Harlequin Egg Flies & Steelhead... and Smallies!

I've been having fun recently with small harlequin egg flies (size 12-14), fished under a float of course; given the opportunity, I always prefer to reject Wisconsin fishing reality and substitute my own version of the fishy universe!

Anyway, I picked up a few of these egg flies from Tight Lines, and although I haven't had too much chance to wear them out, I've caught Steelhead on the couple of opportunities I've had to fish them. It's impossible to be sure, but I had the impression that I was catching fish that had turned up their noses at spawn sacks and other egg imitations.

Last week, I had the opportunity to fish for Smallies in the Wisconsin River, at Mosinee, just a couple of evenings after work. Conditions on the first day were good, and I had a few small Smallies on my usual "float & jig" combinations. On the second evening conditions were ideal, heavy persistent rain! I prefer the old saying, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going", so I wasn't going to let a little moisture put me off... I'm English after all!

Anyway, I really struggled; nothing biting at all. So, always experimenting, I tried one of my harlequin eggs; first run down through a likely looking steady run and the float just disappeared down a big hole in the water. My slightly surprised strike met with stubborn resistance, and in a few minutes a large, fat and very angry Smallie came to the waiting net. Now, I'd been fishing that run for at least 30 minutes, so it's likely that fish had seen a couple of different offerings from me, so why the fascination with a size 12 egg fly? Anyway, it was the only fish that evening, but I was very happy to catch a 5 pounder while experimenting. As I was returning the fish, a guy came up and asked me how I caught it. After showing him my rig, his comment was "I've never read anything about fishing with egg flies for Smallies"; my inevitable comment was "I'm so pleased that fish can't read!"

Tight Lines, and keep on experimenting!