My friend, Mike K., used to own the Eureka Fly Shop for 30 years, retiring from the business a year ago. Mike guides on the lower Klamath from August to November. The fly that he swears by is known as the Herniator.
If you come from the coast to fish the Klamath and / or the Trinity River, then this fly is in your box. It is deadly and Mike used to sell them by the dozens in his shop.
The fly above is a size 8 Dai Riki 280 hopper hook (2XL). The body is half peacock or olive sparkle braid with peacock herl at the front. An underwing of peacock flashabou is covered with 2 wraps of guinea fowl hackle. The original fly had a peacock underwing under the flashabou. Mike prefers long hackles at least to the end of the hook without the peacock under-underwing. The bead is silver.
I had the pleasure to fish with Mike in August on the Klamath River. The other guest kept asking if he should change flies, but Mike kept stating to stick with the Herniator. Although I only fished about 1 hour on the trip, I hooked a dozen half pounder steelhead, an adult steelhead, and a 25+ pound King Salmon, all using a number 8 Herniator.
The naming of the fly is historic. The inventor, Tim Paxton, was fishing the Klamath with his friend Bill Geiss. The fish had lock jaw that day and no fly patterns were working. As a last resort, Bill and Tim put on the only two experimental flies that were in Tim’s fly box. They both instantly started hooking fish. They were hooking fish hand over fish while nobody else on the river was having success. People in boats offered to buy the flies but the ones on the ends of their lines were the only ones available, so they had to decline.
The next day, Bill was feeling poorly so he went to the emergency room only to be admitted for a hernia operation. Thus, the fly was designated “The Herniator”.
Tim Paxton is quite a guy. Stories on the web state that Bill Geiss invented the pattern. I asked Tim if it bothered him as he invented the pattern. Tim didn’t care. Also, Tim invented one of the first synthetic buggy nymph materials, known as “Paxton’s Buggy Nymph”. He sold the company to college students for $1, allowing the students to pay for their college educations through the proceeds of the business. When I grown up I hope to be as cool as Tim.