This week’s picture is brought to you by Chris. There’s definitely something to be said about the little guys. Their colors are truly stunning. Caught only 30 miles outside of L.A. in the San Gabriel Wilderness and if we’re not mistaken it was caught on a Royal Wulff.
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The big hatches are approaching fast! I’ve sometimes, though, been disappointed on fishing trips when I’ve shown up at a destination and heard that I had just missed the hatch or I’ve had less than great fishing even when tons of big flies were present. The fishing can be really slow in the latter stages and just after big hatches like salmon flies, golden stones, green drakes, caddis, or other stuff that has recently been really abundant because the fish are just simply full. One thing that can help is to try to plan your trips for just before or in the first days of the big hatches. Many times the fish will have seen a few of the early hatching flies and will take them even if there aren’t many around yet. Also, if you have multiple days, the last few days of the trip can be great as the hatches really start going. Another thing to try is to move up river with or just ahead of the hatch. Most hatches start low in river systems and move up according to the pattern of how the water warms. Hopefully this strategy will help your next quest for hitting the big hatches be as productive as possible.
Many serious lake fishermen are well aware of the Chironomid (ki-ron-o-mid), however, I still sometimes here “chirono-what?” and various other oddities of the English language when I recommend them to people. Basically Chironomids are midges that live primarily in lakes. They are often larger than other midges and can even get as large as size 10 or 8. Most are 18 - 12. Most lake fish feed heavily and often on Chironomid larva and pupae and sometimes take adults. One of the best ways to fish the larval patterns and pupae is under an indicator simply hanging them and, for lack of a more pc term, “bobber fishing” They can be placed at nearly any depth, even up to 20 feet or more to get them where the fish are. Vary your depth until you find the fish, 4-15 feet are the most common depths I fish. Some of my favorite flies to fish this way are Chironomid pupae, Bi-color brassies, Zebra midges, Ghost midges, and Blood midges in sizes 18-14. Check out this beautiful cutthroat I caught chironomid fishing this week.
This week’s picture is brought to you by John. This mammoth bow was landed at Bald Eagle Creek near State College, PA.
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Many anglers take the Spring off because of high dirty water. Actually many of the biggest fish of the year are caught during runoff. High flows often force fish to move to the edges where they are more easily accessible. Some good high water flies are large dark nymphs like stoneflies, dark streamers like black slumpbusters, zonkers, and wooly & krystal buggers. Focus on slower pockets against the shorelines and be willing to cover water. Many times you will find pockets that hold lots of fish in a small amount of available good water.
This week’s picture is brought to you by Jesse. Jesse pulled this nice brown on a Copper John. Nice handling of the fish there Jesse!
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This week’s picture is brought to you by Paul. This beautiful rainbow was caught on the Salmon River in Idaho.
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This week’s picture is brought to you by Adam. The photo is of Dave T catching the big one. This is what fishing in October in Alaska is all about!
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Today’s super popular knotless tapered leaders are great in most general situations but don’t always work for all things. A couple of situations for which I like to create my own leaders are for indicator nymphing and Czech or Polish nymphing. For all nymph fishing it is important to remember that a thinner diameter leader will allow flies to sink much faster to get in the fish zone sooner and will allow your flies more movement and a more natural drift. Although current types and speeds, as well as depths and fly sizes vary, it is good to go with a leader that tapers quickly, generally within a few feet from the knot to the fly line, to a long length of 2X, 3X, 4X, or even 5X or 6X material. Choose your tippet diameter according to fly size and weight, current speed, and fish size. Go with the finest material for small flies and a bit larger material for large weighted nymphs and faster water. Choose length according to the depth of the stream. Attach the indicator to the butt section near the start of the finer diameter material. For Czech and Polish nymphing it is good to include a 4 - 6 inch section of 20 or 30 pound amnesia or other bright monofilament in the butt section for additional help in detecting strikes. Experiment with your own leaders to find what works best on your particular waters and it will result in more fish caught nymphing.