Frustrating

[paparise]

Also, in my experience on valley, I tend to see a lot more suckers because by the time I'm close enough all of the trout have already gone to safer places. The suckers skatter but will settle down not too far from where they where originally, and they stack up all the way through the hole. The trout will be there too and when you see them next to each other you kick youself for thinking the sucker was a trout.

 

[pcray1231]

You likely saw mostly trout. VC is full of trout and they are very visible with the slow, shallow water and light colored streambottom.

PM coming.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

So I was watching videos last night. In July when we all fished it was all dry flies with tricos and terrestrials. Haven't nymphed for trout in awhile (WW fish are dumb so technique doesn't matter much lol). I forgot when I nymph to keep my get a lil closer, stretch out my arm and keep the fly line out of the H20, right?

I was treating the nymphs as a dry fly and mending when it slacked up which is wrong.

Am I right on all of this?

 

[Fishidiot]

Stagger_Lee wrote:
Am I right on all of this?

Yes, you're right.
Most of the time when fishing nymphs, you'll want to hold your rod high and keep the line off the water. This is sometimes called "high sticking" or just "sticking." This technique is more commonly employed where there is current and on bigger waters where you would be wading. For a small stream like V where you are fishing slower, shallow pools typically only a few inches deep.....it's perfectly common (probably better actually) to cast further back from the fish as you would with dry flies and mend line as it drifts back to you. Most of the time, when I can see trout in clear, shallow water this time of year, I'll approach from downstream and make a long cast up to the fish with a dry fly, usually a beetle or ant. If this doesn't work, I'll switch to a nymph or some sub-surface presentation.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Great advise FI.

Stagger - When fishing low and clear water, a great technique is to fish a small beadhead fly (say sz 18, or so) tied to a piece of tippet off the bend of an easily visible dry fly. This is called a dry/dropper rig.

A good dry to use for this is an elk hair caddis. Tie 18" or so of the same size tippet, or 1X size lighter to the bend of the caddis hook with a clinch knot, and tie the beadhead nymph to the end of the tippet.

Fish the dry as you normally would, with a drag free drift. The dry fly is your indicator, and will sometimes take fish as well.

Highly pressured fish sometimes respond better to a darker colored bead on the nymph. Try one with a flat black colored bead.

If I was fishing with you on VC, this is what I'd rig you up with. I'll give you some of these flies next time I see you. Something like this would be good....

 

[englishprof]

It's a Walt's Worm and is deadly on Valley.....even in larger sizes.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

All these different types of fly patterns I've been reading abt in this thread and others the past few days .. Sometimes I open my fly box and my head spins. :lol:

Starting to copy and paste random posts by you guys and organize it in a Word folder which is better than searching the sight when I remember something.

Good Stuff .. keep it up as its much appreciated

 

[sroach]

Pick a fly you are confident with and work a couple of the pools, work on the presentation and enjoy the day fishing...

Just my $.02

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Had a couple of hours ystrday afternoon and did some WW fishing locally to boost my confidence. Casting is getting there as I have slowed it down and concentrated on the 2-10 clock. Roll cast was working OK as well. Caught 2 SMB and a host of others on a couple of terrestrials. Also practiced (and landed fish) my nymphing technique which I will have a few questions on when we get together again.

Felt good to catch fish but I really have to figure out how to those trouts.

 

[Love2fish]

I'm glade to hear VC is skunking more ppl than just me. Well not really but atleast I'm getting some free knowledge about this stream. My record is currently 0-4. My biggest problem is not spooking the fish, perhaps its my "wading" since Im used to wading the Delaware River for Stripers and SMB. Maybe if I have advanced notice I will see if someone wouldn't mind some company fishing.

 

[surveyor06]

I never really found valley that hard, not harder than any other streams. They will eat just about any nymph. Id say if your getting skunked your probably wading too much. Try to stay out of the water as much as you can, keep a low profile, and target trout in swift water, heads of pools, that sort of thing. Walts worm is deadly. Oh and fish early in the morning, first light. Your chances dramatically increase if your the first one on the water. If its been a slow morning, its usually because I have been fishing behind someone. Stagger_Lee, i might hit Valley this weekend, id be happy to show you the ropes.

 

[pcray1231]

I never found Valley difficult either. At least not from a "pickiness" standpoint. Because of the nature of the stream, "spookiness" can be an issue. It's generally slow, shallow, and clear, and featureless so the fish are in pods. Not a good combo.

So it's downright easy if you can get some color. If you get it when it's clear, it can kind of limit you to the deeper/faster spots or force you into super stealth mode.