Pete Bartley of Lutsen shows off the nice walleye he caught while fishing with Captain Kelly Shepard of North Shore Outdoor on Sunday, May 31. This is the biggest catch of the day at 28 inches long. The men were fishing in a lake near Grand Marais.
This past week I was looking at some fly fishing tackle and something that jumped out at me was some of the crazy names that are given to tied flies. I love some of these names: Pappa Roach, Rusty Spinner, Grizzly Klinkhammer, and Lefty’s Deceiver (don’t know if it fools fish or is a memory of an ex-wife). I mean the list goes on and on. So, I decided to tie some of my own flies and see how they worked around the local streams and lakes.
The first one I tied I called the Naniboujou Marabou. Extremely colorful, this fly seemed to dazzle the fish. They simply stared in awe at the wonderful colors as if they were in the Sistine Chapel or something. They were too busy “oohing” and “aahing” to actually take the fly though. The Smilin’ Wooly Buttley always seems to fix whatever problems may come my way on the stream. A fairly good producer, I go with it when things aren’t running quite right. Though sometimes, the fish I catch with it taste like Seafoam. Quite unexplainable.
Another good fly has been the Diving Buck’s Dozen. Every time I use this fly I get more than I expect. And I can’t forget Skinner’s Spinner; this lure scatters the fish like horses breaking away from a corral. I keep losing this lure and finding it later in some underwater pasture. I’ve locked this one up for awhile.
Of course when all else fails, when the fishing is really slow, I rely on my favorite, the G & G Steamer Streamer. Because if the fishing is really crappy, this lure blows out the competition.
I hope this will help all future fly fishermen decide on the proper fly to use for each specific situation. If you don’t have the right one in the tackle box, feel free to invent your own. I always do.
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