Five Helpful Tips for Early Fall Fishing
Here are five tips for helping you improve your catch in early fall. This can be some of the best fishing of the year, and you often encounter less anglers and a whole lot less tubers!
- Approach large flat holes of water cautiously, large trout often lay in the back of the hole watching the entire hole for anything that resembles food. As soon as a shadow or wave washes over them in this shallow water they dart for cover.
- Fish large terrestrial’s. Trout will get really tuned into them, especially wooly worms and caterpillars. Fish flies like the Kevin’s Caterpillar and Chernobyl ants as close to cover and under over hangs as possible. I generally fish flies in a size 8 or 10.
- Fish as large of a tippet as you can get by with. However, early fall is usually marked with low clear water resulting in having to fish 5-6x tippet.
- Fishing is great all day, but keep in mind that nights are cool and fish may not rise to dries early in the day (due to the lack of insect activity) , so you will want to start off fishing nymphs. My best nymphs for early fall are The Bug, Kevin’s Stonefly and the Bill’s Provider. Then switch to dries once the day warms and the bugs get active.
- Keep a streamer handy at all times. Large fish will often run down small fish and eat them with little remorse this time of year. If a large fish takes a swipe at a small trout you are trying to land, tie a large streamer (the size of the fish he was after) and throw right back in the hole and strip as if it were a wounded fish. This will often result in vicious strike breaking the fisherman’s tippet if he is not prepared for the strike.
By Kevin Howell
Kevin Howell is a guide and Owner of Davidson River Outfitters.