Day time dry flies

K
ketts05
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?
 
H
halibuthitman
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 a lot. 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.
 
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B
Bohemian
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?
 
H
halibuthitman
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.
 
B
Bohemian
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
 
M
Mad dog
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! :clap:
 
M
Mad dog
Stoneflies are the best! :clap: 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.
SANY0973.jpg
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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.
SANY0977.jpg
 
H
halibuthitman
GREAT PHOTOS!!!!!:clap:
 
H
halibuthitman
amendment

amendment

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:rolleyes::shock::rolleyes: sorry about my mistake, its very hot out and Im a snow-rain person.
 
O
OnTheFly
Heat must be get'in to ya Brad it's a Griffith's Gnat :cool:
 
H
halibuthitman
OnTheFly said:
Heat must be get'in to ya Brad it's a Griffith's Gnat :cool:
HA! you know Ive never really looked at the name since I started tyin them about 15 yrs ago..... this explains several funny looks in the past few years!! well now that we know I don't know everything it sure takes a lot of pressure off!!!! my best friend and I still call a stimulater a commi fly.... I can't even remember why anymore? :think:
 
K
ketts05
Awesome awesome I will definitely have to try some of these suggestions in the next week or two. hhman, in regard to small flies in clear water I assume then that this is a good idea regardless what time of day?
 
O
OnTheFly
halibuthitman said:
HA! you know Ive never really looked at the name since I started tyin them about 15 yrs ago..... this explains several funny looks in the past few years!! well now that we know I don't know everything it sure takes a lot of pressure off!!!! my best friend and I still call a stimulater a commi fly.... I can't even remember why anymore? :think:

I'm really disappointed and I was going to hit you up for other stuff too :D:lol:
 
O
OnTheFly
Hey ketts, as we all know 80% of fly fishing, unfortunately, is sub-surface. I say that because casting drys to rising fish in my opinion is the best. Anyways, we also know that we must carry a spare spool of floating line in case conditions change. If you don't see rising fish then start out with a searching fly as halibuthitman suggested. Now, if a hatch occures, as soon as you notice rising fish look around on the water surface for trout food. At this point you must discover what the fish are clewing in on: emergers, duns, spinners, terrestrials, etc. It really doesn't matter what time of day it is. A week ago I was catching trout on the Fall River with a dry fly at 1:00 in the afternoon in 90 degrees! For me, this is why I enjoy fly fishing so much. Anyone can sling bait and hardware at fish but flyfishermen must have a keener understanding of natural bug life cycles and then decide at what stage the fish are eating them.:think: It's an adventure!!!
 
H
halibuthitman
I myself fish dries or streamers, beadheads, chironomids and all the other keen strike indicator fodder just isn't my bag, I know this costs me fish, but I didn't come for the numbers.... I do however adore an egg pattern for cutts, but I usally fish rivers or creeks, I use a weighted wool headed sculpin, woolybugger, or muddler in the holes or under cutbanks or log jams, float terestrials through tailwater or riffs, terestrials are great becouse they have your highest odds for success as a beginner.. they exist all day in the enviroment... they fish on the top, suspended, bottom and on the swing and retrieve sometimes, and all are very easy to tie. Its also a good idea to go as light or as small as you can with anything in fishing, it is not by accident the guy with a salmon rod is getting the most fish in a sturgeon boat, or the little kid with the little snoopy pole gettin the monster brown, you will never get spooled by a trout.. and I am willing to say never.. the average medium action spin reel holds 150-175 yards of line and if you have the right amount of backing on a 5/6 fly reel, most spots you will be fishing the fish wont have enough space to hose you, but the lighter action rods will bring you more lighter touch to your game.... using a 6/7 flyrod for most trout around here is like hunting blacktails with a 338 mag a little overkill...... a lot of people talk about the monster fish they lost and almost getting spooled but I can't help but think..... nothing makes a fish get bigger,.... more than almost being caught.
 
Troutski
Troutski
Nymphs...

Nymphs...

OnTheFly said:
Hey ketts, as we all know 80% of fly fishing, unfortunately, is sub-surface. I say that because casting drys to rising fish in my opinion is the best. Anyways, we also know that we must carry a spare spool of floating line in case conditions change. If you don't see rising fish then start out with a searching fly as halibuthitman suggested. Now, if a hatch occures, as soon as you notice rising fish look around on the water surface for trout food. At this point you must discover what the fish are clewing in on: emergers, duns, spinners, terrestrials, etc. It really doesn't matter what time of day it is. A week ago I was catching trout on the Fall River with a dry fly at 1:00 in the afternoon in 90 degrees! For me, this is why I enjoy fly fishing so much. Anyone can sling bait and hardware at fish but flyfishermen must have a keener understanding of natural bug life cycles and then decide at what stage the fish are eating them.:think: It's an adventure!!!

I started out fishing Stones, WoollyBuggers, and all sorts of nymphs from beadheads to some homemade monstrosities. My first Trout on a dry came this year on the Mac. I must say it was pretty cool, but I am one of those anglers that believes that quantity out weights all else. That being said I do fish deep most of the time, I weight my nymphs on the heavy side. I have switched to the pretend lead on the hook...and cotton threads for full absorbency. They don't seem to make a difference in the catch rate or the look of the fly, and are very green for the system.

Chuck
 
O
OnTheFly
Hi Chuck, Yeah...deep fishing will be my demise this August on Detroit Lake. Anything more than 25ft is tough. One time, at Big Lava Lake, a guy smoked me trolling spinners in 35ft of water because I couldn't get down that far. I plan to try a full sinking line to see if it makes any difference.

Sorry to here you won't be there this year I was looking forward to introducing myself. Another time then eh?
 
P
platteflyfisher
Midday Dries

Midday Dries

If I may, I might add that if you are new to fly fishing you should try a post type fly so you can see it easier. It's a bummer when you are watching a perfectly drifted fly, see a fish slurp a fly next to it and realize you are watching a natural and just missed your strike. Dohh! A fine fly tier I know came up with a killer pattern for tiny midge hatches. He named it P.O.S. as it really is just a post tied on an 18 to 24 size hook. Fun Stuff. Pray for clouds.
 

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