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3. Ridiculously Picky Trout

fishing Thursday was cold and quite unproductive until i finally got to my old never-fail pool. tied on a Letort Cricket and a bhpt dropper and bam--first cast a take. was so exited i yanked and lost both flies to the fish, but that was a handsome brown. tied on another kind of cricket and a bhpt and no takers...tried a red midge larva and bam! landed that one; he'd taken the midge. but again, no other fish would. tried a small white streamer...bam! but no other fish wanted it. tried a red midge again. nope. tried a shiny sort of nymph and bam! but only that one fish fell for it. now it was really cold as the sun went down, so i went home.
before now, a successful fly has usually gotten more than one fish. whazzup? i grant you that pool has shrunk to half its size because of a construction project putting sand in the stream, but this is ridiculous--or is it?
there was a thread recently about how many flies you take to the stream--i'm going to get a bigger box...:-)

Casey;
I've had this exact same thing happen to me, before, also. Maddening, huh? But, it's why we fish! (I think?).
Anyway, did you spot any other fish, in your pool? Could be this was a personal lie of the one you ticked and of course, HE'S not about to be fooled, twice, again so quickly!
You mentioned that the pool was unusually small, so perhaps this time, it was only large enough to support one nice fish and the one you broke off, "was it"!?! Just a thought.

Casey, my theory is that the little spotted bastards sit around late into the night playing poker and coming up with new ways to confuse and frustrate us. --Louis

Flybinder, you may have figured it out. the first two fish i landed were suspiciously similar, and the first was a poster child for quick landing, quick and easy release. the third was a very different one. as for the "big" one i hooked and lost...guess that makes three fish actually seen. last year that pool had 40 fish in it, but it was 8 feet deep, not 2, where the limestone stream comes in, so those fish were hard to catch for different reasons. oh, it's never as good as it was--but then other places get better. thanks for the observation.
Martin, you're right--that's why we fish. was going to take up skeet, but it was noisy and always the same thing.

Casey,
if you couldn't catch em' they must have been snooty!

We've been experiencing much the same, i think it has alot to do with dropping water temps. Just a guess.

Eric

Hi Eric,

Hope all is well up your way. I hope to venture that way again some snowy day and repeat my luck this past winter. Tight lines, and tell Bill hello.

hey, Eric--good to see you! yep, the only pickier fish this year were on the west fork of the Ruby...must be the heat--or the cold--or the season...

hi Louis and Casey,
WOW! What a great site and source of information. Glad to have found it!

Hey Eric, is there any chance Spruce Creek Fly Company will get its stream reports site up and running again? That was a godsend to those who fished the J, and good business too, I'd guess.

Hey Louis,
just got back from the International Fly Tying Symposium in New Jersey and it was awsome. Lots of great tyers and good conversation. I was fortunate enough to share a booth with one of my hero's in the business, A.K. Best! Great guy and a masterful tier!
At the show, i hired a guy to get my web-site up and running again. i will be retaining the Spruce Creek Fly Co. if you're not aware, i've resigned from TCO and will be guiding on my own, independant of any shops. i will make sure that i have a stream report section on there.

Great news on the website and the stream reports. If you allow others to post up information the site will be harder to manage, but will give multiple perspectives on what hatches are being seen where, as did the old site. I know there are a bunch of guys who miss that site. Also, I've heard great things about your abilities as a guide and teacher from John (JAD on this site) and I hope to get out with you myself next season. By the way, Jason, who created this site, is the guy I brought in last year during sulphur season to get some advice and some flies. What you told us helped keep us on the section where the bugs were thickest. He said he's never seen so many spinners, and his report is somewhere in this forum's old posts. Let us all know more about your plans and how to be in touch.

I will stay in touch Louis. Have a Great Thanksgiving!