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Forged from Experience, February 2010
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Forged from Experience
by Jay Allen
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Jay, with a monster brown taken on our sow bug pattern on the Norfork River in Arkansas.
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I still vividly remember many of my first fly-fishing experiences - the ones that seriously hooked me on the sport. Like the first time I noticed the subtle sip of a trout feeding almost invisibly near the surface. The first time I was able to look beneath the water's surface and see trout actively feeding on a food source I could not see from this air-breathers side of the world. The first time I saw a hefty brown bury his head in a clump of aquatic grass and come out of it with a large set of crayfish pinchers protruding from its mouth. And some of the first fly-tying experiences that have encouraged me to try to imitate all of the things trout love to eat. One of those experiences that spurred me on specifically in fly-tying occurred one fall on the White River in Arkansas.
The White and Norfork Rivers located in Arkansas were some of the first great trout rivers that my father took Jeff and I to when we started to fish with a fly. We were told they were massive rivers filled with mystery and monster trout. When you are as new to the sport as we were at the time, having only fished smaller streams in the east, these waters were intimidating in size, but full of wonder. I have learned much about fly-fishing and trout over the many years we have gone back to fish those waters.
Jay instructing his daughter Makenzie on some of the finer points
of drifting a seam on Dry Run Creek, a tributary of the
Norfork River.
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During that first trip, in the fall, we were staying at a lodge on the banks of the White River. The lodge had a fly-tying bench that was open for guests to use. One evening, one of the guides who was working out of the lodge was there after dinner, and offered to show me how to tie one of the hot local patterns. As I watched in anticipation, he produced a sow bug that looked great and was unlike any I had seen before. It had the same basic shape as many of the usual sow bug patterns, but had a few subtle additions that, according to the guide, made a big difference. Later that evening, I tied up a couple of them myself and went to bed, looking forward to what the next day on the river would bring with these new bugs. Needless to say, they caught fish and lots of them. I still tie this version of sow bug and it continues to be a great pattern that we sell on the Allen Brothers website to this day.
Over the years, we have been to many rivers with guides who have tweaked patterns to get just the right combination they are looking for to catch fish more effectively. Through our own experiences as guides, Jeff and I have done the same. When the opportunity to start the Allen Brothers fly company came, we thought selling a smaller selection of patterns that we know work consistently and are durable, was a great idea. The patterns we sell have been guide-tested and designed. We know that they work and will catch more fish because they are appealing to fish. We can say this with certainty because honestly, these are the patterns we fish most often when guiding or on the river ourselves.
These are the flies that were forged out of our own experience. These are the flies that fill our own boxes. We invite you to give them a try and see for yourself.
-Jay Allen
© 2010 Allen Brothers LLC
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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