David LaCourse wrote:

If you are fishing a fertile stream, there is a hatch that will occur
daily, not once or twice a year.

In the early spring for about two months, the Mayflies
go nuts. There is also the cutest 1/2" stones that run
away from you (they have "space" issues). I fish
a drowned Adams. Total fun.

After that, not so much airborne bugs.

I should mention, that for some weird reason, in my
river, trout seldom feed off the surface. The guys
at the fly shop have noticed it too. It is really
weird. I popped a 3" stone, from the back of my neck
by the way, into the current and watched it drift
about 100' with no attention whatsoever.

My theory is the local Osprey have done some "on the
job training".



Trout in their feed lies foraging off the drift act
much different than trout feeding off a hatch. Ozzie
has a bunch of great video on the subject in his
"the underwater world of trout: feeding lies".
In the drift, they do not like each other's company.

Huh? I have taken trout and salmon from the same run on both dries and
nymphs. I've never asked the one I caught on the dry how he feels about
the one I caught on the nymph. Perhaps I'll try that today. Have you
ever fished with a dry fly and a trailing nymph? Most on this forum
have. The fish comes up to take the dry but sees the nymph and takes it
instead. The "feeding" lines contain fish that will either take a nymph
OR a dry.

I ask about the "wet" for the reason stated above: no
action on the surface. Very weird water.

I have tried the combo you suggest. All I ever get is
knots and tangles. If you can do this without cussing up
a storm, YOU ARE THE MAN!


Here is a difference between a "drifter" and a "hatcher":
a "hatcher" would fish a Stone right side up. A "drifter"
would fish it upside down. There is great video of this
in Cutter's "Bugs of the Underworld".

By a "drifter", do you mean nymph fishing?

Yes and no. By "drifter" I mean what is in the normal
underwater life of the trout, not something going through
a "metamorphosis". I don't target what is "hatching", just
what is "growing"

A nympher would fish all
kinds of nymphs besides a stone fly. On the rare occasion that I do
nymph a stone, usually on waters other than my home ones, I fish it in a
dead drift bouncing off the bottom.
Very, very close to what I do. Except I give it a slight ~1" tug
every two feet or so, to a) keep contact with my line and b) simulate
slight movement against the current (debris vs alive)

How can you fish a stone fly as a
"hatcher"? It's a nymph meant to be a sub-surface lure. It's surface
fly would be a stimulator - big and bushey - not the same fly you would
sub-surface.

I see lots of rubber winged adults patters out there. I
have tried them. No better luck that any other top
side fly on my weird river.

I meant that a nymph's that have shucked the old skeletons
before their new ones are in place are easier to catch,
eat, and less bran

And you know this how? The only white nymph I fish is a buckskin
caddis, and I fish it simply because it immitates a particular caddis,
not a nymph that has "shucked".

"The Underwater World of Trout: Feeding Lies" by Ozzie Ozefovish.
http://www.underwateroz.com/
An absolute must see.

-T