Baetis & Caenis
Mr.G/American Sportsman
come off the water in the trillions and bunches, nothing else will
work. There are some hints on how to fish these blanket hatches and it
is well worth one's time.
Here is the time of year when fish of great size can be taken on hooks
as small as you care to tie. I tie the Baetis vagans with upright blue
dun wings down to size 24's. The same goes for olive bodied Baetis that
are coming off the water. However, it is the spinner flight that makes
the trout go mad. As the Baetis spend themselves, the currents gather
them in little bunches and many of the spent wings of both species are
easily tied on size 20 - 26 hooks for you only need a hint of body color
and with the fine spinning nature of mink or rabbit, this is not hard to
do.
The first thing to know is that paint brush filaments are great tails
for the spinner flights. As small as these flies are, I tie in two
tails that are spread out to 3/4 of an inch long and across. From the
tail, you only need a hint of dubbing or a small woven body from thread
only. Dan Byford showed me how to do that and it works as ridiculous as
it sounds. Personally, I think its too much work.
Again, the first thing I tie in are the spent wings, I go back to the
filament tails, come forward with a little body color, and whip finish
off. You need 8/0 thread for this work and if you tie these flies with
all the seriousness you can muster, it will pay handsome dividends.
The secret to fishing these very tiny flies is to wade out and wait.
Pick a feeding fish because all the fish will not be roaming all over
chasing these things. They will be feeding in a very narrow lane. Your
cast must be within an inch of width, most times for the trout to take
and it has to be timed perfectly. This may mean dozens of casts to the
same fish until you're convinced its playing with you. Take your time.
You shouldn't be casting any farther than a dozen feet or so.
Let the fly always float well past your target so you always pick up
long after and behind the fish.
How you dress these very minute flies is also important. Float the fly,
do not float the first four inches from the fly and float the rest of
the leader with you know what. This procedure will put a short but
vital disconnection between he fly and 8X tippet.
The next thing you need to do is slightly off-set the hook just a bit.
Not much, just a little. If you can find some Captain Hamilton Hooks by
Partridge, dries at that, all the better because these have wide gaps.
Make no mistake about it. These small hooks will hold a big fish. The
will grab just about any mouth membrane and you may have your hands full
with your first big fish on a small hook set up. Check the drag and
make sure its set to zero. Just the line friction will be enough at the
beginning stages of the battle. Immediately at hook up, point the tip
of your fly rod right at the fish and let it run right off the reel.
'When casting,' make sure you have no slack on the water that will snap
to tautness and thus snapping you off.
Getting back to the fish you're working on, it goes like this with each
cast. Cast and then mend. Cast and then mend. Cast and then mend.
Always mend, even if its just for a one foot float. Always mend.
If you think you need to do a false cast, after your fly goes behind the
fish and out of view, false cast there before returning to deliver the
fly for another float.
Here is another secret some may not know. The heavier the fly line
you're using the longer the leader must be. The lighter the fly line
you're using, the shorter the leader can be. Just because you may be
fishing a 7 WT, doesn't mean you can't fish Baetis and Caenis Duns and
Spinners with it. Just go to a 12 foot leader, hand tied if possible
with a 36 inch 8X tippet. If you know how to tie a good leader, you can
make that baby turn all the way over each time and a lot of times you
may be casting just the leader using a 9 foot NWT. Here also, you want
zero reel drag for starters.
The Gink Book of Fly Fishing Records which few know about consists of
anyone catching an 18 inch fish on a size 18 hook or a size 26 inch fish
on a size 26 hook. The only ones I have not been able to do yet is the
28 inch fish on a size 28 hook and of course the most difficult, the
32/32 Club. This however; is another story for another time.
So if you find yourself in the Caenis blizzard hatch, smile and start
setting up your gear. The tails may seem unusual but they work. Just
don't forget your blue or yellow polaroid sun glasses. Fishing these
flies is where bamboo really shines.
See you again soon.
--
Mr.Gink
"the saga continues"
Tom Littleton
Good observations all, would add that the Tricos are another one to add to
that list of little mayflies and that here in the East US, I have seen a very
small rusty colored dun in the later parts of the season. As noted, tying must
be very sparse, with fine threads and little dubbing. We are in the midst of
trico season on the Tulpehocken in PA. I have noted a couple of things about
this hatch: First, emergers sometimes work after the spinner fall is over, as
the fish sometimes go back to the crippled duns for a last snack. Second, a
quick shot over risers with a larger, but not outrageous fly(say, a #18
sulfur,amidst #24 Tricos)will rise some good fish.
Tom Littleton
Malcolm
cream and cover your jacket with sloughed skins!) but we had a huge hatch on
Loch leven on Friday.
Damned frustrating but took 4 nice browns on s20 hares ear suspender. I
wonder if they don't take the nymphs as much as the adults. You'reright
about the feeding lane!
Mr.G/American Sportsman <gi...@tds.net> wrote in message
news:39681580...@tds.net...
MrGink
Malcolm wrote:
> I don't know if your American Caenis are the same as our Scottish ones (pale
> cream and cover your jacket with sloughed skins!) but we had a huge hatch on
> Loch leven on Friday.
> Damned frustrating but took 4 nice browns on s20 hares ear suspender. I
> wonder if they don't take the nymphs as much as the adults. You'reright
> about the feeding lane!
>
_____ You're correct about emergers at the same time. As many are coming as
going. LOL! This is why when the spinner ever goes awash, they smash it
anyhow.
Thanks for the response Malcolm.
Mr.G/American Sportsman
When they start coming up for the dries, they often are distracted by
any other emergers at the time. The Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear proves that
as it is not the spinner flight you were working. Trout, it is known
are opportunist. Not unlike Roffians.
LOL!