Are you ready for some “Footballs”?
By Bryan C. Meck When I moved up to Rochester, NY in 1996 I thought my serious fishing days would be limited to my trips out west and back to Pennsylvania. As you have read from my article last September I was wrong. After I realized my fishing could be very successful I thought I would have to throw heavy streamers and glow bugs. I could live with this, but it was not my ideal kind of fishing. I read an article in Fly Fisherman a year ago and it described the type of fishing I am about to tell you about as “spark plug” fishing. The author obviously was placing his negative slant on the type of Fly-Fishing that was being performed. Hopefully, after this article you will see how “spark plug” fishing can really fire up your success. ![]() Bill and Michelle Mingarelle visit Western New York every year during the fall and Bill regularly catches large browns in all water conditions. Bill is one of the best Fly-Fishermen at fishing low water conditions. He uses very small light yellow glo-bugs for his successes. His attitude is if you think you have made your glo-bug small, cut it again and make it smaller. I have seen Bill and Michelle both catch fish when the stream conditions made it more like July rather than late October or early November. The Pattern I, as stated earlier, usually use a heavy scud type hook in size 6-12. I put a Tungsten bead on the hook, small side first when threading the bead on the hook. I then wind 10 – 20 wraps of .015-.020 lead weight on the hook. Then I tie in the dubbing material. I really like to use Squirrel Brite, which is like Rabbit fur with strands of Crystal Flash within the material. I whip finish the fly and dab a little cement on the head and that’s it. Honestly, you can tie one in only a couple of minutes. Not quite as easy as the Zebra Midge, but close! Hopefully you can get a chance to fish for some of Western New York’s fine lake run trout. Remember, the conditions can change in a few hours, so call your local shop for the most up to date conditions. While morning and evening usually are the best times, you can catch fish throughout the day so don’t give up. You may go hours without a strike and then hook up with four fish in an hour – it can really vary. Finally remember that these footballs will also lay their eggs in the fall. While the Salmon will lay their eggs and die, the Brown Trout will return to the lake to come back again. If you release your catch you will do your part to improve the quality of our fishery. |
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