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Fishing Tips:
FROM
HIMSELF!
FOR BETTER FLY FISHING
RESULTS WITH FLIES
DRY FLY PLACEMENT
Question: I have a hard time attracting fish
to my dry fly presentation where there are a lot
of dead/dying flies on the water’s surface.
What can I do to improve this?
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Answer: When working a lake’s
surface where hoards of natural
flies litter the surface, attempt to
pick an open space between the
crowds of fly carcasses. Drop your
artificial dry fly directly in the
middle of the opening, allow it to
set for a considerable length of time
without moving it, then twitch it
ever-so-slightly. Continue to allow
it to lie still giving it a soft twitch
every ten seconds or so. This
presentation should draw attention.
Question: I have trouble presenting a dry fly on the surface of running water. It
always gets dragged under and I seldom take fish. What can I do to correct this?
Answer: Direct your cast upstream, hold your rod tip high and strip slack fly
line in as fast as it becomes dormant. Give your artificial fly no action letting it
drift without movement in tune with the current flow.
Question: My friend is an expert fly angler and always produces more trout on
your father’s, Don Gapen’s, Original Muddler Fly. Can you give me some tips on
how I should work that marvelous fly?
Answer: The Muddler created by my Father in 1936 is a very versatile fly. It can
be used as a dry fly, a nymph or a minnow imitator.
The original muddler
sculpin minnow
The Muddler as a Dry Fly: The Muddler easily imitates a grasshopper
when float dubbing is applied. My trick is to spray the Muddler with silicone
GAPEN’S
Better Fly Fishing with Flies
(continued)
boot spray the day before I use it, allow it to dry overnight and pick a stream or
lake where hoppers have become the main food that trout are feeding on. Fish
the Muddler as you would present a dry fly.
as a a floater
The Muddler as a Nymph: Select a weighted
Muddler pattern, the ones Gapen’s tie with red
thread, and make your approach as you would
using any nymph. The great thing about the
weighted Muddler is that it sinks slowly like the
settling motion of a dead fly larva.
If you don’t have a weighted Muddler there’s an easy way to see it sink properly
beneath the surface. Gather some saliva in your mouth, place the spun deer hair
head of the Muddler in your mouth, wet it, then press down with your teeth on the
spun deer hair. This act presses the air from the deer hair and weights it with wet
saliva, causing an immediate ‘sink’ as it strikes water surface.
To add enticement to your Muddler nymph allow it to sink to the count of 5,
then strip 6 inches of line, causing it to reach for surface. Repeat this process until
you strike fish.
Another suggestion regarding the use of a Muddler fly as a nymph: Gapen’s
produces this fly in sizes as small as size #14. Use the small sizes up to #8 to
represent a natural nymph.
Another thought: Gapen’s also makes their Original Muddler in a beaded
style. Try these if you fail to connect with a straight fly. As they always do, beadweighted
flies produce a more erratic action when stripped through the water, an
action which is often needed to attract aggressive fish.
The Muddler as a streamer fly: The angler is advised to use the larger
flies in a weighted style. With the fly sunk beneath the surface, a series of
foot-long strips on the line will create the action needed to entice your
targeted species. If there are no weighted models in your fly box, employ the
saliva-wetting of the spun deer hair head as you would when using the
Muddler as a nymph.
SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE
ORIGINAL MUDDLER FLY
The Muddler when Semi-Submerged: The
semi-submerged
angler can use what we call the floater Muddler Fly, the
one acting as a crippled minnow on surface but
allowing the fly to sink partially into the water and dragging its retrieve in short
FFi is sh h G aap pe en n ’ s’ s
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