FLYMPH FORUM

Yesterday was a tuff fishin day, we were throwin everything in our box. Any after fishin a s/h with no luck in a run where there always fish I decided to change flies. Instead of just pulling the line in I reeled it. Now I was bringing it as fast as I could reel and then bam, a brown was on. I can't ever remember catching a trout on a fly that was being retrieved like a spinner.

I can remember loosing a couple nice steelhead that way. They will sometimes hit a fast moving fly like a ton of bricks. Unfortunately they will often break off, since the line is tight and I often have the rod tip down close to the water (i.e. - no chance to absorb the strike).

That's how I discovered that a Renegade works when stripped in quickly.

Bob, I've been obsessed lately with understanding presentations for flymphs and spiders. Sometimes it's hard to develop a sound theory when they are taken in so many ways for so many reasons. What were the water conditions/stream section like and what kind of tippet were you using?

William, the water is a tail water about 10 miles below the outlet. Flow was low, crystal clear with plenty of leaves when the wind puffed. I was using a 5x tippet on a 5 ft furled leader. The run was over a shoal with a hole about 3 ft deep. Between two little runs was a little calm. So when I was reeling in the fly came through some of the run into the flat. That's when he hit, smacked the heck out of it. I had missed one earlier in the same area on a dead drift. I also had one flash on it also but no take.

Instead of just pulling the line in I reeled it.

Reel?

One of the things that intrigues me about Tenkara (and will no doubt give William something else to obsess about this Spring) is that it makes the classic upstream dead-drift/downstream "lift" just one presentation option out of many. In Narco's case, I'm guessing that the trout were taking caddis emergers--this time of year, especially, I'm always careful to fish the entire drift, even if I'm fishing dries--the biggest Smokies rainbow I've brought to had so far took a Tennessee Wulff pulled under and "pulsed" back. I also suspect that we fishermen get too obsessed with aquatic insects and ignore other columns on the menu--who's to say that a even a smallish softhackle moving at "flank-speed" might not resemble a small crayfish or young-of-year fry?

Reel!
I had the other but decided to use a "new" cane rod. I bet I had drifted, stripped back six different flies through that run over a 30 min period.

Bob could catch a fish even if Bob were fast a sleep in his car with the rod in the truck. this guy is a blast to fish with. Love ya bob. Sorry we couldn't make it up to fish in Oct. but Karen is ill... again.

William Anderson wrote:Bob, I've been obsessed lately with understanding presentations for flymphs and spiders. Sometimes it's hard to develop a sound theory when they are taken in so many ways for so many reasons. What were the water conditions/stream section like and what kind of tippet were you using?

I was fishing the Gunpowder above Falls Road in low water conditions summer a year ago. There was a pod of rising trout about 15 feet across from me, and I was determined to prove my theory that any trout rising in the GP can be taken on a size 16 Renegade and 5x tippet (as long as it's long enough). I tried floating presentations (both upstream and down), sunken presentations (both upstream and down, with and without weight), and on the swing. I couldn't move a fish, but didn't put them down, either. After almost an hour, I gave up and just started reeling in. The fly was smacked immediately by the largest fish in the pod. After that, I fished it for the next half hour with a good hard strip retrieve and took about 5 more fish from the same spot.

Sorry guys I made a post to my friend NorcalBob instead of Narcodog. sometimes a gal is just ditzy.