Skating Flies on the North Umpqua

[matt johnson]

Hi all,

North Umpqua summer runs are just around the corner! I was wondering how others out there approach their surface fishing on the NU. A friend fished with both Scott Howell and Tony Wratney last summer. Both had him "twitch" the skater as it swung across the run. One guide actually had him "pop" the skater rather violently. This seems like a lot of work! I have never employed the "twitch", just a nice steady wake. This has worked for me. What do you guys do? Am I missing out? Thanks, Matt Johnson.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think you could make a few cast without and a few with in the same place?

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When I was on the lower Deschutes River with a 35 year veteran guide swinging flies just under the surface he had some advice.

Run a first cast through with no action and the second with a few "twitches".

He said some times the fish are really ready to "rock n roll" and others need a little more stimulus.

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A friend of mine was in British Columbia in the Fall one year for two weeks. When he got there it started raining and didn't quite for almost two weeks. He spent a lot of time in the local pub getting to know the locals.

He met an old Scottish "grease line" fly fisher who told him the only true way to catch wild Steelhead was on a "dead drifted dry fly".

I think you need really wild Steelhead on a run that has not been pounded lately too. Chris Pasley and I were able to rise Steelhead to dead drifted dries on the Dean River in BC. It was just like dry fly fishing for big trout the way they rose and followed the fly down stream before they took it.

[lee s.]

Like a carpenter, the more tools in your box, the better prepared you are. Ya may not need them all every day, but it's nice to have'em when ya need'em. :wink:
....lee s.

[SSPey]

a good time to use this method (among others) is when fishing a lie on the opposite side of the main current, when the current otherwise would sweep the fly away. A series of upstream mends can hold a waker in a sweet spot on the other side of the current for a few seconds, pulsing it with each mend. Eventually the main current eventually gains the upper hand and pulls the fly away, but sometimes a few good twitches are all that's needed to raise a fish quickly, explosively.

Problem is, I suspect the twitching technique has the possibility of spooking fish that it doesn't hook, and I wonder whether it could be bad for fishing overall, putting down fish and souring a pool like a serious of crappy casts.