I would like to take a poll of this, but don’t seem able to do so.
What I am after is the general style of pattern, I.e.
Standard up wing/catskil type
Parachute
Paraloop
Comparadun
Sparkle dun
Cut wing/burnt wing
Etc, etc
Not looking for emerger patterns, floating nymphs, etc
Thank you,
Byron
LTD
Haystack
Thorax
Generally in that order
Whatever version of this matches the hatch:
Sparkle Dun
parachute
the usual
There is a spring creek fishing theory–popular with many spring creek and tailwater guides–that says “change pattern if you get multiple refusals from any regularly rising fish.”
But change to what?
If you change to any other fly, regardless the shape profile, if the new pattern has the right size and the right colors, you will increase your chances. I believe that theory. I believe shape (up wing, spent wing, cripple, half-hatched emerger, etc) does not matter much. What does matter is size and color. In the surface film, riding high, flopped over, upside down, trailing a shuck, it doesn’t much matter. But size and color do matter. That’s what my circle of guiding buddies have always said. And so it seems to be. If a particular fish has refused your sparkle dun 3 or 4 times in a row, switch to almost anything else, as long as the new fly has the right size and the right color you’ll have a better chance of a hookup.
If you watch a thick hatch in action (that’s hard to do when you are the fisherman, and easier when you are the butler…I mean guide) you see all manner of profiles: with a shuck, without a shuck, upright, drowned and spent wing, one wing crumpled, legs still trapped in the shuck, on its side, half emerged, still largely nymph like because most of the body is still inside the shuck…in the surface film or on it. The fish don’t seem to care what it looks like. If it’s the right overall size and vaguely the right color they take it.
But if the wing or the body is substantially the wrong color or way too bright, and most of all if the dimple is too big, then they do refuse. I’ve watched fish cruise up and down in repeating elliptical circuits picking off every natural dimple that comes along, regardless the profile. My fishing experience supports that too. Changing from Sparkle Dun to emerger, or to spent wing, or to no-hackle often seems to change the response of a refusing fish. My speculation is that it was the change in profile that changed the fish’s response. And that any one of a number of new profiles would have worked just as well. That’s what they all told me when I first started working as a spring creek guide at George Anderson’s Yellowstone Angler: “Hey Sandy, don’t forget to change flies when they refuse!”
The interesting thing about that claim–if you believe it–is that it substantially discounts the importance of any one particular pattern. If you do believe that claim, then the important thing is to have a rich variety of patterns in your box, and to cycle through them, almost randomly, all day long.
http://www.danica.com/flytier/sschwartz/half_spent_bwo.htm
Usually something like above, except I now almost exclusively use Wonder Wings instead of traditional hackle tips.
If I don’t have this on, then I’ll either use a Wonder Wing parachute or a tradtional parachute with a post of turkey flats or T-base.
Pittendrigh,
Interesting post. I guess we all have our beliefs about what a trout reacts to and is attracted to.
My belief, for what it’s worth is that there are certain triggers a fish is looking for in a potential food source. If these triggers are met, it takes the object. When I was in Air Force ROTC back in the 60’s, we had to sit and look at slides of the sillouhettes of various aircraft over and over. We were to quickly identify a “MIG” aircraft out of quickly changing slides. The intent was to develop a quick identification response from us.
I think trout are similar in that respect. So, there are probably 4 main characteristics which accompany a floating insect or imitation: Shape, Size, Color, and “behavior”. I could check the literature to be sure, but it is my understanding that a trout’s color vision is not the best - primarily due to light conditions in the water environment they live in. Something floating which is 3 X the size of what a trout has been eating would probably rule the object out for them. Likewise, a wingless object (when all the insects they have eaten had wings) might be a turn-off.
Just my opinion, but I believe size, behavior, shape, and color in that order are what the trout uses for its triggers. Behavior is probably the second most important factor. If you don’t believe that, try catching a trout without a drag-free float.
Of course, if there is a complex hatch going on, you have to first identify which insect (thus pattern) the trout are keying on. I think that sometimes leads fishermen to think the pattern does not matter. They change patterns a lot and perhaps catch a trout on the third pattern. It may well be that there are 3 different insects hatching and he finally used the pattern that the fish are keying on.
Would enjoy hearing what others think.
Byron
Steven,
Excellent pattern. Could make me change my ways.
If there is a mayfly hatch going on I usually use a wee spider tied on a dry fly hook so it fishes in or slightly under the surface film. Something to be said for flies that still take fish after being in use for several hundred years. I carry many sizes and colors of spiders and flymphs so getting close in size and color is usually not a problem.
REE
Byron, I would be of the Sparkle Dun school, but I think its a crossover emerger due to the shuck. I have settled on a particular style of emerger that I prefer during the time the duns are on the water, due to its effectiveness at helping those picky fish decide to eat. I know you were specific about not listing emergers, but this is my most effective fly when duns are present, next would be a Sparkle Dun, followed by a parachute Adams. Here is a pic or two. Some call it a Smokejumper, but in my research of the original Smokejumper fly, this is quite different. I call these Parasol Jumpers:
Kelly.
Kelly,
That’s the same situation with the LTD pattern. It’s my go-to pattern for duns, yet is an emerger pattern with a shuck.
Yes. I often fish with a parachute Adams or a Parasol Emerger trailed by either a Sparkle Dun or a Parasol Jumper. I’ve all but given up on regular dun imitations since discovering such great success with the patterns mentioned.
Kelly
Kelly,
Those are really good looking flies. Thanks for showing them. Could you post your pattern for a BWO hatch?
Thanks!
Byron, I have a couple I use. The good old Sparkle Dun in size 20 or 22 works very well, as does the Parasol Jumper. Oddly enough, I’ve fished the Parasol Jumper for BWO’s and used either a size 14 or 16, usually much larger than the naturals and the trout were all over the fly, go figure… I also tie one called the Halfback-Foamback and the Fullback-Foamback that work really well, but they ride so low in the film that I have to trail them behind a more visable fly as an indicator, usually a Parasol Emerger. I like to trail the emerger about 20 to 20-inches behind the indicator fly.
Here are the pics:
Parasol Emerger as an indicator to help me locate those small BWO imitations in the drift - I usually use a Pheasant-tail pattern:
Here is the Parasol Jumper again - this is tied in a BWO color scheme:
KG’s Halfback-Foamback Emerger in a BWO, size 20:
KG’s Fullback-Foamback Emerger in BWO/midge:
Here is a link to YouTube for a video of me tying the Fullback-Foamback emerger: (I no longer rib my biots with wire. This was a PMD, substitute BWO colors or any others for other forms of mayflies. Also, tie the electronics packing foam at the shuck tie-in point for the fullback tie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCwVN64SFes
Kelly.
Thanks Kelly!!!
My pleasure. I love fishing the film, but my tired eyes don’t do it as well as they used to, so I have to use some sort of indicator fly to help me out and it is usually just the help I need to be successful.
Something I forgot, that just occurred to me, I prefer fishing these types of flies in hatch situations downstream or down and across. I like presenting the fly before the leader, which also keeps the leader from spooking other fish in the area. Fish to the closest to me and then work my way down.
Kelly.
That’s the way I fish too. Never quite understood fishing directly upstream and the fly not being the first view they get…
I come down on the side of the Improved Sparkle Dun. Easy to tie; pretty good imitation; a good floater; and cheap to tie.
OR, this Frying Pan River in Colorado popular CDC Blue Winged Olive
Great discussion. I always enjoy looking at your sparkle Dun Variations Byron.
I would fall in the Sparkle Dun category. I rarely if ever fish a fully emerged Dun imitation. Here is a pic of my go to PMD Dun pattern:
I don’t know why I started using CDC fibers for the tail but this has always worked for me, and with that I can’t argue. Here is the BWO Version:
Man,
Your tying puts us( me) to shame.
This is not a joke - can I buy a doz. Of your BWO in size 16?
will need before August 28th…
Thanks for posting
Byron
Is the abdomen material a biot?
I agree with the notion that size is the most important factor. That said, I carry and use a few different pattern styles, in the appropriate color for most mayfly duns. Which pattern style I use depends on the water and light conditions and how the fish are acting. The pattern styles that I use are: Harrop Hairwing Dun, Parachute Dun, Sparkle Dun; and Ross Mueller’s Fuzzball.