Day time dry flies

**ketts05** · 07-03-2009 12:58 PM

Okay so here's a question: I have seen some beautiful fish start rising about 5 pm and onward at a few different spots along rivers, plus morning action for sure. With it being warmer I know the fish will lie low during the day but out of pure random curiosity is there even a chance with dry flies during the middle of the day?

**halibuthitman** · 07-03-2009 01:30 PM

where.... what river? it makes a difference, but a midge pattern is what I would use, right now a grasshopper will kill all day on the right river, and any terrestrial ( ant, beattle, blah blah blah ) I always keep a black ant I tied to float in my box, when I see a fish that iis rising consistently,, I cast to him, this works alot. you can also try a stimulater or any searching pattern, but in bright daylight I would go as small as possible. Its a pretty common mispercetion that most hatches come off at dawn or dusk, many stonefly and damselfly hatches happen in the time the sun starts heatin the water so you have to get your hatch matching skills down, in n.idaho and western montana many hatches come off all day, so time of day really plays no part in fly selection. If you are tryin to pop a fish but getting denied, and you are sure your match is good, you should ad a new tippet, and go as small as possible, most flies are tied about 2 or 3 times larger than they should be, remember, the slower the water, the smaller the fly. If you are really wanting to get into dry fly fishing I would recommend a 3-4 wt rod with a nice double taper line and the longest leader you can cast well, and size 16-18 flys, I find if I don't have trouble tying it on.... its too big.

**Bohemian** · 07-03-2009 02:57 PM

What a great post! -- such good information. How long of a leader would you recommend if you can cast fairly well? is 8 ft enough?

**halibuthitman** · 07-03-2009 03:14 PM

a good point of refrence is your leader should be as long as your rod, I use 9-10 ft but on a small creek i will shorten it up considerably, If you want to test your casting skills, put on 8 ft of leader go to the park and cast a caddis fly 25-35 ft your line should roll onto the grass starting closest to you and the fly should land absolutly last, there are other ways to cast... but you should be able to do this about 7 out of 8 times, and smaller flies will cast better.

**Bohemian** · 07-03-2009 04:32 PM

I'm going to give that a try -- I doubt if I can do that 7 out of 8 times, but practice makes perfect. I will be fishing on Monday or Tues and will work with some smaller flies. I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks again

**Mad dog** · 07-04-2009 09:32 AM

Hoppers....I know a stream where 18"-28" rainbows and browns will come up to the surface to eat them in crystal clear water in the heat of the afternoon!

**Mad dog** · 07-04-2009 09:54 AM

Stoneflies are the best!

Nice weather in June, fish worked into a frenzy that will almost hit anything similar in size and shape to the bugs they are feeding on. My son just got back from a trip last week where both golden stones and salmon flies were hatching, caught over 120 fish between noon and 8:00pm.

We use a small hopper that is very close in color and size to the golden stones in that stream, the fish eat them up.

**halibuthitman** · 07-04-2009 10:05 AM

GREAT PHOTOS!!!!!

**halibuthitman** · 07-04-2009 04:59 PM

AAAAH dang! I just sat down a little bit ago to tie some griffins knats, and wammo looked at the hook size and I am a little bit off on the size fly I suggested, perhaps try size 16-18 first... a 22 is a small

sorry about my mistake, its very hot out and Im a snow-rain person.

**OnTheFly** · 07-04-2009 10:53 PM

Heat must be get'in to ya Brad it's a Griffith's Gnat

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