Had a visitor on the screen today. Gave me the opportunity to get a couple good pix of the fishies view of a PMD spinner. The overall length of the body is 5/16".
A couple things that seem particularly noteworthy are ( 1 ) how vague the wing is, almost to the point of being invisible, in the upright position and ( 2 ) how long and splayed the tails are.
I don’t fish a lot of PMD hatches on the streams I like to spend time on, but patterns that I would tie based on this model are markedly different than a lot of flies commonly offered as PMD spinners.
No, unfortunately I did not. I went to the Yellowstone Area for 3 weeks instead. Due to a family wedding, I had to go early in the season and decided the hatches there would precede those out your way. Got to use the PMD’s where I went though.
The PMD hatch can sometimes m
be a mask for what the trout are taking. At least that is what I have found. Often, the trout may be taking caddis even though there are many PMD’s on the water. Other times, they key on the PMD’s.
Know what I mean???
I do know what you mean. Sometimes I kinda giggle when the fish are keying on caddis yet the anglers are throwing PMD drys. A down and across cast with a huge upstream mend usually gets a trout to take my SH’s. More than once I have heard. “That guy is lucky. You know he’s getting drag on his drift.”
Oh well, maybe you can make it to the Roaring Fork Valley another time.
Exactly Dub!
Short story of this trip:
Was fishing the “logjam” just abovevHarriman Ranch a couple days before the opening. Bunch of guys also there fishing and changing flies every 4-5 casts to “seemingly rising” big fish. I put on my soft hackle and let it swing near a big one and hooked him. The guys there were surprised when I told them it was on a soft hackle.
