Fall Fly Fishing’s Top 5 Flies (in Maine). And A Fabulous Underground Contest

Fly fishing in Maine is pretty damned different from fly fishing here in the mountains of Northern California, but a “Top 5 Flies for Fall” article from Maine fascinates me anyway.

Sure, in this list from the Kennebec Journal, two of the top five flies are streamers (not very common out here, but maybe they should be). Still it’s fun reading. My favorite of the five flies? The Montreal Whore:

MONTREAL WHORE: Like the Wood Special, this is another bright attractor streamer fly that garners plenty of attention for its, um, color…. Holt continues and offers up the Montreal Whore. “When the local pastor comes in, he always asks for the Montreal ‘Concubine,’ ” Holt says, smiling. “But, like the name says, it’s flashy and full of action.

The Contest: Win Fabulous Prizes

My Top 5 Flies for Fall on the Upper Sacramento would be a less thrilling read: October Caddis dry and nymph, BWO parachute, BWO emerger, and… well, something else. Effective for sure, but they lack the ring of “Montreal Whore” or the “Peacock Bugmeister.”

That’s why I’ve decided to give the Dying October Caddis pattern I tie — the one I mentioned in a previous article (elk hair underbody) — a catchy, attention-grabbing name. That’s where you come in.

A survivor from last year. Elk underbody, hackle collar, splayed wing.

You come up with a catchy, can’t-be-forgotten name, place it in the comments section, and the winning writer (judged by the L&T Nancy and myself) receives my review copy of Mark D. Williams’ “So Many Fish, So Little Time” — a book whose writing I liked a lot, though I felt it tried to cover too much ground.

Win this Fabulous Prize.

I know exactly what you’re thinking: “Won’t I have to report a prize this valuable on my tax return?” Our answer? It’s not our problem (Expert Legal Opinion: it’s a long book, and should last through most of your prison sentence).

Contest rules? Immediate disqualification for Shasta Whore, or almost any variation thereof (this won’t stop a few of the regulars, but it had to be said).

Fire away, you literate bastards. See you at the judge’s table, Tom Chandler.

UPDATE: When I tie more of whatever this ends up being called, I’m using some of this stuff.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Singlebarbed tied a variant of the thing using his sparkly, Holloywood-style dubbing:

[tags]fly fishing, flies, maine, october caddis[/tags]