Sometimes you can tell a large story with a tiny subject.

Eliot Porter

Yes, it's that time again. Time to pay attention to detail. Why? Well, as applied to flyfishing the spring creek where I will spend the majority of my fall and winter fishing hours, it means paying creedence to some very highly educated trout. And that means, for the most part, offering only them only very authentic imitations of the food sources they see the most. There are always exceptions to rules, but AS A RULE, exceptions do not offer the pleasure derived from matching what are the few predominant food sources in the cool weather diet of spring creek trout. And, to take that a step further, those imitations must also ACT like the natural. Otherwise, it makes for a long day watching fish after fish ignore your offering as if it was nothing more than detritus. That's part of the beauty of spring creek fishing in the winter; the chance to WATCH this happen, time and time again.

But, if you fish it long enough, and are willing to not settle for the occasional exceptions to the rule, your ability to discern proper patterns, their coloration, movements, and times of the day will cause you to tie better imitations and fish them more wisely.

I can't wait.

I say that to myself every year, somehow forgetting the hours that will still be spent suffering through various periods of refusal.