The MFFR is one of the best Salmonfly imitations around. This secret society fly has been used by a small close-lipped community of anglers on the Deschutes for a number of years.
When I started fishing the Salmonfly hatch 20 plus years ago, the fly that I used I didn't invent but was an iteration of the Norm Wood's Special. The Norm Wood's Special is one of the most popular Deschutes Salmon Fly patterns ever used. It is even rumored that the Norm Wood's Special is the basis for Randall Kaufmann's Stimulator.
I started fishing the Salmonfly Hatch in the late 90s, and the fly that we fished was a Norm Wood’s variant that Gary Hilton envisioned. We called it The Hilty Special. The Hilty Special was basically a Norm Wood’s special, but it was tied on a TMC 200R, no tail, a thin body dubbed out of Angora dubbing, and a lot more wraps of hackle.
As the years went on, the fly that I tied evolved the body, instead of dubbing, became a strip of foam colored black wrapped up the hook, ginger saddle hackle was palmered up the body with as many wraps as possible to increase floatation.
These slight changes to the pattern enabled me to envision and fish the fly like I thought it should be. It rides really low in the water, just like an actual Salmonfly, it has a dirty, dusty black and orange coloration for the body, and the wing sits low over the body.
One of the keys to success in fishing this fly is how you apply the floatant. The wing needs a thick paste like Loon’s Payette paste to make it clump together; the rest of the fly gets a normal floatant like Loon’s Lochsa.
You should give this fly a try, it might prove to be more effective than that Chubby Chernobyl you’ve been fishing the past couple of years
