trout giving me the bird...

[coyote]

haven't fished much this year, and I know conditions aren't great.

but...there were fish in the DHALO stream, and they were eating SOMETHING. ocassionally, they'd come completely out of the water a foot or so. what are they eating?

southwestern PA freestone.

Thanks!

 

[Acristickid]

Midge emerger

 

[outsider]

Speculating at something like this is like throwing sh^t at a wall. Take pictures as best you can, or catch one. I've suggested this before: carry an aquarium net. Put your rod down and try to catch whatever is in the air. Could be anything almost anything from a midge to a caddis to a slate drake. Or several more possibilities.

 

[coyote]

appreciate the replies.

a guy who fishes it a lot was there...he said there was no "hatch" that he could see. he caught one fish while he was there. not sure, but I think it was on a zebra midge.

I tried almost everything I had, including a light colored midge adult. (I had a darker one that I did not throw).

 

[dryflyguy]

Trout that I've seen jumping out of the water that high, are usually taking caddis emergers.
And are usually tough to catch in my experience

 

[coyote]

thanks, dryflyguy.

I did try a couple caddis emergers, but I'm still pretty new to this and may not have gotten the drift just right (or something else).

these fish do get hammered all season long.

 

[Dave_W]

dryflyguy wrote:
Trout that I've seen jumping out of the water that high, are usually taking caddis emergers.
And are usually tough to catch in my experience

I agree. ^ Usually a tough situation, even for the best FFers.

There are many nymph species that swim rapidly as they emerge from the bottom and move up through the water column to the surface. This is usually not midges, but more likely caddis, ISOs, or other fast swimming mayfly nymphs like white flies. When trout "jump" from the water, it usually indicates that they are swimming aggressively upward and intercepting these nymphs just below the surface. After eating the bug, their momentum carries them out of the water.

When I see this sort of behavior, I tend to prefer swinging an unweighted nymph or soft hackle wet fly across and downstream.

 

[coyote]

thank you, Dave_W...I'm learning!

 

[dryflyguy]

The only times I can recall catching a few when they're acting like that, was by casting a caddis dry quickly to the spot immediately right after the fish jumped.
But even then, I could only seem to induce an occasional strike

 

[coyote]

that does make me feel a little better....I was getting pretty frustrated.

if they had just been lethargic due to warm water, it wouldn't have been so bad...but they were eating!

 

[salmo]

I bet every fisherman on this site has had an experience where the trout were rising everywhere and taking nothing presented. Don’t get discouraged. Keep fishing and learning. After 40 plus years of fly fishing I still sometimes get skunked. It’s all part of what we all fishing.

 

[henrydavid]

The Leisenring Lift can imitate an emerger, check this thread - Leisenring Lift on PAflyfish

 

[coyote]

appreciate all the replies and your encouragement!

I'll check that link!

Thanks!

any other thoughts?

oh, I was using 6X flouro tippet, even with the 24 midge...about right, or...?

 

[MKern]

Early on in my fly fishing endeavor I had a similar situation. In a DHALO section fish would rise consistantly all day and no one would catch them.

I ended up figuring it out with two patterns:
midge cluster
floating a pheasant tail (they were eating shucks from iso nymphs all day and midges at dusk.) Stupid fish were eating shucks for a month.

 

[dryflyguy]

On a recent fishing trip to colorado, I got word about a certain pond that held lots of trout. And that they rose well every evening.
So my buddy and I checked it out.

We arrived there around 6 pm. And sure enough fish were jumping everywhere - many times coming completely out of the water.
I tried a caddis dry - and caught a couple right off the bat.
And that was it. Couldn't buy another the strike the rest of the evening.

The only thing hatching were midges. And I tried many kinds of them - in different sizes. And even going down to 7x tippet.
But it didn't matter. Those fish really gave both of us the middle finger salute that night

So yeah, it still happens to all of us for sure

 

[PennypackFlyer]

I've been doing some fly skipping across the water to get them to take. I have had some success with it. My perception is that it has to be a certain distance in front of them (not to far and not on top of them) in order to get them to strike at it.

 

[dryflyguy]

I tried twitching, skittering, and even sinking my caddis flies on that pond. And still never quite got them figured out.