Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

The behaviors of trout can be infuriating at times.  They might refuse your best imitations during a hatch but at the same time inhale some ugly concoc­tion of fur and feather that looks more like a hairball than an insect.  You might catch dozens of trout on a bright, sunny, lifeless afternoon, but next day – same time, same place – you get skunked when the weather is wonderfully overcast and may­flies emerge endlessly.  Those ob­jects of our atten­tion – the ones with the pea-sized brains – are hard to un­derstand.  But who are we to second guess the mind of a trout?  The best we can do is ex­periment with fly patterns and allow trout to tell us what they like.  Such is the case with three of the unlikeliest of classic flies” the variants, spiders, and skaters.  These flies may not look like any in­sects you’ve seen, but the angling litera­ture is full of testi­monials to their un­canny ability to enrage trout. Read More