Ignoring a hatch to catch big fish!

[JustFish]

If consistent big fish is what you are looking for then ignore the top water action and probe deep with a big nymph or streamer. Let's face it when a hatch is going off the water temperatures are obviously favorable for a feeding frenzy!!!!!!!!!! If you want to catch fish on top that's fine but the big fish are often on the bottom....unless of course there is a cicada hatch going on.

I fished the LLH last year during a caddis hatch. Which was really fun by the way. I was catching a lot of fish between 12-15 inches . I could see however, a lot of bigger fish down a 50 yard stretch that wouldn't even look at my dry. I then switched to a deep sparkle pupae with a shot or two on the leader and put it right into the lane of a 20+ inch fish.....it took it the first drift. I had a great evening catching several 20+inch rainbows at the LLH. I love taking them on top but have found to catch bigger fish, other methods are needed. It's hard to try to ignore a hatch but if you can it could pay dividends..

GOOD LUCK THIS SPRING!!!

 

[tomgamber]

Yeah I read that article several years ago and its a good strategy, at times. But when your catching fish hand over fist its really hard to stop and troll for something else. I did that last year on the little J during a caddis hatch but only out of frustration at not catching as many on the obvious caddis. I threw a big weighted bugger deep and hooked a huge brown but he broke me off. So I went back to forcing myself to catch them on what was right there in front of me. I just wish it would warm up so I could have that dilemma.

 

[JustFish]

Yeah.....I know what you mean. I used to love winter as a kid before I started fishing....Now I can't wait for spring!!! It is hard psychologically to fish deep during a hatch!!!

What article was that? I use to fish all subsurface during hatches....now I put a dry then a dropper to up my chances, but have found I get the bigger fish and more fish on the subsurface fly. But it's still a lot more fun gettin them on the dry!!!

 

[flybop]

The first time I ever fished the drakes on Penns I saw a very huge brown chasing smaller fish out of what I though was his feeding lane. As we sat on the bank patiently waiting for the spinners to hurry up and die this big brown would occassionally show itself. The last time I saw this big fish I realized that it was not protecting its feeding lane: It was chasing and finally catching and eating, a smaller trout that was also waiting for the spinner fall.

Two of my favorite flies are the sunken hopper and drowned salmon fly. I tie these with lead to make them sink and sometimes fish them as a dropper below a floater, or in very heavy water, like a nymph. Often the really big fish like to stay down deep, out of sight, and eat the drowned bugs.

 

[dryflyguy]

Whatever floats your boat I guess.
Personally, I'd still rather catch smaller fish that are rising, than dredge up a big one.
And there are a few magical places where big fish rise

 

[littlejuniata]

Well if you like carp fishing those brute Browns would be great, give me a 14 16 inch "J" Brown on a dry any day.

 

[afishinado]

Tie on a dry and a weighted dropper fly to cover them both upstairs and downstairs.......and hang on.

 

[Acristickid]

Shawn- in agreement with the theory,. but hard not to fish a dry fly for rising fish.

BTW- still waiting on your flies from the fantasy league!

Paul

 

[fishingspider]

Don't get me wrong, I love catching big fish and I do over 90% of my fishing subsurface.

But after awhile, dredging becomes almost mechanical for me and I'll tie on a dry, which is quite a PITA due to the fact that I use specially-tied nymphing leaders.

Sometimes, I like to watch a beautiful presentation get sucked under. The art of targeting a rising fish is something to truly be appreciated (not that a great tuck cast isn't).

 

[GreenWeenie]

I agree that to consistently catch large trout you need to fish under the surface but I think big fish coming to the surface all depends on the intensity of the hatch and the available cover of the stream and big ones do come to the surface more than most realize.

A very intense, blizzard-like hatch or spinner fall will sometimes bring the big ones out of hiding into open feeding lanes but it needs to be one heck of a hatch for this to happen. I’ve seen large 20+ inch trout move right into open water and suspend 6 inches below the surface sipping sulfurs, BWO, tricos, etc., but this only happens in the most blizzard-like hatches, which don’t occur often.

Big fish hold in the most difficult of lies and during moderate hatches the big ones may rise but their rises probably go unnoticed because they are so well hidden. I’ve caught many large trout (20+ inch) that were rising during moderate hatches that were 2” from the bank and under a downed tree limb no more than 1” off the water; deep inside brush piles and log jams; well inside undercut banks; up against large rocks, etc. If you’re looking at those trout rising in the middle of the stream chances are you won’t ever notice the big ones that are rising off the beaten path because their rise form is almost imperceptible. Most of the time you don’t see a complete swirl, it is nothing more than a small ‘V’ disturbance that quickly dissipates and that’s it.

I found this out by accident several years ago. I was fishing a stream during a really heavy sulfur hatch and was casting for a riser right along a seam close to a big brush pile. I overshot the cast and the current somehow took the dry inside the brush. I let it drift, and all of a sudden the fly just disappeared. I figuring I snagged something and next thing I knew I had on about a 5 lb wild brown. I never even knew he was there and he was only about 4 feet to the left of the one I was casting for in the open water.

I know make it a point to look in the most unlikely or difficult of spots for small surface disturbances during hatches.

 

[PaulG]

Being a almost total dryfly fisherman, it would be very hard for me to fish underneath when the hatch is on. If I see one fish rise, Im taking off the streamer and going to a dry.

PaulG

 

[JackM]

I'm with Paul and the others expressing similar sentiments. In fact, a fish doesn't even have to rise, I just have to think I might have seen or heard a rise. Now, if I cast for 4-6 hours for rising fish and can't catch one, I may tie a wooly bugger on. A man has his limits.

 

[David]

Fishing a hatch to rising trout is the essence of fly fishing for me...that time when life from beneath can be witnessed through the bugs and the rising fish...I'll take the smaller fish. And then when you do get those occassional "pigs" that come to the surface, it makes it that much more memorable.
How did Geirach put it?...a 12" inch trout on a dry is 6" bigger than a 12" inch fish on a nymph...or something to that sentiment.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

unless your 6" is a male six inches....then its 12

If its a female 6 inches then its just 6 inches. :-D

 

[jayL]

Yeah, numbers and size are irrelevant when compared to the enjoyment I get from catching them on top.