Best Fly Fishing Hatch Matching Story Ever

Kirk Deeter posted recently on Field and Stream’s Fly Talk about angler Lilla Rowcliffe’s uncanny ability to match a fly hatch. An “intrepid” angler, the 87-year-old traveled the world to chase fish with flies, including taimen (https://troutheadwaters.com/clubecoblu/?s=taimen) in Mongolia, mahseer in India, and Atlantic salmon throughout Europe.

But perhaps the best fly hatch match story ever told occurred on the River Cauvery in India. Having caught the mighty mahseer, Rowcliffe and her guides shifted attention to carnatic carp. None of the fishing guides could dial in on the exact pattern to toss, but Rowcliffe observed monkeys jumping about in a banyan tree overhanging the river, with carp rising up underneath. Grabbing a gray, round muddler minnow from her fly box, and still in her pajamas, Rowcliffe caught a carp on the second cast and said she thought, “Now, at last, I am a proper fly fisherman because I know how to truly match the hatch.”