One Fly I Can't Do Without

If you’re like me, you have to balance home and work life with fly fishing life. It’s not always easy keeping up with having the right flies for the right time of year. That being said, I always try to tie flies for one or preferably two seasons ahead. This does a couple things for me. One, it ensures I always have plenty of the right flies, and two, doesn’t leave me scrambling to tie flies for a guide trip or my own fishing outing at the last second. To me, being prepared well in advance gives me a sense of calm.

One fly that I just can’t seem to keep enough of, and is an easy tie is Higa’s SOS (Save our Skin). It’s a Baetis imitation that trout can’t seem to leave alone. I tie these on Size 18-22 Umpqua, Ahrex, and Firehole Nymph hooks and I tie a lot of them. They simply work, and they work everywhere. I’ve fished them across the country as well as in Spain with great success. There have been very rare occasions where they haven’t been effective for me, but as I said, it’s been rare. Tightline Video has a great video on YouTube on how to tie these flies, just follow this link Higa's S.O.S. - YouTube. In my opinion, every angler should have some in their box.

Tight lines,

Bill