Zebra Midge

[CGull 0]

Funny, I'm partial to those Royals as well. Although I never fished them. Fly fishing first caught my eye when I was stationed, briefly, at Wurtsmith AfB in Oscoda. It was these patterns that I first studied. Perhaps those Flys take me back to a simpler time and a much beautiful Northern Michigan.

 

True enough, when I made an order of Flys online, the Royal Wulf was surely one. I said to my wife this one will never work down here. It's a Northern pattern. But I had to have it because it's a classic.

She was happy with that excuse.

I love my memories.

[CGull 0]

If I could do my 20 over again, I'd get my as up to KI Sawyer in the UP and never leave.

But sadly, they closed that base too. I'll settle for Mountain Home AFB in Northern Idaho.

But those days are but a whisper of memory.

[Dave G. 0]

The "mystery" of fly fishing is the same as of the rest of the mysteries in life in general. Same source without question. Indeed, there is a creator who is in constant touch with us. I've been around too long and encountered too many experiences including seeming coincidences to think otherwise. Nobody could at this point in my life ever plant a seed of doubt in my mind that there is God ( capital G). Anyone else is free to think what ever it is they think, wonder if, or rename what he named himself. That's their business but I have 0 doubt with a capital Z.

[CGull 0]

The "mystery" of fly fishing is the same as of the rest of the mysteries in life in general. Same source without question. Indeed, there is a creator who is in constant touch with us. I've been around too long and encountered too many experiences including seeming coincidences to think otherwise. Nobody could at this point in my life ever plant a seed of doubt in my mind that there is God ( capital G). Anyone else is free to think what ever it is they think, wonder if, or rename what he named himself. That's their business but I have 0 doubt with a capital Z.

Amen

[Dave G. 0]

CG, I could see bluegill taking something of the royal family of flies. It's probably a bit of over kill but I love especially Royal Coachman, though the Wulffs have worked well for me.

 

Here is my thing with these flies: Salmon. And it seems in summer it's the little ones in maybe a parachute patterned coachman. But in spring and sometimes fall when nothing wants to take a caddis pattern in a great caddis hatch for what ever reason, many times I have sent a big roytal Wulff over the biggest fish I see rising in the pool and wham he takes it. It's such a thrill to have a nice honking salmon head and tail on a Wulff in a caddis hatch. Doesn't always work but often enough.

 

And speaking of Stimulators, that's another one. On a nice 5 wt. that will deliver it well, to drift a Stimulator not far off in an eddy right near the seam line and a head pokes out and grabs it. Awesome when it's in close like that. I had salmon do that and then run wild through the pool on me before I could get it in.

 

Brookies seem to like mid sized Royal Coachman wet or dry but truth be known I do better with small Muddlers for them generally speaking. And speaking of Muddlers , I've caught large mouth bass on muddlers.

 

And finally, sometimes it's about sending something different than they have seen for two weeks , down the river. I first sent the big Royal Wulff cruising after reading an article where a guy did that using big white miller flies in a stubborn hatch situation. he too targeted the larger of the fish rising in the river ( assuming you can see body mass at all, sometimes the smallest splash in a hatch is the biggest fish because they are just sipping them in so it's a lip splash).

[Cold 0]

The "mystery" of fly fishing is the same as of the rest of the mysteries in life in general. Same source without question. Indeed, there is a creator who is in constant touch with us. I've been around too long and encountered too many experiences including seeming coincidences to think otherwise. Nobody could at this point in my life ever plant a seed of doubt in my mind that there is God ( capital G). Anyone else is free to think what ever it is they think, wonder if, or rename what he named himself. That's their business but I have 0 doubt with a capital Z.

 

Clarke famously posited that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".

 

While he was referring to science fiction writing, I believe the spirit of thinking behind that "law" applied broadly to the human condition. In all but the simplest of human minds, there seems to be the inability to accept the unknown at face value and move on. We observe, analyze, experiment, and eventually form some sort of conclusion that allows us to move on. When we hit something that defies a reasonable, rational conclusion, we tend to invoke the mystical.

 

While I've not personally seen or experienced anything to convince me that a deity (or deities) is responsible for these situations, or even in existence at all, I've also not seen or experienced anything to convince me that it is not so either, and based on that lack of meaningful (let alone definitive) evidence, I wouldn't presume to tell centuries of humanity that they're wrong.

 

So throw me in the "staunchly agnostic but open-minded" camp on the religion question, but one that struggles mightily to rationalize faith.

 

A very slight broadening of the scope of Clarke's third law would be to say "Any sufficiently advanced equation is indistinguishable from magic." And in this framing, I believe a vast majority of the things that we don't understand as a species fall under its broad application. From the great mysteries of the afterlife, to that tense moment of the rise, where a thousand variable converge into one of two outcomes: a take or a refusal. Since that equation has more variables that I can track, to me, it is nothing short of magical. I wouldn't point to it as proof of god any more than it is proof of blueberry pie, but it's enough for me to chalk it up as "just one of those things", appreciate it for being just that, and move on. No need for even the attempt to explain.