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Writer's pictureBear River Tackle

Favorite Fly Disease



Bear river tackle is founded on helping everyone (novice or advanced) have a fabulous fly-fishing experience.


We provide knowledge, practical fishing tips, and the right flies for an outstanding time.


This is always the case, even when my good friend Mike periodically suffers from “favorite fly disease”.


The conversation usually goes something like, “Why should I try a new fly? My favorite fly pattern catches fish and I have hundreds of them (unbelievably he really does have about four hundred of his favorite fly pattern in various sizes and weights). To which I calmly reply, “Yes, but it may be possible to catch a lot more bigger fish, using a different fly”.


Mike then says “Well OK, maybe I will give it a try”, but you still must watch him like a hawk, or he will slide right back into throwing the same old pattern the fish have seen a thousand times and wonder why he's not catching bigger fish.


Like a true favorite fly addict, Mike then said, “The wooly bugger fly I always use catches fish, but just to shut you up I will test the new fly on an upcoming trip” for spring rainbow trout.


He agreed to use a Bear River Tackle fly that was originally designed for Pyramid Lake. “This is going to be a waste of time”, Mike told me, “The fly is way too large”. I said, “Well it catches fifteen-pound trout at Pyramid Lake, so it is worth a try”.



When he got to the lake the wind was blowing into a shallow cove, and there was ice on portions of the water. After losing a bunch of his favorite flies, out of desperation he tied on the new fly.


To his shock and surprise, he caught a twenty-inch trout and sent me a picture with the caption “probably a fluke”.


With the next cast he caught another big trout and sent a picture with the caption “caught another one”.


Within five minutes he sent another picture with the caption “unbelievably I caught another one!”




These results kept up for an hour during which he caught and released more than ten rainbow trout that were all eighteen to twenty inches in length.


I knew Mike's favorite fly demon had finally been dispatched when he called up and said, “I can’t wait to go back with this new fly”.


Mike’s success during this trip was due to several factors:


  • Being at a great place with a high concentration of large fish (you cannot catch fish if they are not there)

  • Presenting the fly at the depth the fish were feeding (with a sink tip line)

  • Timing his trip so weather conditions were cloudy with chop on the water.

It also helped to have a great new fly!


It’s a total blast to show up at your destination with flies the fish have never seen, and which no other anglers have. This is the Bear River Tackle difference.


Hope your Spring fly-fishing is outstanding!


Glenn Personey

Founder and President

Bear River Tackle



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