Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum

Swung by the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum while visiting the place where I learned how to fly fish.  Saw lots of tiny flies and a hard back copy of Bassin' With A Fly Rod, which surprised me a little.

The Improved "V" Worm

This is my version of the "V" worm.

Hook:  EWG Worm Hook
Trailer Hook:  Small Salmon Hook
Body:  Wool or Other Large Diameter Yarn
Tail:  Marabou
Trailer Hook Mono:  20lb
Thread:  Black Flat Waxed Nylon

Instructions:

1)  Tie yarn in loop with the loop length ~4x the length of worm desired.

2)   Double the yarn loop.

3)  Anchor the tied end of the loop to something strong and twist the doubled yarn loop to achieve a tight twisted single strand.

4)  Keeping tension on the twisted single strand, fold the end to the tied end of the loop and release the tension.  The twisted single strand will twist with itself to form a double twisted strand.

5)  Using a clothes pin or hackle pliers, clamp the tied end of the loop so that the double twisted strand will not unravel.  Remove from anchoring device by either unhooking or cutting the tied end of the loop.

6)  Set aside the worm body and put hook into vice.  I recommend bending the bard down.

7)  Tie the worm body on hook with hook point up.  Tie close to clamping device.

8)  Remove clamp from worm and trim excess yarn from the hook eye end.

9)  Using 20lb mono, tie a Snell Knot on a small hook, preferably a Salmon Hook or Octopus Hook an inverted eye bend.  Leave a long tag end as that will be used to tie the hook to the worm body.

10)  Thread the "leader" end of the mono through the last hole at the end of worm body and thread until half of the hook's shank is in the body.  The hook should stick our straight of the end of the body with the hook point up.

11)  Using the tag end of the mono from the Snell Knot, form an Overhand Knot and slide the loop of the overhand knot over the tail of the worm body until it lines up naturally with with the tag end of the Snell Knot on the hook's shank.  Tighten to secure the hook to the worm body and repeat at least three times.

12) Trim off excess line from the tag end of the mono.

13)  Wrap the "leader" end of the mono around the worm's body so that it naturally follows the twisted yarn working your way to the eye of the hook.  It shouldn't be too tight or too loose.

14)  Tie the "leader" end to the hook eye as you would a single mono weed guard by threading the mono through the hook eye, taking a couple of turns of thread, and then folding the mono over the top of the thread and wrapping to secure the mono the head of the worm.  Trim off excess.

15)  Tie to the tail of the worm a tuft of marabou using the overhand knot location from step 11 as the tie end point.  Use enough threat to cover the mono and the marabou should hide the trailer hook.

16)  The completed Improved "V" Worm.

Flyrod Spinner Bait + Father’s Day=

7 lbs

A New Yardstick Part I

Many warmwater fly fishermen are focused on fish per hour and don’t even realize it.

The actual measurement of fish per hour is used by those in resource management to evaluate a fishery.  Here in Florida, the best lakes have a 0.5 to 0.8 fish per hour catch rate (annual average).  By that yardstick, most of us are doing great, or so we think.  We tend to only remember our best days and we really don’t want to quantify our fishing days anyhow.

Just for comparison, let’s look at “professional” fisherman.  One of my favorite websites is Jim Porter's Guide to Bass Fishing.  Jim posted an article on fishing for bedding fish by professional bass fishermen and in that article he cited that “pro” anglers have a catch rate only slightly higher than the national average of the non-tournament angler at 0.19 bass per hour.  The data is old, but still useful in our discussion.

 

Why would “pro” bass fishermen have such a low, pathetic catch rate?

 We all know that TV fishing shows are heavily edited and spliced to give the impression of  great fishing days.  Even the 1 hour Bassmaster Elite fishing shows gives the impression of multiple catches by multiple anglers.  Then came Bass Live and we get to see the long the fishless droughts.  We even get to see the pro angler sight fishing a single large fish for hours.  Sometimes it works out, sometimes it results in only wasted time.

So the low catch rate among most bass anglers can be attributed, at least partially if not mostly, to targeting larger fish.  They aren’t using lures and techniques that bring many fish to hand and when they are, they will typically change techniques to stop catching smaller fish.   I know when I am catching a lot of one to two pound bass, I looking to change something.

Why do many warm water fly fishers  claim a successful day by catch rate?  I think it is because of two things:  1)  They consider themselves successful and are content ,  2) they don’t know there are larger fish to be caught ,or, 3) they don’t think they can catch the larger with a fly rod.  I do feel this leads ultimately to stagnation and disappointment.

Can the yardstick of  catch rate challenge us and keep our interest over many seasons?   I say “no”.  I am sure you know of someone who has left fly fishing and moved on to other hobbies.  And, at least for the ones that I know of, some of these folks were dedicated to the sport.

******

VIDEO: Tying The PM Jig Fly

VIDEO Bendback Diver

Warmwater Flyfishing was a magazine of pure gouge (US Navy slang for:  pure authentic and essential information, no BS).  It is now defunct but in the April/May 1999 issue, Dr. J. Galt Allee, MD, wrote an article about a fly he developed to fish Lake Jackson in North Florida in 1984.  This fly design was a game changer as it is "pretty much snag free".  It is one of the most weedless flies I use and I have caught some large bass on it.

This little bass catcher can be tied in minnow patterns, snake or eel imitations, or even as a mouse.  The good doctor used a 3/0 Mustad 34007 hook that not only did he bend into a "bendback" shape, but opened the gap of the hook a bit too.  The video below shows my version of his pattern.  I encourage you to tie it, throw it in the heaviest pads or weeds you can find, and watch the bass explode on it.

Tie one, try one, and let me know how many fish you caught.