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| Home Waters - Mary Maxam |
Sundays with Larry
I Wonder if
God Is a Fly Fisherman
One
third of the 12 disciples Jesus called were fishermen. Four of His miracles
involved fishing or the Sea of Galilee. He fed the multitudes twice with bread
and fish. He even cooked fish for His disciples for breakfast after His
resurrection. His liking fish and fishermen and His creation of aquatic insects
and trout make me think that God may have cast a Royal Coachman, an Adams, an
Irresistible, or a Woolly Bugger on a trout stream.
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| Royal Coachman |
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| Adams |
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| Irresistible |
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| Wooly Bugger |
How to use a Wooly Bugger when Fly Fishing
Aquatic
insects live almost all their life cycles in the water. Caddis flies, mayflies,
midges, and stone flies are the most common aquatic insects. Their eggs are
laid on the surface of the water. The eggs sink to the bottom and hatch. The
insects live in a pupa or larva stage for up a year or more on or near the
bottom of the stream. They eat tiny plant and animal debris serving as a living
filter for the stream. When they reach maturity, they ascend to the surface
where they shed their larval shucks and become adults. Large members of each
species mature at roughly the same time. They fly off the water and live in the
air for a day or so. Then they return to the water to deposit and fertilize
their eggs. After doing that, they die on the water.
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| Aquatic Insects |
These
insects provide food for trout in all stages of their life cycle. The pupa and
larva lose their hold on rocks and float downstream providing good pickings for
the trout. Trout even prospect for them by rooting around and moving rocks on
the stream bed dislodging them. Trout in heavily fished streams have been
sighted following closely behind fishermen wading upstream. Their waders
disturb the stream bed, dislodging the larva.
Fly
fishermen use nymphs and wet flies, flies tied to imitate the larva, to attract
trout. More trout are probably caught on nymphs than any other type of pattern.
When
the larva reach the surface, they are trapped by surface tension. While
suspended at the surface, they make an easy meal for trout. Fishermen use patterns
called emergers to attract those trout.
The
larva shed their larval shuck after breaking the surface tension and emerge as
adults. But they cannot fly immediately. It takes a few minutes for their wings
to dry enough to support their weight – another easy meal for trout. Seeing
thousands of them floating down stream is awesome. The trout get crazy,
striking with abandon. They seem to lose all their wariness.
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| Trout Stream - Unknown |
Fly fishermen get even more crazy.
They can’t thread the guides of their rod, they drop and spill fly boxes, they
cannot tie a knot, and they puncture their fingers with hooks. Flies used at
this stage are called duns. They are tied to imitate the size, color, and
species of insect. That is called matching the hatch. The promised land for a
fly fisherman is discovering a huge hatch and matching it, preferably with a
fly he tied. That’s as good as it gets.
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| Fly Fisherman - Mary Maxam |
The
insects live in the air for a day or so. Then they lay their eggs on the water
and die. The dead and dying insects provide another smorgasbord for trout. The
fly used then is called a spinner.
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| Joe's Flies Super Strikers Spinner Fly |
God
could have created insects that live their entire life cycle in the water. They
could have served as a filter to clean the stream and provide a reliable food
supply for the trout. So why did He complicate matters so much by having them
come to the surface, float downstream helplessly, fly off the water, and then
return to the water to float helplessly downstream? Only reason I can think of is to bless fly
fishermen. I’d sure love to look inside His fly box! Or maybe borrow one of His
favorite patterns!
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| Fly Fishing Catch - Mary Maxam |
