Matapedia Green Butt Dog Micro Tube

I think this fly is screaming for a big salmon on the Matapedia.   

Warren Duncan Green Machine

The Magog Smelt

The Pheasant Tail Nymph

There are many versions of this wonderful nymph.  Frank Sawyer's original fly was created to imitate the Baitis family of of May Flies found on the chalk streams of England.  Today, the fly is tied to replicate many different species and works very well in all forms.

Most of my use of this fly is done in the most drab form with only a copper color rib on the abdomen.  I find that it is the most effective was to fish the fly.  One of the ways that I give a bit of life is to use nail polish that has holographic flecks embedded in the liquid.  I put a small amount on top of the wing case to look like the bubbles that are naturally created to assist the nymph to rise to the surface when changing to adult.

For larger species as Steelhead and Atlantic Salmon Broodstock I tie the fly on larger sizes and add some sparkle to the top of the wing case.  Also by using different color dubbing you can add some color.

Simple Pheasant Tail Video
Salmon River Steelhead Pheasant Tail Video

Does The Fly Really Matter?

For many Octobers, I made a trip to New Brunswick, Canada to close out the Atlantic Salmon season.  I would base myself in the Blackville area and fish the fall run rivers.  Cains, Bartholomew, Little Sou' West and the Mirimichi.

On this particular trip the fishing was hard.  The major attraction for me was to go to the Cains River and have at it's famed large fish as they ran far up river.  The water was low and the fishing was slow.  My guide's two sons, who lived in Fredericton, called to say that the Nashwaak was up and the fish were is great numbers.  We drove to meet them at the Pig Farm Pool.  This pool is one of the first bar style pools that the fish encounter on the Nashwaak.  The water makes a right hand sweep over a bar and deflects off the deeper river left.  You can fish from the bar or as we did just below the bar on river left. 

A very interesting aspect of this tributary of the Saint John is that the headwaters start on the opposite slope that creates the Mirimichi River.  Nashwaak Lake is only five miles from Mirimachi Lake.  Today, the Nashwaak is closed to Salmon fishing as it is a Bay of Fundy class river and has seen a dramatic decrease in numbers.

This was one of those magical times when you could sit on the bank and watch for the fish coming.  There were just so many.  Hold, Hold, Hoooold, OK cast away.  Chances were good that if you had the right fly you could hook, not necessarily land, a salmon from each pod.  And that is exactly what happened.  I was on fire.  The salmon Gods were with me and I proceeded to hook nine salmon in one hour and fifteen minutes.  I landed three.

The fly was a well used and trusted Mickey Finn.  I hooked and released my first salmon from the Narraguagus River in Maine many years before on a Micky Finn.  This was my favorite fall fly, period.  On one poorly executed cast I caught the brush behind me and the Mickey was gone.  I looked and looked and could not retrieve that fly.  Oh well, I opened my box and tied on another Mickey Finn.  No problem, I would land my limit number four fish and we would go home. Right???

For the next three hours I watched wave after wave of salmon proceed past me with the same rod, the same reel, the same line, the same leader and the same fly.  No takers.  The same fly?  Well not really.  Is it possible that the flies that are so successful must be copied exactly in the shape and form in order to be right?  Is a Mickey a Mickey?  Or, as some might have you believe that the fly does not matter.

Today, I carry more than one fly in each of my go to patterns.  If I am not successful with a Black Dose and I want to go back to the Black Dose later, I use a different Black Dose.  Who knows, maybe the wing is the smallest amount too long.

I do wish I had that Micky Finn back.  It might answer so many questions.  And then again...................

William