Caddis searching pattern - from failure to success

Clarification:

Cinnamon Caddis, Spotted Sedge, Hydropsyche bifida, and the
Ceratopsyche are all the same bug as far as we're concerned. H.
bifida was renamed Ceratopsyche. Some spotted sedges don't have
spots, hence the cinnamon caddis name.

My references for all of this a

"Caddisflies" by Gary Lafontaine
"Caddis Super hatches" by Carl Richards and Bob Braendle
"The Caddisfly Handbook: An Orvis Streamside Guide" by Dick Pobst and
Carl Richards
"Hatch Guide for New England Steams" by Thomas Ames, jr.
"Trout Stream Insects: An Orvis Streamside Guide" by Dick Pobst

Peter

turn mailhot into hotmail to reply

Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html

Clarification:

Cinnamon Caddis, Spotted Sedge, Hydropsyche bifida, and the
Ceratopsyche are all the same bug as far as we're concerned. H.
bifida was renamed Ceratopsyche. Some spotted sedges don't have
spots, hence the cinnamon caddis name.

My references for all of this a

"Caddisflies" by Gary Lafontaine
"Caddis Super hatches" by Carl Richards and Bob Braendle
"The Caddisfly Handbook: An Orvis Streamside Guide" by Dick Pobst and
Carl Richards
"Hatch Guide for New England Steams" by Thomas Ames, jr.
"Trout Stream Insects: An Orvis Streamside Guide" by Dick Pobst

Peter

turn mailhot into hotmail to reply

Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html

Mu Young Lee wrote:

On Sun, 1 Aug 2004, Peter Charles wrote:

But oh my, does it get attention on the swing.


I've only had limited success with that. Anyone out there have generic
clues as to where and when this techniques is effective?


That's THE question. The technique is an easy and fun one but figuring
out when to use it is what's tough. It's a technique that works better
in some places than in others and I've been unable to find the reason
for it. It's is an especially good technique on my home river during the
Summer. Below are some things I have picked up about fishing a fly with
action, whether it be skittering or swinging or lifting or......

Times to try it:

When there are active flies about - caddis, stoneflies, craneflies, etc.
about

When you see splashy rises

During the dog days of Summer when you don't want to dredge the deep
holes for fish, fishing feeding riffles and giving your fly some action
will sometimes bring fish out of their doldrums.

When you see flashes of fish up in the water column.

When you haven't had any success with more traditional methods.


Places to try it:

Like Peter said, shallow riffles are probably the number one place.

The upstream lip of pools.

Sometime a slow dead driftish swing through a pool will work.


Willi

On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 12:22:42 -0600, Willi wrote:



Mu Young Lee wrote:

On Sun, 1 Aug 2004, Peter Charles wrote:

But oh my, does it get attention on the swing.


I've only had limited success with that. Anyone out there have generic
clues as to where and when this techniques is effective?


That's THE question. The technique is an easy and fun one but figuring
out when to use it is what's tough. It's a technique that works better
in some places than in others and I've been unable to find the reason
for it. It's is an especially good technique on my home river during the
Summer. Below are some things I have picked up about fishing a fly with
action, whether it be skittering or swinging or lifting or......

Times to try it:

When there are active flies about - caddis, stoneflies, craneflies, etc.
about

When you see splashy rises

During the dog days of Summer when you don't want to dredge the deep
holes for fish, fishing feeding riffles and giving your fly some action
will sometimes bring fish out of their doldrums.

When you see flashes of fish up in the water column.

When you haven't had any success with more traditional methods.


Places to try it:

Like Peter said, shallow riffles are probably the number one place.

The upstream lip of pools.

Sometime a slow dead driftish swing through a pool will work.


Willi

I think the "where" is more easily answered -- where the bugs are.
That's not a facetious answer -- the Hydropsyche I'm imitating is a
lover of fast riffles -- which is probably why it is useless dead
drifted in slow water. Every single hit I had yesterday came in fast
water on the swing.

I'm a lazy fisherman who knows too much. I have to force myself to
use my knowledge to fish more effectively. I like to teach others but
I can't be bothered to do it myself unless, of course, I'm doing a
demo. I'm out to relax so concentrating on a miriad of little details
is too much like work. BUT! There's no doubt in my mind that if you
key in on a few bugs, learn their habits, and learn to fish them
according to their habits, your hit rate is gonna go way up. I've
made the decision that I'm going to pay close attention to just three
bugs, Hydropsyche, Cheumatopsyche, and Rhyacophillia -- learn where
they live and how they live, then fish them accordingly. These bugs
cover the waters I fish in Southern Ontario and are abundant through
most of the season, with only the need to add the Little Black Caddis
in the late spring, before my trimvirate gets active. I'll keep some
mayflies in the box for those days when they're abundant, but if I'm
not swinging a streamer, I'll be swinging these instead.

If I see any caddis hitting the water, that's my signal to get these
swinging. If I see bulging or jumping rises, that the signal to swing
emergers and tossing dries instead. If I see nothing anywhere, then
I'll swing these through a riffle simply because I don't like
nymphing.


Peter

turn mailhot into hotmail to reply

Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html

Peter Charles wrote:


If I see any caddis hitting the water, that's my signal to get these
swinging. If I see bulging or jumping rises, that the signal to swing
emergers and tossing dries instead. If I see nothing anywhere, then
I'll swing these through a riffle simply because I don't like
nymphing.


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

On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 20:38:52 -0600, Willi wrote:



Peter Charles wrote:


If I see any caddis hitting the water, that's my signal to get these
swinging. If I see bulging or jumping rises, that the signal to swing
emergers and tossing dries instead. If I see nothing anywhere, then
I'll swing these through a riffle simply because I don't like
nymphing.


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



I think the success of nymphing is also because more people do it a
lot of the time, plus they're applying it to places where fish are
known to be. 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.

In heavily fished waters, the ability to do something other than nymph
can connect you with a lot of fish. Nymphers tend to stand in one
spot, swingers tend to move, so I frequently fish up to a nympher,
then walk around to continue downstream. It's quite common for me to
catch a fish on both sides of him as his pounding have pushed fish out
of the run. I really don't feel at a disadvantage by resorting to
other methods.

Peter

turn mailhot into hotmail to reply

Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html

"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

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

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

"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