Evening star., 1960-05-10


This was a Muddler Mi
Muddler Minnow. Only it
Minnow we'd ever seen.
Last year on Marylan
great luck with a factory-tied
Muddler MinnoW in Big Hunt
ing Creek. Put it on at 4
o'clock when nearly everybody
else had gone home and soon
had our limit.
Naturally, when trout season
approached this year. we de-
cided to tie some requirements.
Chief trouble was that, in ad-
dition to general amateurish-
ness, we lacked the right ma
terial.
A Muddler Minnow is an i'm
itation of a stone perch, a
luscious trout food found in
almost every stream. 1t has a
body of gold tinsel, a wisp of
brown quail flbers for a tail, a
scraggly covering of mixed tan
and white bucktail and a bit
of muSkrat tied so as to form a
buShy collar.
We had the tinsel and tail
f1bers, but the bucktail was
dark colored and there was no
muskrat hair. Being badly tied
to boot, the fly looked like
nothing more than a hank of
hair from a hound dog.
To top it of, We had time to
tie only one before we were
invited to go trout fishing.
Have you guessed it? So help
me, but the only fly in the
book that caught fish was this
creation.
Football Players Go Fishing
The invitation was from
Clinton M. Hester's beautiful
Bath Alum Farms near Hot
Springs, Va. With us were
Coach Buddy Parker of the
Pittsburgh Steelers and his
aides, including Harry Gilmer,
the ex-Redskin. Hester is
Washington counsel for the
National Football League.
Our first outing just after
dawn of a warm, sunny morn
ing was with Brig. Gen. John
Hester, Clinton's brother. and
Maj. Gen. M. A. Preston, both
of the Air Force.
First we tried a little lake,
stocked with bluegillS and bass,
but having poor luck except for
a small bass caught by Gen.
Preston, headed for the trout
streams. n
Our choice was Thompson
Run, a rocky brook that cas-
cades down from the heights of
Piney Mountain. With Gen.
Hester leading the way we
headed part way up the noun
tain trail down which we had
dragged a deer a season ago
and then scrambled down the
steep bank to the run.
Nicest part of trout fishing is
the settings. This one was pic
turesque to the extreme with
steep slopes covered with rho
dendron and mountain laurel
on each hand.
Funny thing, too, how a
brook suddenly assumes new
meanings to a fisherman. The
trick of trout fishing is to study
your stream and each pool |
offers a new challenge. Is it
best to fish from below, letting
your flies drift into the mouths
of the trout as they feed up-
stream?
Usually it is, but there are
occasions when you have to cir
cumvent the log that prevents
a clear cast or some boulders
that present other obstacles.
We passed up a small pool
and a rather deep run, only to
find more beautiful pool per-
hapS so feet long and Is or 20
wide around the next bend.
Oaks and a willow or two
overshadowed it. From the up-
per end water flowed swiftly
between two huge boulders. At
the lower end there was a low
dam of rocks.
To get room for the back
casts, we waded carefully
across the dam and stood shin
deep on the other side. Even
then it was necessary to roll
cast and with the 71a-foot Ted
Williams fiberglas rod and
HDH line we aimed for the fast
water flowing into the pool.
| A gray nymph allowed to roll
over the bottom produced
half-hearted strike, so we know
there were trout present.
Next we tried an artificial
helgramite, realistically tied by
an acquaintance, but failed to
get a strike, so we put on the
NANCY muddler.
Trout Grabs Muddler
The fly sank slowly as 1t
floated out of the fast water
and we gave it a twitch or two.