Bella's Fly



Bluegill taken on an "Isabella"

I tied a lot of different flies last year with the hopes of testing all of them out as soon as I could do so.  Well that hasn't quite turned out the way I hoped.  I tend to bring a few standard patterns and a few odd flies that I want to try when ever I'm on the water.  Either because I have forgotten to bring some flies with me or I'm doing so well with one particular fly I have not had a chance to try them all.  However, last week I made a point to try a fly that I hold particularly dear....The Isabella.  I tied this fly but my, then 4 1/2 year old daughter, picked the threads and materials she wanted in a fly.  The result was the fly pictured below.



The Isabella

I don't think it will win any contests (other than the Daddy's favorite contest) or take a 20+" brown trout but I love it and wanted to try it none-the-less.  To my surprise, it worked very nicely.  I used it to hook up with almost a dozen bluegill at the local millpond.  Not a bad showing by this fly. 


When I arrived home my first job was let Bella know how her fly did.  After showing her the pictures of some of the fish and the chewed up fly she let out a few very high-pitched screams of delight and immediately wanted to go back to the pond for some fishing.  Isabella has been fishing a few times with a worm and bobber but maybe the time is close when I feel comfortable enough to let her try her hand at tenkara style fly fishing.  I can only imagine her excitement when she catches a fish on her own fly.