Larry L wrote:

"Willi" wrote

. On my first

cast, as the indicator passed over the fish they dropped back about six
feet and sunk to the bottom. They got alerted but not totally spooked as
they continued to feed, now along the bottom.


That is the type situation where I normally use a dry as a "bobber" I
like to fish the Big Lost when the water is down about August, for instance,
and the fish sit in very shallow water. I've found a foam Carpenter ant
with a tiny Copper John or some other similar combo works better than the
same nymph and an indicator, by far. Sometimes a fish will take the ant or
beatle, but mostly it just suspends the nymph and makes detection easier.

BTW, you've got me interested with all your skitter talkG I've even tied
up some Hewitt skaters ...where's the Crane Flies when ya need em?

Although any dry pattern will work (I've even caught fish skittering
nymphs along the top) the pattern I use is a modified St Vrain Caddis. I
hackle it with about eight to ten wraps of hackle using hackle that is
undersized so the hackles tips are just barely more than the hook gap. I
tie the elk hair wing longer and slightly less dense than normal. The
length of the tail extends approximately one hook shank length beyond
the bend of the hook. This makes for a fly that really bounces around on
the surface.


The Brachye ..a .. i .. .... um ..you know, the Mom's day caddis, starts
real soon on the Lower Sac and I plan 4 or 5 mid-week days up there.
Mostly it's dredged, but I plan to at least try skittering a EHC in some
likely places, thanks to your prompting.




Try it at the heads of pools and in the pocket water above. These are
the place where the fish move to aggressively feed and this action is
often needed to get their attention. I suggest using a soft hackle
dropper of about 18" to 2 feet below the dry. You'll get fish on both
the dry and the dropper and the dropper will serve as an "anchor" which
will help you bounce the dry along the surface. Don't be reluctant to
fish the combo with LOTS of action in pocket water. Across current
action usually works best but experiment. Be prepared to miss a bunch of
fish. Sometimes a dead drift through the area where you got a miss will
get you a hookup. A wet fly swing while holding most of the line off the
water is also a technique that works.

Success with it yesterday shows that I still need to learn when it will
work! Nothing I had learned about it in the past would make me think
that it would have worked.

Some of the things I have learned:

Works most consistently in pocket water

Something I almost always try when there are Caddis or Stoneflies
around, even on flat water but on flat water I will use less action

It will bring up fish during the doldrums of Summer when nothing else will.

It is more effective on some rivers than on others. There's nothing I've
observed that explains this.

Often works in heavily fished waters. I think that's because it shows
the fish something they haven't seen.

Willi