An Order Clearly Spoken

While browsing the wares of an embroidery shop I discovered a spool of olive thread. And the thread just spoke to me; it felt like a scene in a film, when an old relic speaks to an ordinary guy and he goes to pull a sword from a stone or what not.

The word the thread spoke to me was "Baetis". I dared not disobey such a clear order, and so I purchased the thread and went home to tie some medium sized olives.

Baetis parachute
#16 Dohiku 301 dry fly hook
8/0 UNI thread tan
Coq de León tails
Olive embroidery thread body
Tiemco Aero Dry Wing wingpost
Hare dubbing for thorax
Olive dyed rooster hackle

The end (of 2011 season) is nigh

The season is definitely getting to its close, and it will be soon that I will turn in my season's tickets and reduce myself to the tying table only. But until that time comes (the Czech season closes on November 30^th) I am trying to get as much fishing as possible.

As thick layers of smog descended on Prague I headed with some friends to fish the river Ohře in north western Bohemia. This river, also called Eger in German, is one of the finer Czech tailwaters fisheries. The days of its former glory are past now, but it still retains aura of certain mystique as river where it is possible (though unlikely) to catch brown trout in the 50+ cm range.

It is also notorious as a moody river, where blank days happen to even the best fishermen. The news we had through the fly fishing grapevine was that a hatch of olives was going on and that the fish were rising freely. Thus we overcame our natural laziness and temperature just slightly above freezing and headed to the famed river.

The the reports turned out to be correct; but one thing the grapevine failed to mention was that even though the fish were indeed freely rising they were awfully choosy in what they put into their little mouths. The sound of fish splashing carried well over the waters and the huge riseforms were impossible to miss. But the wily fish utterly ignored all my fancy offerings, only to rise again once my imitations passed. Frustration rode high.

At the end - after trying out most of my grayling fly box - I decided the imitative approach had failed and turned to attraction. First with my pink Barbie dun and then a little Goldie fly.

The Goldie, while not imitating anything particular, turned out to be just what the fish wanted. Why should the fish prefer such thing to #18 Olive dun when #18 Olive duns were drifting by and being eaten is one of the great mysteries that make fly fishing so alluring.

I was rewarded by several fine grayling and also some rainbow trout. This one has evidently suffered a close encounter with a predator (perhaps a small pike?) in his youth.

Little Goldie Fly:
#14 Hanák 130 BL hook
tan elastic tying thread
UNI 1/32 " tinsel Gold
3 natural CDC feathers