Opportunity Awaits!

We’ve all been there. Just finished up out lunch at work, bellies full and fighting the 2pm drags. When we walk by the break room and see a half empty box of Jimmy Johns subs leftover from a company training you weren’t invited to. Well, who’s going to pass up a free sandwich and cookie?  

In the animal kingdom this takes a more survivalist role rather than just merely pleasing taste buds. Vultures swoop down on fresh (or not) roadkill to satiate themselves. Pythons look for the biggest meal they can get for the least energy, just to sit and digest for a week straight. Great white sharks and orca whales target fatty and calorie dense seals to get the most bang-for-buck. Opportunity awaits everywhere you look. And it seems to me that those that take the risk, usually benefit greatly. I’m looking at you early Bitcoin investors! 

In the fishy world, trout are prime examples of this opportunistic feeding style. They try to sit adjacent to current seams, where they are protected from the hydraulic blast of the main river, so they don’t have to expend unnecessary energy. But still close enough that they can occasionally lunge at insects that are being swept down river. Basically, using the river as one big food conveyor belt. While doing this they have to make split second decisions on whether what’s passing by is food, or just river debris. That’s why modern fly fisherman, especially euro nymph guys, can get away with more

Examples of Euro Nymph Flies

suggestive patterns, rather than direct insect imitations.  

Now let’s bring this all around to something I’m more familiar with, ice fishing. During the winter months fish are lethargic, roaming around slowly, looking for something to get them through the winter. And during those winter months, insect life is also lethargic. Meaning, there isn’t much going on. So, I have to believe that even though those fish are meandering along, trying not to expend energy. If they come across your ice fly tipped with a juicy wax worm. They might not think twice and just open their mouths wide. But, anecdotally, us fisherman know all too well that this is not always the case. Fish can be picky under the ice. So maybe there still is a place for a well-tied, impressionistic ice fly like those on my website. 

The jury is out. I’ll keep going fishing for “scientific purposes.” As well as thinking up

Aaron's Custom Tying Tungsten Ice Ants

new ice fly designs to better arm anglers for any bite they encounter. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Are fish opportunistic or properly discerning? 

-Aaron