WFS 290 – Harry Murray on Brook Trout Fly Fishing

Show Notes: wetflyswing.com/290

Presented By: Fly Fishing Film Tour, Dette Flies, Stonefly Nets, Anglers Coffee

Sponsors: wetflyswing.com/sponsors

Harry Murray, Virginia fly fishing super guru is here to take us to Shenandoah for some brook trout fishing. Harry shares his 4 secrets casts to achieve a drag-free dry fly drift. We learn how to read the water, the parts of the pool, and where we can find the fish by understanding their behavior.

Discover Harry’s Top 5 Flies for Brook Trout, his 3 rules to not get bitten by poisonous snakes, and the hatch season for each fly. We also find out how Harry became friends with some of the legends in the fly fishing industry.

Brook Trout Fly Fishing Show Notes with Harry Murray

4:42 – Harry graduated from college in pharmacy school in 1962 – he bought a pharmacy in Edinburgh VA then opened a fly shop there and started tying flies

5:43 – Harry became friends with Harry Wilson, owner of Scott Fly Rods

6:18 – Harry has written 17 books about bass, smallmouth, and trout

7:05 – The trout fishing for the wild brook trout start in the mountain stream in Virginia, Shenandoah National Park

7:31 – Harry’s book, Trout Fishing in the Shenandoah National Park lists all of the streams in the park and how to find them

7:43 – His book, Virginia Blue Ribbon Streams is about bass and trout streams in Virginia

8:16 – Harry has been running a fly shop for 50 years and he describes what it’s like

9:45 – Harry has a podcast – click here to check it out

11:41 – The Quill Gordon hatch starts at mid-March, Blue Quill at later march, March Brown, Gray Fox, and Light Cahill at early April, Sulphur at mid-May

14:23 – Harry taught the advanced class at Lord Fairfax Community College for about 15 years – Harry shares some memorable stories he’s had with his students

16:00 – Click here to shop for flies at Murray’s Fly Shop

22:51 – The Puddle Cast was invented by Vince Marinaro to achieve a drag-free dry fly drift to fool the fish – Vince is one of Harry’s heroes

25:03 – Harry describes how he teaches his class starting with a slide show on how to read the water

28:13 – There are 2 possible feeding stations for the fish – the lip of the pool and the corner of the pool – Harry tells us where we can find them (you can see the illustration in his book)

40:15 – Water level determines how good the fishing is – good rain makes good water level in Virginia

46:17 – Three things to remember to not get bitten by poisonous snakes

1. Don’t walk through grass that you can’t see where you put your feet on
2. If you’re climbing up boulders, never reach up and put your hand on a boulder to pull yourself up until there are people above there who tell you it’s self
3. When there’s a down timber or a log, don’t step across it until you peck it with your wading stick from a far side

49:12 – Harry recommends using the Appalachian Trail Map if you want to do a hiking trip in VA

51:39 – Terrestrials are Harry’s go-to flies for brook trout

53:49 – The Lazy S-Cast explained

57:28 – 6 1/2 and 7 1/2 is the ideal length of the rod to achieve that drag-free drift

1:00:07 – Harry ties some Royal Wulff flies if he has to – he mentions some fly patterns that he likes

1:03:34 – For the leader, he uses a compound knotted tapered leader, 6 to 7 and a half feet – hand tied

1:05:08 – The Flip Cast explained

1:06:59 – The Pop Strike Cast explained – setting the hook and releasing the trout instantly

1:09:07 – Charley Waterman is one of Harry’s biggest influences

1:09:22 – Dave Whitlock designed Harry’s logo – Dave was on the podcast at WFS 160

1:09:38 – Ed Shenk is also Harry’s friend

1:09:45 – Lefty Kreh wrote an introduction to one of Harry’s books and took some photos for his book

1:10:50 – In the Ring of the Rise by Vince Marinaro

1:11:08 – Vince’s first book is called A Modern Dry-Fly Code

1:13:00 – March, April, and May is when Harry takes the boys to the streams for actual fishing

Brook Trout Fly Fishing Conclusion with Harry Murray

Harry Murray, Virginia fly fishing super guru took us to Shenandoah for some brook trout fishing. Harry shared his 4 secrets casts to achieve a drag-free dry fly drift. We learned how to read the water, the parts of the pool, and where we can find the fish by understanding their behavior.

We discovered Harry’s Top 5 Flies for Brook Trout, his 3 rules for poisonous snakes, and the hatch season for each fly. We also found out how Harry became friends with some of the legends in the fly fishing industry.

Show Notes:  wetflyswing.com/290