Welcome to Week CLXXV of ‘Fishing Parkland Shorelines’. Like most of us I am a novice fisherman, loving to fish, but far from an expert. In the following weeks I’ll attempt to give those anglers who love to fish but just don’t have access to a boat, a look at some of the options in the Yorkton area where you can fish from shore, and hopefully catch some fish.
It’s always interesting to be able to correspond with other fishermen, especially those who have a creative side.
Meet Tom Barton, the man behind this week’s hook of note, ‘Tom’s Knotty Egg.
The Knotty Egg is one of those simple little fly fishing hooks you would have thought someone would have come up with ages ago, but credit Barton he did.
But before I get into the Knotty Egg itself, I wanted to learn about Barton the fisherman.
“I became involved in fly fishing at an early age,” he told me via email after we hooked up via Facebook some months ago. “My father was an avid outdoorsman, fly fisherman and fly tier. All of my earliest memories are fishing with my dad. I have memories literally at 3-4 years old being on the stream with my dad … My dad was my biggest influence and we fished all the wonderful Pennsylvania trout streams passionately. I was lucky to have such a great teacher and be raised in such a wonderful place with amazing waters and hatches at my disposal.”
It was Barton’s father who also introduced him to the fly tying vice.
“My dad was a school teacher and before I was old enough to even attend school he would set out his fly tying materials before he left for work in the morning and I would try to tie flies throughout the day,” he said. “I still have some of the gaudy flies I attempted to make back then and the technique is surprisingly decent! So I could tie flies before I could read.
“We also lived in a rural part of western Pennsylvania (Johnstown area) and there were countless trout streams to explore.”
So with countless trout streams to explore, does Barton have a favourite spot?
“I have many favourite waters, some because of great success and numbers of fish but mostly because of the memories with my Dad, brother, friends and the simple beauty that only a trout stream has the unique ability to procure,” he said. “Bob’s Creek and Yellow Creek in Bedford County, PA are two streams that I grew up on and will always hold as special waters. The Little Juniata River in Alexandria, PA because of its size and beauty not to mention the amazing Sulphur and Green Drake Hatch.
“(And) the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY and Elk Creek in Erie, PA for the amazing feel of a Steelhead on the end of your line. There is no better feeling in the world.”
Barton said again thanks to his father, fly fishing became his passion.
“Yes, fly fishing was my first love because it’s really all I knew,” he explained. “I would experiment with bait, and I have nothing against bait fishermen, but it was always much more satisfying to catch fish on a fly that I tied and to imitate the larvae and hatches that were present on the waters we were fishing.
“Aquatic entomology was always a fascinating hobby of mine also.”
With an interest in aquatic entomology, and a love of fly fishing, that Barton would create some interesting flies on his vice should not come as too big a surprise.
“My Knotty Egg design came about a few years ago after a fishing trip to one of the Great Lakes tributaries,” he said. “We not only fished locally for trout but also made many trips to the Erie, PA, Ohio, and Lake Ontario, NY tributaries for steelhead, salmon and brown trout. I used countless egg and sucker spawn imitations. Some worked well but most just so/so or not at all.”
So Barton decided he might design a better option.
“I have always experimented with my own adaptions of fly patterns and one day, after a trip to the Salmon River in New York, the thought of tying Knots in certain materials to make a nice egg profile came to mind,” he said. “So after tons of experimenting with various knots and lots of different materials the Knotty Egg was perfected.
“I wasn’t really sure what I had until I started fishing them and was surprised at the success. They out fished all my other egg patterns by far. I started giving them out to friends and everyone I met along the rivers and the results were just amazing. People started calling me for more samples or to see if they could place orders. Fishermen constantly told me to start a web page and sell them. So, that is what I did (www.knottyegg.com).”
So in the mind of its creator what makes it an effective pattern?
“In my mind there are three qualities that an egg pattern needs to have to make it a consistent producer,” said, adding “most egg patterns rarely have all three; colour, size and behavior.
“The Knotty Egg is available in all the most effective fish catching colours.
“It is a perfect egg size and can be easily trimmed or clipped to a smaller “micro” size for spooky or heavily fished over fish.
“Lastly, and the one quality that really separate this fly from 99 per cent of most egg patterns is behaviour/movement. The material is very attractive or “fishy” when wet and the way the egg knot is attached to the hook shank it has the freedom to move and behave very attractively when drifted to the fish.
“Also, as an added bonus, the fly sits directly on top of the hook shank, therefore, the entire hook gap is exposed. This makes the hook up rate extremely high even on very subtle takes. This is something that I hear time after time from fishermen ...”the hook up rate is just unreal!”
“I also tie them exclusively on Daiichi 1120 scud hooks, two times strong and ultra sharp. I don’t skimp on hooks because I don’t want a customer to lose the fish of a lifetime because the hook broke or straightened out …
“One thing I should mention is how fast this pattern is to tie. It literally takes less than a minute. A big plus when filling your fly box for a trip and time is of the essence. I also have available packets of ‘Knots’ for fly tiers who want to tie their own flies. They come with simple step-by-step instructions in every package and a link to a video to watch on my web site of the process.”
So how does Barton suggest fishing a Knotty Egg?
“The presentation that works best is just a dead drift bounced right on the bottom,” he said. “There are countless leader formulas and ways to weight your rigs to get the fly down to the fish and all are a matter of preference. But the basic philosophy is true, if you are not down to where the fish are the best pattern in the world won’t catch fish.”
The target species that they work best for are steelhead, brown trout and salmon, said Barton.
“Any egg eating fish. Everywhere from Alaska to the Pacific Northwest and all the tributaries of the Great Lakes etc. I have also had a lot of success during the spring on regular trout streams when the suckers are spawning,” he said.
While I have not had the chance as of yet, I am thinking that a spot of sardine oil on an egg, and present that to perch at a spot such as Cutarm Creek will work nicely here.
The eggs may be just different enough to attract the rainbows at the Yorkton Water Treatment Plant Pond (the spot really needs a name).
The most popular colours would have to be peach and light pink, said Barton.
“They seem to be the universal egg producing colours and my best sellers,” he said. “However, as you may know, when fishing eggs it is always a good idea to have various colours in your box. What worked well at 7 a.m. may not be working at 3 p.m.. I can’t tell you how many times blue or lime green has saved the day.
“And last year on a trip to Erie Pure White was hands down the killer colour. I am also working on an ‘Oregon Cheese’ type colour to round out the line.”
