Dam Wammy - Fly of the Month

This month’s fly was created many years ago by a long time resident of Upper Dam, Wes Miller. Like many flies, it was developed to copy something observed in nature and tinkered with over time to get the final product.

One day, Wes was fishing a small dry fly similar to a C.D.C. caddis in Upper Dam Pool. He started catching small bait fish on the fly and as he did, the big brook trout would come up and eat the bait fish he had caught. The small bait fish turned out to be alewives. He took the baitfish back to camp and started copying it at the vise. As he was putting the fly together he was overwhelmed with the thought that at one time many years earlier, Carries Stevens had done the same thing as she created her Grey Ghost and other streamers from the same pool. He decided that the new streamer pattern would be his tribute to Carrie Stevens. The seven pieces of Krystal Flash on each side of the fly would stand for the seventh month July in which she caught the brookie on a grey Ghost that began her rise to fame in the fishing world. The fly head would be black with a red thread band, which became her signature on all flies she tied. 

This is how the name came about. Wes, whose nickname is Wammy, was fishing the new pattern from the walkway at the base of the dam. There was also an area guide with a sport fishing from a boat in the pool. As the guide and sport were fishing they watched Wes catch fish after fish while the sport was getting skunked. The sport began to get madder and madder about paying a guide and getting nothing while Wammy was catching fish for free. Finally, the sport convinced the guide to take him over to check what he was using for a fly. Wes gave the sport one of his new creations and he joined in on the fun of catching fish. The sport then named the fly after its creator and Upper Dam: “Dam Wammy”.

The original color is olive over white marabou. The color variations came about to match different bait fish in different bodies of water. The black works good in the spring when smelt are the main diet. Yellow works well in the summer when the small yellow perch move in as the water warms.

RECIPE:

Hook  - 3665A #8 
Thread  - black with red collar 
Tail  - red hackle barbs 
Body  - white antron yarn 
Rib - silver tinsel 
Throat - red hackle barbs 
Underwing – 2 grizzly hackle feathers 
Wing -  olive marabou on top of white marabou with pearl Krystal Flash tied alongside