Stoneflies........ fishing technique!

[wet fly guy]

Hi Ed,

I fish stone flys a good bit,almost always in a good current flow.
Fished under an indicator.
for the egg laying adults,you got it a big Stimmy is the ticket!!
Last year on the Pine had the big dark buggys come back to dap , I used a size 4
picket pin loaded with fletch lite feather drying powder.
Well I was using that same picket pin with 2 #5 shots in Flyman 3's run the other week
fished under the bopper.

BOPPER--( 2 1/2 " long hot pink or lime green foam float)


Bruce

[JohnScott]

Quill -

I haven't fished your neck of the woods, and I don't know what specific kinds of stoneflies you have in mind. That being said, I would agree with those who have pretty much said don't worry about the direction of travel of the emerging nymphs, think in terms of good trout lies.

Out here, I generally fish large stonefly nymphs - think the big salmonflies and golden stones. Those are typically sizes 4-6 on 4x long hooks and 6-8 on 3x or 4x long hooks, respectively. When the nymphs begin to emerge, and they do crawl to the shore to climb out for the actual emergence, the fish are still going to be in good holding water taking what comes to them.

I fish large stonefly nymphs almost exclusively over the winter, and "always" with an upstream or up and across cast dead drifting as current and depth conditions permit. It is not unusual to catch fish below my casting position, but it is still the result of an upstream cast and a dead drift presentation. I don't use the same tactics Larry describes - I fish long drifts under an indicator, sometimes casting 30-40' upstream and drifting the fly to 20-30' below my position, thinking in terms of holding water, not concentrating on the bank.

Later in the day, trout will commonly move to shallower water near the bank. So you might concentrate on water closer to the bank in late afternoon or evening as a general tactic, not just because of the direction of travel of the nymphs.

I don't change the tactics because of an impending stonefly emergence. I just expect more action because there is more likelihood that the nymphs will be in the drift and the trout will be keying on them.

John