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Posted

Starting in June, I torture myself every couple of weeks, tossing and hoping our trout will look up and start taking my dry flies.  It's different each year, but most of the time our trout don't take much on the surface till late August or September.  But I start early, hoping....

Brian Shaffer texted me this morning and said he's still doing pretty good on ants and beetles up below the dam.  I asked, "Why do they take your terrestrials up there and they don't down below Lookout.  He still hasn't answered me.  But I decided to try again this afternoon while they're running a little water.  I was pleasantly surprised.

I hooked 7 and landed 5 nice rainbows.  I had several refusals and a couple ignores.  I did see either a big brown or rainbow in the 30 inch range along the bluff bank from Lookout down lake but she wasn't interested in anything I threw.

I started with a #12 black beetle and had a #8 pink hopper on a second rod ready.  The beetle caught the first and biggest rainbow - one about 20 inches.  He touched on both sides of my 20-inch photoarium.  I did see him first and he took one of my first offerings.

hopper 1a.jpg

hopper 1b.jpg

I saw another rainbow holding under the surface - it looked to be hunting surface candy.  I ran the beetle over him a dozen times and he'd just move away from it.  Then he took something off the surface that looked like a cricket or something.  I picked up my second fly rod with the pink hopper tied on and made one cast.  It moved and ate it.  So cool!

hopper 2a.jpg

hopper 2b.jpg

The third was another sight fish that couldn't resist the hopper.

hopper 3a.jpg

The next two were blind takes.  I was just casting to the bank at spots that looked good.  One was in an eddie and the other was in fairly fast water close to the bank.

hopper 4a.jpg

hopper 4b.jpghopper 5a.jpg

hopper 5b.jpg

 

Lilleys Landing logo 150.jpg

Posted

Heck yea, Phil! You've convinced me to have a "hopper rod" when I'm down next week.

“To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.”--Aldo Leopold

Posted
27 minutes ago, Nick Adams said:

Why pink? Pink hoppers, pink worms. I've caught them at RR on pink jigs. Seems like a rarely occurring natural color.

             Pink hoppers was good to us in Wisconsin. Pink squirrel nymph is good too.  We discovered pink many years ago in Montana. A hopper called a pink pookie. Named after a guys toy poodle. When the guy found out Pat was a breast cancer survivor he gave her one. That started our pink fly coming out party. Have not looked back since. When I tie fly's there has to be a pink version for Pat :)

"We have met the enemy and it is us",

Pogo

   If you compete with your fellow anglers, you become their competitor, If you help them you become their friend"

Lefty Kreh

    " Never display your knowledge, you only share it"

Lefty Kreh

         "Eat more bass and there will be more room for walleye to grow!"

BilletHead

    " One thing in life is for sure. If you are careful you can straddle the barbed wire fence but make one mistake and you will be hurting"

BilletHead

  P.S. "May your fences be short or hope you have long legs"

BilletHead

Posted
14 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

When the guy found out Pat was a breast cancer survivor he gave her one. That started our pink fly coming out party.

That's really neat.

I'm pretty sure I have a bunch of pink SJ Worms, but I suck so much w/ fly catching that I mainly use jigs now. I'm taking a couple co-workers Sunday to Taney and we will definitely be using pink worms near the Landing.

I remember as a kid buying a pack of pink floating bubblegum worms after reading an article in Field and Stream or Bassmaster. I just don't understand it. 

Posted
15 minutes ago, Nick Adams said:

That's really neat.

I'm pretty sure I have a bunch of pink SJ Worms, but I suck so much w/ fly catching that I mainly use jigs now. I'm taking a couple co-workers Sunday to Taney and we will definitely be using pink worms near the Landing.

I remember as a kid buying a pack of pink floating bubblegum worms after reading an article in Field and Stream or Bassmaster. I just don't understand it. 

            We have some guys on here that like those worms and do real well. I have caught hybrids on my big fly rod shuttle cock streamers. "Think Pink"

"We have met the enemy and it is us",

Pogo

   If you compete with your fellow anglers, you become their competitor, If you help them you become their friend"

Lefty Kreh

    " Never display your knowledge, you only share it"

Lefty Kreh

         "Eat more bass and there will be more room for walleye to grow!"

BilletHead

    " One thing in life is for sure. If you are careful you can straddle the barbed wire fence but make one mistake and you will be hurting"

BilletHead

  P.S. "May your fences be short or hope you have long legs"

BilletHead

Posted
46 minutes ago, Nick Adams said:

Why pink? Pink hoppers, pink worms. I've caught them at RR on pink jigs. Seems like a rarely occurring natural color.

I think it boils down to this: rainbow trout were put on this earth for one thing--to eat salmon eggs and dying salmon.

“To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.”--Aldo Leopold

Posted
59 minutes ago, Ryan Miloshewski said:

I think it boils down to this: rainbow trout were put on this earth for one thing--to eat salmon eggs and dying salmon.

           You forgot Purina trout chow. 😆

"We have met the enemy and it is us",

Pogo

   If you compete with your fellow anglers, you become their competitor, If you help them you become their friend"

Lefty Kreh

    " Never display your knowledge, you only share it"

Lefty Kreh

         "Eat more bass and there will be more room for walleye to grow!"

BilletHead

    " One thing in life is for sure. If you are careful you can straddle the barbed wire fence but make one mistake and you will be hurting"

BilletHead

  P.S. "May your fences be short or hope you have long legs"

BilletHead

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