PASS LAKE

It's Tiny Tuesday and the theme is "Celebration."  I celebrate fishing.
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I like to fly fish, especially for trout (which I just harrass and then release) and panfish. When it comes to panfish, I'm into Catch and Eat.
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Fly fishing is an ever evolving sport as materials for fly tying are ever changing.  New flies are being invented to represent either small fish, or aquatic or marine invertebrates. I've been tying since I was 9 years old.....let's see that makes 70 years of tying experience.
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The Pass Lake is not a new fly...it's been around since the 1930s and was invented right here in Wisconsin by the Rev. E. Steubenvoll of Clintonville.  It is typically tied in the "trude" fashion and was originally fished as a wet fly, that is under water like a streamer.  I prefer to fish it on the surface so this one is tied in the dry fly fashion. Very often the largest fish eat other fishes and prefer to feed underwater....while the smaller fishes feed on insects that float by or rise from the bottom.  That's not always true....depends on "conditions."  But I get a kick out of seeing a trout "take" a surface fly regardless of how large it is.  In a way, it's almost like hunting.....you see a trout rise to take a bug and then you stalk it and cast directly to it.  It's quite satisfying to trick a very smart fish into biting an artificial insect.
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The tail is made of mallard duck flank feathers, the body is black chenille, the white wing is calf tail and the hackle is from the neck feathers of a rooster.  Often, the fly is treated with a silicone floatant to keep it on the top of the water.
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Best in Large.