Freestone Tactics

The brown trout are most likely still in their winter holding positions. I doubt very many of the Laurel Highlands freestone streams have even broke 40 degrees yet. I'd search deeper plunge pools. Tightline the current seams with some splitshot on the line or at least a heavy tungsten bead head point fly. I caught a couple a few weeks ago like that, same situation, same conditions, same area. I was using a sz 16 hares ear 10" off a tungsten prince nymph but I doubt fly selection matters much as long as it's presented right and looks natural. It'll really start picking up in a few weeks when that water temp rises.
 
Im gonna shy away from what everyone else is mentioning.

My go to for wild browns around here have been wooly buggers. I tie em size 10 4x with a good amount of weight. They seem to consistently produce for me when nothing else will.
 
I don't believe fluoro gives the visibility advantage stated. That said, it is a little denser and tends to have a smaller diameter for the breaking strength. That helps get down a bit. Also, when bumping among rocks and such, it has more abrasion resistance.

Overall browns are more light shy than brookies. A lot has to do with , timing, rather than technique. Middle of the day is often very tough if the water is fairly clear. Even absent a hatch, the same morning evening thing applies to freestone streams as for many limestoners. Getting a little color also helps if you are stuck in the middle of the day.

Yeah, bigger water tends to be richer, and fish tend to be less spooky. Also deeper, of course. But very commonly I catch fish pretty close to me. Closer than I could get away with on skinnier water.
 
Great looking stones. What did you use for the abdomen?
 
I think those stones look great!
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I tied new patterns that are posted on the second page of this thread. I think my old patterns were too big and not really effective.
 
I don't mean to hijack your post but I have a question for you while I've got you here. The only biots I've ever tied with are goose. Will all turkey biots give you that nice segmented ridge or do I need to look for something special? Thanks in advance
 
Turkey biots are just a longer version of goose biots. They have the same ridge on on side. Their greater length makes them easier to work with.
 
I don't mean to hijack your post but I have a question for you while I've got you here. The only biots I've ever tied with are goose. Will all turkey biots give you that nice segmented ridge or do I need to look for something special? Thanks in advance
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Yeah as TYoung said they are just longer biots basically. You have to tie them in a certain way, but you can look it up on YouTube. There aren't special ones, just any turkey biots will do the trick, just as I said, it's the way you tie them in.
 
chuckyblack09 wrote:
I don't mean to hijack your post but I have a question for you while I've got you here. The only biots I've ever tied with are goose. Will all turkey biots give you that nice segmented ridge or do I need to look for something special? Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Yeah as TYoung said they are just longer biots basically. You have to tie them in a certain way, but you can look it up on YouTube. There aren't special ones, just any turkey biots will do the trick, just as I said, it's the way you tie them in.
Click to expand...

Tyoung chucky about summed it up. Turkey biots are easier to work with for me because they are longer.

More than you wanted to know about biots

http://www.flyfishfood.com/2014/05/tying-with-biots.html
 
I'll second the woolly bugger recommendation, my personal favorite is a fairly bright olive green color with some flash and a tungsten cone head for weight. Also agree with size 10. In clear water the browns may just move and follow them briefly without hitting but you can see this fly in the water and it's a good way to expose where they are hiding if you are still learning a stream. This is a great time of year to use buggers though. I like to cast up and across, throw a big mend to let it sink near the bottom, and retrieve with slow, short strips. Ideally you want it to sink right in front of the cover where you think a fish is hiding. When the water warms up you can get a little more aggressive.

The stonefly nymphs everyone is mentioning should also work very well. I'm not sure it is possible to tie them too big. Stoneflies are BIG bugs.
 
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