Good Morning Sir Matt, The Best Story yet 👍thanks for for sharing that is awesome to here and to Top it off the fly that hook the fish and I'm guessing probably you too. Amazing ty this morning a cheers my friend. Keep it coming. I love this channel it's the BEST. 💯😁👍
Thanks Edward! It's hard to believe you've been with me so long, watching everything and always cheering me on. It's really appreciated my friend. It helps keep me going. :-)
Good morning Matt. These are the videos that make your channel different and very enjoyable. You’re not just tying a fly. Take care my friend. It’s time for another ☕️.
Thanks for sharing that story Matt. Took me a year for that magic connection to my first trout happened new years day 2022. Looking forward to me 2nd, 3rd, 4th............LOL You see where I'm going with this...LOL I'll be tying these up tonight, hope to do you proud. Figure I'll tie down from 12-18 and see how my proportions come out. Should be fun. :-) Have a great day my friend!
Welcome to the club! Everyone remembers their first lol. Mine was February 1 2020. It was cold, spitting sleet and snow and I was all alone below the Dale Hollow Trout Hatchery in Tennessee. I had been fishing for maybe a hour with no luck, not even a look from a fish. I tied on a size 16 brassie and made a half hearted cast, drifted through a pool then hooked into a fish! The fight was nothing like I've seen or felt before, I coaxed the fish into the net and fumbled for my phone to take a picture. Shaking from all the excitement, I think back to all the nights at the vice attempting elaborate patterns thinking "this one will definitely get a monster!" Only to tie simple patterns afterwards for "just in case". I took one last look at the fish before releasing it, I had a moment of realization that simple is often better, after all I did just land a fish with just a little bit of copper wire and a small amount of dubbing. Now just about all my boxes have at least a few brassies in them, for those "just in case" moments. And when I run into those moments where I find myself tying on a size 16 copper brassie, I think back to that day, the cold air, the snow and sleet falling and bouncing off the rocks around the stream, the smell of the water. But mostly I think of the fish, a nice healthy 11 1/2" rainbow, in the net after a good fight, just the two of us , alone.
@@slickydicky great story!!! 🎣🎣🐟. Thanks for the share. I guess it takes a special kind of crazy to be trout fishing in the middle of winter. LOL cuz it was snowing on my day out on the water when I caught my first one New Year's Day as well. LOL.
@@cheflexx778 yes it does take a certain kind of crazy lol in my opinion the trout fishing is better in the winter, I guess because the water inst as warm. We had a snow storm here just 5 days after you caught your fish, I got out before it hit and went back to the same stream. This time it was snowing alot harder and heavier. But I caught several nice trout. I did hook into one that could have easily measured 20". Unfortunately I lost it shortly into the fight.
Another great story Matt, i can remember my first fly set up and i actually think i took it to bed with me for a few weeks! i was young ;-) great fly again
@@SavageFlies mines was from my granny after she died, I never knew they fished. An old glass rod you could tie in a knot if you wanted, a total noodle! It was that horrible brown colour that all early glass fly rods were so I stripped it all down and painted it black. It was that soft you couldn't really fish with it or I couldn't anyway, my casting was self taught and very basic and I didn't have a clue about line weights and leaders but I loved it and I learned, it started me off and I am thankful for that 😉
Good story, Matt! Mine is kinda similar. I have been flyfishing now for about 10 years, and in all that time, I have not seen a trout. In fact, I haven’t seen a trout in nearly 60 years. All of the waxing poetic about rivers, and riffles, and trout means little to me, except in the abstract. BUT - I remember the first fly I ever caught a fish on like it was yesterday. I had inherited my dad‘s fishing gear, and was rummaging through, when I spotted a fly box in the pile. In it was an assortment of tattered, age-worn flies, many of which had lost their dressing. But one stuck out - because it had some little antennas on it. That’s all I knew at the time... strange looking fly with antenna. But, I knew that these things were intended to catch fish and I had a pond at my neighbors house, and it had fish in it…. So, I tied that weird little fly on the line, attached to a long telescoping crappie pole. I whipped it out into the water as best I could, and… Lo and behold! A fish took it and I had caught my first fish on a fly. A fat bluegill, as you might expect. Later, I learned that the fly was a G&H Sedge, a little deer hair and hackle creation crafted by some unknown fly tyer in the past. This led me to research and learn that bluegill and trout eat the same things. That elevated the lowly bluegill into high esteem… and launched my love a fly fishing, and particularly bluegill on the fly. David
What a great story David. I'll always have fond memories of farm pond bluegills with the occasional bass coming up for the foam-bodied, rubber-legged no-name fly. And catching them before I even knew how to cast. Oh man, just thinking about it makes me want to go out and chase some tomorrow. Thanks for the note my friend. :-)
Hi Matt.Great story and fly.I fish a lot of caddis patterns,nymphs,emergers,and adult drys.When I lived in Ringo I worked with a guy at the Sportsman Warehouse called Top Gun.He interdused me to this creek and the cohatta game lands.I've seen the bridge and the mill.Below the mill I've seen different species of fish even gar.Caught some stockers there.You bring back memeries when I was in GA.Thanks for sharing.Dont go fishing without caddis patterns.Have a great week. Ken
Thanks Ken, and you just reminded me that there were longnosed gar in that water too! I always wanted to see one when I was bowfishing as these things could be 3-4 feet long. I only saw a few when I was fishing but never saw anybody catch (or shoot) one. Good memories though. :-)
Good morning Matt. Love the back story. As for me I am getting started much later in life. Been watching for years the guys up on Salmon River. Finally decided to give it a try. Thank god for me found your channel to help me learn to tie all these cool flies. Thank you for that sir. Have a great day.
I have to report I am a long time fisherman but was new to fly fishing in 2021. I finally got some free time and gave it a quick try for smallmouth tonight. I only brought 3 flies with me. I lost a north branch caddis in a tree and then dropped the other in the process of trying to tie it on. That left me with your turkey wing caddis. Amazingly, I caught two smallmouth and little largemouth bass on your fly before I was done. Caddis are juuuuuust starting to emerge here in Northern Illinois. Thanks for posting your instruction video. It paid off for me.
Wow Hawley, what a great story! Thank you for sharing it with us. And welcome to fly fishing my friend. I hope it gives you as much enjoyment as it has given me over the years. :-)
Good morning Matt! Just in time to watch a video before work! I love your story! I too watched a guy in Montana fly fishing years ago and was amazed at the beautiful movements of the cast. At the time I was out taking photos of wildlife and landscapes. I took several photos of him fishing and did a painting. But I didn’t start fly fishing till just last year. After I had started tying!
Small world Matt, I grew up near Praters Mill in Cohutta. Went to high school nearby. We use to put in a canoe on the other side of the road from the mill and float/fish down to Beaverdale Rd. This was one of my first confidence flies that I used in the Cohutta Wilderness to catch trout, loved it.
Hi Matt. I enjoy all your stories & history of the flies you are going to tie. But this story is by far the best one. Your Story 👍. Nice tie also , has always . Thanks
Good morning Matt. I really like your videos with a back ground story about the fly and fly fishing. I finally caught a small rainbow trout 2 weeks ago on a fly I ties. It was a great feeling. Keep sending out your videos. Have a great week.
That’s awesome Mark; congratulations! I remember all my other firsts as well. My first wild brown, first native brook trout. I still haven’t gotten my first pike, musky or steelhead yet though. 😁
Great back story, Matt. Mine...playing on shore watching my dad and a family friend slaying dinkers from a local lake...then the "big" one hit. About an 18" rainbow on a dry fly. Desire hit then, but doing was about four years later at 11. Been tying and fly fishing ever since...44 years ago...WOW, I am getting old. 😎 Thanks for sharing the inspiration.
You and me both Todd! There was nothing like worms or crickets and the old classic red and white hard plastic bobbers. Lots of good memories there too. :-)
Hi Matt. I enjoyed your story, takes me back a while to my similar story. You make it very comfortable for me to follow your ties. I will continue to watch, thank you sir.
Nice caddis and you made it look simple to tie! I like the tip on trimming the wing, it looks good the way it's sets. Keep up the great tutorials! God Bless n Fish on
Actually I didn’t do that yet Nich. This was the scraggliest feather I had left from an old pair. I’m going to wait and treat a pair when I get a nice new clean set. 😁
Another comment, I will be sharing your site with the members of our Church fly tying group for not only the patterns you share but for the tutorials on materials etc., Thanks again.
Yes it does Ryan. I always try to remind myself to count my blessings. The fact that we can fish, have the means and are healthy enough to do it means we’re really pretty fortunate. 👍
Love your story. yes. fly fishing done well is a joy to watch and do. I was attracted to it from early childhood. but only got to take it up late in life. I wish I had dome so decades ago. but as they say, better late than never. :-) Lovely caddis fly here. :-)
Thanks for sharing your story. It is pretty close to how I got interested in fly fishing although it was many years before I was able to get my hands on a fly rod. My first introduction to fly fishing a young boy 1968. My dad took me fishing to a stream that entered a lake in upper mid central Maine . ( Moxie pond ) My dad wasn't a fly fisherman in the sense. He did troll streamers a New England tradition. On this day we were spin fishing. We managed to catch a couple small Brookies. When I noticed a gentleman enter the stream above us and proceeded to cast his bamboo fly rod. Soon hooking into a nice Brookie. I stopped fishing and just watched him cast . I was mesmerized. I as a kid really wanted to try my hand at this what I felt was art in motion. But our family income wouldn't allow it. Fast forward to 1982 I joined the military and I while on leave to visit home. I went into LL Bean and was walking through the fishing department. They had a fly rod kit on sale. That day my fly fishing journey began. Self taught i was able to teach myself enough to start catching trout and once that happened I was hooked for life. My first trout an 8 inch Brook Trout caught on a black knat dry fly. My second fish a 16 inch landlocked salmon on the same fly.
That is a great memory Matt. By sharing your first memory of seeing a fly fisherman, it maybe easy to assume those of us listening to you, that it brought out our first memories of our fly fishing experience as well. Thanks for the trip down memory lane and our Prader's Mill.
I really enjoy your stories about the old flies. This one and the WW2 survival box flies was very interesting. I started with my Uncle's bamboo fly rod back in the 60s for bluegill and have enjoyed fly fishing and tying ever since. Thanks.
It's funny how so many of us have similar origin stories. Substitute a Pocono mountain stream and later absconding my father's fly rod collecting dust in the family garage and you got my starting point. For me, learning to fly fish was about being unique. Back in the '80's, hardly anyone was fly fishing for bass - my friend's and my favorite quarry at the time.
Great story Craig! It was pretty unique to fly fish for warm water fish back then. I even wrote a research paper in English class on "Fly fishing for panfish" way back then. :-)
Nice pattern Matt and a great story. I think every young man should come across an old guy with a plaid fishing hat and fly rod, for me that guy was my Dad. Fly fishing has taught me to slow down and be patient , those 2 things I can take with me off the river and out into the world. All the best and keep them coming.
That's a great lesson to take from it Peter. Every time I get out on the water, all my cares and worries melt away and I ask myself, "Why the heck don't I get out more?" I'm about overdue for a nice day on one of the Maryland streams. :-)
And I meant to add this earlier, but you do a phenomenal job of teaching, a great job of motivation, and are really someone that's easily relatable. You are a stellar individual and your commitment to growing the art of fly tying and fishing is highly commendable. Thank you I watch all of your videos most of the time more than once. Thank you you are appreciated
Wow, thanks Lucas! Comments like this are what keep me motivated to keep going. Now I need to get back to the bench for Saturday morning's video. It's going to be a fun name-the-fly contest. :-)
Very nice looking fly Matt I think I will do a few for my box with hen pheasant for the wing instead and maybe tie it as a wet fly thanks for the inspiration keep up the good work I look forward to your videos I don’t always comment but I do watch them all
Excellent tie Matt! I also like tieing and fishing different types and colors of caddis flys. Very fun. I like how you corrected the crowded head, we all do that from time to time. Many years ago i also wanted to learn to flyfish, so i bought a cheap rod and taught myself. I'm not an expert but i do good enough to catch a few. I like the question you asked, why do i flyfish? My answer is simple and the same. Because I can. Enjoyed the video. Thanks Matt and have a great day 😀.
Another nice fly Matt. I guess I'm lucky the guy that owned my house before me left me about a dozen or so turkey feathers that are just perfect for tying flies. Keep the good stuff coming.
Sweeet… love these simple patterns. Another similar and super easy pattern that I just came across recently after reading one of my fly books is the little black stonefly.
Good story and great looking fly Matt. Pretty close in style to one of my favorites, the Henryville Special. I don't remember my first successful dry fly for trout but the Special would be pretty close to the first - and also high on the list for the most trout landed.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane Matt! The history behind just about everything always fascinates me. My first trout on a fly rod was on the Waupaca River. I caught it on a Blue Dunn Dry Fly. Keep up the awesome videos.
Good morning Matt☕️☕️ Oh my gosh, I so enjoyed listening to your story. This is what makes connecting with people all about. Love the fly and I will need to try to set some wings. I would enjoy hearing more stories. Saturday evening fireside chat with Matt and friends 👍 PS still in NC and have not fished yet granddaughter has got me 😉
Hahaha! I hear you Jim. Thanks for the encouragement my friend. I’m trying out being more of a story teller so we’ll see how it goes. It does take a bit of extra work but you’re right, it makes it more personal. Thanks again for the note. Safe travels!
AWESOME story matt . i kind of started out fly tying like that was at lake roland fishing after a stocking and seen a older gentleman fly fishing and that started me fly tying but still have never fly fished yet still to this day i have a cheap little setup to use so hopefully this year every one says i am backwards because i started fly tying first but hey it is ok so shooting for this year..
Thanks Joe! You're certainly not the only one who started tying before fly fishing. It's unique sure, but some people are just drawn to the creative side of it and then want to get out on the water and try out what they made. Good luck my friend!
Good story Matt! I started fly tying first, then I got a fly rod. My family has always been avid fishers, not sure why I start fly tying first. I have always enjoyed making my own fish lures. I have just started to try and make wooden musky lures, well I'm on my first one, its coming along. I always look forward to your videos, keep up the good work!
Good morning Matt. What a beautiful area. The old mill definitely makes a picture worth a thousand words. While looking at that picture and listening to your story. You can almost hear and feel the surroundings. Those little trips back in time are priceless. Thank you for sharing this with all of us. For the fly you tied this morning, great job. I’d like to know how many fish have been caught through time with this one. Great video buddy. Thank you and have a great day.
Nice tie Matt, very cool story. We would have been buddies if we knew each other back in the day, sounds like me and my friends. I've fished and hunted a lot of places like that, arched bridges near the old mill, cobble stone property lines loaded with rabbits, squirrel or deer hunting in the creek valleys. Over grown orchards for grouse. Duck hunting when the fall rains flooded the fields around the creek, try not to fall in like my friends younger brother did when he stepped over the bank, thank God he didn't drown. Caught the fishing bug about the age of 8 on a family vacation at Old Forge NY. Think I got the idea from watching Our Gang or the Little Rascals, if fact I sort of looked like Spanky. I got a stick, some string, and a piece of fat on a safety pin my mother gave me. Fished for a while when a nice man gave me some mono and a hook and rigged my stick. I think he gave me a worm too. Before long I felt the "tug that's a drug" and caught a nice perch! 😲Then another! 😁I put them in a bucket and they had to curl their bodies to fit in it. I thought they were huge. Later in life my father laughed and told me it was a little toy bucket 😮💨Fast forward some 30 years, a decent fisherman, tier of flies and jigs, and learning more about fly fishing. I knew fish would take flies from watching perch suck in and spit out in a nano second a woolly worm I tied and a two inch bass ambush a three inch Royal Coachman streamer that I WISH I had tied. My first trout was on Carl Coleman's March Brown nymph that I tied fly fishing behind the KOA campgrounds on the Ausable in Wilmington NY. The first trout I caught on a dry fly was with a variant of Rosenbauer's Snowshoe Emerger, I tied it using grizzly hackle instead of CDC, which at the time had no idea what a "butt of the duck" feather was... except for the obvious, and is sort of north of it's butt. In fact I've never caught a trout on any of the few flies I've purchased. My biggest brown on a #12 grouse & orange, Hare's ear thorax. Another good brown on a #6 olive body and black tail/hackle wooly bugger, another on a #8 black marabou jig. Lots of browns on my favorite, the Zug Bug, in sizes 6, 8, and 10. Thanks Matt, you got my juices going with this one. 🤓👍Hope you have more like it.
What a great comment Joe! Fishing like Spanky and the Our Gang kids. I certainly remember watching that as a kid. :-) I never made a hook from a safety pin but made plenty of "rods" from saplings and sticks. Now you've got me excited about a trip to NY and pulling my truck into the KOA on the Ausable. Oh it's too cold right now... I need to get outside! Thanks for the note my friend. And yeah, we would have been buds back in the day. A yankee from New York and good ol' boy from Georgia. Doing the same things, just with different accents. :-)
Thanks so much for your story! I Really enjoyed hearing that. I’m going to tie and fish this in your honor. The ranch I manage has wild turkey on it..so unlimited feathers, just hard to make a match sometimes, but this fly folds the one.🙂 So glad you got into flyfishing and share your knowledge with us. Thanks again for everything Matt! Have a great one my friend. 👍👍🎣 Ps: (my first fish on fly I tied was small Guadalupe bass on olive woolly bugger..it literally changed my fishing world..and bank account.😂)
I hear that Charlie! I don’t know what I’d do with all the money I’d save if I didn’t fly fish and tie. I guess I’d have to take up golf. But then again, nope. Maybe big game hunting. 😁
Substitute the thread for orange hares ear for the body and cinnamon hen for the wing and you can call it Skues’s Little Red Sedge. One of my all time favourite flies. I usually tie mine on a 14 for my local river but 12 works too. Substitute a deer hair wing and it floats better and is a bit more durable.
Oh man, the old Fenwick fiberglass rods. I loved that eagle logo! I think you can still find some of them on Ebay. I haven't looked lately but I saw some when I was hoping to find a vintage bamboo rod. :-)
Absolutely Trent! This whole story was about fishing on Coahulla creek. I haven't been back in a few decades but it does have a special place in my heart. :-)
Nice. Ever tried wrapping the hackle back from the hook eye and then wrapping thread thru it back to the eye? Apart fromreinforcing the hackle it leaves a cleaner head. Saw it on You Tube somewhere.
Do you know where Dockery lake is in north Georgia? I caught my first trout there back in 1991. Went camping there every summer when we lived in Atlanta. I was a little young for a fly rod but I remember watching my dad and couldn't wait to try it.
I'd never heard of it so just looked it up. It's a good way from where I grew up in Dalton but not too far from the Blue Ridge Mountains where I have spent some time fishing. Cool story though. I'll bet you have some good memories from that place. Hard to believe 1991 was over 20 years ago! It seems like just yesterday. :-)
Nice and easy to follow directions. Liked the the background. I just read an article in American Fly Fishing magazine “In the Vice” by John E Woods on the “Trespasser Fly” Nov/Dec 2021 page 72. Could you do an instructional video on “How To” for the Trespasser? Thanks ahead of time. I would send you the article but I can’t upload it here.
Joseph- sorry I let this comment slip through the cracks! I used to subscribe to the now-defunct Eastern Fly Fishing, and only recently subscribed to the American version. So I haven't seen this fly (or this edition of the magazine). I'll look and see if I can find it online. If you can send it to me, my email is matt@savageflies.com. Thanks!
David- sorry I just saw this comment. Check out the Saber 7211. It's a 1x long, light nymph and dry fly hook. I use it for quite a few patterns. flyshack.com/DisplayItem.aspx?ItemID=102612
It's a shame you didn't run into that guy with the red and black hat again. Matt think of the people that have joined the fly fishing community through you because of a man you never met. Great story and fly. You just never know when some impressionistic youth is watching from a distance.
That’s a great take Richard. We never really know who we may be influencing on any given day. That’s a bit humbling but also makes me want to do better. Thanks for the comment; this was very insightful.
Do you have a shirt like the one you're wearing in this video for sale? I would like to buy one like that and I would like to have a hat more baseball style if you had one of those to offer? I want to support you in the great work you do by buying your merchandise but I just don't seem to care a lot for what you have on there right this minute. Help with what you have available?
Thanks Lucas; I appreciate the kind words and support. Unfortunately all I have is what's at savageflies.com. To put something for sale on the site I usually have to buy a minimum quantity or else they're quite expensive and I can't really afford to offer a lot of different styles. Like the Carhartt shirt in this video was probably $45 so I just haven't bought a bunch of these to put on the site. I do have some hoodie sweatshirts that just came in that I'll add to the store soon. They're simple plain gray ones with the logo embroidered.
Morning Matt, great story
Thanks Ricky! I appreciate you watching my friend. 👍
Matt that's close to my tent wing. The fish do love that fly
Cool John! Thanks for the note my friend. :-)
Good Morning Sir Matt, The Best Story yet 👍thanks for for sharing that is awesome to here and to Top it off the fly that hook the fish and I'm guessing probably you too.
Amazing ty this morning a cheers my friend. Keep it coming. I love this channel it's the BEST. 💯😁👍
Thanks Edward! It's hard to believe you've been with me so long, watching everything and always cheering me on. It's really appreciated my friend. It helps keep me going. :-)
@@SavageFlies 💯❤👍👌😁 friends always
Morning Matt. Like the fly, love the story
We’ll thank you Will! I appreciate you watching my friend. 👍
W O W,,,, WHAT A SUPER,,,👍 SUPER 👍,,, STORY AS WELL AS YOUR TYE,,,, WELL DONE AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR DEDICATION…… STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY…. TXS AGAIN…
You’re welcome EJ; I really appreciate the support my friend! 👍
Good morning Matt. These are the videos that make your channel different and very enjoyable. You’re not just tying a fly. Take care my friend. It’s time for another ☕️.
Thanks John I really appreciate you saying that. It means a lot hearing all this encouragement. 👍
Thanks for sharing that story Matt. Took me a year for that magic connection to my first trout happened new years day 2022. Looking forward to me 2nd, 3rd, 4th............LOL You see where I'm going with this...LOL I'll be tying these up tonight, hope to do you proud. Figure I'll tie down from 12-18 and see how my proportions come out. Should be fun. :-) Have a great day my friend!
Welcome to the club! Everyone remembers their first lol. Mine was February 1 2020. It was cold, spitting sleet and snow and I was all alone below the Dale Hollow Trout Hatchery in Tennessee. I had been fishing for maybe a hour with no luck, not even a look from a fish. I tied on a size 16 brassie and made a half hearted cast, drifted through a pool then hooked into a fish! The fight was nothing like I've seen or felt before, I coaxed the fish into the net and fumbled for my phone to take a picture. Shaking from all the excitement, I think back to all the nights at the vice attempting elaborate patterns thinking "this one will definitely get a monster!" Only to tie simple patterns afterwards for "just in case". I took one last look at the fish before releasing it, I had a moment of realization that simple is often better, after all I did just land a fish with just a little bit of copper wire and a small amount of dubbing. Now just about all my boxes have at least a few brassies in them, for those "just in case" moments. And when I run into those moments where I find myself tying on a size 16 copper brassie, I think back to that day, the cold air, the snow and sleet falling and bouncing off the rocks around the stream, the smell of the water. But mostly I think of the fish, a nice healthy 11 1/2" rainbow, in the net after a good fight, just the two of us , alone.
@@slickydicky great story!!! 🎣🎣🐟. Thanks for the share. I guess it takes a special kind of crazy to be trout fishing in the middle of winter. LOL cuz it was snowing on my day out on the water when I caught my first one New Year's Day as well. LOL.
@@cheflexx778 yes it does take a certain kind of crazy lol in my opinion the trout fishing is better in the winter, I guess because the water inst as warm. We had a snow storm here just 5 days after you caught your fish, I got out before it hit and went back to the same stream. This time it was snowing alot harder and heavier. But I caught several nice trout. I did hook into one that could have easily measured 20". Unfortunately I lost it shortly into the fight.
@@slickydicky That's awesome. Happy fishing!! 🎣🐟👍
I saw your pics on IG Alex. They look amazing!
Another great story Matt, i can remember my first fly set up and i actually think i took it to bed with me for a few weeks! i was young ;-) great fly again
Ha! I hung mine on the bedroom wall so I could look at it from bed. 😁
@@SavageFlies mines was from my granny after she died, I never knew they fished. An old glass rod you could tie in a knot if you wanted, a total noodle! It was that horrible brown colour that all early glass fly rods were so I stripped it all down and painted it black. It was that soft you couldn't really fish with it or I couldn't anyway, my casting was self taught and very basic and I didn't have a clue about line weights and leaders but I loved it and I learned, it started me off and I am thankful for that 😉
Great job Matt .... love the back story we all started off much the same.... my "ah ha" moment was on an Atlantic Salmon river
Thanks Michael, and oh man, I haven't had my "ah ha" moment with a salmon or steelhead yet. Someday my friend. Someday. :-)
Thanks Matt, great story, very nice looking dry fly, caddis, hopper. I like that pattern, I like the Palmered hackle.
Thanks Lee! I always appreciate you watching my friend. 👍
Good story, Matt! Mine is kinda similar.
I have been flyfishing now for about 10 years, and in all that time, I have not seen a trout.
In fact, I haven’t seen a trout in nearly 60 years.
All of the waxing poetic about rivers, and riffles, and trout means little to me, except in the abstract.
BUT - I remember the first fly I ever caught a fish on like it was yesterday.
I had inherited my dad‘s fishing gear, and was rummaging through, when I spotted a fly box in the pile.
In it was an assortment of tattered, age-worn flies, many of which had lost their dressing.
But one stuck out - because it had some little antennas on it.
That’s all I knew at the time... strange looking fly with antenna.
But, I knew that these things were intended to catch fish and I had a pond at my neighbors house, and it had fish in it….
So, I tied that weird little fly on the line, attached to a long telescoping crappie pole.
I whipped it out into the water as best I could, and…
Lo and behold! A fish took it and I had caught my first fish on a fly.
A fat bluegill, as you might expect.
Later, I learned that the fly was a G&H Sedge, a little deer hair and hackle creation crafted by some unknown fly tyer in the past.
This led me to research and learn that bluegill and trout eat the same things.
That elevated the lowly bluegill into high esteem… and launched my love a fly fishing, and particularly bluegill on the fly.
David
What a great story David. I'll always have fond memories of farm pond bluegills with the occasional bass coming up for the foam-bodied, rubber-legged no-name fly. And catching them before I even knew how to cast. Oh man, just thinking about it makes me want to go out and chase some tomorrow. Thanks for the note my friend. :-)
Good stuff, Matt. Coincidentally, that is the first caddis pattern I ever used to catch a trout!
Thanks Jim! That’s cool to hear. And I’ll bet it was plenty of other folks first as well. 😁
Hi Matt.Great story and fly.I fish a lot of caddis patterns,nymphs,emergers,and adult drys.When I lived in Ringo I worked with a guy at the Sportsman Warehouse called Top Gun.He interdused me to this creek and the cohatta game lands.I've seen the bridge and the mill.Below the mill I've seen different species of fish even gar.Caught some stockers there.You bring back memeries when I was in GA.Thanks for sharing.Dont go fishing without caddis patterns.Have a great week. Ken
Thanks Ken, and you just reminded me that there were longnosed gar in that water too! I always wanted to see one when I was bowfishing as these things could be 3-4 feet long. I only saw a few when I was fishing but never saw anybody catch (or shoot) one. Good memories though. :-)
Good morning Matt. Love the back story. As for me I am getting started much later in life. Been watching for years the guys up on Salmon River. Finally decided to give it a try. Thank god for me found your channel to help me learn to tie all these cool flies. Thank you for that sir. Have a great day.
Well thank YOU Karl for all the support and encouraging words. I certainly appreciate it my friend. :-)
I have to report I am a long time fisherman but was new to fly fishing in 2021. I finally got some free time and gave it a quick try for smallmouth tonight. I only brought 3 flies with me. I lost a north branch caddis in a tree and then dropped the other in the process of trying to tie it on. That left me with your turkey wing caddis. Amazingly, I caught two smallmouth and little largemouth bass on your fly before I was done. Caddis are juuuuuust starting to emerge here in Northern Illinois. Thanks for posting your instruction video. It paid off for me.
Wow Hawley, what a great story! Thank you for sharing it with us. And welcome to fly fishing my friend. I hope it gives you as much enjoyment as it has given me over the years. :-)
Good morning Matt! Just in time to watch a video before work! I love your story! I too watched a guy in Montana fly fishing years ago and was amazed at the beautiful movements of the cast. At the time I was out taking photos of wildlife and landscapes. I took several photos of him fishing and did a painting. But I didn’t start fly fishing till just last year. After I had started tying!
That's a great story too Barbara! There really is something magical about it. :-)
Your tutorials are the best. I've learned so much from you. Thank you so much for your videos.
Well thank you my friend! I appreciate the kind words. 🙏
Small world Matt, I grew up near Praters Mill in Cohutta. Went to high school nearby. We use to put in a canoe on the other side of the road from the mill and float/fish down to Beaverdale Rd.
This was one of my first confidence flies that I used in the Cohutta Wilderness to catch trout, loved it.
That’s awesome to hear! You didn’t happen to go to Northwest HS did you? I was there 84-88. Living pretty close to Varnell at the time.
@@SavageFlies 85-89 :)
Great story! A chance encounter turns in to a lifelong passion. How cool is that?
Thanks Ed. And yes, who knows if I would have ever gotten into the sport without seeing this guy. I probably would have eventually. :-)
Hi Matt. I enjoy all your stories & history of the flies you are going to tie. But this story is by far the best one. Your Story 👍. Nice tie also , has always . Thanks
Thank you John! It does help keep the channel a little more personal. I appreciate your kind words my friend. 👍
Good morning Matt. I really like your videos with a back ground story about the fly and fly fishing. I finally caught a small rainbow trout 2 weeks ago on a fly I ties. It was a great feeling. Keep sending out your videos. Have a great week.
That’s awesome Mark; congratulations! I remember all my other firsts as well. My first wild brown, first native brook trout. I still haven’t gotten my first pike, musky or steelhead yet though. 😁
Great back story, Matt. Mine...playing on shore watching my dad and a family friend slaying dinkers from a local lake...then the "big" one hit. About an 18" rainbow on a dry fly. Desire hit then, but doing was about four years later at 11. Been tying and fly fishing ever since...44 years ago...WOW, I am getting old. 😎
Thanks for sharing the inspiration.
You and me both Todd! There was nothing like worms or crickets and the old classic red and white hard plastic bobbers. Lots of good memories there too. :-)
Hi Matt. I enjoyed your story, takes me back a while to my similar story. You make it very comfortable for me to follow your ties. I will continue to watch, thank you sir.
Thank you Glen! I appreciate the kind words my friend. 👍
Love your stories and your instructions. Keep it up. Thx Matt.
Appreciate it Clyde!
Nice caddis and you made it look simple to tie! I like the tip on trimming the wing, it looks good the way it's sets. Keep up the great tutorials! God Bless n Fish on
Well thank you Richard! I appreciate the kind words my friend. :-)
Thanks for sharing your story Matt, and the tie.
You’re welcome Monty! I appreciate you watching my friend. 👍
Thanks for sharing Matt, you got me reminiscing to my childhood cane pole days
Oh yeah, thinking about that story last night brought back plenty of memories for me as well. 😁
Good morning Matt! Great fly but once again it is the story behind the fly that make your channel as special as it is. Thanks for sharing & stay safe.
Thank you Garrett! Comments like this are great to read. 👍
Nice tie. My mentor, who passed earlier this week, loved tying this pattern and other old school flies.
Great back story. And great fly. You do a great job. Thank you!
Thanks Scott! I always appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Good afternoon, Matt. Very nice pattern.
Great story Matt. Every fly fisherman got his inspiration from somewhere. But what a wonderful ride it's been.
Yes indeed Theodore! I hope to have many years left to enjoy it. :-)
Matt! Great content !! Realistic fly tying and down to earth tone!
Well thank you Chasse! I appreciate the note my friend. 👍
Morning Matt. Like the fly, love the story. Looks like you sprayed the turkey feathers. It held together.
Actually I didn’t do that yet Nich. This was the scraggliest feather I had left from an old pair. I’m going to wait and treat a pair when I get a nice new clean set. 😁
Dude, totally dig your enthusiasm.
Great looking fly. Thanks for demonstration of tying this type of fly.
Thanks Robert; appreciate you watching my friend!
Thank you Matt. Loved the background.
Thanks Frank! I appreciate you watching my friend. 👍
Another comment, I will be sharing your site with the members of our Church fly tying group for not only the patterns you share but for the tutorials on materials etc., Thanks again.
Great story! Makes a person stop and think about the good things in life.
Yes it does Ryan. I always try to remind myself to count my blessings. The fact that we can fish, have the means and are healthy enough to do it means we’re really pretty fortunate. 👍
Love your story. yes. fly fishing done well is a joy to watch and do. I was attracted to it from early childhood. but only got to take it up late in life. I wish I had dome so decades ago. but as they say, better late than never. :-) Lovely caddis fly here. :-)
Thanks for sharing your story. It is pretty close to how I got interested in fly fishing although it was many years before I was able to get my hands on a fly rod. My first introduction to fly fishing a young boy 1968. My dad took me fishing to a stream that entered a lake in upper mid central Maine . ( Moxie pond ) My dad wasn't a fly fisherman in the sense. He did troll streamers a New England tradition. On this day we were spin fishing. We managed to catch a couple small Brookies. When I noticed a gentleman enter the stream above us and proceeded to cast his bamboo fly rod. Soon hooking into a nice Brookie. I stopped fishing and just watched him cast . I was mesmerized. I as a kid really wanted to try my hand at this what I felt was art in motion. But our family income wouldn't allow it. Fast forward to 1982 I joined the military and I while on leave to visit home. I went into LL Bean and was walking through the fishing department. They had a fly rod kit on sale. That day my fly fishing journey began. Self taught i was able to teach myself enough to start catching trout and once that happened I was hooked for life. My first trout an 8 inch Brook Trout caught on a black knat dry fly. My second fish a 16 inch landlocked salmon on the same fly.
That is a great memory Matt. By sharing your first memory of seeing a fly fisherman, it maybe easy to assume those of us listening to you, that it brought out our first memories of our fly fishing experience as well. Thanks for the trip down memory lane and our Prader's Mill.
You're most welcome Dennis; it was a nice trip down memory lane for me too. :-)
Love the story Matt, and a great little pattern. I tie these on a 14 and are good fish catcher. Thanks for sharing
Appreciate it Layton!
I really enjoy your stories about the old flies. This one and the WW2 survival box flies was very interesting. I started with my Uncle's bamboo fly rod back in the 60s for bluegill and have enjoyed fly fishing and tying ever since. Thanks.
Love it Matt.Great story. Thanks
Appreciate it Chad!
Like the fly,and love the story. Thanks
Love the story Matt.and nice tie my friend.its an addictive sport for sure.thanks for sharing
I agree Mike! I always appreciate you watching my friend. 👍
Love this pattern. I have caught many fish with it.
Great story, as well as another interesting fly. I really appreciate your relaxed, yet neat tying.
I love the story; I don't have anything as dramatic as that. Wish I did, admits great tie 👍👍👍
We’ll thank you Thomas! I always appreciate you watching my friend. 👍
It's funny how so many of us have similar origin stories. Substitute a Pocono mountain stream and later absconding my father's fly rod collecting dust in the family garage and you got my starting point. For me, learning to fly fish was about being unique. Back in the '80's, hardly anyone was fly fishing for bass - my friend's and my favorite quarry at the time.
Great story Craig! It was pretty unique to fly fish for warm water fish back then. I even wrote a research paper in English class on "Fly fishing for panfish" way back then. :-)
Marvelous story & a solid fly. Well done & well said!
Nice pattern Matt and a great story. I think every young man should come across an old guy with a plaid fishing hat and fly rod, for me that guy was my Dad. Fly fishing has taught me to slow down and be patient , those 2 things I can take with me off the river and out into the world. All the best and keep them coming.
That's a great lesson to take from it Peter. Every time I get out on the water, all my cares and worries melt away and I ask myself, "Why the heck don't I get out more?" I'm about overdue for a nice day on one of the Maryland streams. :-)
Great story, Matt! Useful pattern, for sure.
Thanks Gordon! Always appreciate it my friend. :-)
Thanks, Matt. Yet another great video. I love the similarities between this caddis and the Falk fly. Great story, by the way! :-)
Cool looking fly Matt
Love the story of how you started fly fishing, it brings back memories of how I started
Big thanks for the video
You got it Dave. It's nice to take a trip down memory lane sometimes. Thanks for the note my friend. :-)
And I meant to add this earlier, but you do a phenomenal job of teaching, a great job of motivation, and are really someone that's easily relatable. You are a stellar individual and your commitment to growing the art of fly tying and fishing is highly commendable. Thank you I watch all of your videos most of the time more than once. Thank you you are appreciated
Wow, thanks Lucas! Comments like this are what keep me motivated to keep going. Now I need to get back to the bench for Saturday morning's video. It's going to be a fun name-the-fly contest. :-)
Very nice looking fly Matt I think I will do a few for my box with hen pheasant for the wing instead and maybe tie it as a wet fly thanks for the inspiration keep up the good work I look forward to your videos I don’t always comment but I do watch them all
Well thank you Tom; I certainly appreciate it my friend. :-)
That was my father’s favorite fly to tie. So I think that was the first fly I caught a trout on also 👍.
Cool to hear Michael. There's just something about that turkey wing that gives it life. :-)
Excellent tie Matt! I also like tieing and fishing different types and colors of caddis flys. Very fun. I like how you corrected the crowded head, we all do that from time to time. Many years ago i also wanted to learn to flyfish, so i bought a cheap rod and taught myself. I'm not an expert but i do good enough to catch a few. I like the question you asked, why do i flyfish? My answer is simple and the same. Because I can. Enjoyed the video. Thanks Matt and have a great day 😀.
Thanks Jim; I appreciate the kind words my friend. It really is a great sport isn’t it. And those of us who can still do it truly are lucky.
Great story, I'm definitely going to make a few of them.
Thanks Ash! I appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Great looks fly 👌 thank you for your time 👍
Appreciate it Charlie!
Another nice fly Matt. I guess I'm lucky the guy that owned my house before me left me about a dozen or so turkey feathers that are just perfect for tying flies. Keep the good stuff coming.
Oh yeah… good turkey feathers can be about ten bucks a pair!
Cool story Matt, thanks for sharing sir.
You bet Conor; thanks for watching!
Sweeet… love these simple patterns.
Another similar and super easy pattern that I just came across recently after reading one of my fly books is the little black stonefly.
Same here LJ! Thanks for the note my friend. :-)
Good story and great looking fly Matt. Pretty close in style to one of my favorites, the Henryville Special. I don't remember my first successful dry fly for trout but the Special would be pretty close to the first - and also high on the list for the most trout landed.
Funny you mention that one Daryl, that and the King’s River Caddis were right above this one in Stetzer’s book. Both great patterns. 👍
@@SavageFlies i just tied your fly Matt. That was fun until my size 16 hook snapped... Lol. Posted on Instagram.
@@cheflexx778 I just saw it! They looked sharp! 😎
Thanks for the trip down memory lane Matt! The history behind just about everything always fascinates me. My first trout on a fly rod was on the Waupaca River. I caught it on a Blue Dunn Dry Fly. Keep up the awesome videos.
Thanks Todd! I always appreciate you watching my friend. 👍
Having another loo at this and am tying some. Our season here starts in a few weeks-can't wait. :-)
Outstanding! Good luck and have fun. :-)
Good morning Matt☕️☕️
Oh my gosh, I so enjoyed listening to your story. This is what makes connecting with people all about. Love the fly and I will need to try to set some wings. I would enjoy hearing more stories. Saturday evening fireside chat with Matt and friends 👍 PS still in NC and have not fished yet granddaughter has got me 😉
Hahaha! I hear you Jim. Thanks for the encouragement my friend. I’m trying out being more of a story teller so we’ll see how it goes. It does take a bit of extra work but you’re right, it makes it more personal. Thanks again for the note. Safe travels!
AWESOME story matt . i kind of started out fly tying like that was at lake roland fishing after a stocking and seen a older gentleman fly fishing and that started me fly tying but still have never fly fished yet still to this day i have a cheap little setup to use so hopefully this year every one says i am backwards because i started fly tying first but hey it is ok so shooting for this year..
Thanks Joe! You're certainly not the only one who started tying before fly fishing. It's unique sure, but some people are just drawn to the creative side of it and then want to get out on the water and try out what they made. Good luck my friend!
Great fly, we have some very big October caddis in my area , love frishing them.
It is certainly a fishable fly. Good work
Thanks Wes! I always appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Very nice story and nice fly
Thank you Lora!
Good story Matt! I started fly tying first, then I got a fly rod. My family has always been avid fishers, not sure why I start fly tying first. I have always enjoyed making my own fish lures. I have just started to try and make wooden musky lures, well I'm on my first one, its coming along. I always look forward to your videos, keep up the good work!
Thanks Franky! Wooden musky lures sounds like a lot of fun. Good luck with that project. 😁
Glad you got a couple of hook ups with ant from last week. Nice fish! Glad he didn't take you slipping downstream with him....LOL.
Hahaha! Same here Steven. Thanks for watching my friend. :-)
Good morning Matt. What a beautiful area. The old mill definitely makes a picture worth a thousand words. While looking at that picture and listening to your story. You can almost hear and feel the surroundings. Those little trips back in time are priceless. Thank you for sharing this with all of us. For the fly you tied this morning, great job. I’d like to know how many fish have been caught through time with this one. Great video buddy. Thank you and have a great day.
Thanks Jeff! That story did have me bringing up some old memories. But it’s nice to look back on them. 😁
Nice tie Matt, very cool story. We would have been buddies if we knew each other back in the day, sounds like me and my friends. I've fished and hunted a lot of places like that, arched bridges near the old mill, cobble stone property lines loaded with rabbits, squirrel or deer hunting in the creek valleys. Over grown orchards for grouse. Duck hunting when the fall rains flooded the fields around the creek, try not to fall in like my friends younger brother did when he stepped over the bank, thank God he didn't drown. Caught the fishing bug about the age of 8 on a family vacation at Old Forge NY. Think I got the idea from watching Our Gang or the Little Rascals, if fact I sort of looked like Spanky. I got a stick, some string, and a piece of fat on a safety pin my mother gave me. Fished for a while when a nice man gave me some mono and a hook and rigged my stick. I think he gave me a worm too. Before long I felt the "tug that's a drug" and caught a nice perch! 😲Then another! 😁I put them in a bucket and they had to curl their bodies to fit in it. I thought they were huge. Later in life my father laughed and told me it was a little toy bucket 😮💨Fast forward some 30 years, a decent fisherman, tier of flies and jigs, and learning more about fly fishing. I knew fish would take flies from watching perch suck in and spit out in a nano second a woolly worm I tied and a two inch bass ambush a three inch Royal Coachman streamer that I WISH I had tied. My first trout was on Carl Coleman's March Brown nymph that I tied fly fishing behind the KOA campgrounds on the Ausable in Wilmington NY. The first trout I caught on a dry fly was with a variant of Rosenbauer's Snowshoe Emerger, I tied it using grizzly hackle instead of CDC, which at the time had no idea what a "butt of the duck" feather was... except for the obvious, and is sort of north of it's butt. In fact I've never caught a trout on any of the few flies I've purchased. My biggest brown on a #12 grouse & orange, Hare's ear thorax. Another good brown on a #6 olive body and black tail/hackle wooly bugger, another on a #8 black marabou jig. Lots of browns on my favorite, the Zug Bug, in sizes 6, 8, and 10.
Thanks Matt, you got my juices going with this one. 🤓👍Hope you have more like it.
What a great comment Joe! Fishing like Spanky and the Our Gang kids. I certainly remember watching that as a kid. :-) I never made a hook from a safety pin but made plenty of "rods" from saplings and sticks. Now you've got me excited about a trip to NY and pulling my truck into the KOA on the Ausable. Oh it's too cold right now... I need to get outside! Thanks for the note my friend. And yeah, we would have been buds back in the day. A yankee from New York and good ol' boy from Georgia. Doing the same things, just with different accents. :-)
@@SavageFlies 👍
Thanks so much for your story! I Really enjoyed hearing that. I’m going to tie and fish this in your honor. The ranch I manage has wild turkey on it..so unlimited feathers, just hard to make a match sometimes, but this fly folds the one.🙂 So glad you got into flyfishing and share your knowledge with us. Thanks again for everything Matt! Have a great one my friend. 👍👍🎣 Ps: (my first fish on fly I tied was small Guadalupe bass on olive woolly bugger..it literally changed my fishing world..and bank account.😂)
I hear that Charlie! I don’t know what I’d do with all the money I’d save if I didn’t fly fish and tie. I guess I’d have to take up golf. But then again, nope. Maybe big game hunting. 😁
Substitute the thread for orange hares ear for the body and cinnamon hen for the wing and you can call it Skues’s Little Red Sedge. One of my all time favourite flies. I usually tie mine on a 14 for my local river but 12 works too. Substitute a deer hair wing and it floats better and is a bit more durable.
Gran historia saludos desde México.
I love this story. I always try to be the man in the red hat.
Thanks Kento. And yes, we never know who we might be impacting without even knowing it. :-)
Cool story, I started fly fishing in 1980, my first fly rod was a 6-wt Fenwick glass rod... 🙂
Oh man, the old Fenwick fiberglass rods. I loved that eagle logo! I think you can still find some of them on Ebay. I haven't looked lately but I saw some when I was hoping to find a vintage bamboo rod. :-)
@@SavageFlies I have 3 Orvis rods and reels now, but I do miss my Fenwick...
Did you fish Coahulla Creek? Thanks for sharing this pattern!!
Absolutely Trent! This whole story was about fishing on Coahulla creek. I haven't been back in a few decades but it does have a special place in my heart. :-)
Nice. Ever tried wrapping the hackle back from the hook eye and then wrapping thread thru it back to the eye? Apart fromreinforcing the hackle it leaves a cleaner head. Saw it on You Tube somewhere.
Thanks Paulo! I've done that technique on other palmered bodies, but usually streamers. Good idea though!
Nice story, nice tye. Thanks for sharing your time and talent! KANSAS
Thanks Jack! Appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Thats how I started too
That's cool to hear David. It makes me step back and think what young kid could be watching me and saying, "I want to learn how to do that."
Do you know where Dockery lake is in north Georgia? I caught my first trout there back in 1991. Went camping there every summer when we lived in Atlanta. I was a little young for a fly rod but I remember watching my dad and couldn't wait to try it.
I'd never heard of it so just looked it up. It's a good way from where I grew up in Dalton but not too far from the Blue Ridge Mountains where I have spent some time fishing. Cool story though. I'll bet you have some good memories from that place. Hard to believe 1991 was over 20 years ago! It seems like just yesterday. :-)
Nice and easy to follow directions. Liked the the background. I just read an article in American Fly Fishing magazine “In the Vice” by John E Woods on the “Trespasser Fly” Nov/Dec 2021 page 72. Could you do an instructional video on “How To” for the Trespasser? Thanks ahead of time. I would send you the article but I can’t upload it here.
Joseph- sorry I let this comment slip through the cracks! I used to subscribe to the now-defunct Eastern Fly Fishing, and only recently subscribed to the American version. So I haven't seen this fly (or this edition of the magazine). I'll look and see if I can find it online. If you can send it to me, my email is matt@savageflies.com. Thanks!
Forward to 3:18 to watch fly tying. …..
Thanks jdoza! Some people like the longer intros with random backstory, but I know some folks just like the tying.
👍🏼
The first trout I caught on a fly was on a spruce fly - rainbow - after two years fly fishing
I love that pattern Mark! Thanks for the note my friend. 👍
Matt suggests a 1XL barbless dry fly hook. I’m having difficulty finding 1XL barbless dry fly hooks. Plenty of standard and 2XL. Any suggestions?
David- sorry I just saw this comment. Check out the Saber 7211. It's a 1x long, light nymph and dry fly hook. I use it for quite a few patterns. flyshack.com/DisplayItem.aspx?ItemID=102612
What music are you using
It's a shame you didn't run into that guy with the red and black hat again. Matt think of the people that have joined the fly fishing community through you because of a man you never met. Great story and fly. You just never know when some impressionistic youth is watching from a distance.
That’s a great take Richard. We never really know who we may be influencing on any given day. That’s a bit humbling but also makes me want to do better. Thanks for the comment; this was very insightful.
Your website doesn't have any pages on it.
I know. It used to be a store but it didn't make any money so I couldn't afford to keep it.
Do you have a shirt like the one you're wearing in this video for sale? I would like to buy one like that and I would like to have a hat more baseball style if you had one of those to offer? I want to support you in the great work you do by buying your merchandise but I just don't seem to care a lot for what you have on there right this minute. Help with what you have available?
Thanks Lucas; I appreciate the kind words and support. Unfortunately all I have is what's at savageflies.com. To put something for sale on the site I usually have to buy a minimum quantity or else they're quite expensive and I can't really afford to offer a lot of different styles. Like the Carhartt shirt in this video was probably $45 so I just haven't bought a bunch of these to put on the site. I do have some hoodie sweatshirts that just came in that I'll add to the store soon. They're simple plain gray ones with the logo embroidered.