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3. Tough Day

Not much to say. Nymphed hard all day with two flies. Again caught all the fish on a #12 rusty orange Walt's Worm. Tried the rig where the BB goes on the bottom and you run two droppers off of the leader. I've started using those little 2 mm tippet rings. I clinch knot one to my Amnesia, then add 4' of 4x, then another tippet ring, then clinch knot a 24" piece of 4X and leave a 5" tag for the first fly, then another ring, then another piece of 4x with a dropper tag for the 2nd fly, and then tie an overhand knot at the end of the tippet and add my weight there. I used to get aquatic crap on my flies about every other cast. Using this method I got junk on my flies only about half a dozen times all day.

Toyed with the idea of getting a motel room but the fishing wasn't good enough to justify the expense. Tomorrow a little yard work for a couple of hours then up to fish the Tulpehocken near Reading. Heard the midges are hatching and the trout are rising. Pretty early in the year to be going to 7X.

Well, at least you didn't get skunked, Matt. We all pay our dues at times, and on tough days (we all have them) I'm getting in the habit of saying, "Well, at least I got some much needed exercise to keep me in shape for those days when the fish rise for hours." Let's hope those days come soon.

P.S. Which dropper did the fish seem to like--upper or lower?

How far was the shot from your second fly, Matt?

Six of the fish ate the bottom fly.



8" - 9". By using the high stick method with the drop shot you can really keep the string of flies and the shot close to vertical so the flies are spread out in the water column. I probably would reduce the distance from the bottom fly to the shot if I wasn't getting any takes. Come to think of it maybe my shot was too far from the bottom fly yesterday considering I was landing just one fish an hour.

Huh, interesting, on the rigs. I have never tryed the tippet rings. But been reading alot on them. I always tagged at times, sounds as if you had some fancy rigs going on yesterday. This is one of the things of flyfishing I have come to love. There always something to try, or try ta do. Maybe I am trying ta say, never boring, the sport ta me if you want it to be is end-less. Styles, rod wts, line wts, And even a bad day of fishing can be made ta make the man, pull rabbits out of his hat for just one more tight line. It's a good thing anyway you look at it.
Cause to a poor day of fishing, lays the ground work for a great day with the rod another day.

Thanks for the report, Matt. Fun to follow along.

Not sure where your streams are at now. I've found that in cold water -and/or prior to the first big hatches- the fish are often hunkered close to the substrate, in quieter pockets and divots out of the flow. Also cold flow is denser, thicker, and acts on the leader and tippet more than warmer water does. I tend to use more weight and keep it closer to the fly then, Weighted flies make the most sense although I'd avoided the hassles of having to have flies of various weights, using shot instead. But the Euro nymphing stuff has had me beginning to look more kindly on "beadheads".

I suppose your streams are breaking 50F now? Nymphing can be such a challenge that even in "warmer" water I still do best hugging the substrate, which helps in slowing the fly -detaching it from the leader/indicator/line/...terra firma.

This is probably stuff you already know, Matt, or already have your own ideas on. I'm doing my fishing vicariously now. But the trout fishing hallucinations are starting, which means I'm almost home.