Good day....pic heavy

[newriverspey]

Well, I finally got time away to do some fishing and the weather was finally cooperating. We have received our fair share of rain lately. My friend and I planned a full float on his drift boat that he built a few years ago. They were generating full force at the start of the day, so we planned on drifting for the first half of the day and perhaps wade later in the day. Write off the bat we caught two rainbows in a small riffle on a #14 peacock and partridge. As the float continued we managed numerous trout on a beetle pattern while drifting down river. The generation scheduled changed to continued full generation for the day, which put a hault to the wade fishing. So, we pulled over had lunch, a few libations and a nap. Towards the late afternoon we drifted through a large flat area with a steady flow where fish were rising nonstop. At times it looked like someone was throwing pebbles from up high into the water. We anchored up and started to drift a midge pattern, which worked well. The set up I was using was a 10’ 5 wt lined with Rio Gold fly line. The leader length was 10ft tapered to 6.5X and we both used the strike indicator system (by New Zealander, Barry Dombro). I would highly recommend trying this system if you haven’t. A while later, I decided to remove the indicator and purely let the fly swing and changed to a #20 zebra midge with a number # 19 purple and partridge soft hackled fly trailing. It was one of the most amazing days I had swinging a soft hackled fly. They readily took the soft hackled fly almost every time and we broke off several fish. We finished up the day with a slow drift to the take out. Enjoy the pictures.

[newriverspey]

rest of pics.....sorry

[newriverspey]

last set

[Smuggler]

Awesome outing for sure, that beetle pattern looks pretty deadly and so sounds your indicator set up. TBH I've noticed (and I'm sure many others have) that the smaller that your snipe/partridge and purples the more successful they are. I've been using curly-q's incorporated into my leaders lately and I'll be honest at first, I didn't like it at all but, now that I've toyed around with different lengths and diameters it really is a great system for those subtle takes. Give that a try!

Oh and your drift boat looks stunning

[gingerdun]

Lovely photos, capturing the pleasures of the trip.
I like the beetle, the boat, the whole thing...

What was the location of this trip?

[newriverspey]

Smuggler, I agree with more success with smaller snipe/partridge and purple soft hackled flies and tie them down to a size #20. Could elaborate on the indicator system you mentioned.

Ginger dun, I was fishing the Watauga in Tennessee. I had an amazing day and it made coming to work today that much harder

[hankaye]

newriverspey, Howdy;

I think he may be referring to this;
http://www.bluequillangler.com/Products ... hK-LcTnYoM
You might find them closer to home...
George Daniel mentions a how to build your own on pg. 21 & 22 of "Dynamic Nymphing".

hank

[William Anderson]

Jealous? Yup. Thanks for an amazing post and some beautiful pics. I love to hear about great days with little spiders. Congrats on a very nice time out.

[Smuggler]

Smuggler, I agree with more success with smaller snipe/partridge and purple soft hackled flies and tie them down to a size #20. Could elaborate on the indicator system you mentioned.

The link that Hank posted is a great picture of a curly-q. George Daniel's book Dynamic Nymphing get's into a lot of indicating techniques. He even explains how to construct and fish them. I would check the book out if I were you, it's very inspiring.

http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Nymphing- ... c+nymphing

French leader construction can get pretty outrageous due to how many droppers they incorporate. I usually only fish two flies and MAYBE three if I'm feeling squirrely (due to state regulations). It's meant to be customized just like regular leader formulas.

[hankaye]

newriverspey, Howdy;

Youtube to the rescue .....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1LNZqJDftY
In "Dynamic Nymphing" Mr. Daniels suggests the use of doweling
in 4" lengths and diameters of 7/16' and 1/4". Colors of Stren Fluorescent
Blue, Gold, Maxima Fiber Glow or Berkley's Big Game Green (8 - 15 # test), or
.35 mm Jan Siman Bi-color strike indicator material. A minimum of 8 and not
more than 12 wraps. He also treats his curly-q's with Mucilin.

hank