J.C.
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Welcome to the dark side, Ron. I echo everyone’s comments. A few egg patterns and a few perdigons will get you started. My suggestion is start with 2 flies: eggstacy egg (if you can find the material), and a perdigon on a size 16 jig hook (Hanak 400 BL for me). Tie the perdigon on the size 16 hook with different slotted tungsten beads: 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 mm, it will serve you well. This way you can fish the same fly at different depths / sink rates. Good luck and if we run into each other on the water or at a stocking, I’ll be sure to share some flies that have worked for me.
JC
We caught those little ones in the riffle above Gypsy Rose, an unexpected location and even further away from Ron’s nursery. Given the Purina trout chow disruptions, perhaps the State settled for what was available, but I’d like to believe the Guad is the only home they’ve known.
I concur with your assessment, Alex. Just after Christmas, I broke my Orvis H3 tip (yes Jimbo that’s the 3rd time but this was the bridge’s fault). Got online Sunday night, ordered a new tip and received it on Tuesday. Thank goodness because after that I broke my T&T Contact II just above the handle and that one was my fault. T&T received the rod Monday and stated repairs will take ~8 weeks, sigh. Well, I have one more Euro rod to break to make it a trifecta, think I’ll take my Cortland out this weekend.
JC
Wish you well, Dana and hopefully you’ll get a chance on Gunpowder as well as some of the great and historic streams of PA.
JC
Ron, we stocked at Horseshoe Riverside Lodge (formerly Maricopa), Rio (off the bridge), #5 (only above the weir), Meckel’s and CVC. This batch of fish came from Nebraska, which is probably a bit too far away as many of the fish didn’t fair well. There was a higher than usual mortality rate and the majority of the people stocking spent time on revival detail trying to save as many as possible. Hats off to everyone’s effort in trying to save as many as possible and to Dan for recognizing the condition of the fish and stocking them as quickly as possible in the most optimum spots for survival. As for size, from what I saw, most fish appeared to be in that 12-16″ range with some outliers.
JC
Great question, jrcheno for which I believe there are as many answers as there are variables. Alex astutely summarized the major observations, especially the early morning bite, to which I’ll add low light imparting a sense of safety coupled with that hunger and amnesia. I do think the bite is often cyclical, so perhaps it’s more instructive to reframe the question.
When the bite slows, how do you respond/adapt? The reason the bite slows may be important in determining a specific response, but how many times do we really know why? So I think having multiple strategies is more important to help bridge the doldrums. To this point, how many people fish the same fly without changing and just keep moving to cover new water? What if you aren’t able to move to new water, then what? I would offer that when the bite slows, changing patterns, depth, weight, action, and presentation style may realize a few more in the net and of course presentation, presentation, presentation.
I would ask if you were seeking loneliness, which lease would you visit, however, I fear the answer may be Canada.
I haven’t really noticed a difference in snagging bottom, Drew. However, I use a slotted bead and attempt to situate its center line above the hook shank in hopes it will invert in the water and not occlude the gape as much as a standard countersunk bead. I don’t know if it actually helps and in all honesty I don’t fish these enough to have formed an opinion. Also, when I do fish them, they tend to occupy the dropper position.
I hope Flylords at least cited you in the post (and that you posted it to your Instagram otherwise I’d be concerned that they have a GRTU logon)!
Since the stocking, I’ve fished #5 down to Potts, and a few hours at Devil’s Playground. Had success with junk food (eggs, squirmies and mops) despite pairing the junk food with more traditional nymph patterns. I will stick to the junk food (egg on point, squirmy on dropper) until the fish say otherwise.
I think there are probably a half dozen magical fly tying materials and peacock and pheasant tail are at the top of that list. If you’re going to be stuck on a couple of materials Benjamin, you picked two of the finest.
When I feel like breaking all the FIPS Mouche rules, here’s a favorite bad-boy fly. I’ve tied these with a trick I saw on the “youtubes” by a guy out of the UK. I use flex floss and create a loop at each end (pro tip: make the loop smaller than you think) and attach the squirmy with a bobbin threader. It also allows easy replacement of half eaten squirmies or to change squirmy colors.
@mhamlettser – a great way to identify a leak is to turn the waders inside-out, spray the suspected area with isopropyl alcohol (3.49 at CVS and comes in a spray bottle) and look for a little dark spot to appear. Now this may prove challenging along a seam but works great in non-seam areas. Also, buy the smallest tube of wader repair glue as you’ll not need much and once opened, store in the freezer otherwise it becomes a one-time use tube.
JC
Best of luck, Jimbo, you’re in our thoughts and prayers, and looking forward to seeing you on the water again.
JC
@Alex – not sure when the next comp will be, there aren’t any scheduled yet for my region. I mentioned we should hold one on the Guad, they all liked the idea. I did, however, warn them about the tubers, guides, and fellow fishers; they seemed to think that it would be no different than East coast comps, so who knows.
@Jerry – only the mini comps are competitor controlled, the big comps are volunteered controlled and you don’t fish immediately after someone else, plus each session is three hours long. I actually like the competitor controlled comp because you get to learn how the top anglers approach water, how long they focus on an area, which flies they used, how long they go between fly changes, etc. I picked up a really good tip after controlling Cody Burgdorff, number four on Team USA, he asked me what I would have done differently if I were fishing his beat. What a brilliant and insightful question to ask, even to someone as relatively new to comps as me. I gave him my answer and immediately turned the tables and asked him what he thought he should have done differently. Going forward in competitor controlled events, I am going to ask my controller that question.
Nice mop, Drew. May have to add some mops to this box I’m currently building for a comp this weekend on the Big Thompson in Colorado.
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