Don't leave home without the classics...

[Wild_Trouter]

Lots of people out on Spring Creek and the fish are getting hammered. I was out today and fish were sporadically rising to go with many hugging tight to the bank in the shade. I cycled through a lot of reliable patterns, picking up a fish or two here and there, but it seemed like I had to constantly change flies as the fish would either look at them or hug the bottom and give it the hairy eyeball. I thought what the hell, I'll throw on a McGinty pattern I tied up over the Winter since I had nothing to lose. The pattern is tied on a #12 Mustad 94840 hook and the build is very similar to Jim Misiura's with just a few tweaks. I rigged up with 4x and dropped the fly inches from shore under the shade. The strikes were absolutely savage. In about 90 minutes, I caught 5 browns that ranged from 14"-19" to go with several cookie-cutter guys in the 8'-12" range. Moral of the story is Spring is fished very hard and the trout see an ungodly amount of patterns. Sometimes the best pattern is the classic that is forgotten as we all try to stay cutting edge with new fly tying materials and the creation of "fresh" patterns.

 

[JeffP]

Nice! Another example of nice fish in pressured waters.

 

[dryflyguy]

All right

Not knowing what a McGinty is, I had to look it up.

Looks like a bee pattern.
And I guess you fished it dry?
The Jim Misiura pattern is tied with lead wrap

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Yes, I tied this on a light wire dry fly hook with no weight. I imagine it would've worked well weighted, but I wanted to add additional dry bee patterns to my arsenal. I got them in spun/clipped deer hair with hackle and wings, and I have the foam cylinder type made with Skilton's cylinders. Both of those work but I also imagine I'm not the only one with those in his Summer box. When I had a lot of time on my hands over the Winter, I searched the web and saw Misiura's McGinty pattern. I figured if I tied it as a dry and fished it tight to the bank on a hot day, maybe it would work so I tied up 6 just for giggles. I figured if they didn't work, I'd just use them on bluegills. I'm also the guy that has a lot of luck fishing Irresistables, Royal Wulffs and Humpies on Spring when nothing else seems to be working.

 

[Baron]

I sometimes use these for gills in early spring. At that time of the year I imagine they're just attractors.

 

[BrookieChaser]

If I'm not mistaken, the McGinty was a fly Hemingway was fond of and wrote about it in "Two-Hearted River".

It goes into an old adage of "if you can't figure out what they're hitting, throw them a Snickers bar".

 

[shakey]

i often tye a McGinty with a hen pheasant wing

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Shakey, isn't that called the McNulty? GG

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Shakey, isn't that called the McNulty? GG

 

[mt_flyfisher]

I fished Spring Creek often when I was at Penn State back in the 1960’s and had a few epic days there when I fished patterns that I thought were different from what the fish were accustomed to seeing on a day to day basis.

One day I fished a large green deer hair frog pattern that was more of a bass pattern than a trout one and I really crushed them. I believed I must have been catching many of the largest fish in the section of the stream I was fishing. I fished that same fly the following day with only moderate success, and by the third day nothing.

 

[dryflyguy]

mt_flyfisher wrote:
I fished Spring Creek often when I was at Penn State back in the 1960’s and had a few epic days there when I fished patterns that I thought were different from what the fish were accustomed to seeing on a day to day basis.

One day I fished a large green deer hair frog pattern that was more of a bass pattern than a trout one and I really crushed them. I believed I must have been catching many of the largest fish in the section of the stream I was fishing. I fished that same fly the following day with only moderate success, and by the third day nothing.

Fish don't really like getting caught.
And they wise up - as your example shows
That's why I rarely fish the same spot 2 days in a row

 

[Billems]

You tie the McGinty as a dry fly? Never heard of that. Can you share the recipe?

 

[redietz]

Billems wrote:
You tie the McGinty as a dry fly? Never heard of that.

I would think it would no longer "bee" a McGinty if it weren't a wet fly.

Gary LaFontaine was of the opinion that they work best after a rain.

I has great afternoon with a McGinty in Ken Lockwood Gorge in NJ (another heavily pressured stream) years ago when I noticed fish were eating yellow jackets.

 

[Baron]

One wet and one dry. Houstons version will help deal with all the squirrels in my neighborhood. You can always add lead.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUCGcIadR6s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNe9z9x8UYs


I'll pursue this one shortly. From Bart Lombardo's site