Bill Strople, 1944 - 2000

Bill Strople is remembered on the St. Mary’s River as about the most friendly, knowledable and likable angler we could have the good fortune to meet on the river. He was also an expert fly tyer, hunter and my best friend. In the late 1980s Bill wrote the following article that was published in Eastern Woods & Waters and SMRA News.

If I Had Only One Fly

My discovery of fly fishing and fly tying has helped to make the past 20 years very rewarding for me. Having spent most of this time living in the St. Mary's River area of Guysborough county, I have been fortunate in being able to experience the excellent Atlantic salmon and trout fishing which this area has to offer.

After having tied many different patterns of flies and experimenting with them on salmon and trout, there is one fly, which seems to have an edge over all the others - the Muddler Minnow.  My first attempts at tying the Muddler were very crude, but they caught trout. Since then I have tied it in a wide range of sizes, dressed heavily to float or lightly to sink.

In 1978 I met an angler on a river system in Guysborough County named Charlie Woollie from New Glasgow. We met many times on the same system and eventually became good friends. One day he gave me a fly, which he called the White Muddler, tied on a size 6 hook, 4X long. Every spring he ordered four dozen from Dan Bailey's Fly Shop in Livingston, Montana. The pattern seemed to work better on trout than did the original Muddler Minnow. I began tying the fly in sizes 16 through 4/0.  In smaller sizes, fished slowly, it imitates a nymph very well. In larger sizes, fished dry, it can also represent a floating insect.

The White Muddler has caught native speckled and sea-run trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, Atlantic salmon, striped bass and mackerel for me over the years.  A few years ago striped bass were in great numbers in the Antigonish area. At that time I tied the White Muddler on a size 4/0 Mustad 94840 hook.  The fly was tied to float high on the water yet when pulled it would pop under the water surface very quickly, leaving bubbles. Striped bass took the fly so well that I recall getting my knuckles rapped by the reel handle on a surprise strike.

During the winter of 1986 I was dreaming of how Atlantic salmon take the dry fly, and thoughts went back to the White Muddler I had designed for striped bass. So, over the winter months I tied this style in sizes from 8 through 3/0.

The 1986 salmon season was one of the finest I have experienced. In June of that year large salmon were plentiful. I would float the Muddler over the salmon lie and the salmon would rise and take the floating Muddler very hard, leaving a hole in the surface after they went down with the fly. In the month of June alone, I had caught and released fifteen large salmon in the 15-25 lb. class. For the rest of the season I used smaller versions of the White Muddler, which also worked quite well.

Since then I have given White Muddlers to some of my friends and they have done quite well with them in the fall on the West River, Antigonish and the East River, Pictou for Atlantic salmon. Also, during the past few years the New Brunswick deer hair patterns like the Buck Bug and Bomber have become quite popular in the St. Mary's area. I believe that the Muddler rates right up there with the other deer hair creations, so my fly boxes are full of dark and white Muddlers, tied both as wet and dry flies in sizes from 16 through 4/0. And as I await another fishing season, I am busy tying Muddlers, like so:

                  WHITE MUDDLER 

Hook:              4/0 - 16, 3X to 4X long shank, Limerick,    Sproat, or model Perfect style hook.

Thread:            Black or red.

Tag:                 Silver wire.

Tail:                  Light turkey wing, long as hook gap.

Butt:                  Fluorescent salmon red chenille, or floss or wool.

Body:                White chenille, or wool for small sizes.

Rib:                   Oval silver tinsel.

Wing:                Light turkey wing over white calf tail & (optional) few strands of pearl Krystal Flash.

Shoulder:          Natural "grey" deer body hair, more to float, lightly dressed to sink.

Head:                White deer hair trimmed to bullet shape.

Enjoy your fishing and please stay on the line …