Junkies

WARNING: This post might hit close to home for some anglers and deals with sensitive topics and adult themes. Discretion is advised …

We’ve all heard of the phenomena of the “Streamer Junkie”, an angler that is constantly pushing the envelope to procure big, flashy flies in the pursuit of large fish. An almost maniacal, single minded devotion to catching big trout on big flies under the surface defines the Streamer Junkie, and the lengths that they will go to in the pursuit of their addiction are legendary. Clandestine meetings with fly tiers peddling their wares, sneaking in to fish closely guarded spots, and late night / early morning angling activity are just a few examples. For them, the “tug” truly is the drug.

Everyone has a Streamer Junkie in their life, and there’s at least a few in every riverside fly fishing town, whether in the East or the West. The video above documents the Streamer Junkie phenomenon in Craig, Montana – another sleepy fishing town with a major junkie problem. We salute the good folks out there as they fight the good fight, and Streamer Junkies will continue to be an affliction for our community as well.

This exposé is on yet another type of angler that is changing the fly fishing landscape, at least here in the north country: the “Junk Junkie”. It’s a deep current running through the seedy underbelly of the fly fishing community here, and we at the Tall Timber Fishing Blog seek to expose what’s becoming a plague on our fly fishing populace.

It’s late on a Thursday night in the trout fishing mecca of Pittsburg, New Hampshire. Just another sleepy evening in a small town that’s been a destination for east coast anglers for decades, and while the dry fly fishing season has begun in earnest on the upper Connecticut River in the middle of June, things are not all that they seem.

A millennial angler slips in the back door of a small fly shop located on the outskirts of town, to get his “fix”. The transaction is quick – a hastily stuffed cash-laden envelope for another batch of “junk” flies to be used on the upper Connecticut or Androscoggin rivers the following day. The angler isn’t the only concerning part of this picture however. The fly shop owner is a key part of the equation as well, after all you can’t have a “Junkie” without a “Pusher”.

Much like streamers, “Junk” flies are visually appealing, not only for the fish but for the anglers as well. Known for their unique shapes and flashy colors, junk flies are easily distinguishable from the run-of-the-mill dries and nymphs that most anglers use. Egg patterns and San Juan Worms were the most common “junk” patterns out there for years, but they served merely as the gateway junk flies for today’s Junk Junkie.

While Mop patterns (image at the top of this post) have proliferated in a multitude of colors, now there are an innumerable amount of variations of Eggs and Worms (i.e. Goomie Worms) as well, all the while being peddled by unscrupulous fly tiers and shop owners. What’s next? Only time will tell, but there’s sure to be more devastating Junk flies to come as long as there’s desperate anglers and tiers to feed their addiction out there.

For the junkie, the pull of “the Junk” is irresistible, mostly because it works. When other, more traditional, flies aren’t working, junk flies can be the ultimate proof of whether there’s fish there or not. Truly the last resort for a struggling angler, junk flies can make a trip to the river successful, but once you start, it’s difficult to stop. Seen it a million times …

Exacerbating the junk fly addiction is the combination of multiple junk flies in the same rig. The most popular form of this is the “Ham & Eggs” rig – a Worm pattern coupled with an Egg pattern. This is bad enough, but there have been reports of addicts trying other combinations of junk, often to devastating effect, and this takes the Junk Fly addiction to whole new level. Spiraling out of control, the Junk Junkie often reaches new levels of depravity as the addiction takes hold.

Contrary to the image of the youthful angler above, age is not a factor in becoming a Junk Junkie – anyone can fall prey to the allure of “the Junk”. Level of desperation might play the determining factor for addiction – the more desperate an angler is, the more likely it is that they fall under the sway of the Junk. You can recognize these addicts out on the river, too. At once shaking from the excitement of getting another Junk fly fix, and at the same time trying to shield other anglers from discovering their dirty secret, Junk Junkies are the embodiment of addiction. They have a problem, they know it, and are doing their best to hide it from others.

Those that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, however. Much like Bill Clinton back in the day, this writer has “dabbled” in the Junk on occasion, but every day is a new day – one day at a time to resist becoming a “Junk Junkie”.