Any time you’re using your fly to imitate a food source, step #1 is to understand what type of food source lives in the water that you’re fishing and try to imitate it. Stonefly nymphs are most often found in quick, rocky water, so if you’re in quick, rocky water you should think about fishing stonefly nymphs. Simple, right?
On the Kanektok and Arolik Rivers in Western Alaska, our rainbow trout eat mammals. Not always – they eat salmon parts too – but furry little mammals like mice and voles and lemmings mean big meals. Our trout are hungry because they’re big and the feeding season is short. They’re aggressive because they have to be. Furry little mammals fall into our rivers sometimes, so mouse flies work great.
Although you can catch rainbows on mouse flies in pretty much any water (and it’s often surprising where mouse flies will work), fishing mouse flies in water near where those furry little mammals live is definitely the highest-percentage game.
All that brings us to today’s photo. Furry little mammals like living in the grass. Grass-lined banks are an excellent place to fish mouse flies. The water that you see above pretty much screams ‘Mouse Water’! You should fish a mouse here.
Oh, by the way, some of those boat rides are pretty cool too…
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