What do trout see when you throw a fly?

Fly-fisherman are a peculiar breed.  I can speak from experience.  My father and quite a few of his friends are fly-fishermen.  Always looking for the right pool, the hatch, the swirls of feeding fish, etc. has encompassed many of my days on this earth.  I watched my father throw a fly on a cold, snowy Montana afternoon as the lake started freezing over.  It made for a great memory and that last brook trout of the season made for a great dinner!  Now, I can also remember spending many hours in Bud Lilly’s Trout Shop and being in awe of all those flies.  It is unbelievable that people have the patience to sit and tie those flies in such a realistic pattern.  But the real question is, do the fish care? Steve Piatt gives us his opinion on what we really need to know to catch fish using hand-tied flies!

“I’m always amazed at today’s fly tiers who can create exact replicas of various insects – even the tiny ones that force them into size 22 and smaller patterns, the kind of flies I have a tough time tying on a tippet.”

“I’ve seen flies that are so realistic I expect them to fly away or skitter across the table. It’s incredible, the talent some of these tiers have.”

“But that doesn’t mean I fish those flies.”