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Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Willi wrote in message ...
Although, IMO, dead drifting nymphs is THE most effective technique day in and day out, it's not a very fun way of fishing. Swinging wets and some of the other nymphing techniques are much more fun. However, they are not as consistently effective and it's hard, at least for me, to determine when they are going to be effective. Willi As a general commentary . . . As a follow-on to my last post -- I think that emerger fishing offers the maximum advantage to anglers, not nymph fishing. The bulk of the instar larval and pupal stages of burrowing/crawling mayfly and cased/net building caddis are mostly unavailable to trout, living as they do in the interstitial zones of gravel, pebble, and cobble or burrowed into the silt. Before they're ready to emerge, they're only available when dislodged or during biological drift. Grubbing trout can get at some but we can't imitate that approach. Better nymph opportunities lie with the free swimming larval forms that the nymph fisher can easily imitate and use to enjoy success, but they only represent a fraction of the total nymph population. However, it's during emergence, when even pupae tucked under rocks must expose themselves to predation, that our best shot exists. The nymphing trout basically sits in its feeding lie picking off drifting larvae, rarely straying very far. But the trout feeding on emergers is far more bold, roaming about, and more likely to be actively feeding, as opposed to the static trout that is opportunistically feeding. These two conditions, exposed larvae/pupae and actively feeding fish provide us with our best chance, however as Mu points out, this is also the toughest form of fishing to get right. I'm sure many successful nymph fishers unwittingly blunder into emerger success by drifting their nymphs along with the emerging mayfly larvae. These two points together, with the tendency of caddis to emerge over prelonged periods during the day and the season, are the reasons why I'm try to pay a lot more attention to these emergence opportunities. My recent Whitemans experience can't be taken too far but it is encouraging that presenting a fly that is both visually and behaviourally correct can get much better results than the "chuck 'n' chance it" of blind nymphing. Peter |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
"Peter Charles" wrote in message
... snip The typical nympher fisher walks up to a run, sees no surface activity and ties on a nymph then catches a whack of fish. Would he have caught the same or more with another technique? Maybe, but most anglers I know are two dimensional: dries or nymphs, so we don't get to find out. snip What about streamer fishing? At what point would someone choose not to use a dry or a nymph, but a streamer instead? ------------------------------------------------------------- "...more and more of our imports are coming from overseas." -George W. Bush |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
"Peter Charles" wrote in message
... snip The typical nympher fisher walks up to a run, sees no surface activity and ties on a nymph then catches a whack of fish. Would he have caught the same or more with another technique? Maybe, but most anglers I know are two dimensional: dries or nymphs, so we don't get to find out. snip What about streamer fishing? At what point would someone choose not to use a dry or a nymph, but a streamer instead? ------------------------------------------------------------- "...more and more of our imports are coming from overseas." -George W. Bush |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
On Wed, 04 Aug 2004 05:57:36 GMT, "Hooked" wrote:
"Peter Charles" wrote in message .. . snip The typical nympher fisher walks up to a run, sees no surface activity and ties on a nymph then catches a whack of fish. Would he have caught the same or more with another technique? Maybe, but most anglers I know are two dimensional: dries or nymphs, so we don't get to find out. snip What about streamer fishing? At what point would someone choose not to use a dry or a nymph, but a streamer instead? Streamers work best in off colour, fast water, but anytime is streamer time. When I haven't been able to match the hatch and there are fish rising all round me, I've tied on a streamer and slayed 'em. The use of a streamer is more "angler's choice" than anything else. It's a big fish method and I've used large streamers in search of big browns, knowning full well that I'm passing up opportunites for lesser fish. Peter turn mailhot into hotmail to reply Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
On Wed, 04 Aug 2004 05:57:36 GMT, "Hooked" wrote:
"Peter Charles" wrote in message .. . snip The typical nympher fisher walks up to a run, sees no surface activity and ties on a nymph then catches a whack of fish. Would he have caught the same or more with another technique? Maybe, but most anglers I know are two dimensional: dries or nymphs, so we don't get to find out. snip What about streamer fishing? At what point would someone choose not to use a dry or a nymph, but a streamer instead? Streamers work best in off colour, fast water, but anytime is streamer time. When I haven't been able to match the hatch and there are fish rising all round me, I've tied on a streamer and slayed 'em. The use of a streamer is more "angler's choice" than anything else. It's a big fish method and I've used large streamers in search of big browns, knowning full well that I'm passing up opportunites for lesser fish. Peter turn mailhot into hotmail to reply Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Peter Charles wrote: Willi wrote in message ... Although, IMO, dead drifting nymphs is THE most effective technique day in and day out, it's not a very fun way of fishing. Swinging wets and some of the other nymphing techniques are much more fun. However, they are not as consistently effective and it's hard, at least for me, to determine when they are going to be effective. Willi As a general commentary . . . As a follow-on to my last post -- I think that emerger fishing offers the maximum advantage to anglers, not nymph fishing. The bulk of the instar larval and pupal stages of burrowing/crawling mayfly and cased/net building caddis are mostly unavailable to trout, living as they do in the interstitial zones of gravel, pebble, and cobble or burrowed into the silt. Before they're ready to emerge, they're only available when dislodged or during biological drift. Grubbing trout can get at some but we can't imitate that approach. Better nymph opportunities lie with the free swimming larval forms that the nymph fisher can easily imitate and use to enjoy success, but they only represent a fraction of the total nymph population. However, it's during emergence, when even pupae tucked under rocks must expose themselves to predation, that our best shot exists. I disagree with this. Biological drift occurs to some degree throughout most days and gives the trout who are "holed up" during non feeding periods the opportunity to eat with little effort. Research has shown that early mornings are the time of the most biological drift, but it does occur throughout the day. That's the strength of dead drift nymphing with weight etc. IMO, the strength of drifting a nymph along the bottom is that it will generally interest at least some of the fish that are in a nonfeeding mode. It will also take fish that are actively feeding. All the other techniques that I'm aware of primarily rely on taking only actively feeding fish. The nymphing trout basically sits in its feeding lie picking off drifting larvae, rarely straying very far. But the trout feeding on emergers is far more bold, roaming about, and more likely to be actively feeding, as opposed to the static trout that is opportunistically feeding. These two conditions, exposed larvae/pupae and actively feeding fish provide us with our best chance, however as Mu points out, this is also the toughest form of fishing to get right. I'm sure many successful nymph fishers unwittingly blunder into emerger success by drifting their nymphs along with the emerging mayfly larvae. Actively feeding trout are much more fun to target, IMO, and I try and seek them out. However, for most of the year in most waters, these feeding periods are very limited both in occurrence and duration. These two points together, with the tendency of caddis to emerge over prelonged periods during the day and the season, are the reasons why I'm try to pay a lot more attention to these emergence opportunities. My recent Whitemans experience can't be taken too far but it is encouraging that presenting a fly that is both visually and behaviourally correct can get much better results than the "chuck 'n' chance it" of blind nymphing. I think it's definitely more fun and is more effective during the right time and in the right place. I also think that anglers are missing out by not learning these different techniques. I'm not trying to convince you to chuck and duck, I don't find it particularly fun, but I'm also convinced that day in and day out throughout the season across the Country, nymphs dead drifted along the bottom are going to catch far more trout than any other technique. Willi |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Peter Charles wrote: Willi wrote in message ... Although, IMO, dead drifting nymphs is THE most effective technique day in and day out, it's not a very fun way of fishing. Swinging wets and some of the other nymphing techniques are much more fun. However, they are not as consistently effective and it's hard, at least for me, to determine when they are going to be effective. Willi As a general commentary . . . As a follow-on to my last post -- I think that emerger fishing offers the maximum advantage to anglers, not nymph fishing. The bulk of the instar larval and pupal stages of burrowing/crawling mayfly and cased/net building caddis are mostly unavailable to trout, living as they do in the interstitial zones of gravel, pebble, and cobble or burrowed into the silt. Before they're ready to emerge, they're only available when dislodged or during biological drift. Grubbing trout can get at some but we can't imitate that approach. Better nymph opportunities lie with the free swimming larval forms that the nymph fisher can easily imitate and use to enjoy success, but they only represent a fraction of the total nymph population. However, it's during emergence, when even pupae tucked under rocks must expose themselves to predation, that our best shot exists. I disagree with this. Biological drift occurs to some degree throughout most days and gives the trout who are "holed up" during non feeding periods the opportunity to eat with little effort. Research has shown that early mornings are the time of the most biological drift, but it does occur throughout the day. That's the strength of dead drift nymphing with weight etc. IMO, the strength of drifting a nymph along the bottom is that it will generally interest at least some of the fish that are in a nonfeeding mode. It will also take fish that are actively feeding. All the other techniques that I'm aware of primarily rely on taking only actively feeding fish. The nymphing trout basically sits in its feeding lie picking off drifting larvae, rarely straying very far. But the trout feeding on emergers is far more bold, roaming about, and more likely to be actively feeding, as opposed to the static trout that is opportunistically feeding. These two conditions, exposed larvae/pupae and actively feeding fish provide us with our best chance, however as Mu points out, this is also the toughest form of fishing to get right. I'm sure many successful nymph fishers unwittingly blunder into emerger success by drifting their nymphs along with the emerging mayfly larvae. Actively feeding trout are much more fun to target, IMO, and I try and seek them out. However, for most of the year in most waters, these feeding periods are very limited both in occurrence and duration. These two points together, with the tendency of caddis to emerge over prelonged periods during the day and the season, are the reasons why I'm try to pay a lot more attention to these emergence opportunities. My recent Whitemans experience can't be taken too far but it is encouraging that presenting a fly that is both visually and behaviourally correct can get much better results than the "chuck 'n' chance it" of blind nymphing. I think it's definitely more fun and is more effective during the right time and in the right place. I also think that anglers are missing out by not learning these different techniques. I'm not trying to convince you to chuck and duck, I don't find it particularly fun, but I'm also convinced that day in and day out throughout the season across the Country, nymphs dead drifted along the bottom are going to catch far more trout than any other technique. Willi |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Willi wrote in message ...
Places to try it: Also anywhere you can't drift a fly into normally, like into the top of a logjam or similar situation. Two things I like to do are try to get the fly to swing right in front of it, and get a downstream dead-drift right into the top. Detecting the hit on a downstream dead-drift is of course the real problem. If you can get right above where you want the fly to drift into, you can match the current speed with your rod and maintain fairly direct contact, and feel the hit. Otherwise, it's mostly intuition and luck, that 6th sense that tells you to lift up. Downstream dead-drifting is useful in a lot of other situations as well, such as fishing heavy C+R areas like the San Juan, where fish see lots of leaders and fly lines. There you almost need to see the fish move to take the fly, since by the time you feel a hit on a #22 fly, it's too late. Jon. |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Willi wrote in message ...
Places to try it: Also anywhere you can't drift a fly into normally, like into the top of a logjam or similar situation. Two things I like to do are try to get the fly to swing right in front of it, and get a downstream dead-drift right into the top. Detecting the hit on a downstream dead-drift is of course the real problem. If you can get right above where you want the fly to drift into, you can match the current speed with your rod and maintain fairly direct contact, and feel the hit. Otherwise, it's mostly intuition and luck, that 6th sense that tells you to lift up. Downstream dead-drifting is useful in a lot of other situations as well, such as fishing heavy C+R areas like the San Juan, where fish see lots of leaders and fly lines. There you almost need to see the fish move to take the fly, since by the time you feel a hit on a #22 fly, it's too late. Jon. |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
"Jonathan Cook" wrote in message
m... Also anywhere you can't drift a fly into normally, like into the top of a logjam or similar situation. Two things I like to do are try to get the fly to swing right in front of it, and get a downstream dead-drift right into the top. Detecting the hit on a downstream dead-drift is of course the real problem. If you can get right above where you want the fly to drift into, you can match the current speed with your rod and maintain fairly direct contact, and feel the hit. Otherwise, it's mostly intuition and luck, that 6th sense that tells you to lift up. Downstream dead-drifting is useful in a lot of other situations as well, such as fishing heavy C+R areas like the San Juan, where fish see lots of leaders and fly lines. There you almost need to see the fish move to take the fly, since by the time you feel a hit on a #22 fly, it's too late. Jon. I don't like fishing up stream, so most of my fishing is down and/or across, usually followed by a swing at the end of the drift. When using a downstream swing as you mentioned, it pays to keep a very close eye on where your line is and how it's moving. A fish take,or a rock/weed for that matter, will produce a slight twitch in the line, and then you set the hook on any unusual movement of the line. I've pretty much given up on trying to feel the strike, instead opting to see the strike. Of course, quite often I get both fishing for smallmouth. ------------------------------------------------------------- "...more and more of our imports are coming from overseas." -George W. Bush |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
"Jonathan Cook" wrote in message
m... Also anywhere you can't drift a fly into normally, like into the top of a logjam or similar situation. Two things I like to do are try to get the fly to swing right in front of it, and get a downstream dead-drift right into the top. Detecting the hit on a downstream dead-drift is of course the real problem. If you can get right above where you want the fly to drift into, you can match the current speed with your rod and maintain fairly direct contact, and feel the hit. Otherwise, it's mostly intuition and luck, that 6th sense that tells you to lift up. Downstream dead-drifting is useful in a lot of other situations as well, such as fishing heavy C+R areas like the San Juan, where fish see lots of leaders and fly lines. There you almost need to see the fish move to take the fly, since by the time you feel a hit on a #22 fly, it's too late. Jon. I don't like fishing up stream, so most of my fishing is down and/or across, usually followed by a swing at the end of the drift. When using a downstream swing as you mentioned, it pays to keep a very close eye on where your line is and how it's moving. A fish take,or a rock/weed for that matter, will produce a slight twitch in the line, and then you set the hook on any unusual movement of the line. I've pretty much given up on trying to feel the strike, instead opting to see the strike. Of course, quite often I get both fishing for smallmouth. ------------------------------------------------------------- "...more and more of our imports are coming from overseas." -George W. Bush |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Willi wrote in message ...
I disagree with this. Biological drift occurs to some degree throughout most days and gives the trout who are "holed up" during non feeding periods the opportunity to eat with little effort. Research has shown that early mornings are the time of the most biological drift, but it does occur throughout the day. That's the strength of dead drift nymphing with weight etc. IMO, the strength of drifting a nymph along the bottom is that it will generally interest at least some of the fish that are in a nonfeeding mode. It will also take fish that are actively feeding. All the other techniques that I'm aware of primarily rely on taking only actively feeding fish. Biological drift is a dawn & dusk phenomenon with some occurrance during the day, on that we're agreed, however, I'm linking this info with a point I made earlier. I find that nymphing is most appropriate to defined slots, seams, and trenches that are deeper than the surrounding water and clearly defined. While you can nymph anywhere in a river, watch most nymph anglers and they head straight for these types of features. If I approach this sort of feature, I usually bust out the nymphs too. The nympher relies on practically hitting the fish on the nose with the nymph --works great if the current and bottom structure cause the fish to line up and hold in a relatively confined and clearly defined area. If you have to get a fly to the fish in these features then nymphing with weight provides your best shot. However, fish are not confined to just these areas and to search broad riffles, big flats, and other such undefined river features with a nymph can be a very unproductive approach. Fish working the flats tend to cruise, fish working riffles move rapidly to feed -- both can be covered more easily by the swung fly than the dead drifted nymph. If we confine our fishing to the typical deep slots, then I agree with you that the nymph is best, but move beyond these areas and other methods will prevail. I'm particualrly interested in riffle dwelling caddis with broad (time-wise) emergence patterns. These caddis tend to emerge in the afternoon, for example, but almost throughout the entire day, there is some sort of activity with them. A moving emerger or egg-layer, presented even when no activity of this sort is present, will still attract attention as the trout will not likely have had an opportunity to "forget" this insect behaviour since it is a daily occurance over most of the season. IOW they're constantly primed to react to caddis emergence/egg-laying, especially for Hydropsyche, Ceratopsyche, and Cheumatopsyche in my waters. Actively feeding trout are much more fun to target, IMO, and I try and seek them out. However, for most of the year in most waters, these feeding periods are very limited both in occurrence and duration. I'd be prepared to suggest that their are actively feeding fish somewhere in a river at almost any time. Obviously weather patterns and other issues can turn them off, but under normal conditions, there's always some actively feeding somewhere. I find that the riffle dwellers tend to be active as these fish are in their feeding lies, as opposed to the trench dwellers who are sitting in their resting lies. I think it's definitely more fun and is more effective during the right time and in the right place. I also think that anglers are missing out by not learning these different techniques. I'm not trying to convince you to chuck and duck, I don't find it particularly fun, but I'm also convinced that day in and day out throughout the season across the Country, nymphs dead drifted along the bottom are going to catch far more trout than any other technique. Well Willi, there's only one way we're gonna settle this . . . :) |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Willi wrote in message ...
I disagree with this. Biological drift occurs to some degree throughout most days and gives the trout who are "holed up" during non feeding periods the opportunity to eat with little effort. Research has shown that early mornings are the time of the most biological drift, but it does occur throughout the day. That's the strength of dead drift nymphing with weight etc. IMO, the strength of drifting a nymph along the bottom is that it will generally interest at least some of the fish that are in a nonfeeding mode. It will also take fish that are actively feeding. All the other techniques that I'm aware of primarily rely on taking only actively feeding fish. Biological drift is a dawn & dusk phenomenon with some occurrance during the day, on that we're agreed, however, I'm linking this info with a point I made earlier. I find that nymphing is most appropriate to defined slots, seams, and trenches that are deeper than the surrounding water and clearly defined. While you can nymph anywhere in a river, watch most nymph anglers and they head straight for these types of features. If I approach this sort of feature, I usually bust out the nymphs too. The nympher relies on practically hitting the fish on the nose with the nymph --works great if the current and bottom structure cause the fish to line up and hold in a relatively confined and clearly defined area. If you have to get a fly to the fish in these features then nymphing with weight provides your best shot. However, fish are not confined to just these areas and to search broad riffles, big flats, and other such undefined river features with a nymph can be a very unproductive approach. Fish working the flats tend to cruise, fish working riffles move rapidly to feed -- both can be covered more easily by the swung fly than the dead drifted nymph. If we confine our fishing to the typical deep slots, then I agree with you that the nymph is best, but move beyond these areas and other methods will prevail. I'm particualrly interested in riffle dwelling caddis with broad (time-wise) emergence patterns. These caddis tend to emerge in the afternoon, for example, but almost throughout the entire day, there is some sort of activity with them. A moving emerger or egg-layer, presented even when no activity of this sort is present, will still attract attention as the trout will not likely have had an opportunity to "forget" this insect behaviour since it is a daily occurance over most of the season. IOW they're constantly primed to react to caddis emergence/egg-laying, especially for Hydropsyche, Ceratopsyche, and Cheumatopsyche in my waters. Actively feeding trout are much more fun to target, IMO, and I try and seek them out. However, for most of the year in most waters, these feeding periods are very limited both in occurrence and duration. I'd be prepared to suggest that their are actively feeding fish somewhere in a river at almost any time. Obviously weather patterns and other issues can turn them off, but under normal conditions, there's always some actively feeding somewhere. I find that the riffle dwellers tend to be active as these fish are in their feeding lies, as opposed to the trench dwellers who are sitting in their resting lies. I think it's definitely more fun and is more effective during the right time and in the right place. I also think that anglers are missing out by not learning these different techniques. I'm not trying to convince you to chuck and duck, I don't find it particularly fun, but I'm also convinced that day in and day out throughout the season across the Country, nymphs dead drifted along the bottom are going to catch far more trout than any other technique. Well Willi, there's only one way we're gonna settle this . . . :) |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Peter Charles wrote:
Well Willi, there's only one way we're gonna settle this . . . :) The gauntlet is thrown. My money's on Willi. :-) -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address. |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Peter Charles wrote:
Well Willi, there's only one way we're gonna settle this . . . :) The gauntlet is thrown. My money's on Willi. :-) -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address. |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
On Wed, 04 Aug 2004 14:56:46 -0600, rw
wrote: Peter Charles wrote: Well Willi, there's only one way we're gonna settle this . . . :) The gauntlet is thrown. My money's on Willi. :-) That's where the smart money will go. :) Peter turn mailhot into hotmail to reply Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
On Wed, 04 Aug 2004 14:56:46 -0600, rw
wrote: Peter Charles wrote: Well Willi, there's only one way we're gonna settle this . . . :) The gauntlet is thrown. My money's on Willi. :-) That's where the smart money will go. :) Peter turn mailhot into hotmail to reply Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Spent an hour playing with riffle dinks at Whitemans this evening.
Dries and swung wets 12, nymphs no score. Peter turn mailhot into hotmail to reply Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html |
Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success
Spent an hour playing with riffle dinks at Whitemans this evening.
Dries and swung wets 12, nymphs no score. Peter turn mailhot into hotmail to reply Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html |
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