Meat Whistle - Umpqua

In the Spring, one can usually find "Copper John" Barr kicking around the bass ponds outside of Boulder. His tackle consisted of one fly rod and several ultra– light spinning rods. His favorite "bait"? A 3/8 oz. Jig with a 5" Yamamoto Twin– tail Grub trailer. John buys his jigs, but he ties his flies, and he wanted a fly that would fish like his favorite bait. It had to "hop like a crawdad and swim like a streamer". So, if one wants a fly to jig, tie it on a jig hook. John settled on the Gamakatsu 6041 90 degree jig hook. After several attempts of tying and casting, the result is the Meat Whistle After testing it against his ol' standby, the jig and Twin–tail Grub, John discovered he had a fly that fished as well as the conventional lure. Now John fishes the ponds with fewer spinning rods but lots of Meat Whistle flies. (***Important: do not mistake the 3/0 for an overly large fly. It is not, and is THE best size for all–around large mouth flyrodding and can be cast with a 7 wt.) How to fish: a) Throw it to the bank and "hop and jerk" it down the slope. b) Just like a streamer, but always with pauses: strip, strip and drop. Always watch the line and leader for strike detection of the drop. c) hop and sit, especially with the crawdad color. This fly is constructed with material that is in perpetual motion. Do not consider this as simply a bass fly. It's an effective "frog water" trout streamer. But whether fishing for bass, trout or whatever, there is really no wrong way with a Meat Whistle.