A lady’s luck

“ The more things change, the more they remain

the same.”

—Alphonse Karr

The evening of June 11, my best fishing buddy and I decided to fish up on the Willowemoc Creek. There is one section of this pretty little river that has become our favorite area. On this trip, we would be sharing the slick little seven-and-one-half foot, three-weight bamboo rod made for us by our Japanese friend Kumakirri. Barbara Ann has always had a curious ability to find trout and beguile them into eating the fly she has chosen. Since Barb had not been able to fish for 11 months, due to her prolonged battle to overcome chronic myeloid leukemia, it would not have been surprising if she failed to charm a fish on this occasion. Upon reaching the pool we wished to fish, she elected to tie on a small number 16 orange ant. It took one minute and four casts for the little lady to take her first trout of 2008.

“OK,” said she, “now it’s your turn.” On her second chance to use the rod she hooked and brought to hand a fat 13-inch brown trout. Oh boy, look out trout, “ole Mack is back in town.” Mr. Alphonse Karr will never know how right he was.

In order to save some shred of my dignity, I absolutely refuse to divulge how many hundreds of casts it took for me to take my first trout of the year. I will point out that I hooked a very nice trout later that evening. Unfortunately, in my haste to tie on a fresh orange ant, I used only two turns of very fine tippet material when I tied the surgeon’s knot, which holds the fly on the leader. After several strong runs, my trout succeeded in pulling the too tiny surgeon’s knot through the eye of the hook. Away he went, wearing an orange ant in his jaw. An imagined conversation in that pool later in the evening might have been this between two trout.

“Hey buddy, where did you get that poorly tied fly you are wearing?”

“A kindly old fisherman gave it to me. I look quite fashionable, don’t you think?”

OK, enough with the anthropomorphism already. The following week, further up on the same stream, two brook trout and two browns fell for the same little orange ant. Some anglers might raise their eyebrows at the thought of using an orange ant. Years ago, Harry Darbee had suggested I tie some ants in that color. If this suggestion had come from anyone other than Mr. Darbee, I would have ignored it. He assured me that not only would trout eat such a fly, it would also be highly visible on the water. Only a fool would fail to heed the advice of Harry Darbee. Every time a trout eats an orange ant I raise my eyes high and murmur, “thanks, Harry.”

I tie this fly in sizes 14, 16 and 18. For the abdomen and thorax, I use dyed orange rabbit or polypropylene. A few turns of grizzly hackle amidships, clipped on the bottom and you have a killing pattern. A word of caution: when tying size 18s, be careful not to use too much material, which will result in closing the hook gape. Even when a trout takes the fly, you will not hook them.

This week’s quiz question has been submitted by “Split” Kane. He is the cousin of Willy Landem, my Texas fishing buddy. A. J. McClane was one of the finest fishermen and writers of the 20th century. What do the initials stand for? You may answer to PO Box 103, Hankins, NY 12741 or phone the answer in. The first three correct answers received will be sent a poorly tied orange ant.