Stay with the Ones You Love
We all have memory flies and patterns we enjoy tying and fishing. I came across the flies of Tim Borski when I lived in Key West. To me all his flies look fishy. I tied two of his BonefishSliders one summer night, feeling that they’d catch a wary bonefish. The next morning, wading alone in the Mud Keys, a large single fish suddenly appeared, heading my way, out about 60 feet in ten inches of crystal-clear water. I crouched, made my first cast with the Slider. The fly landed two feet ahead of the fish, which raced to crush it. Fish on, a drag-testing run or two, then to-hand, maybe six pounds of a silvery ghost fish. How can you beat that?Dick Brown is famous for his crab fly, the Merkin. It’s an interesting, easy tie. I’ve thrown it in reasonable proximity to maybe five permit in good water conditions. No interest. At least a dozen bonefish have turned their snouts up at it, in various sizes. I watched one day in the Marquesas as my son cast the fly repeatedly to a slow-feeding school of permit. They never spooked. Finally, he gave up, exasperated. I had faith in the fly. Could be that Brown caught all his fish in the Yucatan, where it’s far easier than in the Keys. I begged that fly to work.