Questions about matching the hatch

Last night fishing the middle provo there was a pretty solid hatch going on. I'm still pretty clueless but trying to learn, as best as I could tell there was actually 2 hatches going on at the same time. At first it was just a few caddis and then that started to pick up a little bit. I tried a few different elk hairs and was only getting a little response but the fish were rising constantly. As the evening went on I noticed a ton of these very small white/yellow'ish bugs everywhere. I didn't really have anything in my fly box small enough but I tied on one of my smallest flies that matched the color and I started to get a little more action. I also noticed I was getting a ton of refusals, the water would boil just under the fly or a trout would splash just to the side of my fly so I think I was close but not quite there.

As best as I could tell there wasn't really any bugs actually on the water though, maybe I just wasn't able to see them but I'm wondering if they were going ofter emergers because the fish were going nuts often launching completely straight up and out of the water? I have a few of these in my fly box but I'm not really sure how to fish them. I ended up tying one on about 8" behind a larger dry fly so that I'd be able to see it because I don't think there's any way I'd be able to see the tiny emerger. This didn't get any attention though. Is this the right way to fish a small emerger (something like this: http://www.backcountry.com/umpqua-ba...r-wet-2-pack)?

Any thoughts on what the small yellow bugs might have been?

Read this article written by Ralph Cutter.
http://flyline.com/entomology/glossosoma_caddisflies/

Dennis

Rusty spinners should be out right now, also plenty of pmd's still around. Probably what you're seeing. When trout are on those emergers it can be ridiculously hard. A lot of times I'll switch up to a small unweighted pheasant tail and that seems to trigger. Should be baetis starting with these cold cloudy days. The eats tend to get more consistent with those.

You made the right call driving straight through, blowing to 45 all weekend! Lovely here in East ID...

presentation > pattern

Size > pattern > color.

Also, go a little longer on your leader. I can never get them to bite dries on a 9' leader or less, so I always tie on 2-3 more feet of tippet and the difference is night and day.

There is never a time when caddis are out that you can't get them on the Middle Provo with an elk hair. I've had good luck with an adams in this situation as well, just make sure the size is dead on.

Also, don't be afraid to not match the hatch. Do a size up or down, or something entirely different. When bugs hatch, they do so in very large numbers making it pretty hard to compete with just 1 fly.

When a scenario happens to me when I just happen to not have "The" bug. I throw streamers or like SnapT said, unweighted PT with my line greased 12 inches up from fly. Quick 2" strip, pause, Strike!
The Yellowish bugs were more than likely pmd's. Next time catch a caddis and compare colors and size. Some people think caddis only come in tan, they can vary from tan,orange,black,brown,green.....

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Originally Posted by dfinn

As best as I could tell there wasn't really any bugs actually on the water though, maybe I just wasn't able to see them but I'm wondering if they were going ofter emergers because the fish were going nuts often launching completely straight up and out of the water? I?

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Answered your own question. Many caddis species, all craneflies and some mayflies too are able to swim to the surface, break their shuck and fly off the surface film almost immediately. This gives the fish a limited chance to surface feed on the drift so the fish adapts and mostly targets the bugs as they rise. The best opportunity the fish gets may be when the bug is briefly trapped in the surface tension so you'll see fish leaping and aggressive surface takes (not sips) that clue you in. Those fish are in a hurry to grab; mimic the general size of the bug and its ascending motion and you'll get fast and furious action.

It's called "wet fly swing" and it is the oldest known form of fly fishing; dry fly came later. Position yourself as close to directly above the fish as possible. Point rod at fish and allow fly to sink a couple feet. Allow current to swing fly to the surface in front off target, keep rod pointed downstream. When you feel the grab, tug the line - do not sweep the rod - if the fish misses, your fly is still there in the strike zone. Drop the slack, swing the fly up again in the same place. Gently tease and tug the fly back in from the feeders, feeling for strikes. If you rip the line off the water to set the hook or recast, you just spook fish. This is also a good technique for pressured waters where the fish are getting pounded by dry fly enthusiasts. Rainbows prefer to feed under the surface anyway. And it's so, so much easier than presenting dries. Takes wind out of the equation. I've seen many bwo hatches where my lazy wet fly swing outfished a buddy fishing the dun or dry emerger so badly that they were doing it too within an hour.

Some great info in here, thanks everyone.

neckdeep, with that technique you are using a wet fly? soft hackle type thing?

I'm still a little confused on how people fish a tiny emerger or midge type pattern? Was I way off fishing it in the film as a dropper (more of a floater), I think that's kind of what snapt is doing with the PT?

2FUNKY, I'll give that swing technique a try too next time I'm out.

I fish the pt as a dropper or swing it. Swung soft hackles work very well too during a variety of hatches. Being a steelhead fisherman to the core I really enjoy swinging soft hackles.

Small emergers and midges dead drift just fine too, just have to look for the fish pushing water to set the hook.

When trout are on PMD emergers like it sounds like you saw it can be really frustrating as they tend not to come up in the same spots and are cruising instead. You can watch big fish cruise for them on the Ranch and there's no way but getting lucky to put a fly in front of them.

Very interesting neckdeep, I'm going to give that a try next time the conditions permit.

Had some great success using this technique on the Elk Refuge this summer, and that itself speaks volumes!

Find a copy of "Presentation" by Gary Borger - it is one hell of a resource. The problem is they are out of print, and are retarded expensive to buy, so ask around, ask at your fly shop, see if someone local has a copy you can borrow and peruse....

Often times those two hatches will be doing their own thing simultaneously, whether it is emergers(use floating nymphs as well) stuck in the film plus another hatch's spinner fall. Males & females doing their thing in the air, then females land on water laying eggs. Either skitter something well greased to float or VERY flat..the alive fully active or spent spinners(glassy winged females) fall into the film..and from ~8'+ you can't see anything on the water unless the sunlight is just right but the trout can... Could be a caddis version of mating + egg-laying as well....same type of trout behavior....munge-time. Those active female caddis...are flying low, dropping to the surface to drop eggs, then moving on to repeat...have seen many, many trout chase them quite a ways...often leaving the water a little. Fun to watch until you
realize you're not fishing..;-). Lots of caddis are very small....
$.01

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Originally Posted by pointemstraight

Find a copy of "Presentation" by Gary Borger - it is one hell of a resource. The problem is they are out of print, and are retarded expensive to buy, so ask around, ask at your fly shop, see if someone local has a copy you can borrow and peruse....

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Yeah, looks like the cheapest you can fine online is $100. I would like to read it.

when in doubt throw a streamer/mouse