First Impressions

You never get a second chance to make that first one.  Several weeks ago, browsing the web looking at materials and flies, I stumbled onto Hareline's new Ripple Ice Fiber.  This stuff was hot.  I immediately saw this as a material that could potentially take the place of Orvis Sparkle Hair flash as the primary ingredient in my favorite streamer, the Murdich Minnow.  What I love about the Sparkle Hair is how "krinkly" the flash appears, allowing for the appearance of bulk without a lot of material, combined with the intense flashy effect.  I somehow managed to forget about wanting to try the Ripple Ice Fiber until recently, and now that I have it, I'm solidly hooked.  A little goes a long way with this material and it's intensely flashy.  It's a perfect match for the Murdich, which is not a subtle streamer.  I first tied a few smaller Murdich's with the new flash in a size 6, my favorite size for small stream bass and crappie fishing.

Next on the idea list was to experiment with a deeper Murdich design.  I wanted it lightly weighted, but weighted enough to reach deeper than the top foot of the water column where the unweighted version excels.  I opted for a size 6 30* jig hook and a set of extra small dumbbells.  I obviously inverted the pattern to ride point-up.  The other slight change I made was to use Ice Dub in the body of this version instead of the customary Ice Chenille or Estaz.  I liked the effect and result, and went to bed last night hoping for a field test soon.

That chance was to come much quicker than expected.  My wife cancelled lunch plans on me due to the weather.  A steady rain was going to make eating with our young son outside a bad option.  Luckily for me, having gear in my Jeep and being prepared offered me the chance to fish over my lunch break instead.  I studied the radar situation, which didn't look good.

It appeared there was a slight break coming in the rain, and the USGS online gauge for the river still showed a very good level.  I took the chance and went for it.  As the old basketball saying goes, you don't make 100% of the shots you don't take.  I got wet, I got cold, and I also had a pretty good 45 minute test for the new fly.

Ironically, I seldom catch many spotted bass in this stretch of water, but that's the intended target of the streamer design I was testing.  We find a lot of nice spots in smaller creeks in my area, and I thought this pattern would be perfect for them.  I managed to catch 4 spots in just about 45 minutes of fishing.  Not too bad for a last minute change of plans and roughing out the weather.  And who says trout are the only fish with pretty markings?