Couldn't Get a Rising Trout Last Night

[Risechaser]

Last evening on the Saucon, lots of risers were all over. No luck - some rising as close to around 8 inches from my fly. I tried a variety of dry flies but got nowhere. First time this happened in a while. ONE THING: I was in an open area in nearly still water. My usual spot is further downstream with lots of sticks and branches in the water, and trees above.

 

[Nocktavius]

Last evening on the Saucon, lots of risers were all over. No luck - some rising as close to around 8 inches from my fly. I tried a variety of dry flies but got nowhere. First time this happened in a while. ONE THING: I was in an open area in nearly still water. My usual spot is further downstream with lots of sticks and branches in the water, and trees above.

What did the rise forms look like? Was there an obvious bubble and slurp like they were taking a bug off the surface? Or was it more of a splashy, porpoising situation (seeing more dorsal and tail) consistent with emergers being eaten in the film.

Any bugs on the water at the time? Could be that your pattern was too big, not sufficiently surface flush (if they were taking cripples, spinners, or just picky overall due to pressure), or maybe your casting and presentation still need a bit of tweaking.

In slow water, the fish have an eternity to inspect your offering so you’ll get refusals from things like micro drag, not going fly first downstream with a reach cast, leaders that are too short or too thick (this time of year is 5-6x season for me and I like em long, also prefer using fluorocarbon bc of its refractive index and tendency to not stick right in the film).

If it was an emerger bite, then you could try a dry dropper (short tag with a lightweight hares ear or PT can do the job) or present lightweight nymphs (no tungsten) and wets on the swing next time.

 

[Risechaser]

What did the rise forms look like? Was there an obvious bubble and slurp like they were taking a bug off the surface? Or was it more of a splashy, porpoising situation (seeing more dorsal and tail) consistent with emergers being eaten in the film.

Any bugs on the water at the time? Could be that your pattern was too big, not sufficiently surface flush (if they were taking cripples, spinners, or just picky overall due to pressure), or maybe your casting and presentation still need a bit of tweaking.

In slow water, the fish have an eternity to inspect your offering so you’ll get refusals from things like micro drag, not going fly first downstream with a reach cast, leaders that are too short or too thick (this time of year is 5-6x season for me and I like em long, also prefer using fluorocarbon bc of its refractive index and tendency to not stick right in the film).

If it was an emerger bite, then you could try a dry dropper (short tag with a lightweight hares ear or PT can do the job) or present lightweight nymphs (no tungsten) and wets on the swing next time.

They were rising high completely out of the water. (I usually do have better luck when it is slower bubbles and slurps.). I had 7X fluorocarbon tippet and tried Light Cahill's, foam winged emerges, and BWOs, all sizes 16 - 20. I had good results last week - Thursday I'll try again at my usual spot. Thanks

 

[Bamboozle]

Are you sure they were trout...?

I've fished the Saucon a lot when I lived around 3 miles away. Many, many, many times for every trout there were 10 fallfish or chubs rising too...

 

[Risechaser]

Are you sure they were trout...?

I've fished the Saucon a lot when I lived around 3 miles away. Many, many, many times for every trout there were 10 fallfish or chubs rising too...

No doubt they were trout - jumped two feet, porpoised, giving me a good two second look.

 

[Bamboozle]

Then I will repeat what I tell everyone experiencing frustration at local streams this time of year

Little Black Caddis, size 18...

 

[Nocktavius]

If they’re jumping out of the water it’s likely they’re chasing something swimming up to the surface, and it’s almost certainly a caddis.

Try the caddis dries suggested above (and I’d be fishing something like a corn fed, CDC, or EP caddis rather than an elk hair) but also swinging pupa patterns, hares ears, soft hackled pheasant tails, holy grails etc can sometimes be the only way to get em to eat.

Oftentimes the best solution is to move to faster more broken water, or the interfaces between the fast and slow. it’s generally where the bigger fish will hang out anyway.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Then I will repeat what I tell everyone experiencing frustration at local streams this time of year

Little Black Caddis, size 18...

Truth.
I fish a dark 18 or 16 soft hackle on that crick this time of year and do well for the same reason....

 

[jifigz]

Did you check to see if spinners were floating by? If the fish were keyed on spinners, you weren't gonna catch em on anything other than a spinner..

 

[Nocktavius]

Did you check to see if spinners were floating by? If the fish were keyed on spinners, you weren't gonna catch em on anything other than a spinner..

his description of the riseforms and aggressive porpoising doesn’t really sound consistent with spinners, but your point about selectivity is an important one.

 

[jifigz]

his description of the riseforms and aggressive porpoising doesn’t really sound consistent with spinners, but your point about selectivity is an important one.

I only read his first post. I didn't follow it up with his additional info, so that's my fault..

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

Then I will repeat what I tell everyone experiencing frustration at local streams this time of year

Little Black Caddis, size 18...

Soon as he said they were hopping out of the water, I thought the same thing. That is a difficult hatch to fish, though.

 

[Bamboozle]

Soon as he said they were hopping out of the water, I thought the same thing. That is a difficult hatch to fish, though.

At one time I fished the hatch with Hewett Spiders in an attempt to create something that appeared to be "hovering" an inch or so above the water like the natural. While it is a really cool fly that worked for me, Hewett Spiders are tricky to tie, a PIA to cast & hard to store without mashing so I abandoned them for a simple all black Elk Wing Caddis (EWC) with palmered hackle.

Maybe it's just dumb luck but they have been working REALLY well for me for decades...

In a pinch I've also used a foam beetle and in the "olden" days my previous beetle pattern, a variation of a Marinaro Beetle which was 4 dyed black rounded hen "back" feathers glued together curved sides facing each other which flattened them. That "back" was tied over a palmered hackled bare hook with the upper fibers trimmed so the back laid flat.

The first time I tried one was on the Letort when I was getting frustrated by a nice fish taking Little Black Caddis (LBC) under a tree at the "Rosebush" in Vince's Meadow. I had nothing close at the time except for black fur ants and that didn't work so I tied on my variation of Vince's Beetle with the justification it was the right size, the right color and sort of looked like a fluttering caddis...

BANG, I caught the fish and never looked back on using a beetle during a LBC hatch until I tied up the black EWC. However, to this day I will swap out my LBC fly for a foam beetle on occasions when the fish are cooperative and I get tired of drying and redressing my EWC.