Alex Jardine has started looking at his fly box in a different way, adding, tweaking or discarding patterns. It is an interesting approach that will have many of us scaling down the huge number of patterns we take to the river.
Failure: it is the drive of human kind and as anglers we certainly feel we succumb to more failure than we deserve when we are out on the banks. That day when we did not even get a take, or the fish that turned away right at the last minute; it would not be fishing without these moments. To be out-witted by something with a brain so small can be quite depressing but it is these failures that drive us to improve ourselves.
We are always growing our fly collection but over recent years I have begun developing a “working fly box”, this is a Skues-like approach to building a fly collection. Observing the water, the fish, the hatches and the failures then returning to the fly tying bench to tie the flies that you think would have proved successful that day. Once the new fly is ready heading back out to the water and seeing if it works. By adopting such an approach you will further your own fishing ability as it makes you analyse what you are doing and why, it also encourages a greater understanding of the natural food sources of fish.
I do feel it is important to point out that you do not need to become fluent in Latin for this approach to succeed, remember the fish have no idea what a fly is by name, it just knows it as food. As long as you can work out the size, colour and shape you are most of the way to identifying the insect and you can then tie on your version of said insect.
Since I have turned to this way of approaching the water I feel I have noticed the subtle changes in a fish's feeding habits, such as moving from the emerging fly to the full dun or even from one natural to a completely different one. It is these subtle changes that can bamboozle us when on the water. For every fish that defeats you, you should have a new fly in your box that evening to fool it next time.
By the end of the season your box will have grown considerably. When you look at this box on a cold, stormy winter night you will begin to see similarities in your patterns through the season. The Latin names may have us think they are completely different when in reality that green fly in April which is about a size 16 looks a lot like that green fly that was hatching in September and so on. It is at this time that you can single out the key patterns and tie them in vast quantities in preparation for the following season.
When the new season kicks in you will find that there are new “failures”, as other fish refuse your offerings and the cycle continues. For those that keep a fishing diary, you will however notice over time that fish that would have once defeated you are now no match for your strengthening armoury of flies.
Alex Jardine works at outfitters Aardvark Mcleod for more details visit their website