I have been experimenting with czech style fishing since I watched Arrons Jaspers video. I know that most of the bugs are small this time of year but lately I have been having equal sucess on my anchor flies as I have with droppers.



In my last post "Finally caught him" you can see that my size 8 stone landed me two really nice fish for February. They both hit the fly like a ton of bricks.





This nice bow about 16" Hit my size 6 dropper. The water was up so I put on a very heavy stonefly for my anchor. This was a tied on a size 6 streamer hook.



Half of this fly is still in the trouts mouth.

I want to say the reason for this is that the trout want the most intake of calories for the least amount of calories burned. Think about it. Would you run a mile for one chicken tender, or sit in place and have your steak hand delivered. The key to this is hitting the feeding lies perfect and putting it right in their lap.

Don't get me wrong, size 18 pheasant tails, and size 20 midges will be very preductive, but dont be scared to put on some meat!

nice fish Mike. I'm jealous havent been able to get out lately

This is an example of my heavy big nymphs. Alothough they are not your standard czech anchor flies, they work well. I will note that with all of the dubbing on them they do not plummet as fast as a sleeker fly. I pretty much double wrapped them with lead wire.

The are pretty easy to tie as well.

not sure why the pics are coming in enormous

'cause those are some big fish!

Good stuff - two thumbs up.

Speaking purely for myself, I tend to go to smaller nymphs in winter - at least when targeting wild fish. The bugs themselves tend to be smaller this time of year and most of my winter trout fishing is on technical limestoners where most of the naturals are small, water is clear, and fish are selective. Nevertheless, it pays to experiment.
I tend to believe that large nymphs are more effective upstate as well simply because there seems to be more Perlid stoneflies up there. At least this has been my experience in my unscientific bug surveys. I don't see as many big golden stones down here in the southcentral. These bugs can live multiple years and are common in large sizes in winter months and I think mid-state and up-state fish may be more keyed on big nymphs for this reason (just a theory).

Anyway, some nice fish Mike.

my number one fly this winter has been a size 6 golden stone

I'd say bigger works, nice fish. Like said I like to give them a mouthfull to have a look at in winter myself.

All this being said this is the first year I have fished with these big bugs. I always kept size 14 and under year round and added small split shot for weight.

I like fishing this way because you can offer them both and not have to have any shot to look un natural.

Quote:

They are not too big for the post. Really great pics and beautiful fish.

I tend to agree with Afish about using smaller flies this time of the year. I have had better success using small stuff on many streams I normally fish. That's not to say that I haven't caught fish on larger sizes but consistently catch more on smaller nymphs, caddis pupas and midges.

Dale

You could always tie them with some "Quick descent dubbing" to help get them down. Of course, as you tied, a double lead wrap works as well.

What rod wt are you using? The other day I was using my 5/6 Wt and I kept getting smacked in the back with a size 8 (I think) nymph. I know alot has to do with leader/tippet sizes as well. I custom make my own out of leftover lines. Normally I go with a 10lb 3' to 6lb 5' and last but not least a 2 or 4lb 3' before the nymph. Maybe I should cut out one of the lengths and downsize the tippet abit? Possibly go from the 10lb to the 6lb and then the nymph?
All positive comments are exceptable, those who would put salt in an injury need not apply!!

I'll drink to those pics any day

This is a redington pursuit in 5 wt with a Risen 5/6 wt Ichthus reel.

I have a lot of luck with this rod and casting heavier rigs, it is a pretty fast action. I am mainly roll casting however.

The leader set up for this day was 6' 20# stren, 2' suffix high viz yellow in 14# and 5' of suffix 6# flouro with about 16" of tag for my anchor fly so about 13-14'. I am shortening this up a bit, however for my new leaders I am tying. I am still playing with this but I think I may try to keep the leader a bit smaller.

I never go with any line smaller than 6# flouro until summer. I have never had anything bad to say about suffix flouro. I will say that if you have the money go with Seagar but for the budge fisherman like my self, I buy the 13.00 suffix and repool old leader spools with it. If it ain't broke dont fix it.

Thanks for the comments guys. I agree with all of you that smaller flies are more sucessful, but just wanted to make it a point to not rule out the big bugs.