The "question"

[bartman]

I'll try to keep a long story short but I've been teaching my 15-year old son to fly fish for the past three years but because of bad timing, he's never experienced a blanket hatch. Sure, he's caught plenty of fish on dry flies but these fish were easy as they were either stockies or caught prospecting on waters like the Ausable.

I think his early success gave him a false confidence because that blanket hatch unfolded before his very eyes last week on the West Branch of the Delaware. From 2:30 to 7:30 there was a monster Hendrickson hatch with caddis and other assorted mayflies mixed in. For 5 hours he was drifting his fly over unlimited targets rising right in front of him. Many of these fish pushed 20 inches. Through my expert guiding (LOL) he did manage to hook 6 fish including a 17" brown and several nice rainbows.

On our ride home he was visibly frustrated and said " I just don't understand it. I had my fly over a hundred fish. WHY DIDN"T THEY TAKE MY FLY?"

And there you have it. The question we've all been trying to figure out since we picked up the long rod.

I said " Welcome to the club."

[Mark Patenaude]

Hi Bartman:

I've experienced this early on myself. When faced with the blanket hatches that offer the trout literally thousands of individual meals, if you want them to eat your fly it has to stand out.

I will throw the same pattern that is hatching but go 1 and sometimes 2 sizes larger or I will tie on something that doesn't match the hatch at all, like a big searching pattern such as a Royal Coachman or a Wulff.

You'll be very surprised. Your take vs. drift ratio will drastically increase.

Mark

[AgMD]

Use a curve cast and when the fly is in the hot zone give it a tiny upstream twitch. Sometimes that little twitch will trigger a response. As Mark pointed out, sometimes you have to do something to make your fly stand out.
AgMD

[JoeOverlock]

What they said.

That is the perfect opportunity for an attractor fly.

[bartman]

As I side note to your posts, my son for no scientific reason, tied on a # 10 parachute olive pattern that he picked up at a TU flea market and hooked two in a row, just before we ended that day.

Maybe he doesn't need me to tell him what to use anymore?

[flyfishgb]

This is my fly of choice during heavy hatches and rising fish

www.orvis.com/store/product_choice.asp?pf_id=0332&dir_id=1236&group_id=1240&cat_id=5837&subcat_id=7147

or a Hornberg