This morning I went out fishing. I have not had much success in this pond for several days because it was warm and the trout were inactive. We had a little rain and it was a cool evening (first time in days). I started using a Griffith’s Gnat without success. Then I switched to a Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear. As I cast it it sat on the water and I got a strike. This happened repeatedly for an hour or two. If I put the fly under water my success rate dropped.
Question: What was the trout thinking the floating GRHE was.
Other facts. I live in New England. The other fly I had some success with was a small hopper.
Hypothysis: The trout thought the floating GRHE was actually a small hopper, or they were just dumb and thinking that whatever that ball of hair was might be tastey.
Prolly took it as it appeared to them…which would stand to reason that it prolly made a good imitation of an emergent mayfly … Might there have been a hatch starting??.. any rise forms on the pond??..Also It’s been pretty hot here…and water temps have not been anywhere near fish able…Do you by chance carry a thermometer???..Very useful tool…
And in hot weather targeting trout in adverse conditions is not sporting, Nor is there much of a chance of survival of those trout that are caught in these conditions…just some thoughts
No emergences during the time I was there. Almost no rising except to my fly. Temps were cooler than in days past. Ido carry a thermometer but did not use it this AM. 100% guaranteed no mortality. How do I know… I took the fish with me in a bucket with aerator and delivered them to the discovery center for their display. I don’t mess around with bringing them in. I do the quick as possible retrieve and if I loose one or two I don’t care. Because they have to live in the bucket for an hour or more I don’t want to start with a super stressed fish.
As for the emerger theory, if I sunk the fly below the surface and started to retrieve it keeping it near the top of the water column my catch rate dropped dramatically.
I’m going to throw a wrench into this for ya Jed. On the swift today, there were Canadian geese EVERYWHERE, even with people all around. Well they started hanging out on the cold branch to the left and on occassion a feather would come drifting into the pool and the fish would take a nip at it…what’s the deal?
My thoughts about what the fish decide to eat on certain days…color. I’ve caught fish on royal coachmen and those yellow Joe’s hoppers and the rest of the day used bright colors and they loved me, on other days they liked the plain stuff with no fancy bright colors.
Pemi,
I saw the same thing with the goose feathers on the Swift and it made me laugh. It was either big enough to tie onto a 3/0 hook or small enough to need magnifiying glasses to see. By-the-way, this was not on the Swift.
Sounds like they were looking up for some sort of terrestrials. Were there any caddis around? Often, they’ll plug a hares ear as some sort of emergent or diving caddis.