Oregon? Polly Rosborough?

[DOUGSDEN]

Very interesting thread fellows! I am enjoying it very much! Especially Polly's thoughts on fly size! I don't feel so bad now! My nymphs in particular tend to be quite large!
Doug

[Mike62]

I tend to agree with Bill.
One thing I would like to add to this discussion is that Polly had a philosophy about nymph sizes . Polly believed that the nymph is always Twenty percent larger than the adult. He also states that “ as we drop down the scale in sizes the disparity grows tremendously. When we reach the Diptera and Chironomids we find the larva a 3XL # 14, the pupa a regular length shank # 12 and the adult an # 18 or #20, but still we keep right on tying the Pupa for this one on a #20 or a #22 and then wonder why we have such lousy luck during a big tailing rise”

Lou

I have to go back and reread my Polly; apparently I'm not good at the whole 'comprehension' thing. I am guilty, guilty as sin, when it comes to being 'that guy' who keeps right on tying down into the 20's. Tying it so much larger just seemed counter-intuitive to me; I should have listened to my betters.

But, ...now that the scales have fallen from my eyes, it will be a pleasure to tie on larger hooks; my eyesight ain't what it used to be.

[Old Hat]

Polly's home water was the Williamson River which runs into Upper Klamath Lake. Klamath Lake raises large trout. It is very productive and has both Redband Rainbows and genetics of landlocked Steelhead from when they dammed the Klamath River (which they are removing, yeah!). I have fished the Williamson a few times when I lived in Bend, Oregon. It is beautiful and productive as well. Most of the very big fish that are in the Williamson have migrated into the lower river from Klamath Lake which is quite shallow. It heats up in the eastern Oregon sun in the summer so the fish move into the Williamson. I would assume some of the fish food moves into the lower reaches as well for the same reason. Bugs are a bit bigger here. I don't know why. Not as big as Polly ties but he was after the big trout. Some of Polly's flies are tied on large hooks but the effective size of the fly is smaller. It could be the trout are taking his big flies for something other than insects as well. Many people fish the Williamson with baitfish and leech patterns. Klamath Lake is well known for its big "scuds" and famous for its chironomid fishing. This is where Denny Rickards made his name. Most of his patterns range a bit larger in the #6-#12 size for scuds, chironomids and emergers. The Williamson does have a big Hex hatch which is not common at all in Oregon. As you probably know these are very big mayflies.

[Roadkill]

As usual I keep tying from bug to bug as I find them.

On the Crooked River, a size #18 dark caddis dry is sometimes the must have fly.

Closer to Idaho, on the Owyhee River (also noted for some big fish) the Midge Magic pupa that worked magic for me were tied on a #18 Mustad 3906B. My size 22 Tricos males were another hit but I wished I had some 24s as well. One size doesn't fit all, that's why we keep tying them.

[Variant]

Another big mayfly hatch on the Williamson is the Black drake mayfly . Polly tied the nymph on a size 10 3XL hook.
He also tied the spinner version on a slightly smaller hook.
A friend of mine guides on the Williamson river and it seems many fish are now caught on hybrid seal bugger patterns on trout Spey rods. One other thing after fishing the black drake spinner fall on the Williamson I can attest to the size of the mosquitoes , they are also much larger than normal!

Lou