Five Tips For Finding Out What the Fish Are Eating.
Below are five tips for you to use when you arrive to your favorite spot and can not seem to figure out what to use or what the fish are feeding on.
- If fish feed under or around the trees only after the wind blows then the fish are feeding on ants or inchworms that are being blown out of the trees. If they are feeding under the trees and there is no wind or when the wind is not blowing they are feeding on flying insects, i.e. beetles or bees.
- While approaching the stream check the bushes and spider webs for any insects. Are there any mayflies trapped in the spider webs? Are there any caddis flies flying out of the bushes when you shack or bump into them. Are there any stonefly cases on the rocks or logs?
- What are the weather and water conditions, as a general rule you should fish bright colored flies on bright days and dark colors on gray overcast days. Example: blue wing olives are more active on gray overcast days and hoppers are more active on warm sunny days.
- Never under estimate the power of the STONEFLY. Stoneflies have a three year life span in the stream and are available to trout everyday of the year. They are also very poor swimmers and are very vulnerable to trout in times of high water. When nothing else works a stonefly will usually catch a few fish. Remember that stoneflies live in clear fast water on the bottom under rocks, so your fly should be fished near or on the bottom.
- Keep adding weight to your fly. A lot of times in warm weather or when fish are inactive they lay on or near the bottom of the river. Keep adding weight to your fly until you start catching fish or you are continually hanging on the bottom. Inactive fish are as lazy as some humans and will only move a couple of inches to take advantage of a free meal.
- *Bonus Tip* Remember when the fish will not cooperate you can always go have an ice cold beer.