Go to Tactics
We have all stood on the side of the stream from time to time and wondered what we were doing wrong, and why we could not catch any fish. Here are some of the tricks that I use as a fishing guide to help my clients stay on fish.
- Best bet is that you are not getting your fly to the fish. Keep adding weight until you are hanging on the bottom or catching fish. It can take a lot more weight than you think to stay in contact with the bottom.
- Almost 90% of a trout's diet is what it finds under the surface of the water to eat. Only 10% of fly fishermen are effective nymph fishermen. Leave your dry flies at home and become a better nymph fisherman.
- I dry fly fish only when there is a hatch on, or I am searching for fish with terrestrials, then I usually have a dropper on behind the fly.
- While most of the time I fish with 3-5x tippet I do on rare occasions go down to 6x tippet. Not as much for the fish not being able to see the fly, but to change the drag pattern on my fly. Also smaller diameter mono sinks quicker than the heavy diameter mono.
- When all else fails go to size 16-18 soft hackle nymphs these will always produce a few fish although they may be small. The other “go to” fly is a Kevin’s Stonefly in size 8-12.
- My three “go to” flies are a size18 soft hackle Pheasant Tail, a size16 Red Fox Squirrel Nymph with rubber legs, and a number 8 Kevin’s Stonefly with Rubber Legs.
- Fish the faster moving water. In cool weather, trout will often move into the base of the riffles, the shallower water is warmer and insects are more active there. In hot weather this is where the oxygen is, and where the water is the coolest.
