Don’t let this 18” bruiser fool you, it was hard to find a bigger fish last weekend. I know they were around, and I saw a couple of 20” fish, but they were never in my boat.
I saw close to 60 fish anywhere from 3.5 inches up to 14 inches. That’s a lot of smaller fish.
With time and patience, we found fish were hitting nymphs that were lifting from the bottom, not tumbling through the rocks. We found fish were hitting wet flies if you hung them in the water, dangling them straight downstream, but rarely on the swing. Same with streamers.
Hero flies of the weekend:
Anything Caddis – It is full blown caddis season. Some days they took caddis all day long, other days they wouldn’t touch a surface fly.
Nymphs: BH Pheasant tail
Streamers: Gray Ghost, Pink Lady, Montreal Whore
If you want to wait until the edge of dark and enjoy the late dusk flurry, I would expect a basic elk hair caddis or a west branch caddis to do the trick.
If you want to catch fish all day, be prepared to work for it. Experiment with a variety of retrieve speeds, cast into places you might now normally cast. When you do get a hit, note the conditions, and look for other areas that are similar.
The fish are studying you. Study their behavior as well. Observe and think analytically. Fly fishing – It’s all in your head.
