SPRUCE ALMIGHTY

Spruce Almighty I credit the creation of this pattern primarily to spending too much time in the back country. After a substantial amount of bushwhacking, one begins to notice every streamside and terrestrial bug in the woods. Quite frankly they are pretty hard to miss when they fly right at your face. Some of them even taste a bit better than others, but that's another subject altogether. Spruce moths are God's gift to the high country fly angler. They are large, highly visible, clumsy, and get eaten often. After a winter of fishing tiny flies, summer's terrestrials are a welcome sight. Ants, Moths, Hoppers, Beetles… they all have a place in a high country dry fly box; however, the lowly moth seems to get the least recognition of the bunch. These fuzzy bundles of goodness are every bit as effective at lower elevations as they are at timberline. In many cases, they can be incredibly productive for warm water species as well! For instance: find a sunfish that won't eat a small white moth on a Texas river in the dead of summer! Now, the moths in Texas are obviously not spruce moths, but there are a good many that come in bright white and are very similar in size. They also seem to fit in a sunfish's mouth nicely, but I digress… I use the Spruce Almighty primarily while chasing native cutthroat near timberline. Like the natural, it is not a dainty little dry fly. Instead, it's a touch on the big–boned side. The abdomen is made up completely of CDC feathers twisted together and the thorax is spun CDC. Add a split elk hair wing, trim the bottom of the fly flush, give it a cute little set of eyes, and you have the Spruce Almighty. This pattern effectively imitates the natural in ways that foam and spun deer hair patterns cannot. The CDC allows the Spruce Almighty to remain fuzzy in its appearance and still float like a cork! I have not found many high country trout that refuse it! If you ever find yourself in need of a moth pattern that floats high, looks like the real thing, is a piece of cake to fish, and gets eaten like crazy – It just so happens, I know a fly…