A Go-To Fly: The Welch PTE

These posts are an adjunct to my primary blog,  MagallowayGuideServices.blogspot.com,  and will feature fly-tying techniques, new and old fly patterns, and tips on how to fish them. I will be instructing a class on the fly pattern below in New Hampshire (see link below), and look forward to future offerings. I welcome any patterns, with or without photos, from you.


Featured Fly: Welch PTE

My fly (bottom), as featured in Fly Fish America

This is a fly I developed a number of years ago to represent an emerging brown drake, specifically for the
Kennebago Lake - Rangeley, Maine area. As it turns out, it probably represents a number of other hatching insects, from the Hendrickson to an Isonychia to a caddis.

In the early days, I tied it on a fairly large hook (size #14 Klinkhammer special) or a size #12 Mustad C49S). But eventually, I found that, in smaller sizes -- down to an 18 or even #20 -- it was productive in all types of waters, from the lakes to the fast-moving tailwaters of the Magalloway River.

Since it was first featured in the magazine Fly Fish America several years ago, the fly has undergone few changes, other than the hook sizes. But since that time, it has caught countless fish, and is my go-to fly, and the go-to fly of many of my friends and clients.

Featured Fly: Welch PTE (Pheasant Tail Emerger)

As one can see, the PTE (group of flies to the right) holds a prominent place in my reserve flybox: