Historically, my typical rig for the Upper Kern River is a 3x leader with a size 4 tan Huck-Hopper on top, followed by ~3 feet of 4X tippet then a size 8 black Beldar stonefly nymph imitation followed by another 18 inches of 5x tippet and a size 16 Huck Green Caddis Nymph Cripple.

But, the Weakness of that rig is that you really have to be an expert to cast it.  That Beldar Stonefly Nymph is huge and heavy.  Sitting in between the Huck Hopper and the Huck Green Caddis Nymph Cripple makes the rig unbalanced.  It’s literally impossible to roll cast without the eventual tangles or wind knots.

When i started tying Perdigons it immediately became obvious i could put together another effective combo with a size 14 Perdigon dropped below the huge huck hopper then followed by a size 16 Perdigon…. making it just as wildly effective because those perdigons get down in a hurry…yet, much easier to cast (overhand and roll) because the perdigons are small; yet heavy.

Learn about the benefits of Perdigon style flies on this site here.

If you are an experienced fly fisher and familiar with the wild conditions at the Upper Kern (or Kings) Rivers, you may be saying to yourself: “Throwing 3 flies is crazy and asking for disaster.”  Yes, it is.  and to redo the entire rig is 5 knots. Overhead casting a 3 fly rig is difficult; roll casting even harder.  Also, note that in a few states like Montana you are not allowed to throw more than 2 flies.

I typically lose flies on a 3 fly rig in two ways: hung up on the bottom or when the wind blows me off course mid cast.  I lose flies, but I do catch a lot of fish on the upper Kern and Kings.  I’m an expert there.  I take the risk because I think it’s worth it.  I respect people that don’t take the risk of losing flies.  They cost money.  And it takes time to re-rig with 5 knots involved.  I can tie up a new rig quickly upon losing the entire thing.  Yes, that is frustrating.  But, IMHO you have to take risks if you want the big rewards.  Yes, a long 3 fly rig like the one I do is not only difficult to cast, but also risky to losing flies.  Yes, it’s deadly the entire season.

This is my go to fly when nothing else is working because it is so close to looking like the naturals.

It fishes well all year long in many conditions. Along with the Huck-bow Warrior cripple and it’s Perdigon brother this is a great winter fly. I recommend size 16.

This fly is built on a barbless competition style jig hook.  It’s wide gap provides a dramatically better hook set than a traditional hook.  You’ll find your land to hook ratio will be much better than in a traditional nymph hook.  I tie these with an oversized tungsten slotted bead.   Then I stuff the slot gap with lead.  Combined with it’s sleek epoxied body, this fly gets down in a hurry.  the tail is made of UV coated coq de leon feathers.  you can read all about the benefits of perdigon style flies in my article here.

The “Huck-bow Warrior Perdigon is my “go to” fly for non clear water conditions in fast deep current.  It fishes well all year long in many conditions. Along with the Huck Midge cripple and it’s Perdigon brother this is a great winter fly. I recommend size 16.

This fly is built on a barbless competition style jig hook.  It’s wide gap provides a dramatically better hook set than a traditional hook.  You’ll find your land to hook ratio will be much better than in a traditional nymph hook.  I tie these with an oversized tungsten slotted bead.   Then I stuff the slot gap with lead.  Combined with it’s sleek epoxied body, this fly gets down in a hurry.  the tail is made of UV coated coq de leon feathers.  you can read all about the benefits of perdigon style flies in my article here.

This is my goto fly and i frequently combine it with it’s crippled brother that i originally developed.  in a traditional two nymph set up it can be fished dry/dropper or hopper/dropper.  That means it can be effectively and typically fished with a “tag” fly, size 14 above and a trailing fly, size 16 below like is done in traditional euro nymphing.  In reality this fly provides all the effectiveness of raking the river by Euro Nymphing, but, unlike in euro-nymphing (or tenkara) you sill get to cast…and cast beyond the ~20 foot limitations of euro nymphing.

This is a “must have” fly in the fast runs of the Upper Kern River where the big kern river rainbows cannot resist the flash in crystal clear water.  It fishes well all year long in many conditions because it is an attractor, yet looks like a green rock worm, which is a caddis nymph.

This fly is built on a barbless competition style jig hook.  It’s wide gap provides a dramatically better hook set than a traditional hook.  You’ll find your land to hook ratio will be much better than in a traditional nymph hook.  I tie these with an oversized tungsten slotted bead.   Then I stuff the slot gap with lead.  Combined with it’s sleek epoxied body, this fly gets down in a hurry.  the tail is made of UV coated coq de leon feathers.  you can read all about the benefits of perdigon style flies in my article here.

My typical rig for the Upper Kern River is a 3x leader with a size 4 tan Huck-Hopper on top, followed by 3 feet of 4X tippet then a size 8 black Beldar stonefly nymph imitation followed by another 18 inches of 5x tippet and a size 16 Huck Green Caddis Nymph Cripple.

If you are an experienced fly fisher and familiar with the wild conditions at the Upper Kern River, you may be saying to yourself: “that is crazy and asking for disaster.”  Yes, it is.  Overhead casting that rig is difficult; roll casting even harder.  The 3 tungsten beads in the beldar stone don’t make it any easier.  Without wind it’s manageable for a good cast.  I typically lose flies two ways: hung up on the bottom or when the wind blows me off course mid cast.  I lose flies, but I do catch a lot of fish on the upper Kern.  I’m an expert there.  I take the risk because I think it’s worth it.  I respect people that don’t take the risk of losing flies.  They cost money.  And it takes time to re-rig with 5 knots involved.  I can tie up a new rig quickly upon losing the entire thing.  Yes, that is frustrating.  But, IMHO you have to take risks if you want the big rewards.  Yes, a long 3 fly rig like the one I do is not only difficult to cast, but also risky to losing flies.  Yes, it’s deadly the entire season.

The “Huck-bow Warrior is my “go to” fly for non clear water conditions. It fishes well all year long in many conditions. Along with the Huck Midge cripple this is a great winter fly. I recommend size 16.

The “Huck-bow Warrior is one of my must-have flies for the Upper Kern River in the Sierras.

The story behind this fly goes back about a decade. and if you write me an email I’ll tell ya’ the story…

The story behind this fly goes back about 20 years. i purposely took a speaking gig at a small msft user group  in meeting billings, MT. no one else wanted to do it. because, i had never fished the bighorn. in the audience was a fly fisherman named Brad Pascoe. i mentioned to the Montana audience that i had ulterior motives and that i planned to fly fish the big horn the next morning. Brad introduced himself after my tech presentation and offered to take me.  We hit the river to his favorite wading spot.  He was killing; i was not. he said, “let me switch you to this fly”. it was this green wired nymph and then I started killing with it too. but, this is long before i had studied water born bugs so for years i called it the “Pascoe Montana Midge”. It wasn’t until years later that i said to myself, “wait a minute…that’s not a midge…it’s a caddis nymph imitation.

Over the years i have developed a variation with it to include a holographic wing case and i also tie it will holographic stunted wings to imitate a cripple. it has UV dubbing in it too. it basically glows under water and under sunny skies the fish just don’t miss it going by.

Almost every river around the world has midges and they hatch year round.  Out in the eastern sierras on Crowley Lake in a float tube, where i cut my chops, i would watch the midges come up to the surface, sprout wings and fly away for hours on end.  but, more times than you’d think i’d watch a cripple fail to launch, ultimately sinking back to the depths to be consumed.