RECORD SMALLIE CONTINUES STRING OF GIANTS

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Idaho’s Joey Walton had been looking for a record smallmouth on Dworshak Reservoir for months. He had already caught several this season that were just shy of the current record, and on Dec. 13 his hard work paid off with a 23.75-inch giant that is the new Idaho catch-and-release state record.

Walton weighed the chunky bronzeback with digital scales on the boat. At 9.1 pounds, the fish came up shy of the 9.72-pound existing weight record, which was caught by Dan Steiger in 2006.

The year 2022 might be remembered as one of the best for Dworshak Reservoir. Dworshak is a large western Idaho reservoir that has produced a string of impressive smallmouth bass recently. Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologists explained that big bass in the lake have a cyclical pattern related to fluctuating numbers of kokanee salmon in the reservoir. In years when kokanee are abundant— and usually smaller as a they provide ample food to grow supersized smallmouths. Over the last two years, biologists have seen an abundance of kokanee. If conditions remain consistent, there could be another record coming.

For more information, go to https://idfg.idaho.gov.

This is an easy fly pattern to tie – much like the Copper John. The abdomen ribbing effect comes from using two colors of fine colored wire, one bright color and one a contrasting dark color. The thorax is dubbed. Goose biots provide the forked tail and two legs on each side of the thorax. A bead head is prescribed but may be omitted if some underbody of substitute lead is used for weighting under the thorax. The two wires provide some weight regardless.

Actual stonefly nymphs are typically, black, brown or rusty brown, and golden or tan in larger siz-es (4-12) as well as black, yellow, and green in smaller sizes (14-18). For example, a Black

Two Wired Stonefly Nymph may have an abdomen ribbed with hot orange wire and black wire; UTC medium. The tiny winter black stonefly nymphs would be imitated with UTC small wire of the same colors. A Brown Two

By Tom Adams and Alen Baker

Wired Stonefly Nymph may have an abdomen ribbed with silver wire and amber or rust wire; UTC medium. A Golden Two Wired Stonefly Nymph may have an abdo-men ribbed with hot yellow wire and copper wire; UTC medium. The little yellow and little green stonefly nymphs would be imitated with UTC small wire of the same colors as the larger golden stonefly.

The amount of weight determines how fast the nymph fly pattern will sink toward the bottom. The slowest rate may be achieved by omitting the bead and depending only on the two wires of the ab-domen. The fastest rate may be achieved with a tungsten bead. White goose biots may be used to make the nymph fly pattern stand out on a dark bottom but typically the goose biots color is natu-rally matched to the color of the nymph.

In North Carolina mountain streams, the golden stonefly nymph is highly effective, thus the hot yellow and copper wire combination is a good choice.

Two Wired Stonefly Nymph

Hook: Nymph hook

Size: 6,8,10,12,14,16

Thread: 8/0 to match body

Tail: Goose Biots to match pattern

Abdomen: Two alternate colors of UTC wire to match pattern

Wings: Goose Biots to match pattern

Thorax Dub: Buggy to match pattern

Directions: Detailed tying steps may be found at the Rocky River Chapter of Trout Unlimited at www.rockyrivertu.org/dry-flypatterns.html.

By Capt. Michael Okruhlik