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This
fly earned its way into my personal hall of fame by
producing quality fish during the hot summer months of last
year. In the middle of the summer heat, a friend and I set
out to fish a small overgrown river located just a few
minutes from his house. We had only spin-fished the water
due to the tight cover created by overhanging brush. As we
started our journey into the woods we commented on how one
of these days we just had to fly-fishing this stream.
After an uneventful morning we
came to rest on a fallen long. We talked for a few minutes, had a
drink of water and then decided to carry on for a while longer. Two
river-bends and no fish later my friend stopped and I could clearly
see that he was up to something. I wandered closer only to see him
pull out a case of flies I had tied for him a while back. He probed
forward and backward through the case looking for the perfect
fly. With a look of satisfaction he decided on a fly what we now
call "The General". It is a pattern that is a cross between a
Henry’s Fork Hopper and an over sized muddler, but floats as if made
from cork.
I questioned my friend on how he
planned to use the fly, seeing as we did not have any fly-fishing
gear with us. He was not worried; he simply tied the fly to the end
of his monofilament spinning line and proceeded to slingshot The
General into oncoming rifles. I cast into the rifles with my trusty
old spinner hoping for a magical bite but it never came. Stepping
back I let my friend try his luck. To the amazement of both of us he
pulled a 17-inch brown right from where my last cast had been
placed. I was
initially dumbfounded, but after watching the fly produce again on
the next (and final) bend of the day, I was sold on its
ability.
Nearing the last bend, I put away
my spinner and watched as the fly worked it’s magic for my friend.
From a small dark pool it was able to dupe a second, and bigger,
brown; this one being just over 17 ½ inches. After the second brown
was released, my friend commented on how high the fly floated. It
reminded him of a soldier not being afraid to go into battle. And
seeing as the little soldier came back from the jaws of death we
deemed the fly "The General".
--Jason Akl |
