by Jeremy Davies

This past spring and early summer I fished many streams that were loaded with small brook trout. Unlike many anglers, I really enjoy fishing for brookies as I believe they are the most beautiful trout and can be caught when the more cagy brown and rainbow trout are not cooperating. Most of the streams that I fished exhibited two main properties: they had a lot of woody “trash” on the bottom which made nymphing with an indicator tough, and had few if any fish rising. The best strategy was to carefully flip a relatively heavy fly near a likely spot and strip it in. I fished an especially pretty little creek in late July ,and an Olive Brookie Wart in size 12 worked very well. Most of the brookies were six to ten inches long and could easily ambush and inhale this little streamer. I also had good luck in several other small streams for browns, brookies, and even a few bull trout and whitefish. 

The Brookie Wart is very simple to tie if you can get your head around how tiny it is. Use a 2X long nymph hook in sizes 10 or 12 and tie in some micro lead eyes at the head. Then take some Wooley Bugger Marabou and make a tail about the length of the hook shank. Next tie in some hackle and rubber legs right behind the lead eyes. Then dub the body with Light Peacock Arizona Dubbing and wrap the hackle toward the bend as the wire is wrapped forward to secure the hackle. If you are fishing this fly in deeper water you may want to wrap the front half of the body with lead so it will get near the bottom. 

Brookie Wart Recipe

Hook: 2X long nymph hook, #10-12 

Thread: Black or olive Uni-Thread, 8/0 

Head: Micro eyes, brass or lead 

Body: Light Peacock Arizona Dubbing 

Hackle: Grizzly or black 

Rib: Fine gold wire 

Legs: Uni-Flexx, dark brown or black 

Tail: Olive marabou, Krystal Flash (optional) 

by Jeremy Davies

The Mickey Finn is one of my favourite brown-trout streamers because it is easy to tie and has yellow in it, which is a colour that seems to attract these wily trout. I have never been one to settle on a pattern if I feel I can make it more effective. The standard Mickey Finn relies on the angler to give it enticing action via a quick retrieve. I wanted to adapt the pattern to have more built-in action. Over the past two or three seasons I have been exchanging the standard bucktail on the original Mickey Finn for the more “juicy” or lifelike marabou. I tried this streamer in May of 2016. It was a cloudy drizzly day which made me hopeful that big brown trout would cooperate. On my third cast in a deeper run a large brown chased my fly but wasn’t hooked. I kept peppering the run with casts and eventually I hit paydirt as a 19-inch brown crushed this fly and jumped 18 inches in the air before slipping into the net. Over the next three hours I landed several more good fish. 

The Marabou Mickey is like a marabou hybrid of a Mickey Finn and a Matuka. The first step is to place a bead on the hook, which can be gold, red, or even black. I first tie in some yellow marabou and a few strands of Krystal flash to form the tail. The next step is really a threefold sequence of dubbing the body with Minnow Body Ice Dub and tying in the marabou on top of the body to form the wings. After you have tied in three yellow marabou wings, make one more wing out of red marabou to give it the colour of the standard Mickey Finn. Then dub a little more Ice Dub behind the bead and tie off. 

Marabou Mickey Recipe:

Hook: 3X long streamer hook, # 8-12 

Thread: 8/0 Uni-Thread, black or tan 

Weight: Lead (optional) 

Head: Bead in gold, red or black 

Body: Ice Dub Minnow Belly 

Wings: Yellow and red marabou 

Tail: Yellow marabou with Krystal Flash 

by Jeremy Davies 

      Anglers must deal with the reality that the streams they most cherish will not always be in prime condition with clear and low flows. Runoff and periodic rainy periods often produce high and murky fishing conditions. Fishing can be both difficult and easy, depending on our approach. The high water can make wading difficult even on smaller streams, and the trout’s visibility is greatly reduced. The key is to take a disadvantage and turn it into an advantage. This lower visibility can make trout less wary and more vulnerable to highly visible flies. I have had success in these conditions with both buggers and leeches, however bright, flashy streamers can yield even more success during these conditions. This past June I fished several streams during high water conditions. One small stream had less than a foot of visibility. I gently flicked this fly into a deep pool where another little creek emptied in and immediately a 12 inch brookie pounced on it. Over the next 20 minutes I caught seven or eight brookies, including a 16-inch whopper that had no earthly business being in a creek that tiny. I also had some luck on other streams under similar conditions. Fish were not rising to attractor dries, but this flashy streamer was being chased a lot. I landed a number of good cutthroats, along with a 17-inch bull trout. The great thing about fishing this time a year is that few other people are doing it, and you can have most sections of stream to yourself. The trout are there, you just have to go after them. 

The main purpose of the Ultra Brite Leech is to attract attention during poor water conditions. This pattern is typically tied on a 3X long streamer hook in sizes 8 to 12.  First put a gold or nickel-silver bead or cone on the hook and layer the first half of the hook shank with lead. Tie in a tail of white marabou with three or four strands of Krystal Flash poking through. You may also want to cover the front half of the hook shank with lead if you need to get this fly down really deep. Make the body by dubbing the Ice Dub and laying three side wings with Krystal Flash until you reach the bead. Making the Krystal Flash collar is perhaps the most difficult part of constructing this fly. Take four clumps of Krystal Flash and tie one on top, one on the bottom and one on each side. Pull tightly and spin the Krystal Flash a bit until it creates a reasonable-looking collar, then trim both the collar and side wings to neaten the fly. To complete the fly take a small amount of ice dub and apply behind the bead. 

Recipe

Hook: 3X long streamer hook, #8-12 

Thread: Uni-Thread 8/0, black or tan 

Weight: Lead (optional) 

Body: Ice Dub Minnow Body 

Side Wings: Krystal Flash 

Collar: Krystal Flash 

Tail: White marabou with Krystal Flash