I recently ventured over to Central Oregon to fish some favorite lakes. I had fished them before so I had a fair understanding of the insects and ‘planned’ accordingly. Weather was perfect, some of the insects were there and to some degree the fish cooperated according to my plan.

I had planned for Damsels and Chrionomids. I caught fish with these patterns, especially in the mornings. The Damsel dry was the most fun. But, the responses were confined to morning and late evening for the most part. Mid day they produced little. (SwittersB)

I had tied up some Rufus Woolly Bugger patterns and anticipated that pronounced marabou wing enticingly fluttering on the decent. It caught fish, but not as I had figured. I retrieved it much like I do other Buggers and envisioned the draw/drop and how the wing and tail would pulse. Yet, I expected more from it. A black Elk Hair Caddis was a successful evening pattern along the edges, but it seemed to match the amount of Caddis I saw, which were less than I figured. No Hex hatch, no Callibaetis, Scuds didn’t produce once, nothing to small nymphs slowly worked along the weeds. 

No, dare I say it…I resisted, honest I did, but the two silly flies below were magical…absurdly magical..and I could not match their success with any of my other usually powerful standbys (like the Little Fort Leech or the Kaufmann Dragon). So, I gave into what was the catnip…two green marabou laden patterns that were fished until they were shredded.

The Catnip…the over achievers. Simple but silly effective.
One from last time, and this time. A well tied fly gave up the ghost after a dozen or so maulings. Was it the green, the materials, the presentation, the silhouette, the similar food sources? Fun to contemplate this Winter. In the mean time more supplies need to be replenished.

 So, from prior experiences I formed a comfortable, likely plan of action with a nice dose of experimentation/anticipation. Things were not turning out according to my plan, but I adapted back to some dependables and it worked…this time.