Richard Formato

Richard Formato is an avid catch-and-release fly-fisherman from Wytheville, Va. When not on the water, he operates a small business there. Formato loves to fly-fish in his native Southwest Virginia because of the great water and wonderful people. He also loves to fish the flats and shallows of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic whenever work and weather permit. He is on the Department of Conservation and Recreation's board of directors and is a trustee of the Shenandoah National Forest and Skyline Drive.

Recent columns

• What about Bob?
• Notes from the Charlotte Fly Show
• A chance meeting
• A wish for Jack

• Column archive
• Talk fly-fishing

One of the major problems with fly-fishing is the fly.

Specifically, what is a “fly” and what fly should I use?

A fly is anything you can tie to a leader attached to a fly line that is made by the human hand and mimics a bug of some sort or a small swimming critter, like a minnow.

Browsing thru Orvis a few weeks ago, almost comatose from the sickly pleasant music being subtly piped througgh the store (probably subliminally coded with a message to buy a zero-gravity rod), I saw a modest print-out on the fly display case.

On white paper, it was called “The Essential Fly Box for Southwest Virginia Trout.”

Conceived and written by Tom Brown, Orvis Roanoke's fishing manager, this list is a straightforward account of what you need to catch fish on the fly in Southwest Virginia.

He lists 10 flies: The Blue Wing Olive, The Sulpher. Adams, Elk Hair Caddis, Stimulators, Hares Ear Nymphs, Pheasant Tail Nymphs, Prince Nymphs, Wooly Buggers, and the Peach Fly.

My two amendments would be to add Blane Chocklett’s Gummy fly and the Stone fly.

The Gummy is a probably the most versatile streamer pattern every invented. It can catch everything from brown trout here to bonefish in the Bahamas.

With its big swept wing, the Stone is an easy fly to match, and Stone Nymphs are irresistible to feeding trout.

Tom is dead-on by listing the Blue Wing Olive first. The BWO is a consistent show in our waters, and you should always have the 16, 18, 20 and 22 in your box.

He lists the western variety Big Horn Sulpher as the second choice for a mayfly match.

Next is the Adams, which is a great cheater fly because it is “a tweener,” meaning it imitates a variety of mayflies.

The Elk Hair Caddis is next. It is a great floater, and it is extremely forgiving because a bad drift makes it skate … and that is what attracts fish to the Caddis.

Next is the Nymph.

Ninety percent of a trout’s diet is nymphs. If trout aren’t rising … guess what? They are probably eating nymphs.

Next are Streamers. If you are just starting out, buy yourself a hand-full of wooly buggers.

They imitate bait fish, crawdads, maybe even a big nymph.

Fly-fishing is a simple sport, and my hat’s off to Tom Brown at Orvis for making up this list, and more importantly, making it easy to understand.

For fly-fishing to survive, it has change. The outside world sees this sport as too difficult, too expensive, and too snooty to bother with.

I think the industry suffers from a lack of inclusiveness. I have never met a group of people who think they are as special than fly-fisherman.

And fly shops do not exude warmth. I fished with an angler from out of town over the weekend who was blown off at Blue Ridge Fly Fishers, and I can tell you, he is still angry.

My mom was completely ignored at Hunter Banks in Asheville a few years ago, and she still talks about it.

When I saw Tom’s list, I began to think that he gets it.

The local fly shops can bellyache all day long about the chains, but a chain rarely cops “a holier than thou” attitude toward its customers.

This Essential Fly Box list showed me that this fly-fishing manager didn’t feel like he was “too good” to sit down and type out an intuitive list of what you need around here to catch a trout.

Orvis aside, fly shops and some anglers need to realize that it doesn’t matter how long you have been fly-fishing. It doesn’t matter if you don’t tie your own flies. It doesn’t matter where your equipment came from.

I have been out-fished many times by anglers who found their rod in a barn, and know their flies only by the color of their hackle. Those are the guys I like to fish with.

All that matters is that you like it, hat you enjoy fly-fishing.

That is why I like Tom’s print-out so much.

A novice or expert -- even someone’s mom -- could use this for a laundry list, and at the end of the day, one of the flies on this clean list will enable you to catch and release a nice fish.

And to me, a nice fish is anything I catch on a fly.