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The Muddler Minnow and The Black Ghost: 

Two of the Best Flies that Few Fly Fishermen Use!

by

Eugene Macri

 

The Muddler Minnow and The Black Ghost: Two of the Best Flies That Few Fly Fishsermen Ever Use at www.flyfisher.com

Over many years of fly fishing instruction and guiding I've come to the conclusion that most fly anglers have a limited understanding of what flies to use, how to use them, and when to use them. This is especially true of standard patterns. For some reason fly anglers believe there will always be hatch. Well...keep waiting. Perhaps they read too many books which tell them there will always be hatch and rising trout. Unfortunately, even on the streams with good hatches you still have to be there at the right time. 

As one lodge owner told the anglers, “You should have been here last week. You missed it; they were rising for four days!” This is the standard line and sometimes it's actually true. But if you wait for hatches you will miss the opportunity to catch most trout. Furthermore, contrary to what you have been told many of the larger fish don't rise even during the best hatches. 

Two of the best flies for trout when they are not rising (and sometimes when they are) are two flies that I would guess that most anglers don't even carry: The Muddler Minnow and The Black Ghost Streamer. Both of these flies are real fish catchers when used properly. In fact, they would be on my list of the best two dozen flies for trout. Yet if you ask most anglers if they take trout on them......they will look at you with a perplexed look on their face. Usually you get something like, “Well I tried them a couple of times but didn't have much luck on them.” 

One of the secrets of consistently catching trout is knowing when to use which flies and at what time period on the stream. Early in my fly fishing training I was taught method fishing which means you use a certain technique with certain flies at a certain time. Streamer fishing is a lost art. Many fly anglers carry streamers but use them improperly or they think only bright attractor patterns will work. Furthermore, they fail to understand how to fish the them There are a number of techniques to fishing streamers. You should realize that fishing the streamer straight upstream and retrieving the fly towards you will result in highest percentage of hooked fish. Fishing the streamer downstream will result in the least percentage of hooked fish. That does not mean that that you never fish downstream. There are four basic techniques in fishing streamers: Upstream, downstream, across stream and fishing the streamer like a nymph. The first three involve retrieves while fishing the streamer like a nymph can be fished in a number of ways.

 

Now let's discuss the terminal tackle:

 

Leaders

 

I prefer leaders around 7.6 to 9 ft for streamers. I usually don't use longer ones. You may wish to invest in some power butt tapers which help the streamer cast better. In most instances, you should not use a tippet size of less than 4x in fact, 3x is usually better. Although I'm not a big fan of Flurocarbon tippets they work well for streamers. They are stiffer and may give you a hooking advantage with streamers. Always use a shock section before your tippet. For example, 7.6 ft 1x leader with 12 inches of 2x before you tie on your 3x tippet. The actual length of your tippet depends up the level the fish are at, and the stream conditions as well as fly size.

Rods

 

You hook more trout and land more with longer rods as far as I'm concerned. 8.6 to 9 ft rods are best. You'll also have more control of the fly with a longer rod. Furthermore, don't be an idiot. If you are fishing a heavier fly use the appropriate rod. Rods with line weights of 5 or 6 depending upon the water are best for most small to medium streams and rivers. Larger waters may merit 7 weight. Rods with slightly stiffer actions may also help too but you don't need a broomstick.


The Basic Method and Technique

 


If you want to hook trout using a streamer fishing upstream, down or across the rod tip should be pointed down not up in most instances. If fishing the streamer in the drift like a nymph then using the standard nymphing technique will work with one caveat: trout take drifting streamer differently than they take a nymph, and this depends upon the size of the streamer as well as the water temperature!


Fishing with Weight

Where do you find most minnows and bait fish? Not usually at the surface-they tend to be on the bottom. In most instances you must use weight to get the streamer down. Yes, you can sometimes make a trout including a big trout move to chase a streamer but to take the most fish the streamer needs to get deep. You can add weight to the body in various ways but since we are talking about using the The Black Ghost or The Muddler weight can be added to the hook or on the tippet or both. Once again make sure you have the proper leader for using weight. Believe it or not the weight actually helps you hook the fish but the fish will tend to eject the fly quicker. The weight helps the fly penetrate better.

 

The Muddler Minnow

 

Don Gapen invented the Muddler Minnow in the 50's. It is one of the best flies ever designed and can be used in more ways than any fly. It can be used as streamer, nymph, terrestrial, caddis imitation...you name it..it works. Unfortunately, most fly anglers don't carry it in the sizes and variations needed. I want sizes from at least 4 or 6 to 16! On bigger riffled rivers in a size 14 or 16 it's a great caddis imitation. It can be fished at all stages from the surface to an emerger. In the summer it makes a great hopper imitation. As minnow imitation it not only imitates a small fish but when fished on the surface below and on the surface it looks like a minnow chasing an insect.

I like the Muddler in it's normal colors as well as olive, silver (body), white (polar bear), black, and the Maribou Muddler in various colors. How many variations do you carry? One of the best techniques in using a Muddler is what I learned as a young fly fisherman in Western Pennsylvania. On Neshannock Creek in Mercer County there were many stretches of undercut banks and log jams with debris. The fish were almost complete impossible to catch unless they were out from under the jams. I figured out very quickly that most methods wouldn't work and you lost half the flies in your box to the stream snags. Then came the Muddler! The Muddler with its deerhair head will float but with a split shot or two, the split shot will sink the but the fly will float above the bottom in these slow waters. We learned by experimenting on how much lead to add. We had the technique down to a science the fly got to the bottom floated underneath the debris and twigs and it was like magic. We just watched the leader. When the leader would stop, slow down or jerk.....we struck! I won't even tell you how many big trout we caught; it was simply amazing. The technique never failed to work. Yet, the same technique can be use in a variety of habitats on a trout stream in a number of variations. How many fly anglers have you seen use the Muddler in this way!


Just recently I took a Muddler with Olive “Wings” and Tail with a silver body and coaxed a 15 inch wild brookie from the bottom fishing downstream in a tough lie. He took the fly half way below the surface in the middle of the day. I also use the Muddler on the famous spring creeks with a shot on the bottom, it makes a great sculpin pattern. I especially like a Black Muddler in these situations. A combination white maribou and brown deer hair muddler in all sizes really is a trout taker if fished properly. The famed White Muddler with Polar Bear Wings or a substitute is a secret pattern for large browns. If you don't wish to tie Muddlers they are cheap enough to buy in quantity and are reasonably tied well even in the cheaper versions. Just carry a number of sizes and variations. After a stream has had numerous caddis hatches trout look for such a fly profile. For some reasons a small Muddler in size 14 and 16 bounced on the riffles is just unbelievable. It's a good searching fly for the surface and imitates everything from the caddis to a multitude of terrestrials.

If you get into a stream and have no idea what to fish. Try this: Fish the Muddler on the surface and then on the bottom with a split shot or two. You should be able to judge the trout's behavior even if they don't take the fly. Did you move them at the surface? Did you see a flash or chase from the bottom? If you use a Muddler to find fish even if you don't catch them you should be abl to figure out what they might take. And finally one trick that many anglers don't use is to add a dropper or tandem to the Muddler. You can tie the Muddler off a wet fly or nymph hook in tandem or for more action put a dropper of extending 5 inches; put it about 10 inches above the Muddler. You can fish this at the surface skimming it or at any water level. It's one of the deadliest combos that most anglers won't try. It works great during a hatch too.


The Black Ghost

 

The Black Ghost From the The Muddler Minnow and The Black Ghost: Two Flies Fly Fishermen Seldom Use at www.flyfisher.com


The next great fly that no one uses much is the famed Black Ghost. The Black Ghost is one of the oldest streamer patterns and was one of the first patterns I used as kid in my introduction to fly fishing. It was a streamer of American Heritage in the North East region of the US and Canada. A simple pattern it owes its effectiveness to its coloration profile in water. Its white wings and dark body for some reason show up great against the sky. It is one of the most effective streamers for brown trout and especially hatchery trout.

I learned the importance of this streamer on places like Neshannock and Slippery Rock Creek in Western Pennsylvania. Once again my fishing buddy Ricky Hoover and I prowled these waters incessantly learning about trout and their behavior. These are not great trout waters but they do produce holdover trout and they can become selective and rather sophisticated. We used this streamer at all times of the year and at all times of the day. The streamer pattern is one of the best for night time or evening fishing for big browns.

I like this streamer in sizes from 4 to 14. In the summer tie these streamers sparsely and they will take trout (even in spring creeks) when nothing else is working. In the spring with plenty of shot the they will pull out big fish from heavy water when fished up and coming across if you get them deep enough. They are more effective than any streamer that I have ever used when fishing downstream. For some reason the trout are teased by this fly some days like no others.

I also like to fish two small Black Ghosts in tandem or on droppers. Swing them downstream against the bank at different levels you might be surprised at what action you get! These are two of the best trout catching lures ever invented. Use them in a variety of methods and situations and increase your ability to catch more trout and bigger trout. These patterns may be old but they have not lost their effectiveness on modern trout.


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Through October 2018

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