GUIDE’S TIP – A Note on Trimming Your Fly: I tied up a bunch of Baymen Universals and headed to river, more to make sure the pattern was tracking right, than trying to catch a striped bass. Pattern looked great in the water. While I was stripping in, a 30-33″ inch striped bass chased down my Baymen Universal, nuzzled it all the way in, and then swam away!!! I was stunned since all the fish in this little pool have been very small stripers, 12-18″ but great fun on a 5Wt fly rod. Best trout fishing you will ever experience!

Well, when I got home I looked the fly over and here is what I came up with (and this kind of stuff will keep a guide up at night). I did NOT take the time to trim the tail of the fly before heading to fish it. No big deal, I have caught thousands of striped bass on this pattern over the last 20 years without trimmed tails. However: ALWAYS take the time to trim your fly to make it look just right so when it gets wet, it will “shape up” perfect. Photos attached show the untrimmed pattern and the trimmed pattern when wet. Lesson Learned: Trim your fly so it looks perfect in the water before you fish, not after. – Capt. Dave, BAYMEN, baymenlife.com

NOTE TO SELF: sometimes bass don’t mind a “tickler” in the nose from a long tail, sometimes they do. This one did and if I took the time to trim my fly, I would be posting up a 30-33″ on the fly in the Bluefish Hole as I released it back into the water.