Our dark little secrets: support group

heres my little secret...i haven't landed a fish since last fall. its really sad. i do try really hard. :-( i stealth like you guys say. i ask the locals for advice. i try recomendations. im just in a slump!?

mark
 
come on out here we'll guarentee you hook up...
 
I've never caught a fish on a wooly bugger or muddler. I fished them a lot my first year or two fly fishing and then gave up. Upstream, downstream, dead-drift, twitches, stripped, added weight till I was snagging all the time.....still no luck.

During my first couple of years fly fishing, I'd actually bring my spinning rod with me and switch up when I felt like I wanted to catch something. I was a long time spinner fisherman and always would catch trout with my panther martins.

I don't fish streamers and buggers anymore because they just seem to be a poor excuse for a spinner or a jig. And don't get me starter on San Juan worms.........why not just use a real worm?

For the past couple of years, I've fly-fished exclusively, and fish mostly dries, and reluctantly nymph when fishing for stealhead or when nothing is rising.
 
I drove 200 miles to fish on Saturday, forgot my waders. Is this the correct place to post being an idiot?
 
The real idiot is the guy who puts his rod and reel on top of the car and leaves for home! At least you didn't lose your waders.
 
I have tried and tried buggers on the Lil J, with NO success! My neighbor swears by them on the Lil J. That is his go-to fly when fishing there. I have also tried alot of other flies on the Lil J with no success. I am going to stick with the ones I catch them on.

On another note is fishing with a royal coachman or adams considered cheating? I dare not try them at the Lil J (just think they won't work and haven't tried them) I have used them at streams around my house and have done some of my best fishing with them. I may point out that I have been FF for approx 2 years and just three weeks ago I tried the RC and had great success. I used an Adams tonight and caught a fair amount!
 
there is nothing wrong with "junk flies". it is still a AFL and it is made of thread and feathers just like anyother fly. now while i have been fishing alot more dries and find it to be more rewarding....junk flies are still flies. :-D
 
i dont consider either of those flies "cheating". royal coachmans are great for brookies and an adams is an all around good fly. its nice because it works throughout the mayfly season and an irresistable is just that. it is meater and floats better/longer. big trout like big flies and the irresistable is just the ticket! :-D
 
Any other "junk flies" you would add to my collection? BTW like I said I am still "new" and am willing to learn, but what really sucks is going out when a good hatch is coming off, I have the right fly and still can't catch one. At times I have been willing to give up the FF and go back to spinning, I am excited to even catch one fish which is what inspires me to continue FF!
 
I don't even care to catch big trout. I fished Cold Stream behind my house tonight and caught 4 (very pleased) the biggest being about 10" brown and the other three (2-browns approx 5" and 1 brook about 5") That really made my night. When I spin fished I could go and catch double or triple that and be happy, now even catching one on a fly........read above. I haven't tried the irresistable yet.
 
heres some advice i can offer. try a wild brook trout stream. these fish are way less picky about matching the hatch. it will allow you to catch fish while flyfishing and working on your techniques. dont give up FF!its hard to learn on your own but it is far more rewarding(in my opinion and also gives you a much wider variety of "weapons" to use. ) the only thing you will need to catch these fish is stealth.
try bushy looking flies for brookies that have some flash in them. this weekend i used a rubberlegged orange stimulator alot. it has a small amount of flash in it also. it has white wings and alot of hackle. this fly is extremely versitale. it floats forever, the flash and white makes it easy to see for you and the fish, and can be use in a variety of ways. i would cast it an allow it to float like a bug. i had alot of takes like this, but if no strike, i would stream it up stream. when doing this it would just go beneath the surface. its a dry and a streamer. never tried it before but it was deadly.
i enjoy catching big trout but iam a wild trout nut and the majority of fish i catch seldom reach 10 inches. yet these pretty and truely wild fish are the most rewarding. i LOVE catching a big wild and it does happen from time to time. keep trying.....practice makes perfect! :-D
 
I am with you on catching wild trout! I have fished stocked streams since I was first introduced to fishing (we'll say about 20 years ago) But there really is nothing better than catching a native brook, no matter how big it is. I took my dog for a long walk after looking at a Centre Co. map and realized there are alot of streams around here that have the potential for holding natives. I knew of one that is real close to my house and had never been there (lived here about a year) I went to the stream and found quite a few fish which I believe were brooks. Trust me I will be fishing that stream soon.
 
On another note is fishing with a royal coachman or adams considered cheating?
Click to expand...

No, definitely not.

BTW, try the Parachute Adams. One of the best flies ever, especially for freestone streams.
 
Actually thats what I was using!
 
Here's a secret that most won't let you in on:

fishing can be harder during a hatch. Think about it. If a conveyor belt of snickers bars is coming by, and you see one missing a few peanuts, then you let it pass.

Now, as for when there's no food around.... you'd be a fool not to take it. The fish can be very picky during hatches.

That's why the adams and other flies like that work so well. They look like bugs and that's all the trout know. They grab it out of opportunity.

This weekend, for example, I caught three very nice fish at the tully during a caddis hatch. Once the sun got high and I started to get a little burn, i went to leave... figuring the fishing would stop since the hatch fizzled. Before I left i ran a zebra midge through a few riffles and proceeded to double my catch and top my biggest fish of the day. The fishing was better after the hatch ended!
 
thats a really good point! i always loved winter fishing just because of that.....no hatches means less food to pass up.
 
Here's a good junk fly; Royal Trude, pretty much a caddis with an elk wing and a royal. Was using it for an indicator one eve. on a heavily fished FFO section, and ended up having several solid takes. This Trude was a pattern tied for a Western trip (at least a 12) and the fish were rising to 20 or smaller midges and BWOs. My buddy couldn't stop laughing when I showed him. Before he aked for one, that is.
 
I fell like Ohio does, I use a wooly bugger only as a last resort, but not because it doesn’t catch fish, because fishing it reminds me too much of fishing with a spinner (the Mepps or Panther Martin kind – not the fly). If the water is in good condition, and if there’s nothing happening on top, I usually try nymphs first,. Also I will swing wets if the fish are active. Slinging a streamer or bugger is my last choice unless the water is high and off color, and I’m forced to use it or get skunked. For smallmouth, the bugger is usually my first choice if they are not hitting on top.

My little dark secret about flies is that I never catch anything on a prince nymph. I’d have to look in my nymph box to see if I even have one in there. I suppose if I used it long enough I would catch fish, but I have no confidence in it.
 
I never liked the way a muddler looked, or floated on top of the water...but i put one on once on a late summer day and let it drift through a riffle just for the hell of it and hooked a 20+ brown trout. it took off down the riffle and broke off almost instantly...but i was really surprised that it worked. that was the last time i fished it though. i really dont like the things.

now if you want to hear a truly dirty secret...i once fished with wax worms on the hook of a wooly bugger... not that long ago....
 
I weight all my streamers including muddlers. I actually caught a walleye on a muddler once below Ountalaunee (sp)dam.

Out west, guys will put a maggot on a nymph for whitefish...funny part is that the river where they do that is C&R barbless only and not stocked. But for three months in the winter you can bait up to 2 hooks on a dropper rig to catch wihtefish. I won't tell you where they keep the maggots, before use, to keep them from freezing. :-o
 
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