Dave’s Faves Part 2 The Ball Of Life By: David Bergman

Fish are just like any other animal, the will to drive and procreate dictates every action of these ancient organisms. Trout in particular, will fight current and contenders in the same area for both food and reproduction simultaneously. All of this rough and tumble life requires protein, and lots of it. Have you ever seen a workout montage from an 80’s movie? At some point undoubtedly, someone will crack one or two raw chicken eggs and slurp um down from a glass all in the name of getting a big kick of protein. Eggs are little balls of protein that all fish will produce, and trout need to bulk too. That is why we will cover three of my favorite egg patterns. No matter when a specific species spawn is, there will always be some fish in the river releasing eggs, whether it’s a trout or not. This is a food source fish recognize any time of year. We will look at some area-specific favorite eggs of mine.

Faded Yellow Glo-Bug #16-18

The color has many names, cheese is a common one in particular. The important thing is that it is faded yellow. A common fish species that in most cases outnumber trout in our area, is sucker species like chubs and hognose. They tend to release a yellow egg that in most cases doesn’t always fertilize changing it into a milky yellow. I have tried all kinds of yellow because of this, but upon further inspection, they tend to get cloudy and the faded yellow gives it that natural appeal. Glo-Bugs also have a great soft mouth feel that tends to have fish hang on to it for an extra second. The eggs here aren’t very large so I would not go any higher than a size 16.

EggTasty Hot Pink #14

This specimen is purely for attraction. We have no fish laying pink eggs around here but this fly will catch the eye of any fish in the run. The body is a heavy pink bead that will get down fast to those big hungry fish on the bottom of a fast run. This either catches every fish in the run or they won’t touch it. It depends on how aggressive they are that day. If you catch them at the right time, usually cloudier water in the 50’s temperature range, this can be absolutely deadly. Some massive protein-hungry rainbows have fallen victim to this egg in my life. So give it a try, and if it isn't working that day, no worries, save it for later.

The Blood Dot White and Orange #14-16

Created by famed Great Lakes steelheader Jeff Blood, This pattern made with soft egg yarn does something truly magical when it gets wet (as displayed). It gives it a soft jelly-like appearance with a visible yolk in the middle. Using this pattern in smaller sizes than its original steelhead size yields great results in our area. The translucence created by simple materials is intriguing to any fly angler who appreciates simple and effective patterns. Once again you have a mouth-feel thing going on too. The soft spongey egg yarn makes it a bit easier for fish to hang on to. Because of the white yarn, the orange isn’t too bright which gives a natural faded blood spot.

Any eggs without a heavy bead like the egg tasty should be fished with a split shot to get the best drift. These can be rather buoyant without it and ride in the upper water column. Most eggs sit in the middle or the bottom. I have never understood it, but some people have considered eggs “ junk flies” but they represent a very real food source for fish, and that is what we are after.

Tight Lines!