Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”
by Rusty Dunn
Mention the name “Vince” to Wisconsin fly anglers, and you’ll hear stories of Vince Lombardi, the glory days of the Green Bay Packers, and a legendary leader who inspired others to greatness. Mention the name “Vince” to Pennsylvania fly anglers, and you’ll hear similar stories, but they will involve Letort Spring Run and Vince Marinaro, a creative genius who similarly inspired those around him. Each was a legend in his own arena.
Vince Marinaro (1911-1986) is a giant of fly fishing history, one who spent a lifetime fishing the limestone spring creeks of central Pennsylvania. If ever a stream were haunted by spirits of a great angler, it would be the Letort and Vince Marinaro. The Letort was his laboratory and his temple. Gin clear, glassy smooth, waist deep, weed-filled, and heavily fished, dry fly fishing on the Letort is as difficult as gets, but Marinaro mastered it like none others, before or since. His image, cast in bronze and affixed to a stone monument, gazes down upon Marinaro’s Meadow and cautions all who visit: “The Letort is a hard taskmaster and does not treat lightly any violation of dry fly technique.” So it is, and so it shall be. Marinaro fooled Letort’s fussiest trout using tiny imitations and light presentations. “Uncatchable” trout were Marinaro’s bread and butter and, on the Letort, he often dined alone.
Marinaro’s first book, A Modern Dry Fly Code (1950), is a classic. It integrates trout behavior, fly design, presentation, and angling technique into methods that succeed on difficult spring creeks. It is a truly original work, one that provides novel insights and new perspectives. “The Code” should be required reading for all fly anglers of the Driftless.
A Modern Dry Fly Code is noted for two major concepts of insect imitation. The first is the role of terrestrial insects in a trout’s diet:
“(There) exists now a superior kind of fishing that tests the most resourceful of sportsmen – a brand of fishing most prevalent in mid- and late-summer, extending well into the fall months. … All of it is the product of meadows, the terrestrial insects.”
Knowledge of terrestrials was, of course, not new. Authors since the 19th century noted that trout can feed at the surface on ants and other terrestrials. Before Marinaro, however, mayflies were the darlings of fly fishing literature. Terrestrials languished in obscurity until being resurrected by Marinaro in 1950.
Additionally, A Modern Dry Fly Code was the first to emphasize the importance of imitating tiny insects, those ranging in size from #20 to #28:
“All forms of the dry fly have their peculiar attractions, but none of them begins to approach the ineffable charm of fishing with minutae.”
When the mayfly and caddis hatches of spring through early summer have waned, tiny insects sustain trout for months. Though small in size, they are large in number, and trout sip them all day long. Ed Shenk, also an expert of the Letort, describes such angling as “fishing with next to nothing“.
Marinaro was a keen observer and a creative fly designer. His “game of nods” yielded innovative and effective fly patterns that every spring creek angler should have in the box. Marinaro varied flies little by little, offered them to trout, and the resulting affirmations or refusals (“nods”) led to refinement and evolution. The end results were patterns and techniques effective under the toughest of conditions.
Marinaro’s most famous fly is the Jassid, so-named because it imitates leaf hoppers of the family ‘Jassidae’ (now renamed Cicadellidae). Leaf hoppers are terrestrials with slender bodies and short legs. They are very small (#20-26) and difficult to see, but they are abundant in meadows and forests from summer through early fall, and large numbers are blown into the water. In larger sizes having stout bodies, Jassids make excellent beetle imitations.
Copyright 2018, Rusty Dunn
Jassid
Any dark, thin, lacquered feather can be substituted for the jungle cock nail, and an added spot of orange or yellow paint helps visibility.
| Hook: |
Dry fly, light wire, short shank, #16-#26 |
| Thread: |
Orange (or black) silk |
| Body: |
Tying thread |
| Hackle: |
Ginger (or black), palmered, trimmed top and bottom |
| Wing: |
Jungle cock nail, tied flat, length slightly beyond hook bend |
Jassid
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Last Updated: September 6, 2018 by Drew Kasel
by Rusty Dunn
Mention the name “Vince” to Wisconsin fly anglers, and you’ll hear stories of Vince Lombardi, the glory days of the Green Bay Packers, and a legendary leader who inspired others to greatness. Mention the name “Vince” to Pennsylvania fly anglers, and you’ll hear similar stories, but they will involve Letort Spring Run and Vince Marinaro, a creative genius who similarly inspired those around him. Each was a legend in his own arena.
Vince Marinaro (1911-1986) is a giant of fly fishing history, one who spent a lifetime fishing the limestone spring creeks of central Pennsylvania. If ever a stream were haunted by spirits of a great angler, it would be the Letort and Vince Marinaro. The Letort was his laboratory and his temple. Gin clear, glassy smooth, waist deep, weed-filled, and heavily fished, dry fly fishing on the Letort is as difficult as gets, but Marinaro mastered it like none others, before or since. His image, cast in bronze and affixed to a stone monument, gazes down upon Marinaro’s Meadow and cautions all who visit: “The Letort is a hard taskmaster and does not treat lightly any violation of dry fly technique.” So it is, and so it shall be. Marinaro fooled Letort’s fussiest trout using tiny imitations and light presentations. “Uncatchable” trout were Marinaro’s bread and butter and, on the Letort, he often dined alone.
Marinaro’s first book, A Modern Dry Fly Code (1950), is a classic. It integrates trout behavior, fly design, presentation, and angling technique into methods that succeed on difficult spring creeks. It is a truly original work, one that provides novel insights and new perspectives. “The Code” should be required reading for all fly anglers of the Driftless.
A Modern Dry Fly Code is noted for two major concepts of insect imitation. The first is the role of terrestrial insects in a trout’s diet:
“(There) exists now a superior kind of fishing that tests the most resourceful of sportsmen – a brand of fishing most prevalent in mid- and late-summer, extending well into the fall months. … All of it is the product of meadows, the terrestrial insects.”
Knowledge of terrestrials was, of course, not new. Authors since the 19th century noted that trout can feed at the surface on ants and other terrestrials. Before Marinaro, however, mayflies were the darlings of fly fishing literature. Terrestrials languished in obscurity until being resurrected by Marinaro in 1950.
Additionally, A Modern Dry Fly Code was the first to emphasize the importance of imitating tiny insects, those ranging in size from #20 to #28:
“All forms of the dry fly have their peculiar attractions, but none of them begins to approach the ineffable charm of fishing with minutae.”
When the mayfly and caddis hatches of spring through early summer have waned, tiny insects sustain trout for months. Though small in size, they are large in number, and trout sip them all day long. Ed Shenk, also an expert of the Letort, describes such angling as “fishing with next to nothing“.
Marinaro was a keen observer and a creative fly designer. His “game of nods” yielded innovative and effective fly patterns that every spring creek angler should have in the box. Marinaro varied flies little by little, offered them to trout, and the resulting affirmations or refusals (“nods”) led to refinement and evolution. The end results were patterns and techniques effective under the toughest of conditions.
Marinaro’s most famous fly is the Jassid, so-named because it imitates leaf hoppers of the family ‘Jassidae’ (now renamed Cicadellidae). Leaf hoppers are terrestrials with slender bodies and short legs. They are very small (#20-26) and difficult to see, but they are abundant in meadows and forests from summer through early fall, and large numbers are blown into the water. In larger sizes having stout bodies, Jassids make excellent beetle imitations.
Copyright 2018, Rusty Dunn
Jassid
Any dark, thin, lacquered feather can be substituted for the jungle cock nail, and an added spot of orange or yellow paint helps visibility.
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Category: Fly Tying, Rusty Dunn Fountains of Youth
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