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This is the time of year that I always have a lot of trouble catching fish. I do not know if it is my presentation, the type of flies I use, or what. I normally fish with a floating line with a about a 12 foot leader. Most of the time I use subsurface flies with a lot of legs or go to small like a coper john. Any help would be of great help.
Thanks in advance
Jason
You might try a nymph fished very slowly. When the water gets colder the fish slow down.
What are you fishing for? What sort of water are you fishing in?
Ed
Jason,
What are you trying to catch, and are you fishing in a lake, pond, or river?
With that information, maybe I can help a bit.
Buddy
I am mainly fishing for panfish and large mouth bass in ponds from the shore
I checked your profile and may have spotted the problem. Are you using orange and purple flies?
Slow it down! Nymphs under an indicator will catch fish well into the fall and winter.
I agree with Zach. Using an indicator to help present slowly will work great for bluegills and crappies. I like using 1/80th oz micro jigs under the indicator.
I've found that nymphs with thin rubber legs, worked very slowly, have provoked 'gils in the Winter.
The problem for me is that the most effective legs are micro centipede legs. They are also the most quickly chewed off.
Ed
P.S. I've also had better luck fishing the nymphs just over beds of decaying leaves and twigs. That seems to be where many of the actual nymphs live.
That fits because that's what they eat.
Jason,
Your bass should be right in the middle of the fall transition where you are. Fall transition usually corresponds in the south to steadily falling water temps beteen 75 and 60 degrees. That means the bass should be feeding heavily to gain fat for the winter to come. If you want bass, now is not the time to slow down, but the opposite. Cover lots of water with fast moving flies or agressively fished topwaters. This should help you locate and catch active fish. Keep this up until water temps get into the low sixtys.
Once the water temps get lower than the low sixtys, it's time to switch to winter presentations. The small jig or weighted fly under an indicator is superb for this time of year. Set the depth of the fly to just over the bottom cover (basically just enough off the bottom to keep from geting caught on stuff). Let the wind/wave action do as much of the work for you as you can. Cast either up wind or across and let the wind/wave action move your fly. If it's still, use a hand twist retrieve with an occasional sharp pull. Watch the indicator carefully, as strikes can be very subtle.
If you have a sinking line, you can work a craw imitation or large nymph right along the bottom. This is better if you need to fish deeper than about 12 feet. Just cast out, let everything sink all the way down, then retrieve slowly. Use a fly with weedguard here, or you'll be hauling in a lot of weeds/junk or losing a lot of flies.
Regardless of technique, fish in the deepest areas of your pond.
For bluegills right now, it's hard to beat a popper with a dropper. Something small and not too agressive on top with a smaller weighted nymph or spider behind it about three or four feet. Work this around cover (the 'gills will be trying not to become bass food right now) with light pops and slow drags giving lots of pauses.
Winter 'gills are a bit of extra work, but you can catch the bigs ones more readily in cold water than at any time other than the spawn. A small (sixteens/eighteens) nymph worked slowy on a sinking or sink tip line in deep holes and along steeper shorelines can get you largest fish of the year. Pay close attention, as these fish are not agressive and takes are light.
In any event, the fish in a pond can't go far and they still have to eat. A bit of patience and some exploring and you can find and catch them all year.
Good Luck!
Buddy