Jim Craig and three others sent us this report on their successful trip to Maramec Spring park. Looks like an old fly has reared it’s ugly head again!

We knew the day would start cold, but it was forecasted to warm into the 40’s.  Rick Doerr, Alex Zambrano, Scott Payne and Jim Craig headed for Maramec Spring Park today (1-15-19).  We arrived just before the whistle and had the park to ourselves until late morning.   Only a few other fishermen showed for the rest of the day.   It was our park.

The morning started fast, but then the fishing became spotty until lunch. The best flies were the olive leach, the abomination, the pheasant tail nymph, and the next fly I am about to describe.  Alex had the best morning.  At lunch he showed us this ugly, white, fleshy fly that was working for him.  But, he could not name it.   Fueled and rejuvenated, we finished lunch and went back to the Spring with renewed optimism.  But, things were still spotty for us, except for Alex.  He was killing it.

After a while, I guess he got tired of catching fish because he started walking down the river to visit with each of us as we fished.  As he stopped, he gave each of us one of those ugly flies.  That’s when I realized it was a chamois fly!  But, Alex had cut the material so it had multiple appendages before he tied it to the hook. That’s where the “ugly” came from.  To the fish, they were a delicacy.  As we each began to fish with this fly, the action turned hot!  Everyone probably doubled his catch with this one fly.  It is officially called a “3 Tail Chamois Worm.”

While the temperature never reached 40 degrees and the sun never came out, we had a great day of fishing and fellowship that helped us shake off the chill.  We finished the day with a fellowship dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Nopal.  Wow, what more could we ask for?