How to name a fly pattern
This was a time when indicator nymphing at Pyramid Lake was still brand new. It was not long before, when Rob Anderson and Chris Evison had that magical day on the lake that started the whole thing (see pyramid lake story). So over the next few days Rob and some friends all had a chance to watch their indicators sink over and over with the new fly on board – Back to the Bench – A few days later after work, Rob, Andy, Chris from the shop and good friend, Victor Marcus sat around the back room at the fly shop tying the new fly. As the group tied and laughed and carried on, Vic asked Rob “what are we calling this new fly”. Well, Rob had not thought about that so Rob turned to Andy for some help. Andy, who is essentially in the fly naming hall of fame says “gimme a minute”. So, the group goes back to tying etc. and a little while later Andy yells out “Mahalo” in a way to mimic someone excited about saying thank you to someone in Hawaii. So, then Andy tells the story of how this evolved in his mind. Andy says “You know, the indicator goes down and you always yell something like there he is, or Fish on, so why not yell Mahalo… or thank you”. So, the name of the now spelled M-A-H-O-L-O fly or Maholo Nymph, (to properly use the name of the material) was born.