Mystery Cutty Hatch

[ginger]

Last week at a trib of a river we encountered a two hour period where the number of rising cutties was incredible. In every pool there was a fish coming up every few seconds and often two or three risers could be seen at the same time. It was cloudy and threatening rain. We tried every fly in the box which they ignored but kept coming up. Green Drakes,Stones and Flavs were taking a few fish but that is not what they were taking naturally . Suspected PMDs but a few previously successful patterns did nothing. Looked like they were picking whatever it was in the film or just below. I'm guessing some kind of emerger(duh)but would be interested in expert opinions and tips. Thanks

[cheeler]

Cloudy and threatening rain are usually associated with a BWO hatch.

[reevesr1]

I've had some luck in those situation just going smaller and smaller. BWO's can certainly be the answer. I've also used a BWO emerger pattern that worked really well on selective cutts. I've also had some luck with really downsizing the tippet also. Like 6x if you have a rod small enough. I've actually gone as low as 7x on really deep slow pools, but have never been able to land a fish with 7 (or at least a fish over 12"!)

[ginger]

Thanks, if it ever happens again I'll have a plan. Do you fish those BWO emergers with an indicator?

 

[bjbailey]

I fish emergers behind an adult dry, with a relatively short piece of tippet in between (usually no more than 18") so you can see the take quickly.

[reevesr1]

Thanks, if it ever happens again I'll have a plan. Do you fish those BWO emergers with an indicator?

 

The ones I have are tied with a little green disk like thing on top. Wayne Hanson did them up, worked pretty well and not too hard to see. I was doing it in BC on a fly only river last year, so could not use a second fly or indi. You can use an indi now that they've changed the rules. I've never done it that way, but it would likely work. The dry/emerger combo is the way to go in Alberta I think.

[Gil]

I was out on Saturday on a small river in southern Alberta. Had a tough morning then around noon the fish went crazy on something that was coming off. Wasn't sure exactly what it was, but the #18 bwo was the ticket for me. Put a lot of fish in the net in a short period.

 

As for strategy, a couple of things that I believe have help me include:

 

I'm a fan of long leaders 12 ft min 6x tippet Move slowly when approaching a pool and keep a low profile. Stay as far away as you can from the water of interest and still be able to cast to. Believe small stream fish are very spooky far more so than a big river like the Bow. Pay a lot of attention to your drift and your position to get a good drift. I never stay at a pool too long that isn't working for me. I figure after a few casts The odds of picking up a fish on the next cast keep dropping. If really believe the pool has potential give it a rest and come back to it. Keep moving and cover a fair bit of ground...

[ginger]

Thanks again everyone.

[Hawgstoppah]

I've been on many cutt streams where this happens and the one thing and only thing I can relate to the weather you describe and the action you describe (the river coming alive and exploding with rising cutts everywhere) is a drake hatch. You usually don't see too many simply because the fish get to them first, in my opinion. Tie on a large green or grey drake, for me a #12 traditional adams works best even, and have fun. Long leaders / lighter tippet might also help. I usually use 9ft 5x this time of year.

 

Once I huddled under a tree stand in a thunderstorm on the Livingstone to wait out a storm, the day had been slow and I was starting to wonder if the place had been poached to death. The rains came down, it hailed a bit even, and fish suddenly started to rise from everywhere in the pool, when the hard rain turned to a drizzle there was so much action I could hardly stand it, tied on a drake and laid into them heavy! I've now seen it happen at least a couple dozen times and always know what to expect, and what to use from that experience.

[shredneck]

I've been on many cutt streams where this happens and the one thing and only thing I can relate to the weather you describe and the action you describe (the river coming alive and exploding with rising cutts everywhere) is a drake hatch. You usually don't see too many simply because the fish get to them first, in my opinion. Tie on a large green or grey drake, for me a #12 traditional adams works best even, and have fun. Long leaders / lighter tippet might also help. I usually use 9ft 5x this time of year.

 

Once I huddled under a tree stand in a thunderstorm on the Livingstone to wait out a storm, the day had been slow and I was starting to wonder if the place had been poached to death. The rains came down, it hailed a bit even, and fish suddenly started to rise from everywhere in the pool, when the hard rain turned to a drizzle there was so much action I could hardly stand it, tied on a drake and laid into them heavy! I've now seen it happen at least a couple dozen times and always know what to expect, and what to use from that experience.

 

I've had this very same experience on several different waters.

What an unbelievable experience when this situation happens!

[bjbailey]

Agreed with Hawgstoppah. I find it's usually drakes as well that'll make cutties lose all inhibition. I've had similar experiences. In general, I use a drake as a searching pattern about as often as I'll use a stimulator. In my experience, once they've seen a few drakes through the summer, they're often willing to take them even if they're not hatching that particular day.

[robertboyce]

This may seem like a ridiculous comment but I had a couple days that seemed to match this last fall and had success being a complete contrarian. We carefully fished a number of pools one particular day without success despite seeing many actively feeding cutts. Half joke/half desperation I tied on an enormous red bellied foam hopper that seemed to have absolutely no business being on the water this day and surprisingly enough if I cast it lightly into a spot with at least some character on the waters surface so it didn't splat it consistently produced fish.

 

Not saying it's the way to go but it worked on this occasion (if anyone knows why this worked I'm all ears....).

[Muffin]

RobertB, I feel it is most likely that fish like females are fickle creatures.

[FraserN]

I had the reverse of this on the upper highwood a few days ago. There were some nice cutts lying in the bottom of the pools I was fishing. Soon, the drakes started hatching and floating down the river. Incredibly, the cutts just ignored them for about 2 hours. Nothing I tried could get a rise. I was just stupefied by this situation. Last year, on the oldman, when the drakes hatched, it seemed like every fish in the river was rising. I have fished cutts in streams alot, and they always find a way to surprise me. Not the toughest fish to catch most days, but once in awhile they can be unbeleivably picky to an insane degree.

[calgaryguy1977]

I agree with Rickr, the last time I had this happen to me with cutties I started using small white and black flies ssize 20 and smaller.....white para chutes bwo's etc

If they arent taking get as small as you can. If that doesnt work throw something out there that you wouldnt think they'd bite like a hopper or something stupid. This tactic ends up working for me more often than not.

 

***Sorry not a pro here....lol just thought id throw in my 2 cents*******

[maxwell]

toss some small klinkhammer specials in the box.. lots of midges out there also! thornburgs (somethings like that) to kinda half midge half house fly.. super small! trico patterns work well.. spend osme time looking at the water.. maybe 15mintues even walk into a tailout spook a few n see whats floating by!

[simbirsw]

I've had a Tom Thumb (about size 8 - 10) work in a similar situation. It was about the 15th fly I tried and didn't match anything on the water but worked great once I tied it on. Had friends fishing other flies with no success at the same time that started catching fish when they switched to the same pattern.

[Brookie]

Guessing it was BWO emergers. Hard to imitate the naturals exactly. Smaller is better in MHO.

[SilverDoctor]

I've had luck by presenting emergers or klinkhammers where the presentation is below the film. Often makes quite a differeance.