tiny bugs = tiny flies

Yesterday was a tough day of fishing. Just when you think you know what's on the menu, the fish change their minds. Fishing this river is a constantly changing challenge. Just when you think you know the size and color of fly to tie, the temperature changes or the fish change and they decide to feast on what's not in your fly box. As I've said before, "thank goodness!" Rick can tie flies. We would spend a fortune on flies if we had to buy them. Normal flies can cost $2 to $3 each and I can go through 10 to 20 a day, easily. I don't lose them, I just switch them up often.

We got up early, had to set the phone alarm for 7:30 AM! Had a quick breakfast and we were on the river before 9 AM! It was cold! Three-layer cold, down to 36 overnight. The river was warmer than the outside temps. We made it to our current favorite spot and there were fish rising. We tied on what we thought the fish were eating and I proceeded to get a little frustrated. They didn't want the tiny flies Rick had just tied. The little tuft of feather that Paul had shared with me yesterday was not working today! How could that be? Finicky fish!

We did catch fish, but we changed flies a number of times, trying different combos, sizes and colors. We fished until almost 2 PM when the fish took an afternoon siesta. While fishing today I performed a field test. I got a single wind knot in my tippet and thought about re-tying it, but instead continued to fish, thinking "If I catch a fish will it break the line?" In the past I'd replaced the tippet. Well, you can guess what happened. I hooked a big rainbow trout and it ran and jumped and after a minute or two of each of us pulling in opposite directions, the tippet broke. So my field test proved that you should replace tippet that is knotted. Or continue to fish with it and then you can say "You should have seen the one that got away!"

I noticed that the bugs on the water seemed to change every so often through the morning. We'd see tiny green midges for a little while, then tricos, then larger midges, then tiny spinners, then large spinners, rotating the various flies every 30 minutes or so. There were a plethora of spinners on the water and we tried every type we had. The river currents also are a key factor and can reek havoc on getting a natural drift. After all, a spinner is a dead bug and it shouldn't swim or twetter. It should float by in a dead drift.

As we walked back to the home bank we looked at the grasses that have been building up in the shallows. These photos are what we saw and what we have to walk through. You can click on any of the pictures to see a larger view. I circled some of the spinners, but there are literally hundreds clustered in the grasses. Can you find more? Some of these flies are size 20 or so, but the tricos are smaller than a size 22. Tiny, tiny flies.