A mishmash of thoughts here. About fly fishing, fly tying, nature, study and ‘the gospel’. I am a reluctant student of anything. I have never been very good at studying. I prefer to do and even then my lack of self discipline in acquiring knowledge makes the doing often less than stellar.
Like many, I look to others that have done the heavy lifting and speak with authority for the nuggets of wisdom that will help me do things better. Often times in any pursuit, the experts have more sway than perhaps they should.
Bozo Caddis Pupa pattern
For example, yesterday I was researching the glowing bubble effect I have ‘witnessed’ on East Lake (Oregon) with emerging Callibaetis Mayfly nymphs. Try as I might, I could not find any literature to help substantiate this observation. It has not stopped me from writing about my observation and even attempting to replicate it with a pattern called The Orb.
The Orb (SwittersB)
This morning, I was researching hot colored beads for fly patterns beyond the use as an egg pattern. Words like Attractor or Aggravator came into play. I was wondering why a pattern like the Bozo Caddis Pattern (above) would catch fish when natural Caddis don’t have a bright red nose. One link lead to another re Caddis when I came upon one of those clarifying moments that deconstruct our long held ‘beliefs’ and ‘truths’: the emerging Caddis Pupa enshrouded in a gas bubble, a sheath of buoyancy that propels the Pupa to the surface and upward like a missile. I have read it countless times and written it myself as ‘the gospel’ because renowned fly fishers far more knowledgeable than I had said it was so.
Read this forum exchange at TroutNut re emerging Caddis Pupa and realize that when we borrow knowledge or accept the gospel from experts in our quest to understand….we may be building a house of cards of wisdom…that we pass on and on.
I don’t believe you have to become an entomological aficionado to fly fishing. A little knowledge goes a long ways in fly selection and fly tying. But, if somethings don’t quite work out as they are supposed to based upon the experts…well maybe the experts are…well not accurate…experiment on your own. Maybe that explains why I hated tying the Emergent Sparkle Pupa and never caught a damn Trout on one!
How I tied them based on LaFontaine’s pattern and how a better pattern is suggested by Entoman:
Entoman’s Caddis Pupa Pattern is tied with a smaller, less dense shroud at the top of the fly only, and with a leaner body and minimal legs tied in as a beard.
