Here are words of wisdom from Pat Donoghue’s wonderful website, Nova Scotia Fly-Fishing, Tying and Tall Tales – http://users.eastlink.ca/~dryfly/index.html.

A Reminder to all Trout Fishermen:

And when you prepare to spin a tale, see that your hands do not tremble, nor your eyes dart to and fro, and do not permit your hands to wander hither and thither, but hold one carelessly over your heart, as if proclaiming an oath, and the other open in front of you, as if to say "See, I conceal nothing."

And when you commence to speak, take great care to do so in a voice neither excessively loud, nor much-meek, for just as you would not choose to drive a small nail with a sledge, or a bolt with a muffin, so too must you suit the tone to the purpose.

And as to the contents of your little story, be guided thus: expand, but do not entirely invent. It is blasphemy and pure folly to usurp the role of the Creator and cause to appear upon the waters some imaginary monster which, perchance, snatched away your pole, made mincemeat of your leggings, mouthed a pony, and bore away your luggage on its back

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But if you gently take one of His trout, and in a spirit of generous indulgence cause it to gain a foot or two of extra measure in the course of the telling, you will have the favour of your listeners, for truly the most mammoth specimen of a fish with which men are acquainted is far easier to swallow, as it were, than the tiniest exemplar of one unseen. - Isaac Walton, 1653

God give me strength to catch a fish,
So big that even I,
When telling of it afterwards,
Have no need to lie.
- Unknown

He angled in the babbling brook
With all his angler's skill.
He lied about the fish he took
And here he's lying still.
- Epitaph found in New York

I make it a rule never to weigh or measure a fish I’ve caught, but simply to estimate its dimensions as accurately as possible, and then, when telling about it, to improve those figures by roughly a fifth, or twenty percent. I do this mainly because most people believe all fishermen exaggerate by at least twenty percent, and so I allow for the discounting my audience is almost certain to apply. - Ed Zern

Fishermen are born honest, but they get over it. - Ed Zern

This week’s fly is a variation on the fabulous Muddler Minnow. It’s a great fly, honest!

Green Marabou Muddler

Thread:                      UTC G.S.P. 50 Denier red thread

Hook:                          Mustad 9671 sizes 8 - 2

Tail:                             Red hen hackle fibers

Body:                          Gold Flatbraid or flat gold tinsel

Wing:                          Yellow Marabou

Hackle:                       Green deer body hair, flared

Head:                         Green deer body hair, flared and clipped Muddler style, then Red thread finished with 2 coats Angler’s Corner Clear Wet Head Cement