Help identifying what the fish were eating

[Atlas]

I was out the other day and was literally watching browns jump straight up out of the water to eat something but for the life of me I could not figure out what it was. There were some midges coming off but it didnt look like that was what they were after and believe me I tried that but I couldnt get them too interested with a 22 griffiths gnat with a slew of different midge pupa droppers? Any idea of what they were eating? The actual bugs I saw may have been a bit smaller but not much smaller plus when they looked at my fly they werent anywhere near as aggressive as when they were launching at whatever it was they were after? Any ideas? Do you think the fly was just too big? Was I not fishing the dropper in the right position? Any ideas would be appreciated because it was super frustrating!!

 

[SBecker]

Caddis, possibly micro caddis. I was out the other day and there were a ton of caddis fluttering around. No fish were interested though.

 

[Fishidiot]

Atlas,
You'll see this sort of behavior (jumping) from time to time and it's often frustrating to figure out what the fish are taking. I think most of the time, this jumping indicates the fish are feeding on a fast swimming nymph that is moving fairly high in the water column. Midges are swimmers but the jumping indicates the trout are moving very fast to intercept the nymph. My guess would be that the fish you saw probably weren't eating midges. Usually it's a fast swimmer like an Isonychia or white fly....but they usually aren't active this late in the year. Some type of swimming caddis might be a good guess. Sometimes if you take a few minutes to scrutinize the water surface you can find the shucks of whatever they're keyed on. Whatever the case, fish feeding like this should be most vulnerable to a stripped or swinging nymph or wet fly.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Possibly taking emergers as well.

 

[dryflyguy]

I've also seen fish doing that very early and late in the season
And have often wondered if - since I didn't see any sign of insect activity at all - they were chasing minnows

 

[Atlas]

Thanks everyone. I am guessing by the way they were launching that it was something rising in the water column but it must have been small. The most frustrating part was that they were interested in the griffiths and would swim up to it and turn away at the last second. On the few that I did get to take it the take was way different from the way they were jumping. By the way, not sure if it makes a difference but this was happening at the head of a big pool where the water was flowing in pretty quickly. I guess I need to get a seine or a stomach pump!

 

[Heritage-Angler]

There may be a far more sinister explanation for this.

 

[jdaddy]

The_Sasquatch wrote:
Possibly taking emergers as well.

I often hear this theory but have to question, are the trout having a 100% efficiency on capturing the emergers? I mean he is not seeing anything other than the midges in the air. Would a trout expend that much energy to capture an emerging midge?

Chasing minnows. Now that's a good theory!

 

[pcray1231]

I'm going to be a contrarian here. If they were interested in the midge, my guess is that they were indeed taking midges, or something close to it.

Midging is a tough business. Something wasn't right, obviously. Fly too big? Maybe. Under the film vs. in the film vs. on the film (i.e. emerger or dry)? Maybe. Drag issues? Maybe. Or perhaps the wrong movement?

Most likely a combination of several of the above.

I've seen trout go after insects FLYING near the surface, including midges. Perhaps it is egg laying behavior with "dipping" or quick dives. I don't know exactly how midges lay their eggs and it's difficult to observe with such small insects, I just know that tiny bugs fly near the surface and I've seen trout jump for them.

Would explain the jumping, they gotta get there quick or else the bug will be out of reach again in no time. I don't know how you imitate that! So all you can do is drift it over them, like an insect that fell to the water injured or something.

And yeah, they're interested. But without the urgency, they can take their time and inspect. And thats when they notice microdrag, or a slightly wrong size, or a slightly wrong color, etc., and you get refusals. Frustrating, but ultimately, that frustration is what our sport is about.

 

[Nymph-O-Maniac]

Heritage-Angler wrote:
There may be a far more sinister explanation for this.

HAHA

 

[afishinado]

pcray1231 wrote:
I'm going to be a contrarian here. If they were interested in the midge, my guess is that they were indeed taking midges, or something close to it.

Midging is a tough business. Something wasn't right, obviously. Fly too big? Maybe. Under the film vs. in the film vs. on the film (i.e. emerger or dry)? Maybe. Drag issues? Maybe. Or perhaps the wrong movement?

Most likely a combination of several of the above.

I've seen trout go after insects FLYING near the surface, including midges. Perhaps it is egg laying behavior with "dipping" or quick dives. I don't know exactly how midges lay their eggs and it's difficult to observe with such small insects, I just know that tiny bugs fly near the surface and I've seen trout jump for them.

Would explain the jumping, they gotta get there quick or else the bug will be out of reach again in no time. I don't know how you imitate that! So all you can do is drift it over them, like an insect that fell to the water injured or something.

And yeah, they're interested. But without the urgency, they can take their time and inspect. And thats when they notice microdrag, or a slightly wrong size, or a slightly wrong color, etc., and you get refusals. Frustrating, but ultimately, that frustration is what our sport is about.

I agree with Fishidiot. This behavior (jumping) is usually associated with quickly rising nymphs or pupa. I have seen fish jump to try to capture insects which are buzzing the surface, but have never seen fish do that with midges. I doubt very much that the fish can even spot a tiny midge above the surface.

When the fish are surface feed on midges, a small dimple usually appears on the surface. I would guess the rule of nature won't allow fish to expend that much energy for such a miniscule meal....but never say "never."

 

[Chaz]

Females shaking eggs loose?
Could be going after crane flies, they're still hatching most places they occur. Could be caddis like others said.