Rocky River Chapter Trout Unlimited
Charlotte, North Carolina
We Conserve, Protect and Sustain our
Coldwater Natural Resources
Coming Soon : Fly Tying Session 2 - 12.14
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Fall Alarka 2019 |
December 2019 Fly of the Month
Fly of the Month 12.19
Most fly patterns are designed to imitate insects or larger creatures including other fish which are eaten by trout. Streamers are typically used to imitate baitfish tied on streamer hooks. Anglers know that large trout and salmon eat bigger fish, including other trout that range in size well beyond even some of the largest hooks made. So how does one imitate another large fish that is likely the food that large trout or salmon pursue?
Select a part of a fish that stands out, imitate that specific part on a typical sized hook and you have an imitative, uh … suggestive, uh. … attractor fly pattern that will likely catch a fish’s eye, fool them as if another sizeable fish is before them in trouble and ready to be eaten. In this case, a fin.
Trout Fin Flies
Since brook trout have very colorful fins, the unusual fly patterns we present here are all related to imitating a brook trout fin. We do not know if a large trout or salmon sees a loose piece of a brook trout fin or they key on the look of the fin as if there is a brook trout before them yet fail to notice or be wary that a whole fish is not present.
When the water level is falling from recent thundershowers, yet the water remains up quite a bit and off color, and you could see bottom in three feet of water trout fin flies will work well in “sizes 8, 10 and 12 are good for catching brookies.”
Parmacheene Belle
The Parmacheene Belle wet fly pattern was created about 1878 - named after Parmacheene Lake, in the Pine Tree State, Maine. The lake was named after Parmacheene, son of the Indian chief Metalluk. The lake was a favorite locale of Henry P. Wells (1842-1904). By his own admission, the fly pattern is “his own child” which he used to fish for Ouananiche (land-locked Atlantic salmon). The Parmacheene fly is supposed to imitate the fin of a trout.
Wells was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He served in the Army from 1863 to 1865 in the 13th New York Artillery. Wells was admitted to New York Bar in 1869. He wrote Fly Rods and Fly Tackle, the most authoritative book of its kind up to that time in 1885 and is still a good read. Wells also wrote American Salmon Fishing in 1886.
Wells was president of the National Rod and Reel Association from 1887 to 1889. He was one of the first to advocate steel for rods, an idea carried out by Everett Horton, who patented a steel rod on March 8, 1887.
“This fly somewhat resembles the ‘No Name,’ figured as No. 15 of Lake Flies in this book. As I tie it, the tail is two strands of white and two of scarlet; the body of yellow mohair, with silver tinsel; the hackle double; first white, with a scarlet hackle wound over this – capping the former so to speak; the wing white, striped with scarlet. By scarlet the color of the red ibis is to be understood.” – the Parmacheene Belle as described by Wells from his chapter titled Fly-Fishing in the Rangeley Region, p. 90, in his book, Fishing With the Fly published in 1883.
Used to catch trout and land-locked salmon in Maine, and in lakes in other northeastern states including Pennsylvania, the Parmacheene Belle, according to originator Henry P. Wells’ writings, the brook trout fin was the concept for his fly design. However, there is no orange in his pattern, and the fly pattern has a yellow body yet there is no yellow in a brook trout fin. In this case, the Parmacheene Belle, the Kineo, and perhaps the King of the Woods could all be considered as possible brook trout fin wet flies.
Tom Adams and Alen Baker
References:
Smedley, Harold Hinsdill. Fly Patterns and Their Origins, 1944
Most fly patterns are designed to imitate insects or larger creatures including other fish which are eaten by trout. Streamers are typically used to imitate baitfish tied on streamer hooks. Anglers know that large trout and salmon eat bigger fish, including other trout that range in size well beyond even some of the largest hooks made. So how does one imitate another large fish that is likely the food that large trout or salmon pursue?
Select a part of a fish that stands out, imitate that specific part on a typical sized hook and you have an imitative, uh … suggestive, uh. … attractor fly pattern that will likely catch a fish’s eye, fool them as if another sizeable fish is before them in trouble and ready to be eaten. In this case, a fin.
Trout Fin Flies
Since brook trout have very colorful fins, the unusual fly patterns we present here are all related to imitating a brook trout fin. We do not know if a large trout or salmon sees a loose piece of a brook trout fin or they key on the look of the fin as if there is a brook trout before them yet fail to notice or be wary that a whole fish is not present.
When the water level is falling from recent thundershowers, yet the water remains up quite a bit and off color, and you could see bottom in three feet of water trout fin flies will work well in “sizes 8, 10 and 12 are good for catching brookies.”
Parmacheene Belle
The Parmacheene Belle wet fly pattern was created about 1878 - named after Parmacheene Lake, in the Pine Tree State, Maine. The lake was named after Parmacheene, son of the Indian chief Metalluk. The lake was a favorite locale of Henry P. Wells (1842-1904). By his own admission, the fly pattern is “his own child” which he used to fish for Ouananiche (land-locked Atlantic salmon). The Parmacheene fly is supposed to imitate the fin of a trout.
Wells was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He served in the Army from 1863 to 1865 in the 13th New York Artillery. Wells was admitted to New York Bar in 1869. He wrote Fly Rods and Fly Tackle, the most authoritative book of its kind up to that time in 1885 and is still a good read. Wells also wrote American Salmon Fishing in 1886.
Wells was president of the National Rod and Reel Association from 1887 to 1889. He was one of the first to advocate steel for rods, an idea carried out by Everett Horton, who patented a steel rod on March 8, 1887.
“This fly somewhat resembles the ‘No Name,’ figured as No. 15 of Lake Flies in this book. As I tie it, the tail is two strands of white and two of scarlet; the body of yellow mohair, with silver tinsel; the hackle double; first white, with a scarlet hackle wound over this – capping the former so to speak; the wing white, striped with scarlet. By scarlet the color of the red ibis is to be understood.” – the Parmacheene Belle as described by Wells from his chapter titled Fly-Fishing in the Rangeley Region, p. 90, in his book, Fishing With the Fly published in 1883.
Used to catch trout and land-locked salmon in Maine, and in lakes in other northeastern states including Pennsylvania, the Parmacheene Belle, according to originator Henry P. Wells’ writings, the brook trout fin was the concept for his fly design. However, there is no orange in his pattern, and the fly pattern has a yellow body yet there is no yellow in a brook trout fin. In this case, the Parmacheene Belle, the Kineo, and perhaps the King of the Woods could all be considered as possible brook trout fin wet flies.
Tom Adams and Alen Baker
References:
Smedley, Harold Hinsdill. Fly Patterns and Their Origins, 1944
