papabearoutdoors
papabearoutdoors
Simms recently told us he is fishing the annual Ausable 2-fly tournament... where you select you two best flies that will bring in the largest trout of the day.
So here's the question -- if you had to select only two flies to use for a day of fishing in a tournament situation, what would they be? Let's just say the day begins at 7am and ends at 6pm.
It's a tough challenge because you're fishing all sorts of different water throughout the day, and you want to entice the biggest fish but at the same time -- you have to think about whats going to be happening in the water with insects, etc.
typically the biggest trout come in on nymphs in my experience, and often an emerger will make a big trout work less to get their protein than one where they have to completely rise (dry fly).
So with that said, here are my selections:
1) Wooly Bugger. I find that big trout want the meat, and even if there is a hatch on I've been able to toss a bugger behind a big boulder or the head of a pool and come away with a much bigger trout than those slashing the surface of the water. From early in the morning, to mid day, to late at night -- this is a go to fly for me that consistently takes the biggest fish in the run. Often I'll use variations of this simple pattern, whether that means using slightly different materials to create a "buggier" look or a variation in the way its tied so that it could also be mistaken for a stone fly or small cray fish -- the one constant though is that trout everywhere nail the thing. It's indispensable, and definitely the first fly on my list.
2) Caddis Emerger. Can be fished so many different ways - in the film dead drifted, swung, weighted, stripped, held in the current.... and mid day in late may / early june when the caddis are out in droves up in the ADKs, you better be sure the trout are taking them. Hopefully a nice one cares to indulge.
So those are my selections... what say you all?
So here's the question -- if you had to select only two flies to use for a day of fishing in a tournament situation, what would they be? Let's just say the day begins at 7am and ends at 6pm.
It's a tough challenge because you're fishing all sorts of different water throughout the day, and you want to entice the biggest fish but at the same time -- you have to think about whats going to be happening in the water with insects, etc.
typically the biggest trout come in on nymphs in my experience, and often an emerger will make a big trout work less to get their protein than one where they have to completely rise (dry fly).
So with that said, here are my selections:
1) Wooly Bugger. I find that big trout want the meat, and even if there is a hatch on I've been able to toss a bugger behind a big boulder or the head of a pool and come away with a much bigger trout than those slashing the surface of the water. From early in the morning, to mid day, to late at night -- this is a go to fly for me that consistently takes the biggest fish in the run. Often I'll use variations of this simple pattern, whether that means using slightly different materials to create a "buggier" look or a variation in the way its tied so that it could also be mistaken for a stone fly or small cray fish -- the one constant though is that trout everywhere nail the thing. It's indispensable, and definitely the first fly on my list.
2) Caddis Emerger. Can be fished so many different ways - in the film dead drifted, swung, weighted, stripped, held in the current.... and mid day in late may / early june when the caddis are out in droves up in the ADKs, you better be sure the trout are taking them. Hopefully a nice one cares to indulge.
So those are my selections... what say you all?
