Fly-tying leads to fun and surprise in catching fish

My 2024 trout fishing season started, paradoxically, indoors.

For the last few years, Black Dog Outdoor Sports in Glenville has hosted a “Fly Tying Social” in the months before fishing starts. I started attending the social in 2023. The experience improved my fly-tying skills. It also allowed me to tie some fly patterns that met local fishing conditions better than commercially tied flies

This year, at a February session of the social, I sat next to Josh Lazarus. When I mentioned a chance to fish in Colorado, he said, “The Zebra midge nymph pattern is effective in Colorado waters.” A nymph, for readers new to angling, is a fly that is fished below the water, like a lure or bait.

By the time of the Colorado trip, I had tied two Zebra midges and had a few that my friend Dennis Greninger gave me. While fishing a number 12 black Zebra midge on a front Range river in Colorado, I caught and released a nice cutthroat trout.

If a person wants to fish with more than one fly, to see what the most attractive fly is to a fish — or to use a dry fly as a strike indicator for a wet fly, many fly-fishing books advise preparing a leader with one or two pieces of monofilament extending from the main leader. 

This is done by tying each section of the leader with a surgeon’s knot and leaving four to six inches of leader sticking out from the knot, instead of cutting it off. A fly can then be tied at the end of the leader and then one or two flies can be tied on the extended piece or pieces of the leader. These are called “dropper flies.”

In Colorado, the staff at St. Peter’s Fly Shop advised another way to fish with more than one fly. They suggested tying the larger of two flies to the end of the leader, tying a segment of leader to the bend of that fly’s hook and then tying a smaller fly at the end of this piece of leader.

While fishing in Colorado, I had the number 12 Zebra midge as the larger fly and a number 20 Dorsey’s Top-Secret Midge as the smaller fly, with the Top-Secret Midge joined to the larger fly with a piece of leader tied to the bend of the number 12 Zebra midge. 

On April 2, when back in New York, I decided on the spur of the moment to go fishing on a Rensselaer County stream. I did not want to stop for worms and use my usual plan of fishing with a spinning reel and worms. I wanted to just go and I grabbed all the tackle from the Colorado trip.

Many Rensselaer County streams were running high, fast, and discolored from the recent snow and rain. However, I found a spot high up in the watershed of a small stream where the water moved more slowly and was not so high and discolored.

After what seemed like the jillion-th cast, and when I was ready to reel in, I lifted the rod tip — and suddenly felt a fish on the end of the line!

A six-inch brown trout had taken the Top-Secret Midge. While releasing the fish, I lost the fly. 

In the great tradition of angling detection, I decided that, if the fish took a small fly, I should try another small fly. I tied on one of the number 16 Zebra Midges, tied in red material, that Dennis had given me.

In quick succession, I caught and released two small brook trout. Unlike the brown trout that subtly took the Top-Secret Midge, the brook trout took Dennis’s Zebra Midge with a strong hit, similar to the way a trout will take a lure or bait. 

After releasing the second fish, I left the pool, assuming the commotion caused any other fish to stop feeding. 

Arriving at another stream, I saw high, fast, and discolored water up close. This stream, which has pleasant flows and many “trouty” looking places to fish during most of the year, was a flat sheet of fast water that was impossible to wade. After a few casts near the bank, I reeled in and went home.

The Zebra midge is a good fly to include in a fly box. It is a very easy fly to tie. If you are not as lucky as I was to have sat next to an experienced fly-tyer such as Josh, there are many instructional videos for this fly on YouTube. 

If you do not tie your own flies, Black Dog Outdoor Sports stocks this fly in different sizes and colors. When I called the store last week to see if it stocked the fly, Colin Borst told me that the bins containing the Zebra midge are labeled “hot fly.” 

It was satisfying to write this column and relive the fun and surprise of catching the fish described above. It was also satisfying to catch a fish on a fly that I tied myself and to catch other fish on a fly that my friend Dennis had tied.

More importantly, for readers, my experiences suggest general factors to increase your success in early season trout fishing. 

First, before leaving, have a Plan A, a Plan B, and maybe even a Plan C for places to fish. If your first destination is not fishable, your trip is less likely to be a washout.

Second, be willing to experiment. Nearly all of us drive when we fish. Even a compact car has room for extra gear. If you like to fly fish, take a spinning rod and some lures or bait. If you like to spin fish and have a fly rod, take that. If one method does not work, perhaps the other will.

Finally, even if it does not look like a great day to fish, if you have the time, go anyway. With preparation and luck, you may have more success than you expect!