Sunday Classic / 6 Tips for Catching Suspended Trout
By Kent Klewein
One of the toughest situations I’ve encountered trout fishing over the years, is when trout are suspended in the water column and feeding in a stationary position.
These trout are usually too deep to persuade them to rise to your dry fly on the surface, yet are also holding too far up from the bottom for you to easily dredge your tandem nymph rig in front of them. Most of the time, this is a frustrating sight-fishing scenario for the fly angler, where all you see is the trout occasionally open and close its mouth. You can see the trout you’re trying to catch, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to get your flies to drift in the correct feeding zone of the holding trout and get them to eat. I see this situation a lot on deep clear pools or on long and slow flowing runs, but you can also find this same situation in pocket water where eddies and irregular bottom structure provides slower water holding stations/sanctuaries for trout as well.
Make no excuse, these trout are catchable. It just requires a more technical approach and increased awareness of where your flies are drifting for you to find success. For fly anglers to catch trout in this situation they need to correctly match their fly fishing rig with the water they’re fishing, and slow down and concentrate on making quality presentations not quantity.
Tip 1: Get as close as you can to the sighted trout without spooking it.
I’ve found the trout that are suspended and feeding stationary, usually are also lazy. They don’t want to have to swim out of their position to feed, and that means fly anglers will need to make accurate and precise presentations, since the strike zone is so small. By getting close to your target you’ll find it much easier to keep your flies consistently drifting at the correct depth and in-line with the trout. Often if you’re positioned too far away, you’ll find one presentation will be good, and the next three will be off target. This might not seem like a big deal, but you’re not only trying to get good presentations, you’re also trying to read the fish to see if it likes your pattern or not as well. Getting into proper position and keeping your casting distance to a minimum will allow you to accomplish both much quicker.
Tip 2: Take the time to look for drifting food in the water before you choose your fly patterns
In the last tip, I said, “usually these suspended fish are lazy”. They are in the big spectrum, but it’s important to understand that when trout are suspended and feeding stationary, most of the time it’s because the trout are keyed in on a specific type of aquatic insect, that is drifting at the level the trout is holding. Spend a few minutes watching the feeding trout and look for any drifting bugs. If you see the trout continuing to feed regularly, but you can’t see any drifting food with your naked eye, a light bulb in your head should be going off and telling you to tie on fly patterns that are small. Try using a size 18-22 pheasant-tail nymph or a midge pattern. Don’t expect your size 10 woolly bugger to get the job done in this situation. Sometimes it will work, but most times, these fish are selectively feeding on small micro-invertabrates, and you need to downsize your flies to fool the trout into thinking it’s eating the same stuff it’s been feeding on the last couple hours.
Tip 3: Try a dry fly with two nymph droppers
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / The Unseen World Of Mousers
Mitt Monkey Special Correspondent Jason Tucker of Fontinalis Rising brings us a breaking story from Northern Michigan.
“It was once thought that mousers were just rogue solitary males. We didn’t even think they reproduced, or if they did, that they played no part in rearing their offspring. But this tribe was different- there were two females with them. We thought there were three, but one of them turned out to be a male. It means that they’re a tribe. It changes everything.”
Take a look into the mysterious and terrifying world of Mousers at michiganfly.com
“SCIENTISTS DISCOVER NEW TRIBE OF MOUSERS IN PIGEON RIVER COUNTRY”
Read More »New Tippet Leaders and Lines From RIO
Stronger tippet, trout spey lines and new light line trout tapers from RIO in 2016.
The new Power Flex Plus nylon leader and tippet material is the big news from RIO this year. There are a lot of details but the big picture is a much stronger monofilament leader material with uv protection and some extra material for your hard earned dollars. Better tippet means more fish landed.
In fly lines RIO is focusing on the light side for 2016, with new ultra-light trout spay lines for switch rods and delicate presentation lines for light weight single hand fly rods. Everything you need to get technical with one hand or two.
CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO WHERE SIMON GAWESWORTH WALKS US THROUGH ALL OF THE NEW PRODUCTS FROM RIO.
Read More »Fly Fishing: Why Tippet Size Can Be More Important With Nymphs
Dry fly fishing, makes for a much closer call, but I still stand by my belief, that tippet size is more important with nymphs. Largely because the two most important factors in dry fly fishing success, are an accurate presentation and a drag free drift. In certain situations, timing can be critical as well, for instance, when an angler is fishing to a trout actively feeding on the surface during a hatch. That being said, I wouldn’t go so far as to say tippet has no bearing in dry fly fishing. It’s just more common that the problem lies with a presentation off target (out of the target zone), a dry fly looking unnatural because of drag, or the dry fly was drifted over the trout when it wasn’t ready (repositioning after a recent feeding). If you’re certain you have all of the above correct, you’ve tried a few different patterns, and you’re still not getting bites, there’s a good chance your tippet is too large and needs to be downsized.
Read More »Sunday Classic / Tiger Trout
WILD TIGER TROUT MAY BE THE RAREST OF THE TROUT FAMILY.
They are a hybrid of a female brown trout and a male brook trout. They are distinctive, the dark modeled pattern of a brook trout’s back extending down their sides to their belly. This bold pattern won them the name tiger trout. The pattern more closely resembles the coat of an ocelot but I suppose ocelot trout sounds silly.
Browns and brooks are both fall spawners so it’s bound to happen that some big beautiful brown trout catches the eye of an eager brookie but getting a tiger out of the deal is still tricky. A brook trout, being a char, has 84 chromosomes and a brown trout only 80. A fertilized egg will yield a fry only 5% of the time. The resulting tiger trout is sterile so there is no tiger trout to tiger trout reproduction.
The science guys have figured out how to make tiger trout in the lab. They fertilize the brown trout eggs with brook trout milt and then shock them with heat which causes the eggs to mutate adding a chromosome pair and boosting the success rate to 85%. A pretty cool trick but why would you do it?
Well, it turns out that the tiger isn’t just in the stripes. Tiger trout have
Read More »Saturday Shoutout / Mike’s Bahamian Barrage
Let’s take a little trip to Abaco!
Actually, as you’re reading this, I’m already in Abaco fishing at the Abaco Lodge. But as I type this I’m full of anticipation and excitement about the upcoming trip. My friend Mike Sepelak was there last month and has been putting out a ton of photos and info from his trip on his site, “Mike’s Gone Fishing…Again,” and fueling my fervor.
If your thinking, “I sure wish I was bonefishing in the Bahamas,” check out this collection of Mike’s Abaco posts. It’s almost as good.
MIKE’S BAHAMIAN BARRAGE
Read More »New Shirts and Pants From True Flies
If you’re looking for true high end technical clothing, look no farther than True Flies.
I have a couple of pieces of True Flies clothing and I’ve been really impressed at how they perform. The quality is the amazing. Really the nicest clothing I own, for fishing or otherwise. Honestly, dressing me up is just putting lipstick on a pig, but if care about how you look and you want well designed, well made fishing clothing that feels amazing, holds up to abuse and has all the technical features you need, True Flies might be your brand.
IN THIS VIDEO COLE FAIRBANKS SHOWS OFF SOME OF WHAT’S NEW FOR TRUE FLIES IN 2016.
Read More »Cahill Tells All
I sat down recently for an interview with Kyle Wilkinson for Trouts, “Current” magazine.
I hope it is not too self serving to share the interview here, but I did get the chance to answer some questions I hear all the time. I though G&G readers might enjoy a peek behind the curtain. I won’t make it a habit.
TROUT’S INTERVIEW WITH LOUIS CAHILL
Tell us a little bit about the history of G&G. Where did the idea come from, how long has it been in existence, and in general how did you get this whole thing started?
I was working as an advertising photographer and was shooting more and more for the fly fishing industry. I met Kent Klewein and we started fishing together. It was a great partnership. Kent is one of the most talented anglers I’ve ever known and there is an intensity about him that comes through in photographs.
My photos of Kent were popping up on magazine covers all over and I started getting a lot of emails from anglers who were coming to my photography site to look at fishing photos. A portfolio site isn’t a great vehicle for that. There might be 50 or so photos on that site, but my library of fly fishing photos is about 5,000,000 images. I was looking for a way to better serve that community. Kent had been writing a blog for his guide site and it just seemed natural for us to do something together, so we launched G&G in August of 2011.
Now onto to the name. How did you come up with it and why ‘Gink and Gasoline’?
It’s pretty tough to find a good URL that isn’t taken. It seemed like every idea we had ended at a parked domain. We almost called it Crazy Eddies but that wasn’t quite right. At first we weren’t quite sure what the site was going to be. We were traveling all over the place chasing fish and listing to a lot of loud music in the car. We were playing the Southern Culture On The Skids CD, “Dirt Track Date,” and the song “Fried Chicken And Gasoline” came on. It’s all about being on the road and everything smelling like fried chicken and gasoline. It hit me like lightning. We had a good laugh and registered the domain. Without anyone knowing it, Dave Grossman and Steve Seinberg were listening to the same music and came up with “Southern Culture On The Fly”, so I guess the fly fishing media owes that band some credit.
Let’s move on to you. Who is Louis Cahill? How did you get your start in fly-fishing? Photography?
Read More »Is Your Introvert Personality Holding Back Your Fly Fishing Growth?
Those of you that know me personally, would probably agree I’m somewhat of an introvert. Much of that is due to the fact that I was a shy kid with few friends growing up, and I spent a great deal of my time in grade school getting picked on by extreme extrovert jerks. Thankfully, during my college years, I was able to break out of my shell from the help of some solid friends who always had my back. As much headway as I’ve managed to make over the years, I still haven’t been able to totally kick my introvert ways. For instance, I’m a pretty accomplished fly fisherman, but if you put me in a group of veteran fly anglers, most of the time, I’ll be the one standing on the side-lines with my mouth shut, listening to everyone else talk about their accomplishments and experiences. It wasn’t until I met Louis, that I realized how important it was for my own fly fishing growth, to not let myself be afraid to step out of my comfort zone to learn new skills, and for that matter, not be afraid to let others see the areas where I had the most room for angling improvement.
Read More »New Peak Tying Vise Gets Things Under Control
Remember when you were a kid and you saw something on TV and you just had to have it?
Of course you do. Who are we kidding, fly anglers never grow out of that. That’s exactly what happened when I saw a video of Pat Coen using the Peak PRVLIRS-G2 large hook holding system. I knew instantly that this was going to solve some problems for me.
If you’re not familiar with Pat Coen’s work you should check it out. Many of his stunning partners rely on copious amounts of tightly spun deer hair. If you ever tried this technique, you know what a problem your tying vise can become. I’m not a deer hair guru, but I do tie a lot of big streamers and often struggle with keeping a good solid grip on my hooks.
The PRVLIRS-G2 large hook holding system does this like nothing I’ve ever used. It’s a simple but brilliant solution. The point of your hook slips through a hole in the threaded bar, which is then drawn firmly into a cradle. Once tightened the hook does not move…period. The vise is so powerful I actually cut through a #2 streamer hook with it, while trying to see if I could make it fail.
Once the hook is locked in place, the vise operates like you’d expect. The angle of the jaws is adjustable and it it has full rotary function. It’s very stable on its base and the rest of the vise is as ridged and durable as the jaws. I’ve been able to find no weakness in the construction. I’ve tied everything from trout streamers to deer hair divers and huge musky flies with it. It’s great for redfish, tarpon and bonefish flies too.
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