How would you fish this? Beginner in need of help.

Aleforme

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
6x? I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.... :LOL:

In all seriousness, that's actually a great approach. Just not one that I personally would start with. It really depends if one is trying to catch almost every fish in the pool (minus the largest) or get the largest one and call it good. I love reading about all sorts of solutions to a "problem" here. There's almost no wrong answer...but to your point, suspension nymphing in that type of water is a fools errand.

This has been very educational for me to say the least and I appreciate everyone's willingness to give me some great advise. I plan of using most of the above suggestions during my upcoming trip whether it's on this stretch of water or another. Well, probably not the M80 suggestion. :ROFLMAO:
 

Old Man

Just a useless Old Man.
Forum Legend
I have to ask a few question to you. Is this some of the water I sent you to or not. Plus are you on the wet side or the dry side. I kind of helped him with his learning curve on where to fish. I also think that water is a little high. There is still snow melt in the water. You need to give it about a week more.
 

Aleforme

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
I have to ask a few question to you. Is this some of the water I sent you to or not. Plus are you on the wet side or the dry side. I kind of helped him with his learning curve on where to fish. I also think that water is a little high. There is still snow melt in the water. You need to give it about a week more.

Hey Jim, good to hear from you. This is not the water weā€™ve spoken about. That is on the schedule for August and September. Spoke to someone who did a little recon up there and the flow is still pretty high with the late melt off this year. Once I get up there, Iā€™ll let you know how it goes for sure.

Regarding the water in question here, itā€™s on the dry side and I donā€™t mind giving some clues and if anyone is interested, let me know. More than happy to explain the location in more detail privately. Itā€™s just not an area some can just go to in a day and without some planning so not worried about casual lurkers flooding the area. Itā€™s in an area that is a multi day trip and takes some doing to get there. Itā€™s on the north end of a large narrow lake that looks like a worm/snake and is NOT the main river there. This spot which is about a hundred yards long is about the only reachable water for several miles. Super steep almost vertical terrain getting there. We started out just hiking to it and then started trying to fish it. Iā€™ve never seen anyone else fishing there.

The ā€œotherā€ Jim
 
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Sam Roffe

If a man ain't fishing...
Forum Supporter
Aleforme,

What a nice question, and lots of answers. After reading all the responses, I think you may just want to be prepared with a couple options when fishing it. There looks like some nice rock that fish could be hiding behind, but, I kind of think most of the big fish will be down deep.

Also a lot will depend on the if there is a good food source. You might want to start turning over rock above those pools and see what kind of insect nymphs there are in that river. If you have a hard time finding any, we'll, that might tell you how big the fish will get or not, and if there is much fish around.

Either way, those look like some nice pools to enjoy being by for a couple hours.

Sam
 

RCF

Life of the Party
You probably noticed each responder provided advice from the comfort of their fishing style, including myself.

Fish what you are comfortable with. Since you are new to fly fishing probably easier said than done.

Approach the area and just watch for awhile. Hatches, flashes of fish eating, where you see fish should help with the technique to be used. You will learn along the way. Something we all do for sure.

90% of what fish eat is below the surface. But the exhilarating bite is on the surface. Detecting a bite below surface takes time and lots of experience.

Also recognize that the big fish, kings of the fishing zone, are at the prime zone for food. Catching smaller fish will indicate there are other zones for bigger fish. Maybe deeper or further upstream or ? - areas to work and figure ir out.

There are no perfect answers. Adjusting to what works is the answer. Enjoy your life long learning experience. Well worth it IMHO.
 
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Aleforme

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
Aleforme,

What a nice question, and lots of answers. After reading all the responses, I think you may just want to be prepared with a couple options when fishing it. There looks like some nice rock that fish could be hiding behind, but, I kind of think most of the big fish will be down deep.

Also a lot will depend on the if there is a good food source. You might want to start turning over rock above those pools and see what kind of insect nymphs there are in that river. If you have a hard time finding any, we'll, that might tell you how big the fish will get or not, and if there is much fish around.

Either way, those look like some nice pools to enjoy being by for a couple hours.

Sam

Thanks Sam. I'm going in prepared for everything. Good point about checking the insects. I suspect there is not a ton of food there and the fish are pretty small in general. Just above and below this area are long stretches of very fast moving rapids.
 

Aleforme

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
You probably noticed each responder provided advice from the comfort of their fishing style, including myself.

Fish what you are comfortable with. Since you are new to fly fishing probably easier said than done.

Approach the area and just watch for awhile. Hatches, flashes of fish eating, where you see fish should help with the technique to be used. You will learn along the way. Something we all do for sure.

90% of what fish eat is below the surface. But the exhilarating bite is on the surface. Detecting a bite below surface takes time and lots of experience.

Also recognize that the big fish, kings of the fishing zone, are at the prime zone for food. Catching smaller fish will indicate there are other zones for bigger fish. Maybe deeper or further upstream or ? - areas to work and figure ir out.

There are no perfect answers. Adjusting to what works is the answer. Enjoy your life long learning experience. Well worth it IMHO.
Thank you. It will definitely be a learning curve for sure. Luckily I'm going in armed with some great advise from everyone here. It's greatly appreciated.
 

Aleforme

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
I have a "quick" question on Nymph set ups. I've got a decent handle on the various ways to fish them (single, doube, dry dropper, indicator, etc) but what is a good tippet size to use?

Right now I'm trying to keep it simple and have mainly been using Rio Power Flex Trout tapered 3x or 5x leaders. Would those work? Should I go longer or shorter?

I know you can have multiple leader set up for every style of fishing but just trying to keep it simple for now when possible.
 

jaredoconnor

Peabrain Chub
Forum Supporter
I have a "quick" question on Nymph set ups. I've got a decent handle on the various ways to fish them (single, doube, dry dropper, indicator, etc) but what is a good tippet size to use?

Right now I'm trying to keep it simple and have mainly been using Rio Power Flex Trout tapered 3x or 5x leaders. Would those work? Should I go longer or shorter?

I know you can have multiple leader set up for every style of fishing but just trying to keep it simple for now when possible.

If I were to nymph conventionally, I would stick with a 9ft 5x leader. On water like this, you can get close to the fish (and usually have to). A 3x leader will not sink fast, it will be too stiff for most nymphs and it will be more impacted by the difference in speed, throughout the water column.

As @clarkman said, though, most conventional (suspension) techniques will be a fools errand on this water. Even with perfect tuck casts and mending, most of the variables are outside your control.
 
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Old Man

Just a useless Old Man.
Forum Legend
If you go to You Tube and look up set up for fly fishing two flies. After you see what is used and how, you can deviate from that and use what works for you. My set up is not the correct way but it works for me. I have to use simple things because of my shakes. Even tying this up takes me a while. But I stick with it.
 

dirty dog

Steelhead
Thanks. I don't think the water holds anything but some smaller trout but I've never really been able to land them set so there could be some larger ones holding there. Just used small spinners in the past. We shall see. While the water is very clear in some areas, some of the seams and other moving areas are hard to see into so who knows what might be holding down there?

I've always fished with a net and rarely if ever handle the fish with my hands.
What little I know about little blue lines is there are larger trout, but the smaller ones are more aggressive, esp. on a dry fly or spinner.
I have fished a pocket or pool and caught four or five smaller trout and returned to the same pocket or pool and hr. or two later and caught a larger trout.
I have been fishing a small blue line not far from my home and had until this season only caught trout up to 12" of the coastal cutt kind.
This season I have caught two over 12". One 13"plus and one 14" plus, both beautiful fat coastal cutts.
Ya just have to keep after it and good things will come
 

Aleforme

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
If I were to nymph conventionally, I would stick with a 9ft 5x leader. On water like this, you can get close to the fish (and usually have to). A 3x leader will not sink fast, it will be too stiff for most nymphs and it will be more impacted by the difference in speed, throughout the water column.

As @clarkman said, though, most conventional (suspension) techniques will be a fools errand on this water. Even with perfect tuck casts and mending, most of the variables are outside your control.
OK, thank you. I've got some 5x tapered leaders and will give those a try.
 

Aleforme

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
If you go to You Tube and look up set up for fly fishing two flies. After you see what is used and how, you can deviate from that and use what works for you. My set up is not the correct way but it works for me. I have to use simple things because of my shakes. Even tying this up takes me a while. But I stick with it.
I like simple! It does seem like you can get a little carried away with tippets, flies, leaders, etc. KISS when possible n my opinion.
 
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Aleforme

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
What little I know about little blue lines is there are larger trout, but the smaller ones are more aggressive, esp. on a dry fly or spinner.
I have fished a pocket or pool and caught four or five smaller trout and returned to the same pocket or pool and hr. or two later and caught a larger trout.
I have been fishing a small blue line not far from my home and had until this season only caught trout up to 12" of the coastal cutt kind.
This season I have caught two over 12". One 13"plus and one 14" plus, both beautiful fat coastal cutts.
Ya just have to keep after it and good things will come

Ha, this give me some hope there might be some larger fish hiding in this spot!
 

Zak

Legend
Forum Supporter
I like simple! It does seem like you can get a little carried away with tippets, flies, leaders, etc. KISS when possible n my opinion.
Flourocarbon tippet sinks faster than mono. Are you tying tippet to the end of your tapered leader, or just "using up" leaders and replacing them after you have clipped them off several times?
 

Aleforme

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
Flourocarbon tippet sinks faster than mono. Are you tying tippet to the end of your tapered leader, or just "using up" leaders and replacing them after you have clipped them off several times?
Typically and in my limited fly fishing so far, I've just tied on as the leader gets clipped off and down a bit.

The tapered leaders I am using right now (Rio) are nylon. Any reason I can't just tie on some 4lb or 6 lb Flouro Line to the end? I've got Flouro for miles! Would that be effective?

Or hell, just use a 9ft or so of Flouro instead of a tapered leader?
 
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Zak

Legend
Forum Supporter
Typically and in my limited fly fishing so far, I've just tied on as the leader gets clipped off and down a bit.

The tapered leaders I am using right now (Rio) are nylon. Any reason I can't just tie on some 4lb or 6 lb Flouro Line to the end? I've got Flouro for miles! Would that be effective?

Or hell, just use a 9ft or so of Flouro instead of a tapered leader?
Tapered leaders are expensive. I use them until I have clipped enough off the end that they are noticably thicker at the tip then when they were new. Then I tie on 24" or so of tippet (mono or fluoro), using a triple surgeon's knot. You can totaly tie on fluoro tippet to a mono leader, just make sure the tippet is equal to or smaller diameter than the leader you are trying it to. Then you are just clipping off and replacing cheap tippet. I can make a tapered leader last months this way. Another option is to tie a "tippet ring" (very small metal ring) to the end of the tapered leader, then tie tippet to that.
 

jaredoconnor

Peabrain Chub
Forum Supporter
Typically and in my limited fly fishing so far, I've just tied on as the leader gets clipped off and down a bit.

The tapered leaders I am using right now (Rio) are nylon. Any reason I can't just tie on some 4lb or 6 lb Flouro Line to the end? I've got Flouro for miles! Would that be effective?

Or hell, just use a 9ft or so of Flouro instead of a tapered leader?

The sink rate of fluro is of little significance, when you are using weighted flies (which you should be doing).

The argument for fluro is more about abrasion resistance. Mono is fine, for dry flies or shallow subsurface presentations, because it won't be dragged against rocks all day. If you're bouncing the bottom at all, fluro will last far longer.

You need a tapered leader, for casting. There are exceptions to that, such as casting streamers on a sink tip line, with a short leader. That doesn't apply to what you're doing, though.

If you want to get technical, you should only have one diameter of line, below the surface. That minimizes the impact of the faster water speed, toward the surface. However, that is the least of your concerns.
 
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