At Chile West we love fishing giant dry flies and streamers. The beauty of that fishery, though, is its variety. Today Trevor Covich tells us about the other end of the spectrum.
Going Small
Sometimes at Chile West we go away from casting and chugging those giant dries and leeches, for a more delicate approach. Tiny nymphs and dries – when do we use these flies, you ask?
The majority of the time we use these flies are when were fishing “The Foam”. Foam lines usually lie along the side of rock walls or back eddies, and carry thousands of small spent insects with the occasional bumble bee or beetle. If you stare long enough, you’ll just see the nose of these fish sipping spent midges and nymphs. Fishing caddis, emergers, and small nymphs is a sure way to success. The majority of the time, rainbows are the only fish frequenting sipping these small bugs – the blue backs under the surface are a dead giveaway.
We also use small flies when we’re targeting a single, spooky fish. When you sit and watch a fish rising, you can usually tell what kind of bug it’s taking by the way it rises. For big, splashy rises – Chubby Chernobyl! Full mouth out of the water – elk hair caddis. When you just barely see the nose – Griffith’s Nat, Copper John, pheasant tail, or any small emerger will do the trick.
Tip: Lay the fly in the zone as smooth as possible to not spook the fish. Wait a split second longer than usual to strike – let that fish go down with it. Last but not least, don’t strike hard…just lift the rod and that fish is yours.
Leave a Reply