trip report

"Todd" wrote in message
...
I would
like to ask you a bunch of beginner's questions that you do not
have to answer, although I would appreciate it if you would.
Everyone has to start at the beginning.

will try....

From your description, I could not tell if your trico "hatch" was
the "Naiad (nymph) to Subimago (Dun)" phase or the "Imago (Spinner)"
phase. You may have been describing both. Which stage of
"social" behavior were you experiencing?

tricos, unlike other species, go VERY quickly from dun to spinner. No real
molt, they shed the old skin either in the air or at the edge of the stream.
Duns that hatch at 8 am are spinners by 10. Thus, one has to watch what
stage of life the trout are feeding on.

Your use of a "CDC emerger" sounds like the "Naiad (nymph) to Subimago
(Dun)" phase.

exactly. The CDC wing hangs in the film(visible to the angler), while the
dark body and sparkle yarn shuck/tail lie below. The duns, being tiny, tend
to spend little time on the surface, not needing the drying time one sees
with, say, Hendricksons, which have larger wings to dry in what tends to be
colder, wetter conditions outside.



the Naiads try to fight against the air bubble
that draws them to the surface. Were you trying to imitate this
(a gas filled Naiad caught in the drift)? If so, what were you
using to do this? Was this the black bug you were referring to?
Did you try to make it "glitter"?

the emerger, and the wet I used, both have a wee bit of sparkle yarn for a
tail/shuck. This, along with CDC in the emerger, creates small air bubbles.
When you said you switched to spinners male and female, I was
wondering why the male? I thought trico male imago's (spinners)
flew off into the brush and died after mating? Was there a
special reason for the males, or are your trout not that picky?

I have no reason to doubt Ralph Cutter's observations, but it seems to me
that rafts of dead spinners both male and female come down the Tulpehocken.
At any rate, the fish on that stream ARE picky, and it might be simply a
different pattern doesn't arouse suspicion. Especially, when one is over
podded fish, with the occaisional unfortunate pod member being pulled away
periodicallyg.

Did you drift your spinner imitations above or under the film?
(I drift mine under the film.) Did it even matter?

hell, my eyes aren't that good as to guess. I just Gink them up and lob them
out. Probably, they start out in the film, but I have taken fish on sunken
spinner, that much I know.

If it does not give away the farm or violate the offical secrets
act, what did your use to imitate your spinners?

my patterns are pretty mundane. As follows:
Tails--two microfibets, clear or pale dun, 4x the length of the hook
Body--female: white thread
male: black thread
Thorax--mix of black and olive beaver fur
Wings--clear antron.
That's all.

And, one last question. Did you fish the still water or the
rapids or both?

The stretch I fished today was a slower, deeper run right below a narrow
faster stretch. Water levels were very low. I've seen the behavior described
at other times on the quicker runs, and, in fact, don't always see the pods
feeding as they did today. It was a case, as fly fishing often is, of
observing, adjusting and playing the game which the trout dictate to you.

hope this helped,
Tom