Trout won today

[RH1]

Man it was a rough day on the stream today.
I had 1 brief hookup and 2 other quick bites but no fish were caught. The water is really low and extremely clear. I was fishing a pool right at dusk and could see trout and they were feeding alot on the surface but I could not figure out what they were feeding on. I saw zero bugs but the trout were eating something. This was only my second time fly fishing for trout so I know I was doing something wrong and probably missed an obvious answer.

 

[CinnamonJoe]

Its like that sometimes. They beat me last Saturday, but weren't eating. In my case, I think it was a high pressure system and the spawn. First rule: need to place blame somewhere! LOL

Based on your description of what you saw, I would swing a tandem wet fly rig down and across with a #14 stonefly on point and #16 partridge & olive wet on the dropper. I'm all about the old-school wet fly swing 'down & across' this fall. Lately-except last Saturday-LOL-its been not quite deadly. I have changed the point fly based on what all see streamside under the rocks or crawling around on that particular day. For the last 6 weeks out here, they have liked that partridge & olive on the dropper, so have not had a reason to change it. Post spawn in early December, I'll be pulling streamers near logs, bridge pilings, undercuts to try for Troutzilla.

 

[CinnamonJoe]

I thought about this a little more. Good chance they were feeding on midges, based in you seeing them break the surface.

 

[LLR]

Days like this make you appreciate it even more when everything comes together and you have a great fishing day