The famous nocturnal Hex hatch of the Midwest (and a few other lucky locations) stirs to the surface mythically large brown trout that only touch streamers for the rest of the year.
Oldredbarn on May 31, 2010May 31st, 2010, 9:37 am EDT
This is just prior to the trip May 2010...I post this as a "Ha,Ha" because Spence isn't known as a nymph guy...I actually caught a few on nymphs this trip up throwing the whole universe out of balance.
The temps during the day were warmer than I would have preferred and the day time fishing was affected...So, I nymphed some classic looking runs and caught a few.
Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
I can tell you're not much into nymphing, your box is TOO well stocked. Mine is getting rather sparse, but my dry fly box is fully stocked. Nice flys, very imitative, hatch matchers if you will.
Oldredbarn on May 31, 2010May 31st, 2010, 4:29 pm EDT
Shawn,
That's funny you mentioned that...I'm nearly through Gonzo's book...I told him that I always pick up a new-to-me book in the early spring and I was sorry I waited to buy his...I needed it last fall when I had decided what needed to be tied before the fishing season came around.
I'm not much of a nymph guy...I was mentored by a guy that was once know as "the" dry fly guy in Michigan. He fished with Swisher & Richards etc...I remember the day he turned to me and said,"You know Spence, we spend a hell of a lot of time just sitting around!" He now nymphs until the fish get on to the surface bugs...
Shawnny...the good thing about our sport is we can always learn something new if we don't close our minds to it...I guess I'm still, at 56, a work-in-progress!
Take Care!
Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Oldredbarn on May 31, 2010May 31st, 2010, 4:58 pm EDT
Dryfly,
You are on to me man! After a week of fishing the box looks pretty much the same. I did actually catch a few on nymphs though.
Read my response to Shawn...I have long been a big fan of E Schwiebert's and spent a good deal of my fishing time last week near a lodge on the Au Sable where he fished. "Matching the Hatch" is kind-of-how-I-roll. He was probably the most well-rounded angler out there period...
The late Rusty Gates used to say when this stuff came up, "Spence. He tosses bugs." It is called "Fly-Fishing" after all...I'm just getting around to the other life stages of them there bugs.
Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Spence, as I have said on other posts here, I'm not much of a nympher either, as I haven't done very well on them and I don't like the addition of stuff to my leader. That said, that's one hell of a box o' nymphs! I HOPE you caught something on them!!
Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Wbranch on May 31, 2010May 31st, 2010, 7:12 pm EDT
"Not much for legs, I guess, are you?"
Legs are a pain in the butt to apply to nymphs and superfluous in my opinion. Admittedly many of the nymphs I tie have partridge "legs" painstakingly tied in on each side but probably half of my nymphs only have roughly dubbed thoraxes that are picked out to resemble legs.
Oldredbarn on Jun 5, 2010June 5th, 2010, 2:18 pm EDT
Vinnie,
Yes I tied them. The thing that fascinates me is that I am not much attracted to nymph fishing, but I have said here before that there is something to be said for making an attempt at being a well rounded angler.
Matching the hatch can be done from the bottom of the river as well as the surface and everywhere in between. I'm interested in imitating bugs that trout eat...I am not so strict with this idea when I'm chasing bass.
If you look at my post about out west the trout pictured there were caught on streamers. I had floated twice on the Madison with guides and they want you in to big fish and think the best way to accomplish this is with something big. The trout I didn't post outside of the floats were all caught on dry flies.
I was surprised that someone didn't blow up that photo of my nymph box and have some questions about it...There are some odd experiments in there, but like I said I'm really not a nympher and maybe they have seen it all before.
One of the experiments in there that I wasn't too happy with was my attemps at the famous "Sawyer's Nymph" tied with just pheasant tail and fuse wire...I'm still working on pulling that off and practise will help. There is actually a black & white YouTube of him tying it without sound.
Take Care!
Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Vinlflyfish on Jun 5, 2010June 5th, 2010, 2:26 pm EDT
thanks Spence,
where do u fish i like to use dry flies and trestrels i like to see the fly but im worrid about fooling trout with my flies they might not work because im used to using flies for bluegill theey arent very well ill figure it out i mostly use forms of scuds and san juan worms and my favorite nymph is the hare ear nymph
Vinlflyfish on Jun 5, 2010June 5th, 2010, 3:00 pm EDT
thanks Spence,
where do u fish i like to use dry flies and trestrels i like to see the fly but im worrid about fooling trout with my flies they might not work because im used to using flies for bluegill theey arent very well ill figure it out i mostly use forms of scuds and san juan worms and my favorite nymph is the hare ear nymph
Vinlflyfish on Jun 5, 2010June 5th, 2010, 3:34 pm EDT
thanks Spence,
where do u fish i like to use dry flies and trestrels i like to see the fly but im worrid about fooling trout with my flies they might not work because im used to using flies for bluegill theey arent very well ill figure it out i mostly use forms of scuds and san juan worms and my favorite nymph is the hare ear nymp