The Chubby Lady

I floated from Windy to Mac yesterday and Windy to Story the day before.  I am now tired of the Lyons crowd and since I met my clients yesterday a little later, at Lyons, I could not stomack putting in with 20 some odd other fishing guides.  If you get there early, say around 8 am, the lot at Lyons will be empty.  If you get there around 9 am, it will feel something like the lot at Phish show back in the late 90′s….. anglers spinning around with excitement, kids bouncing around the lot eating granola, the smell of sage flowing in the air and some dirty hippies sitting on a tail gate drinking at 10 am.  I used to enjoy that scene……when I was 19. 

The fly above is something I came up with about two nights ago sitting at the bench and needing a new hopper.  Fat Albert works, but most clients are having a tougher time seeing it.  It seems the folks at MT Fly Company are tying these with too small of a white wing making it hard to see for anglers.  And to boot, the indicator tab is tan.  TAN?  How about yellow or orange or white?  The Chubby Chernoble works well, but gets fished by a ton of  other guides on the Madison.  It is however, visible to everyone in all light conditions.  Super important in my book.  Gould’s Western Lady works pretty well too, but I hate buying flies……..so….the Chubby Lady is what I came up with.  It is a combination of these three flies, some whiskey and my imagination.  Can I claim it as mine?  Well, kinda.  My patterns have evolved from using other patterns and making them more simple to tie, durable, and fishy.  I tie the Chubby Lady in pink, yellow and light olive.  The light olive works well for the nocturnal stone as well as a hopper. 

The last two weeks of guiding have been fabulous.  Great clients, periods of great fishing (not ramp to ramp, but good) and beautiful weather.  Sure there are slow periods during the day, but if you make the most of  when the trout bite, then you will have a great day on the Madison.  True sportsman know their abilities and understand what mother nature deals their way.  When a fish rises to eat their fly and they miss it, no big deal.  False cast, reach cast, do it again.  When the fish aren’t eating because of high sun or shallow water, no big deal.  Some of them sit back, crack a beer, smoke a smoke, take some pics and enjoy the view.  Others keep fishing hard and making their drifts count so that when the trout start biting again they are still on their game.  My clients yesterday, Rick and Lawerence, are the kind of guys who know what it is all about.  They are saltwater anlgers and get it.  They are new to trout fishing, but ask the right questions to learn what goes on in my mind during the day.  They listen.  Very well.  They cast a tight loop and the north wind is no problem for them.  Thanks for making my job easy.