How Particular Are You?

[Uplander]

I always read about fellows who strive to great extremes to “match the hatch,” correlate water temperature/Ph to feeding patterns, tie on the teeniest fly they possibly can, etc.

I guess I’ve never been that exacting…. I typically tie on whatever dry fly strikes my fancy, and have at it. To be honest, I’ve always been quite successful. Let’s be honest…trout ain’t all that discriminating.

How ‘bout you? Do you delve into the minutia, or do you just “wing it?”

[FishinCane]

I agree with you to a point, however, there are those heavily fished areas where trout see so many patterns drift by that they get very selective.

I do have a great story of just winging it.... A few years back I took my dad, who only fly fishes about once a year, to a very famous Penn. creek to fish. As the guide and my dad watched a very large brown feeding on a far bank the guide explained how elusive this trout has been. The positioning of this fish required a tough cast, one which my dad was not capable of (so we thought). With his big Adams fly tied on he went to give it a shot. Second cast and bang! The guide almost fell into the water in amazement.... Just goes to show that when it comes down to it, it's just fishin.....

[JoeOverlock]

I don't go out of my way to match the hatch (usually). I'll even unmatch the hatch most of the time and throw an Elk Hair Caddis during a big mayfly hatch and have better luck.

I do like to take temp and pH reading of the water though, it's just something I enjoy. One thing I've noticed since I've been doing the pH readings is that if the stream has a pH over 7.2 then it's probably loaded with brook trout. One stream I fish reads 7.6 and every hole holds 2-3 brookies.

I also like to play around with the small hooks and such. I think it's fun. Plus it blows my spin casting friend's minds when I show them a #28 fly and tell them that I've caught a trout on it before. (I just don't mention that it took about 50 hits before I could actually set the hook in a 5 inch brook trout)

So I guess I am pretty particular, but it's one of the things that I enjoy about this sport.