Story of the ""BUTT" Fly

(Or how some Georgia boys’ “fly fishing logic” paid off out west)

By John Pool

Oft times we flyfishers approach our sport in a very scientific, calculating manner. We select our gear based on careful consideration of the best expert advice we can garner. This applies to rods, reels, waders, flyline, leader, tippet, floatant, etc, etc. It especially goes for the fly we tie on the end of our line at any given moment -- we never randomly pluck a fly from our flybox but select the one that a computer-like analysis of myriad factors leads us to deduce will work.

All sorts of factors enter into this fly selection equation (prevalent aquatic or terresteral insects observed, size of stream and type of water being fished, general time of year and specific time of day along with present weather conditions, species and size of fish targeted, reports from as many experts as can be found -- the list of factors affecting fly selection goes on and on). Not calling any names, but some flyfishers are known to focus more brainpower on making a fly selection than they did when selecting a lifelong soul-mate.

But then sometimes it is, in fact, better to be lucky than good.

As we do from time to time, earlier this summer John Mauldin and I were comparing notes on what flys had been working for us and, both being tyers, were trading a few patterns. John shared a rubber-legged-bead-head prince nymph he tied and had hooked a couple of big brown on. I gave him some of my glass-bead-head-soft-hackle pheasant tails that had worked well for us earlier that day. John happened to be taking Phil Fulmer, head Tennessee Vols football coach, on a Toccoa float trip the next day and along with the soft hackles, I sent along a couple of another pattern that I thought appropriate for that occasion.

This pattern was based roughly on a fly a clerk at Jack Dennis Fly Shop in Jackson Hole had sold us in a Wyoming fly assortment a couple of years earlier. The ones I'd tied weren't exact copies of that fly (which I think are called “Willy’s Red Ant” or “Gladys”) as mine was tied from materials I had on hand which are:

            3X-long #10 Hook

            Red tying thread

            Red tinsel chenille underbody

            Black foam body

            Black round rubber legs

            White “Super Hair” wing

Being a loyal Bulldog, I told John Mauldin I'd like to share a couple of these flys with Coach Fulmer because I was sure he'd find red and black to be much more productive colors in these parts than other colors like, say, orange.

I don't know if John tied one of these on for the coach or not (probably not if he was anticipating much of a tip) and the three or four I had left ended up snuggled up with the assortment of chernobyl ants and para-hoppers in one of my fly boxes which later was packed for a trip to the Upper Green River when all logic pointed to grasshopper patterns.

On a float down the Upper Green in mid-August with flyfishing guru Kyle Burrell at the helm of the driftboat, we'd had a great morning of fishing, first using big parachute adams that must have reminded the fish of the grey drakes that had been hatching earlier and then to a trico spinner fall that brought lots of fish to the surface including 20+ inch trout eating these little #20 bugs. During the early afternoon the action had subsided and we were going through a little lull in the action. With the warm sunshine, one could hear the hoppers clicking away on the bank, so I pulled out my hopper box -- you know, that flyfishing logic at work. But instead of a hopper pattern, for some illogical reason I decided to tie on one of the red and black flies I happened to notice in the corner of the box. First cast, bamm! A nice brown comes out of the weed line to explode on the fly.

Three or four casts later, repeat brown. Then a nice cutbow. About this time, fishing partner Jay Campbell, who rather be a participant than a spectator when it comes to catching fish, decides he better give this pattern a try too. Kyle says, "I don't know what that fly is but the fish like it and I like the way it lands right side up every time unlike most chernobyl patterns. And that white wing really shows up. Looks like a cigarette butt floating down the river. Looks like a Big-Ugly-Terrible-Termite --  B  -  U  -  T  -  T. It's the BUTT fly."

We caught up with Butch Martin and his crew and reported our success with the BUTT pattern and gave them a couple to try as we headed on down the Upper Green. They had equally good success. For the rest of the week when we floated the river and nothing was hatching, the BUTT was our go-to fly thanks to Kyle spending some late-night time at the tying table.

I don't know if the BUTT will ever work any other time on the Green or anywhere else. I gave the last three I had to a guide from Montana who Brad Wayne was exchanging fishing information with in the parking lot of the store in Daniel, Wyoming as we were headed out. But I'm going to tie up a few and try them on the Toccoa and when I get time, I'm also going to come up with some logical reasons why this fly works.