Hi all,
I am going fishing on a local lake this weekend. The mayflies are hatching real good so I tied up a few patterns and I’m ready to go. But I’m stuck, how would I present the fly on the still water? Just cast and and use a slow retrieve, or just let it sit?
I’d try both tactics.
Christopher Chin
Jonquiere Quebec
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Hey Dave,
Back here in the Mid-Atlantic states, specifically S. Jersey, my fishing buddy and I kill 'em on poppers and black wooly buggers in still water.
Cast the popper, let the ring dissipate, give it a couple of pops and let it sit.
Wooly bugger; cast it, count it down and give short retrieves.
Oh, by the way…be prepared for fun!!!
Regards, Jim
David-
If they’re taking mayfly duns off the surface, you’ll see an air bubble at the center of the riseform. In that situation, cast as close to the center of the riseform as possible, and let your fly lie dead still for a few seconds. Then give it just enough of a twitch that it makes a little wake, and moves nor more than an inch. If you get your fly to the riseform quickly enough, and avoid either false casting over the fish, or disturbing the water by crashing your flyline into it, this technique will usually work.
Taxon
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[This message has been edited by Taxon (edited 12 May 2005).]
I usually cast and let it sit, then some twitching. Flies usually don’t walk across the water so much as flutter a little bit moving small distances.
jed
I tend to throw EHC and skate them a bit if they don’t get ate on impact(plus 15 secs).
If that don’t excite’em…strip’em under and streamer fish’em. The hair pulls it up like an emerger.
Another possiblity, is to either use an Emerger Pattern, or Wet Fly Pattern of the same or similar fly that is on the water.
While there are emerged flies on the water surface, there are others still rising to the surface to emerge. Then with the Emerger or Wet Fly, you can use a little action to entice them to hit. Out of each hatch of flies, there are cripples, that never make it. They are easy prey for the fish.
~Parnelli
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 12 May 2005).]
If you find the fish actually taking the adults mayflies off the surface, then a still-fished dry fly generally works the best. I differ from the person who instructed you to cast to the center of the rise form. Fish in still water are almost always on the move when searching for food, and if you present your fly to where the rise form appeared, in all probability the fish as moved several feet or yards away.
The trick is to try to determine which direction the fish is moving, then present your fly several feet ahead of it where the next rise is expected to occur.
For example, watch for a series of sequential rise forms moving in the same direction. If you see a rise in one spot, then another one a few feet away from the first, and then another, it is probably the same fish moving through the water taking insects as it goes. If you can pinpoint two or three (or more) in a row, place your fly where you expect the next rise to occur.
If, however, the fish appear to be rising to surface food, but they don’t actually break through the surface film, they are probably taking the sub-surface nymphs as they ascend to the surface. Most takes will generally be just below the surface, and they will be indicated by a “swell” or “bulge” in the water that looks similar to the rise to a dry fly. Watch carefully, and if you don’t see that a bubble or an actual surface disruption, assume the fish are feeding on the nymphs.
If they are, I like to use an appropriate sized nymph on a floating line with a long leader and tippet. The fish is tracked as mentioned above, with the cast being made to where the next anticipated rise will occur. Allow the fly to sink just below the surface (generally without any added weight), then begin a very slow, strip retrieve, moving the fly only 2"-3" at a time. Watch the water behind where you line and leader sink into the water, and if you see a rise form about where you think your fly is moving, tighten-up immediately. Sometimes the fish will hit the fly solidly, leaving no question as to whether a strike has occurred. But just as often as not, the only indication will be a bulge or swirl behind where you leader disappears below the surface.
To be successful in taking fish in still water often depends on good observation by the angler. Concentrate on that and you will increase you likelihood of success.
Good luck and good fishing,
Emerger