Agressive fly fishing

[DanaC]

Do you ever do this? You're in the C&R stretch and getting skunked on size 24 micro-emerging stuff on 8X. So you tie on a BIG fly like a Stimulator, drag it, twitch it, and BAM! you've got one on.

I've been playing with this for a while now. This morning I took two rainbows in the Parking Lot pool on the Deerfield with a size 8 chartreuse stimulator. Missed a couple more. Broke off two downstream, again on huge flies worked agressively on the surface.

The 'logic' of fly fishing is to match the hatch, or present a fly similar to what the fish are eating. Sounds great, but I've said it before, fish ain't logical. They're predators, and they have instincts like a cat or a wolf. If something moves like it's trying to escape, it might be food. Bam! If it's big, it's too valuable to let it get away. Bam!

I don't watch many fishing shows, but once in a while this principle is vividly demonstrated. Bass anglers seem to get it. They'll fish loud, big agressive lures that look like nothing in the water, and catch fish. i was flipping through channels and there was a fly-fishing contest on. The guys kicking butt weren't fishing ants, they were using big streamers. I've seen Kelley Galoup (spelling??) working big streamers and taking huge trout. Skaters have a long and venerable history but who uses them nowadays?

Why do we get stuck in the tiny fly rut?

One trick that works well is to use a long fine trippet with these big flies. You want them to ride high and 'dance'. Keep a taught line and twitch the fly across the current. Make sure your drag is set loose. And don't set the hook hard!

[AgMD]

I have found that when the fish are taking little teeny tiny flies on the surface, as often as not they will not touch a well drifted dragless fly. By casting so that the fly is downstream from the line, you can give it a little UPSTREAM twitch. BANG, It drives em nuts.
You might enjoy reading Leonadr Wights " Fishing the Dry Fly as a Living Insect".
AgMD

[DanaC]

Yep, read the Wright book some years back, that's one I should have mentioned in the first post.

Just checked, it's still on the bookshelf.

Wright's book is mainly about caddis, my thinking is more toward big 'abstract' flies that target the more agressive fish in the water. You won't get all the fish, but in every crowd there's one who will react differently.

[Uplander]

I've always thought that "matching the hatch" is way, way, overrated....

[gonefishing]

Gotta love stimulators.
Cast up and across, couple twitches on the way down and then skitter it hard when it starts to bend behind you.
You know your having a good day when you're hitting them so hard you put the tiny BWO back on just for the challenge!

Also great to tie on a stimulator or other big bomber when there is a good hatch just as evening turns to night and you can no longer see your fly on the water. Instead of lifter your rod to feel for strikes (you can't hear because they're rising everywhere) you'll feel it because they SLAM the bomber. Also frustrating sometimes in a good hatch when your "match" is just that little bit off where they won't touch it.

My two go-to big flies: Orange Stimulator, and the AuSable Bomber (adirondackflyfishing.com)

Just be sure to trim that 8X down a ways or you'll wind up with a twisted, tangled mess.

[jlibs]

I almost exclusively fish attractor patterns and stimulator's. If fish will hit the flies I've ties, they hit anything, and I'm no where near to matching the hatch with these awful creations.

Kim and Jim, I'll be bringing 3 garage sale bamboo rods to the meeting in north county tomorrow night. I'm anxious to hear what you have to say about them.

JLIBS