Swing not working

[John L]

I started living in Canon City, Colorado, in August, and have fished the town stretch of the Arkansas River most days since. August through November I caught all I wanted by swinging a wingless wet. Fish would bite as the fly hit the water and as it swung and as it skated at the end. Then through mid winter I had to change to fishing deep.

I looked forward to the fabled Grannon/Brachycentrus hatches of Spring. Now Spring is here, and the hatches, and no matter what flies I use I virtually can't catch anything on the swing, or during any manipulation of my wet fly other than the lift at the conclusion of a drift that ends almost directly downstream from my rod tip.

I met a local guide that was fishing upstream with multiple nymphs and an indicator and doing better than I. He told me that Brachycentrus ARE NOT ACTIVE SWIMMERS. Maybe he only meant that they emerge with little lateral movement. Anyway he said the trout were keying on upward movement, if any movement, and ignorng or were put off by much lateral movement. He said that in the Fall it's different because there is not much hatch behavior to key on, so the fish chase anything they see. This squares with my recent experience.

Does it square with yours?

[Soft-hackle]

John L,
Welcome to the forum. First, I've never fished where you are fishing. I don't know much about your river, but I've had some experience with Brachycentrus. They can be difficult. I've never been underwater to see exactly how they swim upward. While some may be taken as they do, I believe they become more important when they hit the surface because this is a point of hesitation.

Make sure you select a good imitation for the flies you see. Next, I believe you would be more successful if you fished your imitation in the surface film, as an emerger. To my knowledge, these flies spend a long time in the surface, struggling to free themselves, thus presenting a good target to the fish.

Don't wade out very far off the shore and turn slightly downstream, making a cast that angles slightly downstream and across the current. As the cast unfurls, hold your rod upstream. The idea, here is to get a slight upstream reach in the line. As soon as the current starts to straighten the line, mend it slightly, to slow the drift. Continue to mend slightly each time the line starts to straighten, as the fly moves across the current to your side of the river. What this does is slow the fly a bit, puts a slight twitch in the presentation, very much like an emerging/struggling fly.

This method was developed by Sylvester Nemes, and it has worked for me many times. I'm hoping this might be the ticket for you to increase your success.

Mark

[DUBBN]

Hi John, and welcome. I fish the other side of the Divide (Lower Gunnison) from you, but our hatches pretty much coincide. Your dilema does seem to be square with mine. I dont have alot of success swinging flys until after run-off is over and the weather starts getting hot. Until then I will fish Soft Hackles just like a two nymph rig , much as you withessed the guide doing with his nymphs. I know that it isn't , hmmm, how do I say it? Kosher? with wet fly purists, but it is extremely effective.
The fish and the birds, especially Swallows will tell you when the trout will want the flys on the swing. If you will dead drift Soft Hackles and say a Pheasant tail nymph at the same time, fishing upstream, and letting the set up drift below you, and then at the very end of the drift (below you) allow the entire set up ( line, leader, indicator, split shot and flies) to go tight and raise to the surface, the fish will eventually start taking the Soft Hackles on the rise, or just below the surface. You dont have to make such a dramatic drift every time, but a few times an hour will tell you what is happening and where in the water column. Thats my first way of knowing if the fish want it on the swing.
My second way of knowing....When I start seeing very aggresive rises from the trout. You hear the rise as well as see most of the fish's body when it comes out of the water. The smaller juvenile trout leaping all the way out of the water. For me, this is a good indication the fish are taking emerging or diving caddis. In either case its time to try the swing.
My third way of knowing...If the Swallows start skimming the surface of the river in big numbers, say 20 birds or more in a single stretch of water, its time to switch to Soft Hackles on the swing FAST. For me, this tell tale sign has been the most consistent way of knowing what the Caddis and the trout are doing.
These are my observations and experiences. I have to also say, they are my opinions. I have no documentation to prove their effectiveness, but I did stay in a Holliday Inn Express last night.
Good luck and again, welcome to the board.

[John L]

I feel honored by the VERY thoughtful replies, from>

SoftHackle, although I have mostly been seeing the very vigorous rises that I associate with fish chasing insects rising quickly to the surface, I admit I have occasionally also seen vigorous rises to caddis floundering on the surface, which makes me think that some such rises might also be to emergers in the surface. Anyway, I will try what you suggest, drifting and manipulating some flies in the surface film. It actually is snowing a little today and might tomorrow, so it could be a few days before I can give this a fair try.

and Dubbin, interesting that you think you have seen the same as I saw, also interesting your observation that swallow activity sometimes equals the fishes' willingness to chase. I'll have to pay more attention. Your way of getting the flies to go down during a drift and to rise at the end is about what I have been doing to get hits recently. I'll keep your words in mind next time I'm doing what I've been doing; maybe I can do it better. Last June and August I and the wife fished the Gunnison a little from our camp at the Almont public campground down to Gunnison town, also the East River. Nice water, great fishing, but that was when all I did was upstream fishing with a heavy point nymph. When I am about to go there again I'll try to contact you to see if you want to fish. You still in that Holiday Inn?

[William Anderson]

John, I hope you'll bring us up to speed as to your success and observations. I'm always curious, and jealous, of you guys on the bigger water. Sounds like a nice problem to have. Welcome to the board. I'd like to hear more on this thread. Most of my reading lately is focused on specific species habits and methods or at least theories regarding each.

Does anyone have the LaFontaine Caddis book? Is that worth getting or is it too dated? Some books, older and newer, seem genuine and others come across a bit on the agenda driven side. I haven't read this one, or seen it in person. just wondering.

w

[Soft-hackle]

William,
I would say it is the definitive work on caddisflies written for the angler. It is quite thorough, and you should like it a lot.

Mark

[John L]

Strange, but my town library has few books on trout fishing, none by LaFontaine or Nemes or ... However this morning (cold!) I went librarying instead of fishing and found two books that had parts addressing fishing various caddis hatches from Spring through Fall: Western Fly Fishing Strategies by Craig Mathews, and Flyfishing The High Country by John Gierach. They agreed with each other that a dead drift of a wet fly, or modest rise of it at the end of the drift, and no lateral movement, was best during the bigger caddis hatches of Spring, and best achieved by casting straight upstream, or in some situations straight down with slack to start.

They both said that vigorous rising in calm water usually meant fish were keying to flies coming up through the water column quickly, but in turbulent water could as well be to emergers or egg layers in or on the surface.

They both said that in Fall and with lesser hatches, especially Browns became more willing to chase, and that was when fishing a tight line across and down for a fast swing often worked well.

I believe this agrees with what you all said.

[John L]

The cold front passed over night. It got nice at noon so I went on a bicycle to see what was happening at the river. No rises, but I watched a fisherman in a riffle catch a couple 12"-14" Browns on beadheads under an indicator. He said he hadn't seen any rises. Anyway I went back to the house to get my gear and, not expecting enough hatching to fairly test swung flies vs dead drifted ones, I just walked to the park stretch of river, where all the casual fishermen fish, near my house. A trout came out of the water like a breaching 14" whale, so I got behind him, put on a size 16 dark soft hackle, and after a few casts up to him, got him. For the next hour and a half I cast three different unweighed flymphs and caught fish (nine) on all of them when I fished them up ahead on a dead drift, but none when I tried swinging them across the the current, or dragging them when downstream. I hardly saw caddis or rises. Then it got too windy.

Not a very scientific test. But the rest of the week is supposed to be warming, so the Brachycentrus will probably resume hatching heavily and the trout resume rising, so I may soon have good conditions to compare the effectiveness of dead drift and dead drift with a lift at the end, to dragging flies across in the current and at the surface, during major Brachycentrus hatching.

If anything seems worth reporting, I'll report.

[letumgo]

Outstanding post. Informative contributions by everyone. Welcome aboard John. Great way to introduce your self.

[skunkaroo]

John (et al.),

I was out fishing a local creek this past Sunday--beautiful day, excellent water conditions, perfect for the soft hackle.

I was working upstream and catching the odd fish fish with a small nymph fished deep, occasionally switching to an upstream "North Country" style presentation with wets when the water looked promising. There was only sporadic surface insect activity and I received very little interest in my soft hackle imitations--whether pulled or drifted. It wasn't until I let a nymph swing and hit the surface that I finally rose a fish.

It was one of those ah-ha moments. I rigged up a small ginger caddis on a heavier hook, turned around and started swinging down. I noticed similar results to yours--nothing on the swing but action on the rise. I eventually just switched over the "lift" sort of presentation detailed by Mark and Dubbn (albeit with a single fly as per our regs) and managed to have a few hours of success. Looking back I've noted this sort of feeding activity early season before, but what threw me off is that sort of behaviour normally occurs here in February, not May! It's been so damn wet and cold here this spring that I shouldn't have been surprised. I can't speak to the weather conditions down south, but perhaps la ninia might be throwing you a bit of a curve as well?

Aaron