I hesitate to bring this up, figgering that there will be lots of
silly responses, but, I swear, they are serious questions that have
been haunting me for some time.

I have spent most of my life in the Rockies, Cascades, and places
there'bouts. I have caught trout of all kinds, sizes, and temperments
in an amazing variety of places. I have never, and don't ever expect
to, fish on "outfitter" waters, as I have my own personal anathema
toward the concept.

I have caught trout on every kind of fly imaginable, but the great
majority were caught on:
1. Caddis, usually elk hair in sizes from 8 to 14.
2. Lead wrapped at first, and bead head recently, fuzzy globs
(nymphs, I guess) from size 4 (believe it ! ) up to 14 or so.
3. Black gnat, grey dun, and Royal Wulff dries, from 12 to 16.
4. (later on) Wooley buggers and sculpins frim 8 to 12.

In my dotage, I fish mostly tail waters, as I no longer live in the
west. There are humungous (former world record brown, current state
record brookies, etc) fish there, but seem to feed only on nearly
invisible.......somethings. Even on the spring fed headwaters, the
same is generally true.
The youngsters, equipped with five grand worth of LLBean stuff, bobber
fish with #22 zebra's almost exclusively, and seem to catch all the
fish. I stumble across one dummy now and then, but when the wind is
up and I am forced to switch to UL spin tackle, I catch a number of
fish on my small, home made spoons.
And the local hillbillies are dragging them out one after the other on
power bait.

I an not jealous (not much, anyway) of what others do, as I have "done
it, pretty much, all". But I am "jealous" of what I, myself, used to
do. I think my leader choices, presentation, etc. are as good as
ever, but they do not like any of the stuff I have used for 60 or so
years. Zebras are itttttttttt !

If they can suck up power bait or get faked out by my small spoons,
why won't they like a yummy looking wet caddis? This isn't a case of
"just last week" or temporary choosiness; it has been happening for at
least eight years.

cheers

oz, confused