What's Catching You Fish?

I remember quite a few little char in the upper river as a kid, but I’ve personally only seen mature browns there in the fall. Makes me wonder if it’s a small spawning run. Fish wasn’t very big, maybe ~16” and a bit snakey, but it was cool.
 
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I remember quite a few little char in the upper river as a kid, but I’ve personally only seen mature browns there in the fall. Makes me wonder if it’s a small spawning run. Fish wasn’t very big, maybe ~16” and a bit snakey, but it was cool.
There’s a spot well above the store, in water 8’ across that will reliably hold a healtu char

From what I understand browns will come in on a tributary that connects that lake with the lodge
 
I like the hook gap. What hook?


I honestly don't remember. I know it's an Ahrex, but it's one of the longer shanked, finer wire ones I don't use a ton. I've actually lost a ton of fish on this pattern lately and I think it's due to the hook. Next time I tie some I plan to tie em on a shank or a tube or something.
 
I love hearing about browns in that spring creek. few and far between, but when i do hear about them, they're usually "good" fish.
/threadhijack Ditto. I wonder if they'll push up the Crooked now too /endthreadhijack
 
Is that fly also tied to ride hook side down? With the dumbbell eyes tied on the under side of the shank like this? https://pnwflyfishing.com/forum/index.php?media/lunchtimeho-jpg.46047/

If so, I imagine it’s for a reason and I’m curious.
Yes.
The natural tendency of wide gape, long-point heavy wire hooks in sz 1 and 1/0 is to ride point down. These ties rely on brushes and other wrapped materials for the profile, and many are wingless/keel-less. It would take far heavier eyes in awkward positions or additions of superfluous materials to make the hook ride point-up. Also, as the fish I tie these for are not feeding, they tend to nip at flies and rarely get the hook past the jawbone. Of the several dozen fish I landed this week, only one was hooked deep inside the mouth, and thet was on the roof of the mouth past the buccal flap.
 
Yes.
The natural tendency of wide gape, long-point heavy wire hooks in sz 1 and 1/0 is to ride point down. These ties rely on brushes and other wrapped materials for the profile, and many are wingless/keel-less. It would take far heavier eyes in awkward positions or additions of superfluous materials to make the hook ride point-up. Also, as the fish I tie these for are not feeding, they tend to nip at flies and rarely get the hook past the jawbone. Of the several dozen fish I landed this week, only one was hooked deep inside the mouth, and thet was on the roof of the mouth past the buccal flap.
Thank you for the explanation.
 
I'm on a quest to see how many species I can catch on a wiggle bug 😁
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Obviously, countless LMB of all sizes (black wiggle bug here... the other thing is a frog in its gullet!)
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Bunches of lake rainbows loved the little one above
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Ditto for lake cutties, but with pink marabou
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No pics, but also picked up some bluegill & pumpkin seeds.
This week, I'd tied a bigger version with a bunny tail, and was trying for coho in the salt.
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No love from the coho (on anything, none spotted that day where I was) but a pretty nice 17"ish searun munched it! (In the pic its body is resting on the gunwale. The ruler seen under it runs from 2" - 20" edge to edge of frame)
Fished on a sinking line, it moves an awful lot like a sandlance! I need to find some silver bunnies...
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Bwahaha!
The wiggle bug picks up a 25" coho and another fat 17" cuttie in the salt.
The SRC fought WAY harder.
And a sculpin to add to the list 😁
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The silver pretty much toasted it, though... need to tie that particular one on a stouter hook
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One of my tuna flatwings got destroyed by a dozen or so stripers this afternoon. Thanks Capt. Gregg Feather Dog Outfitters for putting me on the fish and landing them!

Edit: the strangest thing was netting and releasing a free swimming chinook that was just lollygagging at the surface right off the beach. Never done that before!
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