Big Nasty Flies

A pair of "big, nasty" Atherton # 6 dries

Prior to my first trip to the Battenkill many years ago, I wrote a letter to Vermont Fish and Wildlife to get information on the river. The reply back came from a gentleman by the name of Robert Candy. His letter was a wonderful, handwritten response that was very thoughtful and surprisingly personal. He clearly caught on that I was a youngster and pointed out that he used to attend Boy Scout Jamborees in my hometown. This would have been long before I was born, but it was an interesting aside.

With regards to the Battenkill, Mr. Candy offered some sage advise. He noted that the folks at Orvis would likely suggest that I use tiny flies to match the prevailing hatches. Candy offered the suggestion that I should consider going in a different direction and try "big nasty flies". As a young and impressionable angler who already leaned towards being a bug chaser (this was during a period when fly fishing was replete with new publications and articles about hatch matching), I ate up everything that the folks at Orvis suggested might work: tiny tricos, miniscule blue winged olives, and of course the ubiquitous ant. I never bothered to ask about big, nasty flies.

In the many years that have passed since I was given that advise by Mr. Candy, I always had it tucked in the back of my mind. On occasion I would trot out a big, nasty fly to try and draw a fish to the surface. A particular favorite has been making use of a Gray Fox Variant during May and June when March Browns are on the wing. The hatch matching side of me gives me permission to use such a fly since it nominally imitates the big, juicy mayflies that pop off the surface throughout the day.

More recently, I have found that there is more to life than trying to match tiny insects. There is some enjoyment in guessing whether or not a fish rose to my unseen # 24 rusty spinner as darkness descends over the river valley. Sometimes I even connect. That said, my old mentor, Tom Goodman, used to fish a #10 or #12 Cream Variant at dusk throughout the summer to good effect. He would do this while I squinted and swore attempting to tie on a little spinner. My hatch matching ego would not relent, however, and more than once I missed catching fish for want of getting a fly tied on. That is now a go to move for me on long summer nights. Big flies do hatch, after all and while they may not be the dominant bug, fish (like people, or at least me) can be tempted to eat something big.

The willingness of trout to eat something large was recently affirmed when I watched a trout that had been sipping tiny bugs from the surface go out of its way to eat a pinecone that was drifting with the current just a couple of inches below the surface. Interestingly, this same trout ignored grasshoppers that I tossed to him. Go figure.

A perfect riffle for exploring with big dry flies

I am finding too, that when the dog days of August give way to the cooler nights and mellow, shortening days of late summer, trout show a definite affinity for large, dark shaded flies. This is particularly effective in broken water. Why might that be? In my book, I talk a lot about Isonychia and the effectiveness of the Zug Bug or other such concoctions. Well, trout have a taste for these large bugs when they get onto the surface as well. The occasional dun will find its way onto the surface and the response of the trout can be vigorous.

The Isonychia spinner fall also presents an opportunity to try big bugs. On the Battenkill, Iso spinners seem to get on the water in dribs and drabs. It is not even close to a concentrated event in my experience. When my friend Tom Ames (look for his expanded and updated Guide to New England Hatches when it comes out) were driving along the river recently we stopped at a spot to take a brief glance. We were greeted with a handful of quick, aggressive rises. I suggested to Tom that he try a large Battenkill Flats, and he quickly brought up two fish. By the time I crashed through the thick shrubs at the tail of the pool there were a couple of similar rises downstream. I too brought up a fish quickly. I also noticed a small number of large Iso spinners in a large back eddy. I have since returned to that spot (along with my wife, Deanna) and we have been rewarded generously by simply drifting and occasionally twitching a large Dun Variant or Atherton # 6. I am hoping this will be the ticket on an upcoming junket to the Catskills.

I still like to believe that when I employ the use of big, nasty flies I am at least nominally matching the hatch. I can't quite fully escape that mindset. But as my eyes begin to age just a little it is comforting to know that one does not have to doggedly adhere to hatch matching "rules" to catch a few trout. And perhaps it simply doesn't matter. I suspect that Mr. Candy would not care why it works and I have to admit, at the end of the day, nor do I.