Knouff Lake Special

[ScottP]

A B.C. stillwater pattern, supposedly a caddis imitation; original calls for chenille body, I swapped in ostrich. Another fly that shares some DNA with the Carey Special.


hook - Mustad 79580 #6
underbody - non-tox .025 (optional)
thread - Danville 6/0 black
rib - floss yellow
tail - golden pheasant tippet
body - ostrich herl
hackle - pheasant rump


Regards,
Scott

[letumgo]

Nice substitution with the herl. That is a dandy fishing fly. I'll be adding some of these to my spring bass box. They will be fun to fish on my Tenkara rod.

Inspiring, as always Scott.

[zen leecher]

Nice to see a BC pattern. I haven't fished Knouff but have fished lakes in the region.

Here's a bit of history on the reason for the pattern. I clipped it from the web.

Knouff Lake is a pretty lake lying about an hours drive in the ranching country north and a little east of Kamloops, BC. It was one of the many barren lakes in the Kamloops plateau country around the turn of the 20th century, without fish but loaded with aquatic insects, especially large traveling sedges. In the spring of 1917, local ranchers decided to transport a few spawning rainbow trout captured from a Paul Lake stream. This rather innocuous act was not forgotten and exactly three years later, a group of fly fishermen descended on the lake, not really knowing what to expect. The fishing they experienced was beyond their wildest imagination as many large trout were landed that day, the biggest weighing in at an astonishing 17 pounds! Knouff Lake soon became known as a fishermen's paradise for landing large rainbows on a dry fly, thanks to the proliferation of those huge traveling sedges. A wet fly was also developed to imitate the sedge pupa during periods when the sedges were not hatching. It was called the Knouff Lake Special and this month we will look at my version of this famous wet fly.

[letumgo]

Bill - Thank you for adding the history of Knouff Lake. I enjoyed reading the backround.

[zen leecher]

If I'm correct, Scott tied this pattern on a 4xl #6 hook. The nymphs are big and the adults are just one size smaller. When the fish are after the adults skittering across the lake surface, hence the name "traveling sedge" they slash at the adults and leave a wash tub sized riseform. They aren't dainty and either a healthy sized leader or a light hookset are needed. I've broke 6 lb test leaders on the strike. One usually points the rod at the fly and slowly strips it across the surface similar to the skittering fly. A friend of mine landed a 9 lb fish on a dry sedge during one of these hatches on Sheridan Lake which is further NW of Knouff.

I've caught trout on the Knouff Lake Special and other sedge pupa in the 4 lb range. Puts a bend in your rod down to the handle and shows you the backing knot.

[William Anderson]

Still water fly fishing continues to elude me, but your patterns always look like they would be fun to fish and I can certainly see where this one would get lots of attention. Nice fly.

Bill, thanks for the background. I learn something new from you guys every single day.

w