My own photo got me fired up. I took this
photo and did not fish it. I watched as an
experienced caster did average in here.
This was new permission. It was the first time I was ever
on this stretch. How would you fish this run and what with
in mid september in Wisconsin?
bigger photo on this link
http://lenharris.blogspot.com/2009/11/small-streams-of-driftless-area.html
just click on photo face a couple times.
it has 7 springs upstream.
it has a booming population of brooks and browns.
it the BEST producer of TIGERS in my home waters.
id put something that looks buggy, like a dry fly moth or grasshopper right in that black spot beneath the bush. it looks like an undercut bank.
just the 2 cents
Jordan
I would pay a visit to my ole Buddy Len and follow your, I mean his sage advice… You lucky dog for having waters that look that good so close.
Seeing no hatches and not knowing what aquatic insects are present, I also would choose a terrestrial but not a hopper. It looks too shady for hoppers. Also with the dead calm water surface, a hopper is an all or none fly. Toss it and it will land with a splat, either bringing a reaction strike or you will risk ruining the run for any other fly. In my view, If you wanted to use a hopper, use it as your last fly.
Rather than a hopper, I would choose a cricket if I wanted a larger fly. I think there would be more crickets next to the stream. Crickets will be plentiful until the first frost and even after the frost, they will produce. The cricket is one of Ed Shenk’s favorite flies for terrestrial fishing.
However, a cricket would not be my first fly either. I want a terrestrial that could fall from the overhanging tree or from the backside vegetation. I would choose an ant as my first choice then a beetle as my second. I would use a McMurray Ant originated by Ed Sutryn and named for McMurrray, Pennsylvania. It has produced for me when other ant patterns have failed. My second choice for an ant would be Harrison Steeve’s Transpar-Ant, which is a sunken ant pattern. Either of these on a long leader and fine tippet would be my fly of choice.
I think the best lie is under the overhanging vegetation under the tree (1). The second best is behind or under the bank vegetation (2). My first cast would be a sidearm cast with an ant to get under the branches of the tree to position (3).
If a fish is tucked tight under the brush at position 1, it may not see a fly as it drifts by under the tree. After fishing the entire pool with the ant, then I would go to the cricket for a noisier presentation to draw the attention of a fish.
Seeing no hatches and not knowing what aquatic insects are present, I also would choose a terrestrial but not a hopper. It looks too shady for hoppers. Also with the dead calm water surface, a hopper is an all or none fly. Toss it and it will land with a splat, either bringing a reaction strike or you will risk ruining the run for any other fly. In my view, If you wanted to use a hopper, use it as your last fly.
Rather than a hopper, I would choose a cricket if I wanted a larger fly. I think there would be more crickets next to the stream. Crickets will be plentiful until the first frost and even after the frost, they will produce. The cricket is one of Ed Shenk’s favorite flies for terrestrial fishing.
However, a cricket would not be my first fly either. I want a terrestrial that could fall from the overhanging tree or from the bankside vegetation. I would choose an ant as my first choice then a beetle as my second. I would use a McMurray Ant originated by Ed Sutryn and named for McMurrray, Pennsylvania. It has produced for me when other ant patterns have failed. My second choice for an ant would be Harrison Steeve’s Transpar-Ant, which is a sunken ant pattern. Either of these on a long leader and fine tippet would be my fly of choice.
I think the best lie is under the overhanging vegetation under the tree (1). The second best is behind or under the bank vegetation (2). My first cast would be a sidearm cast with an ant to get under the branches of the tree to position (3).
If a fish is tucked tight under the brush at position 1, it may not see a fly as it drifts by under the tree. After fishing the entire pool with the ant, then I would go to the cricket for a noisier presentation to draw the attention of a fish.
Spinner,
That water looks low slow and very clear. Might be too slow but I would go with a bead head Prince Nymph. I like what Silver Creek had to offer but I think I would stay wet or a sinking fly because it dose look very clear and I would think the fish are leery of the top. So I think I would also try a san won worm, and my go to fly wooly bugger in olive, black, and then rust.
Sean
The bottom looks silty to me due to the slow flow. So I would think either a burrowing mayfly pattern or a midge larva pattern for underwater aquatic insect life.
Being September the Ephoron Leukon, the White Miller should be hatching and that would be my first choice. Second would be Hexagenia Atrocaudata, called the September Hex or Late Hex. They occur in Wisconsin but I’ve not seen them. I’d go with a very small brown wooly buggers for emerging burrowing nymphs if you wanted to fish subsurface. I think I would wait until late afternoon or dusk for this strategy.
his leader was a little heavy and short. I also believe he was too close to the hole when he began. The trout are very spooky in this hole. I have caught very nice trout in this hole in low light conditions. They love the root system and usually are near that.
The guy got skunked in this hole.
I know for a fact there are 2 very nice trout that live in this hole because i have caught them 2 times each.
Assuming that the water is moving toward the camera, I would fish a dropper under a dry, as close to the undercut bank as I could get. I would start downstream and make following casts upstream and into the brush. Mend forcefully to the water before the fly hits the brush, so the dropper drops into the water without line spook.
Now, if I could just do that.