 In my last few blog post's I have mentioned a specific fly several times. This fly has become a staple in my winter time fishing. My buddy "One Boot" Ed had a banner day on Maryland's tough Gunpowder during the first day of 2015. I have had several recent requests to do a step-by-step of the "Rainbow Warrior". The "Warrior", as we have come to call it, has served me well on stocked water as well as wild Trout rivers. I first came across this pattern in the great book "Dynamic Nymphing" penned by George Daniel. Mr Daniel credits Lance Egan for the pattern and I feel the need to personally thank him for such a great fly. Tied as big as a 12 or as small as a 22 this fly can be used strictly as an attractor or as a spot on Midge Larva. Hook: TMC 2457 #12 to #22 Bead: Silver Tungsten sized to match hook Thread: Red flat waxed 6/0 Tail: Pheasant Tail Fibers Body: UTC Pearl Tinsel Thorax: Rainbow Sow - Scud Dub Wing Case: UTC Pearl Tinsel  Bead the hook and place the hook in the vise.  After attaching the thread wrap back around the hook bend. Tie in a small clump of PT fibers for a tail. The original calls for natural Pheasant, I have been using red and have come to prefer it for this application.  After tying in the tail, tie in a length of UTC pearl tinsel. UN-twist the thread (this is why I like flat waxed thread)and lay down a smooth, tapered under body.  Wrap the tinsel up the hook over the red thread. When you get approximately 2/3 of the way up the hook shank tie off the tinsel, but don't clip the excess off. This will be your wing case.  Dub a small abdomen with the rainbow dubbing. Fold the excess tinsel over the abdomen, centered and on top of the hook shank. Use the thread to build up the gap between the bead and the dubbing. Whip finish and clip the thread.  Here is a brace of Warriors ready for the box and the water. Check out this nice Gunpowder Brown my buddy Ed stuck on New Year' day.  Take a minute the next time you are at the bench and tie up a few Rainbow Warriors. I'll bet you already have all the materials in your stash. Based on the success I have had with this pattern you will be glad you did. Till next time...
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 As I write this it is a couple of days since New Year's Day. Many people, around this time, are thinking of the past Holiday season, the Winter ahead, Collage Bowl games or waiting on Summer. To me, New Year's day means one thing, up-holding a new 4 year tradition of catching a wild Brown Trout on the first day of the new year. The first 2 years were well before web sites and blogs. Last year I did blog about this tradition while I was writing for a different site. Well, it is a new year, the site is mine, but the tradition remains the same. I was fortunate that my company shut down between Christmas and New Year's giving me 11 days off to do what ever I wanted, and I wanted to fish! Balancing time between the holidays, family and the river is a delicate act at best. Our kids are older and working all the time and my wife is EXTREMELY understanding of my passion (or sickness) and I was able to get on the river 5 of the 11 days I was off. Not too bad considering one of the days I had to go to New York City to look at a new machine my company is thinking of purchasing and the last two days, Saturday and Sunday were a complete wash out with heavy rain. I had spent a couple of days on the White Clay and one day on Valley leading up to New Year's day. You can read the White Clay post here. I had an OK day on Valley with a few fish landed spending a lot of time fishing a #24 CDC puff over some risers. Hooking and landing fish on a #24 is a challenge in itself and I can say I was not up to the challenge. I could get them to eat, but as soon as they fealt the hook, 2 head shakes and they were gone. It became a vendetta of sorts that I was gonna land a trout on a #24 that day. Finally, after several hours I did get one to hand only to have the hook pull and the fish flop back into the water as I was trying to take the picture. Oh well, it was still a fun and challenging afternoon on the water. For the big New Year's day trip we had decided to hit the Gunpowder in Maryland. The Gunpowder or GP as it in known in the vernacular, is a bottom release tail water originating at Prettyboy Reservoir in northern Baltimore county. The reservoir system (Prettyboy and Loch Raven), the watersheds and the surrounding woodlands are owned by the city of Baltimore and they are responsible for about 60% of the municipal water for the city. Be that as it may we are attracted to it for it's scenery, wildlife (I saw several deer including a nice 8 pointer that bounded in the water right below me in an attempt to avoid some people trail running) and it's beautiful wild Brown Trout. I have not fished the GP since late last Winter and decided to fish a spot that always seems to give up a few fish. I had "One Boot" Ed with me and this would be his first time on this particular river. 
You almost feel like you are in the presence of Royalty.
This is the first thing you see when you step out of your car in the parking lot. No pressure here! After rigging up at the truck we decided I would walk down about a half mile and fish my way up, Ed would start at the truck and fish his way down. We would meet somewhere in the middle, compare notes, and finish out the day. We said our "good lucks" and I started the 30 min walk downstream. When I got to the spot I wanted to start the first thing I did was take a water temp; 34 degrees! so much for the theory of a bottom release tail water being warmer in the winter! I had decided to fish 3 flies under a indicator and let the fish tell me what was there preferred food of the day. I guess I could have used a stomach pump, but the rule of thumb is not to pump when the water is that cold. It is too stressful for the fish to regain the calories you take from them. My rig consisted of a #16 biot bodied BYO nymph, a #18 Flashback PT and a #20 Al's Rat. I have become quite fond of this rig. It has served me well in the past and covers many bases of wintertime food availability. I am happy to say that shortly into my New Year's day fishing (less than 10 minutes) I was snapping a picture of a beautiful, little wild Brown. The tradition continues! (BTY he is not hooked in the pectoral fin. I didn't even realize the fly was laying there until I downloaded the image from my phone) 
The first fish of 2015!
Nymphing my way up the run produced 3 more gorgeous fish, It was shaping up to be a pretty good day. An hour or two later I came around a bend just in time to see my buddy landing a fish. I snapped a couple of pictures of him landing it and hollered for him to hold it up. 
One of the many fish Ed landed that day.
This was one of several fish he had taken on his way down. I asked him what fly and was surprised to hear he had taken all of his fish on the Rainbow Warrior! An attractor pattern, the Warrior has served me well over stocked fish, I never thought to use it on a wild Trout river. 
Who would have thought the Rainbow Warrior would be the top fly.
Giving Ed's success with the Warrior I decided to try an experiment. I tied up an "attractor" rig with a Green Weenie, a Rainbow Warrior, and a San Juan Worm. Not your typical "wild fish" rig, and I am sure people reading this, one guy in particular, is shaking his head at me. I had already had a good day fishing naturals and I wanted to see what happened. I broke the worm off in short order so I just fished out the day with the two flies. The first half dozen casts with the new rig produced 2 fish, proof positive that wild fish eat attractors two! Here are some pics from New Year's day. 
I do like my new Fishpond Nomad landing net.
He is not hooked in the head. The de-barbed hooks usually pop out once you get them in the net.
I love the iridescent blue color in their head.
Here are a few of the pics Ed sent me. 
The ride home was a good time. It was filled with stories of "did you fish that log" or "did you see this" type of stuff. These conversations have become as important of a part of the day as the fishing itself. What good are all of these great experiences if you have nobody to share them with. I am fortunate enough to have a bunch of good friends to share with! Now the question... where to fish tomorrow. After thinking it over and weighing the pros and cons of Valley vs the GP I decided to make the hour and 45 minute ride back to Baltimore County. I already knew the fish there were active despite the cold water temp. I already had an idea of what flies would be effective and based on a few conversations and what I saw on Facebook Thursday evening, it didn't look like Valley was fishing very well at the moment. So at 9:00 am it was Rt 1 south... again. I arrived at the spot a little earlier than the day before. On the way down I thought up the rig I would fish and decided I would stick with the same rig all day. I rigged up my 4X Harvey leader with a #18 tungsten bead Rainbow Warrior and tied a #18 Flashback PT and a #20 Mercury Midge on 6X droppers. Unless I saw something drastic, like a pod of rising fish, I was dancing with who brought me and this rig would stay on the whole day. As it turns out the fishing spot and the rig were both the right choice. I had another solid day. Not quite as god as the day before, but very good in it's own right. Forsake of one EPIC leader tangle that required a complete rebuild from the 3X section down the original 3 flies were never off of my leader. 
Look at the Pectoral fins on this guy! no wonder they pull like a freight train!
All in all I had a great Holiday season. I received some cool presents from Santa, got to spend some time with family and friends and fished my ass off! What more could you ask for? Til Next time...
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