11-22-2011, 01:55 PM
On familiar water I tend to be a little lazy and use the tried and true if there is nothing obvious going on in the way of hatches and such.
On unfamiliar water I usually start with some generic attractor patterns that have been good to me, and adjust from there according to what might be going on as the day progresses.
On a recent trip to a small lake up on the Grand Mesa, my friend and I were doing quite well with each of our own designed sub-surface attractors, when the lake suddenly came alive with surface activity. I noticed there were quite a few spent spinners floating around and switched over to the proper fly for this. After a while my friend paddled over and wondered why he was not catching many. He had switched over to a flying ant pattern which wasn't working near as well as the spinner. I pointed out the spinners floating around and he said he hadn't noticed them. He switched flies and "game on"....
Don't mind trying new flies, but I tie all of my own flies and have done for over 40 years. Any new fly I try is always based on at least an "idea", because of something I have observed or on occasion, something I think might be on the right track. It sure is satisfying when you can get lucky and have some success with that approach..
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On unfamiliar water I usually start with some generic attractor patterns that have been good to me, and adjust from there according to what might be going on as the day progresses.
On a recent trip to a small lake up on the Grand Mesa, my friend and I were doing quite well with each of our own designed sub-surface attractors, when the lake suddenly came alive with surface activity. I noticed there were quite a few spent spinners floating around and switched over to the proper fly for this. After a while my friend paddled over and wondered why he was not catching many. He had switched over to a flying ant pattern which wasn't working near as well as the spinner. I pointed out the spinners floating around and he said he hadn't noticed them. He switched flies and "game on"....
Don't mind trying new flies, but I tie all of my own flies and have done for over 40 years. Any new fly I try is always based on at least an "idea", because of something I have observed or on occasion, something I think might be on the right track. It sure is satisfying when you can get lucky and have some success with that approach..
[signature]