What Is A Good Fly/nymph/emerger/etc...for Mid October

[We-no-nah Rider]

Hey guys, have a trip planned for the middle of October. I have had some luck with dry flys but have been reading that nymphs/indicator set ups are doing well right now. Anyway, any advice on what has worked for you in mid OCT is welcome. Thanks.

[Gavin]

Used to turn over rocks, collect bugs, and try to match them.......but I dont have much time to tie these days...

My indi rigs have gotten pretty simple. I usually start with an egg pattern and something else tied on below it...Mohair Leach, Wooly Bugger, Rubber Leg Bead Head Fox Squirrel, Prince Nymph, Pat's Rubberlegs Stone..Will poke around in the scud or a zebra midge box if they seem picky. I pay more attention to my presentation, the amount of shot on my leader, and indicator depth adjustments than I do to fly selection. There are no magic flies... good drifts catch fish. Have fun.

[We-no-nah Rider]

Thank you for the egg and dangler suggestion.

Anyone else have any suggestions of patterns that work for them in early fall on the current. I understand that fly-fishing is an art and that technique is crucial, but I am somewhat new to the area and know that certain patterns work in certain seasons in certain areas.

Just looking for suggestions to help me key in on what to tie to my line for starters.

Thanks.

[jgentile]

I feel comfortable echoing what Gavin said. Presentation, presentation, presentation is paramount to success. One good drift beats ten lousy ones. Set your indicator too short or too deep and you will go right through feeding fish. I personally like Pheasant tail nymph varieties and variation as well as hares ear nymphs along with biot nymphs. Bead headed or not, in a variety of sizes tied on a variety of hooks. If it looks "buggy" that dog will hunt. Scuds are always a nice to have again in a variety of colors (olive, orange, tan/olive are my favs). I also like to tie on an emerging midge type of pattern called the "dandelion". It is a midge with a long post and parachute that suspends in the film. It is easy to see and it works. This fly served me well this past tuesday, upstream from Baptist. I was drifting it by rising browns and had more than a handful of hook ups with this fly.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, when it comes to nymphs and nymph fishing, forget about regional and seasonal patterns and just fish buggy-looking nymphs. I catch more fish on Hare's Ears and Pheasant Tails than anything else (with scuds right up there, too) no matter where or when I'm fishing. I'll also fish Copper Johns, Princes, and soft hackles. And other than Fetal Emergers (egg patterns ) those pretty well cover my nymph selection.

[Justin Spencer]

Do what Al said and add and subtract weight as neccesary to keep it near the bottom, many times this is more important than fly selection.

[Al Agnew]

I totally agree with Justin...if your nymphs aren't within a few inches of the bottom, you're just about wasting time. And the only way for sure that you'll know they are very close to the bottom is if you can see or feel your weight ticking the bottom. While I know that conventional wisdom is that you want a drag-free drift with the nymph drifting along at the same speed as the current, in reality I've found that it doesn't have to be moving quite as fast as the surface current (where your indicator is). I always opt for too much weight rather than too little. I want to see my indicator kinda jiggling as the weight drags over rocks and gravel, and I want the flies to get down fast. If the indicator is slowing down and stopping all the time, you have on too much weight, and if it drifts along without ever hesitating or jiggling, you're not on the bottom. To give you an idea, anytime I'm in fairly fast water, I've got on two BB size split shot. If it's fast and deep, I might even put on three of them.

Be prepared to lose some nymphs, though.

[Justin Spencer]

Be prepared to lose some nymphs, though.

I would say on average I lose about 6 flies per hour if I'm fishing deep enough!

[ness]

I agree with sentiment above -- presentation trumps fly selection. The idea that certain flies are necessary generally can be traced back to someone who has those flies for sale.

But to add a bit to what Al said -- you should expect the current near the bottom to be moving slower, due to friction with the bottom. The larger the 'grit' the more friction and turbulence you can expect too. So, keeping your indicator moving with the current at the surface is really just giving you an approximation of what's going on underneath, and it's usually indicating faster movement than what is going on below. Gentle, small, upstream mends will help slow down the fly.

[Al Agnew]

Yep...you never want your indicator to be moving FASTER than the current, which it will do if you have your line bowing downstream. I like to use Thingamabobbers because they are somewhat current resistant--the current will push them--and they show every little pebble the weight is dragging over by jiggling as they drift.

Picture what your whole system is doing. Ideally, you should have about 1/3 to 1/2 more distance between your indicator and your weight (not flies, weight) than the depth of the water you're fishing. For instance, if your fishing in 3 feet of water, the distance from indicator to weight should be 4-4.5 feet. So now your flies are drifting. The indicator is, as Ness said, probably in faster surface current, the weight is dragging on the bottom. So the indicator is well downstream of the flies, and the current pushing on it is actually making it drag the flies along. The weight is dragging along the bottom, the flies are waving and bobbing as the turbulence along the bottom pushes them around. Actually, it's a pretty good recipe for missing a lot of takes, but it still works fairly well when the fish are taking. Who knows how many trout are taking it and rejecting it before you even see the indicator do anything?

I've been experimenting with different nymph riggings. I fished with a guide on the Provo River in Utah last spring, and he had a rig where the weight was on the end of the main tippet, with two flies tied on short droppers off the main tippet above the weight. This theoretically lets the flies wave around naturally, but indications of takes are transmitted up the line to the indicator without being deadened by the weight, as happens when the weight is above the flies. It also has the advantage of sometimes losing just the weight when it gets wedged in the rocks, instead of your whole rig. But it's a real pain to do all that tying. So I've been trying tying the two flies to the main tippet with palomar knots on each, tying the upper one on first, leaving a long tag end of the palomar knot, tying the second one below the first, still leaving a long tag end, and attaching the weight to the end of that. I don't think it lets the flies wave around much, and it may keep the upper fly too far above the bottom, but it sure transmits takes better. I'm trying to decide whether the fish like that presentation as much...jury is still out.