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DrakeBob wrote:

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Old timers trick, huh? ... Imagine that.

Nice brookie.

Bob, I'm sure that Joel would want to know that Dame Juliana invented
The Hand-Twist Retrieve when her horse-hair line snagged on her habit and
she was forced to work it free with her left hand. She was using a Ruddy
Mayfly pattern, as I remember: "the body of roddyd wull and lappid
abowte with blacke sylke, the wynges of the drake & of the redde capons
hakyll." I probaby wouldn't recall the incident so vividly if the fly wasn't one
of my favorite patterns too.

There are all sorts of old timers' tricks kicking around this forum I'll bet.
The second oldest one I know, trumped only by The Joel-Juliana Hand-Twist
Retrieve, is The Overhead Toss, a delicate tactic that will require practice. For
it involves four distinct steps, all of which must be carefully woven into a single
seamless motion: (1) Sneak up stealthily on a big fish's lair below an undercut
bank. (2) Bend down slowly, ever so slowly, submerging both of your hands.
(3) Work them under the fish's belly until you find his tickle spot. (4) When he is
bent double with laughter, pitch him over your head and onto the bank (gently if
you plan to release him). This works almost every time once you get the knack
of it. It also saves a good deal of wear and tear on fine bamboo tackle when
you're fishing a difficult lie. There is, however, one caveat. The Overhead Toss
should not be attempted where there are moccasins or alligators.

Glad I could provide this historical perspective.

BHB

DrakeBob wrote:

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l put it down on The Old Timers List of Advanced Angling Techniques right next to my own favorite, The Weir Gathering. . . .

Should you wish to discuss any old techniques further, I'll be out on the porch, rocking and spinning some reels.

I'm cutting to the chase. An old-timer doesn't dillydally, his dilly not being what it
used to be.

When I was young (You can imagine, can't you? We're talking quite a few
decades here), I read Charles Brooks' Nymph Fishing for Larger Trout. In it
he explained the technique which is the next step up in finesse from The Overhead
Toss and heaven knows how many steps up from The Weir Gathering. Charlie
called it, in one of those dry, modest, prosaic descriptors of his, simply The Brooks
Method. But let's give it a name better suited to its revolutionary nature:
The Backhand Dredge Cast.

Some of you may know that Brooks created a pattern to match those huge Western
stonefly nymphs, Pteronarcys californica, which he tied on a size 4, 4X long hook
and which had as its distinguishing features 25 turns of .030 lead wire and a darkly
grizzled and fuzzy body. He called it The Montana Stone. But in keeping with our
established practice, let's instead refer to it as The Big Ugly Mother in order better to
capture its aura. Charlie devised The Backhand Dredge Cast for fishing The Big Ugly
Mother. He liked to fish it on the Madison, especially in places like the Barn Holes in
Yellowstone Park.

The Backhand Dredge Cast works this way. You use an appropriately long rod,
because it's advisable to keep The Big Ugly Mother as far away from your skull as
possible when casting (Before retiring it, I used a 9-1/2' Phillipson 8 wt which tipped
the scale at 6-1/4 oz.). Tie four feet of twelve-pound-test leader to your line, then
tie The Big Ugly Mother to the leader using the knot in which you place greatest
confidence. Wade out to five feet above the boulder-strewn hole you intend to fish.
If you accidently wade too far out or toward rather than above the hole, you will have
no trouble recognizing your mistake, for you will be totally submerged. To cast,
simply flip the ten to fifteen feet of line, which you have stripped out, upstream in
what resembles most closely a tennis backhand. Keeping your rod hand level and
your rod pointed above the spot where the line enters the water, follow your sunken
fly as it bounces downstream. You will need to raise your arm gradually to shoulder
level. Keep only a slight droop in the visible part of the line. The crucial phase occurs
from the time the line is straight across from you until it is straight downstream of you.
That's when most strikes occur and when you too must be ready to strike, using both
hands, one to throw the rod tip to one side, the other to pull the line through your stripping
guide in the opposite direction. But if nothing has happened by the time your line is straight
downstream of you, wait a few seconds, take a half step further out in the direction of the
hole, and resume with another Backhand Dredge Cast. Much of this cast and drift will be
accomplished with the rod parallel to the water then drawn up to shoulder height as the
fly drifts downstream.

You will be surprised by two things particularly when you use this finesse cast (I was):
(1) You will catch fish. And (2) you will notice almost immediate benefits to arthritc
elbows and shoulders from just a few hours fishing The Big Ugly Mother with repeated
Backhand Dredge Casts. It's okay to tell graphiteer brethren about this remarkable
technique, too. They will probably think it admirably suited to their lighter rods, having not
shared body-building advantages which accrued to old-timers from regular use of Bill
Phillipson's really big cane. I have given up the cast myself, aiming for a more secure
position on the actuarial tables, but the graphiteers deserve a little charity now and then.

You still awake, Bob?

Want your Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear to sink more quickly? Sure
you do. Everybody does. So try this:

Place it on your tongue and wet it with saliva. But not if you're
having spasms of forgetfulness that day. It could easily be
mistaken for a Geritol tablet. Also this technique works better
if you're not chewing gum. Fly fishers our age realize chewing
gum and doing anything else at the same time impedes clear
thought and is a sure invitation to disaster. Don't try this technique
either with one of Charlie's nymphs. There's a fair chance of lead
poisoning. And his Big Uglies don't require added incentive to sink.

Other than that, it's a piece of cake (but don't mistake your Gold-
Ribbed Hare's Ear for that either). Such timeless folk wisdom as
this is the ancient anglers' stock-in-trade. No need to thank us.
Sharing is what we do. Right, Bob?

Dammit, Bob, you still not awake?

This one is for those of you planning to fish the
Irati River in Spain, which might thin down interest
a little. But it's something e-honking-ssential to
the success of your trip, so listen up.

In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, when
Jake Barnes and Bill Gorton fish the Irati, Bill
borrows a fly from Jake. What is that fly?

Quit staring into space. Read the book. You
expect us old-timers to fill your flybox for you
the rest of your life?