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Post 04 Jan 2021, 10:52 • #26 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
Love the stories Pittendrigh.
I fished a couple places back east where the trout would hover in my "wake" and refuse naturals on the surface. I fooled those fish with heavy generic nymphs fished with leader only at rod's length. Kinda like Tenkara on/near the bottom. One place on marginal water I caught trout for a full month after other anglers gave it up as "no fish left there". Fishing "different" works on pressured fish.


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Post 04 Jan 2021, 17:48 • #27 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/12/16
Posts: 4093
Location: USA-CO
Great stories and observations indeed. I've hooked one that was set up in my wake, so close to me that I just dropped the fly with tippet and maybe a foot of leader from my thumb and forefinger. It was an 18" brown on the heavily-fished Platte River, and he took it. Didn't land him, but it was fun and a good fish story.


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Post 04 Jan 2021, 20:00 • #28 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
pittendrigh wrote:
If you did wade up into that fast section the fish would all spook and disappear. If you stood still long enough they'd all appear again. At that point they'd eat anything you threw at them. "Selective" wasn't happening.


I have a carp pool on the Denver South Platte, where they are both wader and fly shy.. in four years of trying I've caught one (1) carp there. That was on a blind cast at a hazard..
It's possible to wade out, wait 15min without moving and they will reappear, but I've not yet found any fly they will eat..

once on a Wyoming lake, released a brook trout, it swam behind my wader legs and started picking scuds off my waders.. clearly not much traumatized by being caught.

sometimes a #20 RS2 tied with CDC will work for me on the hypersensitive Cheeseman/South Platte trout. This is unweighted, trailed behind some beadhead and/or a splitshot. But usually I just get skunked ;-)


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Post 06 Jan 2021, 08:50 • #29 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/20/07
Posts: 8920
Location: US-ME
Nifty CDC flies show here. Could get some more great experimenting with them. viewtopic.php?f=7&t=49593&view=unread#p388590


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Post 14 Jun 2022, 17:48 • #30 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1218
Location: Branson, Missouri
The Ed Story Crackle Back fly is my go-to for difficult trout.
It's the best wet dry I've used in a while.
And it makes a dynamite dry fly.


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Post 16 Jan 2023, 12:29 • #31 
Sport
Joined: 04/26/18
Posts: 32
Location: US-MO
It’s hard to beat a trout bead or squirmy wormy. Especially in the winter months.


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Post 17 Jan 2023, 11:29 • #32 
Guide
Joined: 02/23/11
Posts: 237
Location: Tulsa, OK
Great stories Pittendrigh. I always wanted to fish the plateau.

I’m with others regarding soft hackle. If you dropped me off in the wilderness and gave me the choice of one fly to survive, I’d pick a soft hackle nymph.


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Post 21 Jan 2023, 19:40 • #33 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/23/10
Posts: 469
Location: San Antonio, TX
Some days a purple and starling (18 or 20) worked pretty well, usually for about an hours in the morning when the BWOs were starting their day. But like Bulldog mentioned; I liked the soft hackle pheasant tail, still staying on the small side. Man--I gotta get out there someday. Might be after I finally retire--again.


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Post 20 Mar 2023, 20:41 • #34 
Guide
Joined: 02/17/23
Posts: 112
It's seldom the most productive method, but I dearly love to fish dry flies, and give them up only with the greatest reluctance. When playing with picky fish in slack water, I often tie on a Jassid.

I suspect that any tiny ant or beetle pattern that sits in the film would be just as productive, but I have great confidence in the Jassid. I have had some fun days on the Firehole chasing picky little fish in the slow sections.

The jungle cock "eyes" were scarce as hen's teeth in the 80s. I was able to purchase a small supply, and that kept me in business. I was surprised recently to open a box of tying material passed on to me from a friend's father, to find two full jungle cock capes! I felt as if I had struck gold. :lol


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