Isonychia on Little J?

[Sylvaneous]

Are the isonychia still significant on the Little J? I know they used to be.

Sylvaneous

 

[dryflyguy]

I'd say that they still are - at least in the fall anyway.
The spring time hatches seem to to kinda get lost among all of the sulphers and gray foxe's IMO

 

[krayfish2]

I've done well late summer through fall with iso on that stream .

 

[greenghost]

Never fished Slate Drakes on the Lil J before mid-September, so I can't say for sure how significant they are early on. Maybe others can help. But in the fall, iso comp duns and nymphs are my go-to flies. I've had some amazing days fishing nothing but.

 

[krayfish2]

I've had good hatches while trico fishing

 

[evw659]

I've never really seen slates in appreciable numbers on the j over the summer, but i see iso nymphs darting around near the shore all the time this time of year. I don't know if they migrate during certain periods or if they're just foraging. Does anybody have any insight on this?, I would be curious to know. Ive found that Dead drifting, swinging, and twitching them closer to shore sometimes works well when this is happening, especially when theres no other hatches going on.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

they are and are heavier is some stretches than others. They are not as heavy of the hatch stat precede them. They are often missed for a couple of reasons. They emerge in swift water and they come out at times when most people get off the water in the summer. For me, the remarkable thing is that this is a fly that catches fish by blind casting likely waters.

 

[geebee]

nymphingmaniac wrote:

They emerge in swift water and they come out at times when most people get off the water in the summer. For me, the remarkable thing is that this is a fly that catches fish by blind casting likely waters.

the guy i was with caught a couple of real nice bows at the heads of fast riffles up in Deposit NY on the Delaware on #10 Iso's - and i took a nice brown of about 14" on a #12 zug bug which i was using as an Iso sub because i didn't have any with me.

cheers

Mark.

 

[krayfish2]

Blind casting iso dry = throwing a cheeseburger on the floor in front of your dog. Do both and they will get eaten.

In some waters, the majority seem to crawl out on shore to hatc while other waters give you mid stream emergers. Swinging a prince, zug or iso nymph near the shore can result in leader breaking takes.

 

[greenghost]

krayfish2 wrote:
In some waters, the majority seem to crawl out on shore to hatc while other waters give you mid stream emergers. Swinging a prince, zug or iso nymph near the shore can result in leader breaking takes.

You can actually fish iso nymphs like a streamer in fast water. They do rip into it. Yes, the nymphs are very strong swimmers. Once got a double a couple of years ago by fishing an iso nymph dropped down from a comp dun. The dun was taken first. As the nymph was darting around when I was reeling in the fish, another took that.

 

[blueheron]

Isos- the little bug that could. If you fish long enough, you end up at isos. At least in the east, western waters maybe not so much.