The Refill

So I was on the water last Saturday morning. I was fishing a deep swirling hole that was dug out by a stump and a large rock. My first thought was to throw a grasshopper but after a couple minutes of no looks it was time for something new. Maybe I'd switch what level I'd be coming at the fish and decided to go under water so I put on a nymph. I tied on a prince nymph(I showed them a couple posts back) and it worked like a charm I had a fish hit right away. I couldn't get the fish to hand but was pleased that I had a hook up. Then two casts later I got stuck on the bottom and lost the fly.


Now you loose a fly on the stream no big deal you just reach in your vest pull out your nymph box and get a new one. Well when I got my box out of my vest and opened it. There was a problem I was out of prince nymphs. I was also out of zug bugs which look close to the prince nymph. I was not happy for a lot of reasons but the biggest was I had to go from a green fly to a tan fly and thats not going to work normaly. Another reason was unlike the guys who buy flies I tie them and should never really let my box get so low on flies.

Well that got me thinking I wonder what else I'm missing. When I looked in all my boxes I found that I was missing a lot. My caddis box was hurting and as I was standing in the water I actually said out loud 'thank God there isn't a caddis hatch going off today'. I also looked at my other dry fly boxes and same thing there lots of empty spaces.

The nymph box was the one that I was the most mad about. It had me mad because nymphs are my go to flies when the fishing gets slow. I was on the water looking at my box and I had a bunch of rough looking stuff. Normally I am very good at keeping up with my boxes but with the new rod and the excitement of maybe catching some big fish on it I just did not get a lot tied. Well this week has been all about getting those boxes filled.

This is a cork has nine prince nymphs on it. I like to have 3 sizes of one kind of fly. It is so nice to fill those empty spots in my boxes. It is rewarding because I can see my progress as the slots get filled, and tying flies is relaxing for me. There is a chance to slow down and put some thought into something other then work or life. I think by Friday night I should have most of my boxes restocked with fresh flies.

When I was in my home town last week I found some old fly tying stuff that my brother and I collected for years growing up. I called my brother Jason and asked if he cared if I took some of the stuff to GA with me. He is living in Wisconsin on the lake and is not fly fishing as much if at all anymore. So I took brought hackle, some beads, and some deer tails back here to GA. One of the hackles I got was cream/white colors so now I can tie some classic dry flies. I think in the up coming weeks I will be posting on the Cahill. Also the blue winged olive, the adams fly, and the griffith's gnat. The lesson to be learned here is if you tie your own flies it is your own fault when you are standing waist deep in the water trying to figure out what your next move is with no flies. Just remember check your boxes a couple nights before even a small trip.

-Bruce