Different Dry Fly Strategies And The Otter

"Tailwaters are what Thomas McGuane called "the great theme parks of American fly fishing," with their more or less stable water temperatures and artificially inflated populations of insects and fish. They are irresistible for all kinds of reasons, but all of those trout breed the peculiarly postmodern sense that anything short of a 20 fish day is a bust, so when things are slow there's the temptation to lie about numbers or to vaguely allow that you are "getting your share" - John Gierach

Each year I have a number of people who take my 3 hour dry fly outing because out of all the techniques in fly fishing this is the one that puzzles them the most. Presentation, the avoidance of drag and matching the hatch can all seem overwhelming when it is simply not. Here are some simple rules that must be addressed.

1. Where Do You Fish? This is really important because all rivers are not the same. If you spend most of your time fishing on tailwaters you will be presented with much different conditions than on freestones. If you read the quote at the top of the page you will you will understand. Tailwaters are made to be stable with flows and water temperatures and you can have surface feeding during the height of a hot summer day almost any time. Freestones have their flows and temperatures fluctuating constantly from cold, flooded conditions to low flows and high temperatures. Where you can score on the Swift with dries all day long you may have to settle for the "Evening Rise" on a stream like the Millers or the EB. In 2009 I fished the EB from Memorial Day through Labor Day with nothing but dry flies and caught a lot of trout BUT all of the fishing was done from 6 pm through dark. That's when the trout began to "look up" because that's when the insects began to hatch.

2. What Kind

Of Rod? - I can dry fly fish all season long with a 3wt to a 5wt on any of the rivers that I fish, tailwater or freestone. A 3wt matched with a double taper works great on the Swift because that double taper lays out sooo gently which is what you want on that intimate stream and it's ability to roll cast will keep you out of the bushes. A 4 or 5wt can launch the long casts and bigger flies that you may need on bigger rivers like the EB, Millers or the Ware. It is a misconception that you NEED a 2wt or lighter for the Swift. I've caught many of its trout with a 4wt while fishing dries in the tiny size 20's and never felt over gunned. Just an average wind will mess up a cast with a ultra
light line. Trust me.

3. What Kind Of Fly? - Matching the Hatch can be reduced to two elements: matching the size and matching the profile of the fly of choice. COLOR is the last element to consider because one fly tyer's
version of light olive or sulphur is probably totally different than anothers' version. And remember, the rise of that trout that you are getting into position for was probably to the emerger stage and not to the adult imitation that you carefully crafted and that emerger is of a different color than the adult. Now, for those that can't agree with this fact please consider this obvious point: your dry fly has a big piece of curved steel sticking out of its butt which which the natural doesn't. (Note - maybe profile isn't that important either. Bob Wyatt and his book,What Trout Want: The Educated Trout And Other Myths is a must read on this subject)

The Otter - I spent 2.5 hours yesterday morning braving a stiff wind and dealing with a Y Pool otter who totally spent about 20 to 30 minutes tearing up the pool. I knew something was up when I was making my way across the river and saw about 8 bows racing downstream past the Hemlocks. It took about 30 minutes for the trout began to show themselves and I got 2 hits and landed one. Bill said that the beast spent all day Monday doing the same thing. If this year is like all the others the otter will leave the pool in about a month or so or when the rest of the river gets stocked.


Ken

Why I Like Soft Hackles And December Guiding

Note 1 - originally posted on Sunday 11/19

Note 2 Read commentator Gary Cranston's comment on 11/14/17 about fishing the EB this past week WITHOUT WADERS. It's not too late!!!

"There's always a hot new fly. Precious few of these patterns are genuine breakthroughs destined to last for a hundred years, but more often they're idle comments on existing traditions, explorations of half-baked theories, attempts to use new and interesting materials to impress other tiers or excuses to rename old patterns. The results are often pointless fads like the craze in some pretentious restaurants of plopping fried quail eggs on everything and calling sandwiches panninis." - John Gierach

Ok, I'm known as the Soft Hackle guy and for good reason. Under every condition other than flooded rivers the Soft Hackle Fly, in all of it's sizes, is the deadliest  fly that you can attach to your leader BECAUSE it represents the living insect better than any other fly. Now, I'm not talking about plutonium glow, super root beer estaz glitz that doesn't even make an attempt to look like you are TRYING to imitate anything that lives in that stream you're fishing. You are not imitating anything BECAUSE all trout food in a stream relies on some for of camouflage to survive. You have entered the murky world of attractor fishing that brings up the question of why a trout would bite that thing. Even Thomas Ames couldn't solve the question of why a trout would hit a bead head nymph. Was it the body material or the bead? Two years ago I answered the question by gluing a bead to a hook, no material added, and caught some stream wise Swift River browns with it. I haven't been able to hook a trout on a bare hook yet but will keep trying.

What makes soft hackles work. It's the movement of the flimsy hackles that we use AND the profile of the body that we tie. It looks and acts like a living insect and that is the key. The colors are muted and found in the aquatic insect world. And wrapping a soft hackle around the thorax of some space age concoction doesn't make it a soft hackle, sorry.

The more natural the better and that means natural materials. Try working more with natural materials such as body furs and natural fibers such as silk and cotton.

Every aquatic insect in the size 8 to size 18 range can be imitated with a SH and that's all of the mayflies, caddis, stoneflies and such and that includes ALL of their life stages. I will add that a soft hackle, swung in the current initiates a heavy strike, much heavier than the take of a weighted nymph. That's what I look forward to!!

Dress them sparsely by not overdoing the hackles and body. Keep them THIN! The last 30 trout taken by my clients have been on sparse partridge and olives in sizes 16 and 18 including a brute 20 inch bow this week. So, ditch the glitter, present the fly correctly and go catch some trout!!!

December is a lot warmer than January and some days in the past have been fairly balmy. The fishing has been great so book me!!!!

Ken

A Western NY Trip

"I love hearing theories about flies. True or not, they always sound so good" - John Gierach

What does a guide do when he has a day off? He drives 5 1/2 hours to western New York to fish a private section of an excellent "lake run" stream for outsized browns and rainbows. He's also greeted by some mid November western NY "ambiance" in the form of 2 inches of frozen slush, gale force winds, highs in the teens and a wind chill around zero. I loved every minute of it!!!!

My client Matt arranged the trip and set us up with Guide Jason Franz. Jason really knows his stuff from the river, to the flies and to the fish. And unlike some other guides who treat every trip like it's the Invasion of Normandy, Jason has a sense of calm while always pointing us in the right direction. He's a very friendly guy!

The 24 hour shift to subarctic conditions killed the bite. Matt had and lost a bow about 20 inches. He was the only angler that I saw that had a hit that day - except me! Came close to landing a 5lb bow but landed it's twin a short time later. The prize of the trip and the reason for the trip was the 6 to 7lb male brown that dug deep and made a slug fest out of it.

First time with a switch rod. It could get habit forming!!!

If you're interested in a future trip just contact: captjay@troutnaboutcharters.com or look him up at troutnaboutcharters.com or call at 585-615-6504. THE STEELHEAD WILL BE THERE IN THE SPRING.

As you know, I get no discounts for this endorsement.

Ken

Big Bugs Of Autumn And This Weekend

"The last thing you change is your fly" The great Lee Wulff

One cannot go to a river like the EB or the Millers during late August to early October and not see them. Large, long, dark forms clinging to stream side stones will greet the angler during his early morning fishing. This is the exoskeleton of the of the Isonychia nymph, one of the largest mayflies around and an insect that emergers all Summer long but especially in the late Summer and Fall.

This mayfly takes it's cue from the stonefly when it comes to hatching and that is the habit of crawling or swimming to shore and then climbing a rock to hatch leaving the shell behind. This act is usually done under the cover of darkness (they would be easy pickings for shore birds if they hatched during bankers hours) although I've seen them at dusk on cloudy days. Needless to say, the nymph is what's important to us instead of the dun.

These are the fastest swimmers in the mayfly family and seem to like to dart around especially at hatch time. Thomas Ames, Jr., in his book Hatch Guide for New England has a number of nymph presentations but I have found that a possum nymph colored black with a sharpie captures form and color. All you have to do is present it correctly. This swimmer doesn't get lost in the drift but swims and darts around. Make it dart around! This nymph is bigger than the Hendrickson. This bug is also a good indicator or clean, well-oxygenated water. Keep a supply ready this Fall.

This weekend - Let's hope for a little rain to freshen up our freestones. The EB has been great this week and I've heard good reports about the Millers and not from the usual places like Orcutt. Seems like the "regulars" are spreading out and that's a very good thing!!

Ken

Myths Of Autumn And Streamer Tips

We caught trout on stoneflies in fits and starts all morning, periodically switching out one fly pattern for another as the ones we'd been using went cold. Nobody knows why that happens. - John Gierach on Fall like conditions

In my not-so-humble-opinion the BEST fly fishing of the season is starting right now and will continue until we are tired of eating turkey and then with some weather luck, it will continue a bit further. Autumn fishing is great but some people get frustrated because of the lower (usually) flow conditions, fish that have wised up and the stubborn adherence to some disproven theories which will kill your success.

1. It's Autumn and trout will put on the feed bag because Winter is coming

Trout don't read calendars and don't anticipate ANYTHING! Their feeding is dictated by water temperature which controls their metabolism, period. Tom Rosenbaurer, from Orvis, once wrote that trout consume more calories in May and June then they do at any other time of the year. Sure, there's a lot of food available but water temperatures in the mid 50's will get them eating more than temperatures in the mid 40's or the mid 60's. Remember, water temperatures at mid day in mid September may be a bit high, mid day in mid October is usually perfect and mid day in mid November the temperatures are on the downturn. It's still fishable but things are slowing down.

2. All of the natural foods are smaller in the Fall

Not true!!! If your life revolves around mayflies then you will not have the bigger flies of Spring to deal with but you will have isonychia (size 14), Stoneflies (up to 3 year nymph life which means big nymphs in the Fall), Hellgramites (big nymphs that live in that stage for up to 5 years), October Caddis (a BIG October fly), ants, beetles, hoppers, crayfish (the EB is full of them) and young of the year fry that in some streams make up the largest protein source. Also remember that many rivers will get another dose of hatchery rookies that will take any day glow offering that you have.

Actually, I like casting a size 24 BWO on a cloudy October day as much as I like working over Hendricksons!!
                                                                            Isonychia Nymph

Yes, I do fish streamers but not often. But when I do it's been with the Thunder Creek series/style which works fine for me. In fact, my biggest trout this year was taken on the Ware with a Thunder Creek Marabou streamer on a rising river during a driving rain.

I also tie this style on short shank scud hooks and fish it quartering upstream like a nymph. When it gets below me I'm mending like I'm fishing a soft hackle. Fish it slowly like it's a wounded bait fish.

I don't add beads or barbell weights to this fly for fresh water use and you don't have to either or you may make the same mistake as one on-line fly tier did. He tied a small bait fish streamer with a light underbelly, a darker mid section and a dark back just as you should. Then he lashed in a barbell weight, AKA Clouser style, on the TOP of the Fly which means that when the fly hits water the barbell will sink first which means the poor fly will ride belly up (upside down) in the current.

Live and learn!

This weeks showers are only going to help our rivers. Backcast to my previous post and read the comment about the EB and the MB by Gary.

Ken