Flies of Yesteryear Part Two Blog- Murray’s Fly Shop
Standing in Dan Bailey’s Fly Shop in Livingston, Montana in the mid seventies , Charley Waterman handed me a streamer. Confidently, he exclaimed, “This will work well on your smallmouth back in Virginia as well as the trout here in Montana.”
Charlie said he bought six of them in a fly shop in Maine. They were labeled as Silver Doctors. He showed them to his friend Dan Bailey that summer on his trip to Livingston. He explained how these Silver Doctors were effective for both trout in Montana and smallmouth bass in Maine.
Dan who was a master of Atlantic Salmon flies, including the Silver Doctor, examined Waterman’s fly closely. Dan politely looked at Charlie and exclaimed, “Charlie, I am glad that fly is so effective but it is not a Silver Doctor. The fly tyer took so many shortcuts in tying that fly that I would have to call it a Silver Outcast.”
This really is one of the most productive streams I have found for smallmouth bass. These bass are feeding on natural shiner minnows along aquatic grassbeds. At dusk many bass crash into the grassbeds in water from two to three feet deep to cash in on this rich food supply. Many stretches of the Potomac, James and Shenandoah have such long areas of these grassbeds. I can often spend the whole evening fishing just one of them with the Silver Outcast.
The fly is unweighted and stream lined. This makes it easy to shoot a fast cast out in front of a bass chasing shiner minnows in the grassbeds.
Trout take the Silver Outcast readily in all types of trout streams. Its natural swimming action and realistic minnow-shape, I believe, accounts for this great appeal to the trout.
Silver Outcast Streamer Tying Materials
Hook: Mustad 9672 size 4, 6 or 8
Thread: Black 3/0 Prewaxed Monocord
Body: Flat Silver Mylar Tinsel
Wing: White, Yellow and Blue Bucktail
Top of Wing: Peacock Herl