Rising Fish

[chidders]

So I was out most of the evening tonight and found a good spot where fish were rising for several hours but I could give them something worthy. I must have tried 5-8 different dry flies until I had to pack it in for the night. Tomorrow I'm going to go and stock up on some more flies, any suggestion to what might be some "must" buys for what is hatching right now?

[toolman]

Everything Caddis...including pupa, emergers, cripples, duns.

[SilverDoctor]

Had a great Caddis night on Monday. Just dabbling Caddis on the water surface at arms length with the Spey rod. Outstanding evening with my version of the Voljc-Moser Caddis.

[dryfly]

Yeah .. agree with the caddis recs. Perhaps try one of these ...

X Caddis

And if that does not work, swing a small wet caddisfly emerger/pupae in front of the risers...many patterns to choose from.

Emerging caddis

..or simply swing a soft hackle...

Soft hackle

 

Cast across and let the fly swing down on a tight line in front the the riser/s. Use a stout tippet as they will probably whack the fly hard....probably 3X if the fish are larger...or just some 6 or 8-pound fluoro "tippet".

 

 

Question for SD and TM .. out of curiosity, what size tippets you guys using these days on the Bow? Thanks. Clive

[toolman]

I generally use 2x tippet for nymphing with large worms, stones etc. 3x for the #12-#16 nymphs and 4x for #18-#20.

For Caddis drys, cripples etc. 4x Fluro. When I am fishing down and across on the swing, I use 2x-3x for most situations, as the grabs are pretty agressive. I like to use a mono leader for the stretch factor and tie fluro tippet on the end if needed, for clear water conditions. My spey rod is a little tricky using 4x tippet, but I do use 4x mono for the small nymphs.

[SanJuanWorm]

If for nothing else try a griffiths gnat in dirty water. Try skating your flies a bit too.

[chidders]

I know some of the guys use monofilament to tie to the leader verse buying tippet (I hope I worded this correctly). What is the difference between monofilament and tippet material and how does it affect the fly? Is this the same as saying mono verses fluro?

 

Also TM can you use more than one dry fly at a time similar to how you showed us in the nymph clinic?

 

So much to learn! I still haven't mastered the nymphing and now onto dry’s!

[toolman]

Monofilament and Flurocarbon are made of different materials. The Mono (Nylon) has more stretch and thus better shock absorbtion. The Fluro has a lower light refraction and a higher density, which makes it sink faster than the mono and is less visible to the fish, but it has lower stretch properties that make it easier to break.

Leaders and tippets are two different things. The leader is the main component added to the end of your floating fly line, to which finer tippets are then attached if required. Mono or Fluro leaders are usually tapered with a large diameter, stiff butt, tapering to a finer end. The taper helps transfer the casting energy smoothly through the leader to the fly. Tippet is attached to the leader if required or when using multiple fly rigs, tippet joins the flys together.

You can use two flys when fishing drys, but it takes practice to be able to present a two fly dry rig properly, while maintaining a drag free drift. I would recommend starting with a one fly dry rig for your first season.

Some fisherman use a straight uniform diameter leader for nymphing, which results in poor turn over of the flys when casting, as the leader will hinge due to the disruption in the energy transfer. It usually results in a lot of knots and tangles in your rig if you try and cast any distance or if the leader length is more than about 5'. The only advantages are the thin diameter will help sink the rig faster and is less visibile. I always use tapered leaders for all of my flyfishing.

Hope this is helpfull.

Greg

[lethfisher]

When you are fishing with the tapered leaders are you buying them pre made in the little packages or are you starting with say 3 feet of 3X then 3 feet of 5X and so on? Does it turn over just as well with the self made leaders as it does with the premade ones?

[toolman]

I buy my tapered leaders and modify them to suit my requirements, by trimming the butt end, and/or the tapered end and then adding a short section of the required tippet, often using Fluro for the tippet end. A knotted leader is fine, if constructed properly. Also, making your own leaders allows you to customize the length, taper and the materials to your specific uses. The larger and heavier the flys are, the larger the diameter of the butt will need to be.

[Guest Troutbabe]

So I was out most of the evening tonight and found a good spot where fish were rising for several hours but I could give them something worthy. I must have tried 5-8 different dry flies until I had to pack it in for the night. Tomorrow I'm going to go and stock up on some more flies, any suggestion to what might be some "must" buys for what is hatching right now?

 

 

He must have been a Brown I bet! Fussy guys

 

T.babe

[SanJuanWorm]

For dry fly fishing i use the following. 8lb maxima (4feet), 6lb maxima (2feet), 5 or 4 lb maxima (2 feet) then attach flies. Way cheaper than tapered leaders and is basically the same thing just tie a good knot and away u go.

[chidders]

SJW-I was on Maxima's website and was wondering if it is the CHAMELEON brand you use since it makes mention of it being excellent leader material?

[Hawgstoppah]

I'd sneak around in front of the fish by about 30 feet, stay low, cast down 45 degrees with a dry fly elk hair caddis covered in floatant, keep the rod tip high and skate it into the fish. If there grabbing egg layers, this is KILLER for me some nights when they wont take a dead drift no matter how good of a cast you make