John Morrison's Comments On This Pattern
The Millimigassett Smelt was originally an unnamed bucktail first tied in the late 1960's by Mike Martinek. It proved to be a winner on several fly-in trips to northern Maine, and was subsequently named after a wild lake in that region.
The main feature of the fly is its copper body, "the third metal" as Mike calls it, very under-used on flies but a killer for brook trout and salmon. It gives a lifelike, subdued flash, ideal for dark water lakes. The Millimigassett Smelt is an excellent rainbow smelt immitation especially when fished close to shore.
When tying this pattern I found I was having a real hard time keeping the golden pheasant used for the topping aligned with the wing and the body. Then, I realized that it might look that way when dry but once it gets wet all of the colors blend together and everything seems to line up. Another thing that is important with this fly is to try to keep it sparse. The original pattern calls for white eyes and black pupils but I prefer the Witchcraft chartreuse eyes. This fly appears in Mike's book "Streamer Fly Patterns for Trolling and Casting" ,as well as Donald Wilson's book, "Smelt Fly Patterns" (Frank Amato Publications, 1997)
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