FLAT WATER

[Motor City]

I FISHED THE TROPHY AREA TODAY, AND THERE WASNT A SPECK OF WIND. SORT OF UNUSUAL UP THERE BUT SO BE IT. MY QUESTION IS THIS: THE WATER WAS FLAT AS GLASS AND THE FISH WERE MIDGING PRETTY MUCH ALL DAY. WE FOUND A FEW INSECTS THEY WERE FEEDING ON, AND CAME VERY CLOSE TO MATCHING IT WITH OUR FLIES. I THINK WE HOOKED TWO AND HAD A FEW MISSES IN THERE ALSO. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO FISH A SMALL SIZE 18-26 FLY IN THAT TYPE OF SITUATION? WE HAD LONG LEADERS AND LET THE FLY DRIFT IN CLOSE BEFORE STRIPPING IT BACK IN WITH SHORT QUICK PULLS. I DID NOTICE MY TIPPET WAS NOT BREAKING THE SURFACE OF THE WATER, BUT MAYBE THE LAST FOOT OR SO HAD AND THE FLY WAS JUST BELOW THE FILM. WHAT AM I MISSING HERE? JUST A TOUGH DAY OR SOMETHING ELSE TO TRY.

[Danoinark]

Other than just adjusting your indicator up and down and finding the right color, I would suspect there was not much more you could do. You probably just found a sluggish day. I bet Taz has an answer.

Dano

[Motor City]

Other than just adjusting your indicator up and down and finding the right color, I would suspect there was not much more you could do. You probably just found a sluggish day. I bet Taz has an answer.

Dano

I wonder if a barbless fly box would have worked!! I appreciate the comment back to me, I was searching the phone book for a therapist to help me and considering a new past time!!

[Phil Lilley]

I find when trout are midging they are mostly taking pupa from the film

Imitating this is tough- for me anyhow. I have better luck using zebra midge which are beaded or a midge like a miracle or even a thread midge and sink it under the surface 3-6-12 inches deep. Then even in slick water conditions, a good drift will produce a take while something on the surface or in the film may not look right to the trout.

I borrowed the image from http://westfly.com

[Guest flyfishBDS]

"""" I bet Taz has an answer.""""

Your faith astounds me!! Answers maybe. The answer probably not lol.

I'm going to start with an assumption, which I think is right, you were using a dry??? Collar hackle traditional??

Question: what did the riseforms look like. Just boils, dorsal fins etc or were you seeing the trout's mouth? The former means emergers (as per Phil's very cool pic), the latter means there were taking adults.

There has been a bit of a mix of these two of late, but for most of the year as Phil suggests the trout will take the emergers over the adults. Starting with the latter the best option I find here on beaver is to fish a soft hackle just under the surface, Red butt, Partrige and Yellow and Partridge and orange. Depending on the day you are probably best with a slow swing, mixed with the odd twitch. Taney is similar through often Beaver trout do like a little more movement long slow pulls.

Secondly you can try to fish pupae/emerger patterns just under the surface via a greased leader (pain in the butt) or with a teeny indicator, like a very trimmed palsa or some of the new micro indicators from Wapsi. I tested them out on Taney last week with small beadheads to fish holding and they are very low profile and land very quietly. In preference I'd love to run a second fly as an indicator but of course in Ar C&R areas its illegal _ which is a monumental piece of bureaucratic stupidity.

Ove the last month I have been fishing dries exclusively here. Im an addict, its not my fault. However the dry fly fishing as I suggested to you in the store has been working. Particularly in areas where you get a midge hatch and a bit more flow. The extra flow means the fish will hold in position to take advantage of the "buffet line" and you get more than one quick cast at a fish.

One the flatter sections of beaver the 'bows behave more like lake fish, cruising fast every so often taking something on or in the surface. These are seriously tough fish to pick off I fished to these a lot back home in Tasmania on our lakes. SWOP there is to sightfish to these and the key is getting your fly in the risers window of vision asap before they get down to depth. By ASAP I mean real fast, reflex fishing, pick up back cast and hit the target. Each time you false cast your chances of success go down by at least 40%. I was pretty good at that stuff back home, but have had little success with the small flies, educated trout etc here.

So go find some riffles current etc. You will see more than one riser, probably 10-20 in the spots Im thinking about ( they don't need to be big) there is one on Taney about 20' wide and only about 10' long, that is very nice However there is usually someone standing on that spot casting instead of landing a dry or emerger there.

Anyway pick one fish and watch it _ don't be concerned about getting a fly on the water yet. Watchthe fish's feeding patterns, time between rises and where etc. Your couple of casts is your best chance.

Unless Im seeing a lot of mouths out, Ill generally fish something low riding. A para adams for one, or grab a collar hackle dry and trim down the hackle fibres. Hackle Stacker patterns, paradun styles etc are good. Fowlers Biot Midge is also nice. 6x 7x leader 12' is a good start

Reach cast so the fly gets to the fish first.

Get a dead drift

Be accurate generally 4 inches to one side is way out

Watch the bloody fly!

When the fish takes lift your rod with Purpose, don't feel for him

C&R dry your fly and repeat as often as necessary

OR you could just sign up for a Dry Fly Class hehehehe

Hope this helps