If you look back in time, you’ll find a few legendary anglers who filled extraordinary bags with just one fly, maybe two. Frank Sawyer and his pheasant tail nymph and grey goose come to mind (although he actually had 5 flies in all, including for lakes). Rim Chung and his RS2.
Magical flies or perfect technique, a mere mortal would question?
Truth is that it is a little of both. By doing 90% of all things perfectly you cannot catch 90% of the fish in a river. Only by doing 100% perfectly will you achieve that kind of success.
Sawyer could average 20 trout an hour on just two flies, one in brown, the other in grey, in a variety of sizes, or even more on grayling for that matter on his Killer Bug. I have seen Rim have these banner days as well on public stretches with wild trout here in the West.
The wonderful part of many of these flies are that they are very simple to tie, just some pheasant tail and wire, or yarn and wire, or sewing thread on a hook, in the case of a Yong Special. So how can such a simple fly be so effective?
So what’s the secret? Perfection of a single technique and fly, in the hands of experts in presentation. Light lines, small flies, tied well and fished without drag, over finicky trout. Flies that are more a semblance of a midge or mayfly nymph with good segmentation. Simple but translucent bodies. Thin, elegant tapering of the fly bodies. Putting the fly where the fish are at, without drag. Exceeding concentration and strike detection. Excellent control of the fish once the hook is set, so as to minimize spooking of other fish nearby.
