Posted: Thu 07/30/09 9:41 pm Post subject: Fly Fishing Flies: Help & Tips On Choosing Flies!?
Hey guys,
With this being my first post I would like to start out by saying what a great site this is. I could read the fish tales for days! So thanks to all who contribute and I hope to become more and more involved.
My question is regarding choosing a fly once arriving at a river here in Maine. I am new to fly fishing and have been doing it for about half a year. I am in no way shape or form an expert, yet i think ive got a pretty good handle on how to handle myself on the river, rod and reel wise. I have only caught one brook trout in New Hampshire on the ellis river with my fly rod and it was an awesome experience. Any way, regarding my question: how does one go about choosing a fly upon arrive at a river? Wet? Dry? Streamer? i know that matching the hatch is key, but how what if know insects are present? Any tips that you guys use or could offer would be awesome, because im really having a hard time choosing my flies and I think that it leading me to not catching many fish. Thanks for the help and once again great site!
What a great topic. I am curios to hear other peoples approaches to choosing flies for trout.
1. Where I am fishing makes a big difference
2. In the Northeast, I rarely (if ever) START with nymphs (maybe I should? But this is just the way I do it .. not right or wrong .. just what I do)
3. On the West Coast I often start with nymphs
4. You say you are from Maine .. so, a lot of our fish are lake run fish .. with that said .. they move A LOT and there is A LOT of water in which they could be in. And depending on water temps, food sources, time of year etc.. the fish could be in a number of different spots in any section of river .. or not in the river at all. So, I view fly fishing in Maine rivers much like fly fishing for steelhead or atlantic salmon in the sense that just because you are on let's say "The Miramichi" and yes that river gets a run of 80,000 atlantic salmon. The fish are not always in the river, not always in x section or y section of the river ... these are migratory fish constantly moving up and down and out to sea or up from or back to the big lakes
5. On the West Coast (at least a lot of the rivers I have fished, those fish are river fish and pretty much "always there" .. so, its a safe bet (in general) to assume that fish are more or less where they "should be" of-course that depends on waterflows too. But in general, the fish ain't goin' nowhere.
6. So, speaking to Maine waters .. and assuming the there is not a hatch going on and i can't see fish rising .. I almost always start with some sort of searching pattern like a wooly bugger or a smelt type streamer (i love black ghosts, the maribou versions)
7. I start at the top of rivers or top of sections of rivers and work down .. FAST. I try to cover a lot of water and find concentrations of fish. I also try not to get hung up on 1 fish .. meaning if a fish swipes at my fly .. well, that's just one fish .. I really try to keep working the water downstream .. perhaps covering a couple miles of river and then I can go back up and fish "the hot spots" with nymphs or spend time with different streamers or wait for the hatch at those "hot spots"
8. Often, not always, trout and salmon will stay together .. so, the goal is obviously to find high concentrations of fish .. and our rivers do not have thousands of trout per mile like western rivers .. so it can often be quite a hunt to find a pod of fish.
9. A fun thing to do during the warmer months when the trout are feeding on the surface at some point during the days .. is to fish a HUGE searching dry fly pattern such as a SOFA PILLOW. These flies are ridiculous in size and look like a tennis ball coming down the river. But, as a searching pattern they are fun to fish and often draw a lot attention from trout and salmon looking for an easy meal. They just can't resist coming up and at least swirling on it and looking at it .. but when they do, they just showed themselves to me. Then I will change flies and fish them more effectively -- or add a dropper to that sofa pillow. Sometimes, the dropper is another dry fly .. and other times the dropper may be a smaller elk hair caddis or something of that nature.
10. That's about it .. and to really simplify it down. I will often start with a cone head olive wooly bugger on a 150 grain sinking line and cover miles of water swinging and stripping that fly through every nook and cranny of the section of river i am fishing. being sure to fish the pockets, the fast runs, the deep pools and if i don't find the fish .. i move to another river or another section.
Hope this helps -- good luck. Again, this is just my approach and not right or wrong . just what i do .. perhaps others will have different approaches that I can learn from.
Thanks Jeremy!
That info really helps alot and i cant wait to try out some of the tips. Ive been doing some fishing on the Pleasant River in Windham and im having some trouble identifing a hatch. When are the best times of day or during the year to identify insects. I know that sometimes they arent present at all so I will try some of your other tips for now. Thanks so much for the info and I look forward to reading and learning more! Hopefully this new info will let me have a great fish tale to share!
When are the best times of day or during the year to identify insects. -Shane
Shane,
Different insects hatch at different times of the day and different times of the year. A good place to start is to stop in at your local fly shop or look at a hatch chart for the area or river that you are fishing (if you can find one). Another option that I highly recommend is a small book called "Hatch Guide For New England Streams" for eastern trout streams. There is one for the west coast as well since the insects can be a little different. The book gives excellent information about each species of insect, what time of the year you will find them, what water types they live in, what stages are important to trout etc. You can learn a lot from this book. There are also some great websites out there like troutnut which has vast information on insects especially mayflies. Another thing that I used to do and still occasionally do is to pick up rocks and look at the insects that you find. You can also use a seine or some type of fine mesh net (aquarium net) that you hold in the current. You can kick the bottom upstream and the insects that get dislodged will show up in your net. Once you start to identify the bugs and spend time on the water, you will learn patterns that insects follow like caddis coming to the water in the evening in clouds to lay their eggs, or trico spinners all falling to the water in the morning or green drakes hatching late in the evening or night or sulphurs coming off in the afternoon. Keeping a log of what you see on the water can be very helpful and eventually you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Have fun!
Posted: Mon 08/03/09 11:47 am Post subject: Stream Side
There is a hatch guide for eastern streams. It has a ring binder and you can carry easily. What you see in the air or emerging from the water can be found in this guide and the flies that represent these insects are on the following page. This hatch guide is about $19.95. That said your, ability to access flies and fins members is priceless. I just wanted to mention this guide as I have found it a valuable resource.
Good Luck
Greg
This is a great topic and the replies have certainly covered a lot of bases.
As you gain experience with your favorite trout and salmon river, you'll think more about the seasons and what the fish primarily eat during those times and also where the fish will be in the river when it's cold and water is high, or when it's hot and water is low. You'll have a collection of seasonal flies and you will pick out the right ones for the season when you go out.
You will know what bugs are available to the fish and what stage of the bugs' life cycle is most available to the fish. You will proove everything to yourself hundreds of times by seining the substrate and checking for nymphs.
You'll develop your own favorite method and if you're lucky like the posters above and me, you'll love all the ways to fly fish...Like for instance, you'll just crave stripping streamers real fast and feeling aggressive Salmon strike, so you'll tie streamers like mad and brave the October cold....or...you'll want to probe the current seams with deep nymphs and an indicator to proove to yourself that the fish are hanging low in between boulders and you'll drive to the Great Lakes. You will crave chucking big Stonefly dries to aggressive Salmon who strike only once. You'll drive hundreds of miles, spend hundreds of dollars to repeatedly cast hundreds of casts for the chance that an Atlantic Salmon will take.
Perhaps in later life, you'll move your home to warmer waters where you can persue huge, strong fish every day of the year.
You will understand that the river has a seasonal rhythm and sometimes the fish will be sluggish and not interested in eating...but you'll drive there anyway with a buddy and coffee ....just to see it all again.
this all sounds like a kung fu grasshopper thing doesn't it? I'm sorry.
Thanks for the great info guys! I am going to pick up a couple of books regarding hatches in the east, so that I can begin to identify insects. and Marshall your post was very Kung Fu grasshopperish and made me laugh so thanks. But you are very right and I will keep going back to the river even when the fish arent biting just because this amazing sport has certainly got me hooked. So thanks for the info and keep it coming!
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