Tiny Fish (What Big Fish Want)

 There's a fine line between fishing and standing in the water like at idiot"  - Steven Wright

One of my favorite spots to cast a fly is on a section of the East Branch of the Westfield River (more commonly known as the EB) and that spot is known as the Slant Rock Pool. From the tail of this water to the fast water at the head it is "dry fly land".  Morning shadows cover this water in Summer until around 11 am and then the shadows creep back in around 8 in the evening. 20 foot drifts are common here.  It's a great place but it holds another secret: the place is alive with tiny emerald shiners.  Some of these little guys get caught in seasonal pools and can't make it back the EB.  But enough get back to feed the trout that we are after.  

   

When I don't think there will be much in the way of surface activity I'll tie on a tiny shiner pattern that is only about an inch long tied onto a size 8 short shank egg hook.  The little guys seem to want to hang out in the deeper sections and this pattern with its heavier hook gets their attention !

The  material that I use for this fly is the same as I use for stripers, it's just scaled down to fit the game. I've used this Tiny bait fish pattern at Wachusett with good results.

Ken