Hi all. Just wanted to let you know that today, Sunday the 19th of April, I hooked and landed my first, second and third, brookie ever on a fly rod all using a mickeyfin. Thanks to Dave and Lee for some great suggestions on what to use. I also know what a bump from a fish feels like now. I had a good dozen or so of those also. Is there anything I can do to turn bumps in to more fish being landed?

What a feeling. I had already decided that if I was fortunate enough to catch any trout with the fly rod the first one was going to be released no matter what. So after a quick photo I released the 16" back into the pond. I kept the last one I caught because my mother just loves pan fried trout. Upon the cleaning of the fish I found some little inch worm creatures that wrap themselves in bark and such.....what are those called again? We noticed only three rises, well not really rises...I suspect they were feeding on the emergers towards the top layer of water.

The fishing was good for the first 1 1/2 or so. A few other individuals were on the pond fly fishing, but they were in float tubes. Crazy....cold water. According to some locals the ice just went out on the 16th, Thursday. They had about the same luck as my brother and I. They had caught some on Wollybuggers and some other nymphs.

I'll get to posting some pictures tomorrow. I don't think they came out very well, but I'll post them anyways.

Dave and Lee, thanks again for the information you have shared with me over the last week or so.

Scott

Hi Scott

As Dave said I think the worms are Caddid fly larva. As for short strikes, I think the best thing you can do is make sure you are concentrating as mush as possible, that seems to be what I need to do when nymph fishing, if I am lacksa dazacal I will miss take after take, but if I concentrate I do OK. Keep up the good work, and looking forward to the pictures.

Lee

Quote by: Fish+Carva

Hey Scott,

I'll second what Lee said. Concentration is key if your nymphing! Focus watching the line where it meets the water. Watch for the slightest irregular movement or pause and give the rod tip just a little lift, not too much to change the drift in case your hitting a rock or bumping bottom underwater. If you feel some tension raise the tip and set the hook you'll know right away if you have a fish.

How are you striping your streamers? Short strips or long pulls? I like to use short strips like a darting bait fish. Because when I feel a bump I don't raise the rod tip to set the hook I'll give the line a long yank to set the hook. I think what's happening is when you raise the rod it's pulling the fly right out of the fish's mouth especially if their just mouthing it. (This time of year fish are not going to whack a streamer and hook themselves. They will when the water starts to warm.) With a line pull it's still in the fish's mouth but your sliding it down his lip till it catches the back corner. It took me a long time to break the habit of wanting to raise the rod to set the hook cause that's what I was always taught to do. It's what's spin, fly, bait, etc guys do. It works most of the time but give the line a good pull and keep the tip down next time when you feel a bump you'll set the hook right in the corner of the fish's mouth. Work's every time

What you found were cased caddis larvae. They like still water and crawl around on the bottom. They make a house out of found debris like a hermit crab with a found shell. They're tough to imitate with a fly though at this life stage. Hard to mimic since your pulling your fly back up through the water column. When they start to hatch and swim to the surface you can copy them with a fly pattern.

Paul-

Very nice post Paul.

Thanks
Lee

Most emerger patterns are used near the surface to represent the bug breaking out of its skin and truning into it's next phase (flying) Not so much for the swiming phase. How big where the cases? I've seen them up to 2 inches long. There are dozens and dozens of caddis species in NE. I think Lee mentioned in a previous post about using a soft hackle wet. That would a good fly to try to mimic these guys as they swim up. Use one that's close to the size of the bug inside the cases if you want to try and match the hatch. When the water starts to warm up your way they should be starting.

Something like this will do the trick


Consider picking up a copy Hatch Guide for New England Streams by Thomas, Jr. Ames it's a great little book that explains the life cycles of the major species that live in our waters. It also shows some patterns to use to mimic the different stages they go thru. I think they might even have a water proof version you can keep in your vest.



Paul-

Paul and Scott - I edited this post so the photo would show. You needed to add the img tags around the URL address. Use the buttons at the top of the page to help with these tags.

Lee

the caddis I saw, I should have taken a picture, was about an inch long, lime green in color and had a quarter inch of casing left. The front of the head was yellow. I'll pick up some of the soft hackle wets before I head out again saturday. I look into finding the book you mentioned. Thank you to everyone for all the great information.

Scott