hare's Ear. The "guide's choice" is a really tricked out version of the traditional hare's ear. Tightline productions has another tying video for this great pattern. Here's what it looks like:

13. Woolly Bugger

I carry a handful of different streamer patterns, but the one I fish the most is the wooly bugger. I'm not sure if the fish think it's a leech, sculpin, baitfish, or large nymph, but it works almost everywhere. Usually I'll fish a bugger in smaller sizes like a 10 or a 12, but during spring runoff or when hunting for big fish, I'll fish a big, weighted version with rubber legs in a size 4. Here is a great tying video for the regular version from Tightline Productions. Here is another tying video from Tightline Productions of the beefier version pictured below.

14. WD-40

I think of this fly as a baetis nymph/emerger and that is how I fish it. However, it could also be perceived as a midge pupae. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of similarities between this pattern and the Rainbow Warrior. The triggering characteristic of both patterns is likely the large thorax. If I start to see a few blue winged olives or baetis flying around but not many rises, I'll fish this pattern deep since the nymphs are probably starting to move around and enter the drift. I'll usually fish the pattern on a size 18 or 20 curved (scud) hook. Here is a great tying video by Tightline Productions.

15. GFA (General Foam Attractor)

I learned about this pattern from Park's Fly Shop based out of Gardiner, MT. For years I struggled deciding which hopper pattern suited me the best. I still love the Dave's Hopper, but the knotted legs and the spun deer hair head take too long for me to tie. The GFA is a straightforward pattern that works great. A great feature about this pattern is that it uses a curved hopper hook that leaves a lot of bare shank exposed below the foam body of the fly. This helps prevent the fly from landing and floating upside down. I really like this pattern in sizes smaller than a size 10, but bigger sizes work too. By changing the size and color of the foam, this pattern can imitate salmonflies, golden stones, crickets, beetles, grasshoppers, and leafhoppers/katydids. The fly's inventor, Walter Wiese has posted a great tying video. While you're at it, check out some of the other great custom flies by Park's Fly Shop.

Photo Credits: All photos except the GFA were taken from Tightline Productions videos whose hompage can be found at: http://vimeo.com/user3412872. The GFA picture was taken from Park's Fly Shop whose webpage is http://www.parksflyshop.com/. 

These two sites have both had a significant influence on my tying in the last year. In my opinion, Tightline Productions has the highest quality tying videos on the internet. They do a great job focusing on practical patterns that aren't too complex and just plain catch fish. Park's Fly Shop focuses on the Yellowstone area, and their custom flies are definitely worth a look. They will probably give you some great ideas of your own.

Top 20 Flies of 2013: Part 2 of 4

It just so happens that the five flies in this post are all found in my Missouri River fly box. However, I will fish all of them anywhere. Lately I've had the Missouri River on my mind. Within the next week or two, I'll be making a trip over there if the weather cooperates. If I do, I'll post about it on here.

6. Zebra midge

This fly built my confidence in fishing small patterns. I'll usually fish it in a size 18, but bigger and smaller will both work. It imitates midge larvae, especially blackfly larvae. I typically fish the pattern in black with silver wire and a silver bead, but a red body or different colored wire/beads work too. During the winter, I'll start by throwing bigger pink junk, but if that isn't working, a zebra midge makes a great change-up. If you haven't fished this pattern, you'll be surprised to see what big fish can be taken on such small patterns. As always, the tying video by Tightline Productions is top notch.


7. Griffith's Gnat

Like the zebra midge, this is another great pattern to build your confidence in the small things. Depending on the size used, it imitates a single midge or a cluster of midges. During winter and early spring, midges hatch on every body of water. Tailwaters like the Missouri River have tons of midges and prolific hatches. However, low nutrient freestone rivers like the Flathead River also have their share of midges. I usually carry the pattern in size 18 or 20. If you have trouble seeing this fly on the water, try dropping it a foot or two behind a more visible pattern like a parachute to get your eyes looking in the right direction. In The Riffle has some cool pics and a tying video here.


8. Amex

This is another pattern that I found out about from the guys at Lakestream Outfitters in Whitefish, MT. During the winter months, everybody has their pet pink pattern. And everybody has their pet theory about why pink is an effective color (I will post about some of these theories in the future). Regardless of why pink works, the fact is, it does. The Amex nymph is named after the American Express (Amex) Card because it is "accepted everywhere." It most likely imitates a scud, but it could also be taken as an egg or larvae of some sort. I'll tie the pattern in size 10 with lots of weight on the shank and fish it as the lead fly in a tandem nymphing rig. In addition to pink, different shades of rainbow dubbing look good too and the fish agree. Mike Kuhnert, from Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig, MT has made a tying video.


9. Scud

During the winter, this is often the fly that you'll see me trailing behind an amex. Scuds proliferate in nutrient rich water. The Missouri is full of them, but I've seen them in many local rivers as well. Next time you're out fishing, grab a clump of vegetation from the bottom and chances are there will be scuds in it. In the winter, I'll usually start with a size 16 pink scud with a firebead. If that isn't working, I'll try some more natural brown/grey/olive colors. Scuds also make good lake flies. For a tying video, check out the one by Tightline Productions.


10. San Juan Worm

Love it or hate it, the San Juan worm works. I've experienced the greatest success with this pattern during rainy days when terrestrial earthworms have a good chance of being washed into the river. However, there are also aquatic annelids (worms) in most rivers with soft bottoms. If you want to flash the pattern up, you can add some vinyl rib/lace or a bead, but I've settled on the simplest version of the fly like the one in the picture above. If you've never tied flies before, this is by far the easiest pattern to start with. I'll tie mine on a size 12 hook in red, fluorescent red, wine, and orange. Although his version is fancier than mine, Rob Weiker from Lakestream Fly Shop in Whitefish, MT has made good tying video.


Photo Credits:
Zebra midge, griffith's gnat, and san juan worm taken from www.orvis.com
Amex taken from www.lakestream.com
Scud taken from www.riverbum.com

Top 20 Flies of 2013: Part 1 of 4

I wanted to start the year off with a review of the fly patterns that worked best for me in 2013. The list is in no particular order. Like any other pattern list, these flies are specific to the waters I typically fish. Thus, they are mainly flies for freestone rivers and streams in northwest Montana as well as the Missouri River tailwater fishery below Holter Dam. Some of the flies were productive for only a short period of time, however, if they were incredibly productive within that time window, they have earned a spot on the list. For each pattern, I will include a link to a tying video or an image.

1. American Pheasant Tail Nymph

A Quasimodo pheasant tail nymph.

Mostly fished in size 16 or smaller and usually with a brass or glass bead or hotspot, this is often my go-to nymph on the Missouri River for most of the warmer months of the year. The version tied on a scud hook (Quasimodo) has also worked great for me on local freestone streams. A great tying video put together by Tightline Productions can be found at: http://vimeo.com/62622400

2. Rusty Spinner

A quill bodied rusty spinner dry fly.

For the first few weeks of small stream season this past year, this fly took fish with amazing consistency. Almost every afternoon, size 14 spinners would start to fall on the water and the fish took them readily.  I like a quill bodied version like those tied by A.K. Best with either hackle tip wings or hackle wings tied down in figure-eights. Another great video by Tightline Productions of a similar version can be found at: http://vimeo.com/65651614

3. Hare's Ear Parachute

Hare's ear parachute dry fly.

Everyone has his/her favorite general attractor pattern. For many, it is the Parachute Adams. I prefer the shaggier appearance of the Hare’s Ear Parachute. I'm not sure what the fish take it for, but they usually will. I got turned onto this pattern after reading a John Gierach book and since then it has become my go-to small stream searching pattern. I had a few 50+ fish days this past season on the Thompson River fishing this pattern. 

4. Royal Trude

A royal trude dry fly.

This is my go-to rough water fly. I am a big fan of Royal Wulffs, but the downwing on the trude version is easier/faster to tie and seems to work just as well. If I'm going to fish the Middle Fork of the Flathead, this is probably the first fly that I will try. I prefer a version with a moose hair tail. On a lot of small streams, I will switch back and forth between a hare's ear parachute and a royal trude if fish reject the first pattern. Or, if I've missed a fish on one, the other will typically get it. 

5. Polar Chenille Leech

A polar chenille leech streamer pattern.

The fellas at Lakestream Outfitters in Whitefish, MT first showed me this pattern. It is a really simple tie, but it works great. My friend Jayden Duckworth really hammered them on this pattern this past year. The fly has a good baitfish silhouette, but I think that the rusty copper colored ones are often taken as crayfish as well. Rob Weiker from Lakestream has done a great blog post and tying video of the pattern.


Photo Credits: 
Pheasant tail nymph, hare's ear parachute, and royal trude taken from www.Orvis.com
Rusty spinner taken from www.flytyingworld.com
Polar chenille leech taken from www.lakestream.com