Gulpers, nymphing, and dry flies

[Lee Haskin]

On a trip to the Sierra's, this past week, I found a very unusual trout behavior, or at least one I had not seen before.

I have seen trout gulping at Hebgen Lake, in Montana, and of course they were literally gulping tricos off the surface amid a mass of bugs. Fishing with a dry fly was the method of choice....

......I have seen trout sipping emergers, and seen them taking nymphs as they move to the surface.....

....however, on this trip, I found some trout that were near enough to the surface to create a subtle wake or slight distrubance, yet were not poking there heads out-obviously eating nymphs. There were no bugs emerging or duns present. Tracking these fish was a bit tricky since they changed direction similar to gulpers. If I could place the small, #18, midge in their path they would rise and eat it every time. This all happened just before dark, with about 30-40 mins. to fish. With several other fly fishermen scratching their heads, I felt fortunate to find an answer!

I was curious if some of you have found trout, feeding in a similar way. In 50 years of fly fishing, this was a first! (...or maybe I should get out more?!! Grin!)

Also a first: Saturday night, a lightening strike exploded a doug fir, not more than 100 yards away from where we were sleeping! Very scary stuff!!

Cheers,
Lee

[Mik]

Hi Lee. I am surprised you didn't pack up and leave after that lightening strike. My wife would have been done. I am curious to know where you midge was in the water column. Generally if I see swirls, but no breaching, I go subsurface 6-12 inches. If it is a slight nip at the surface, I go emerger. If I see fish getting acrobatic, I go dry. I think it would be interesting to know if other people have similar methods based on suface activity.

[Lee Haskin]

Hey Mik,

As it turned out, we were actually planning to leave the next morning, but I was surprised my wife didn't freak out. I can't say I have ever "felt" the thunder like that. Yikes!
I will post a picture of the tree that exploded near us. Very impressive.

The naturals were just below the surface, although I couldn't really see them, since it was near dark. There were no bugs hatching. They really weren't "swirls", but more like 'moving swirls, or disturbances', if that makes sense. It was like the fish were gulping underwater. They were close to the surface yet willing to pop up and take the dry. Very unusual behavior, it seems.

I'm not much a nymph guy, so I stayed with the dry. I'm sure a small nymph would have worked too, suspended just a bit.

One fly fisherman was fishing a larger dry, with no luck; and 2 more were trolling buggers, with no luck.

Like you, I am curious if others have seen this behavior. Again, there were no bugs visible on the surface.

Lee

[Flycanoe]

Have seen this behavior before on some lakes and used a dry with a nymph dropper 12" below with good success. The hit ratio was about 3 to 1 for the nymph vs the dry.

[FRSam]

Lee I've run into that and I don't think it's all that unusual but its sure exciting!!! Fish waking the surface, big fish, big wakes... my feeling was they were taking midges subsurface but like you if you placed a small #18, #20 Griffiths Gant on the surface in their path they'd come up and grab it. My first 20 / 20 was in just such a situation over at, yeah, Lake Davis years ago just after the sun dropped out of sight. I used to go out almost every evening and run into just what you described. God it was fun!!! I think the midges were so thick just subsurface there was no need to brake the surface - they'd just cruise along the shore line with a dropped jaw and take in all the food.

That bolt of lightning you described Saturday night didn't happen around 11:30pm did it? I have no idea where you were but over here in the Mohawk Valley we had one blast that sent the neighbors kids flying into their cabin as they were camped outside in a tent. It woke me up and right after the thunder I heard the kids scrambling for the cabin - I couldn't help but smile. These thunder storms can put on quite a show in the evening.

Pete

[Lee Haskin]

Hi Pete,

Yes, you described the behavior perfectly. I should have pulled out my light to see if I could ID the little guys.

Yes, the blast was about that time. We were at Sardine Lake, and the strike was right next to the road leading to the lake. I will try and post a pic.

The lake I was fishing was Packer Lake. Some impressive Osprey "strikes" in the evening too! One dropped in right behind me and I thought somebody fell in the lake! Grin!
The osprey certainly knew about the trout behavior because they must have picked off 4-5 fish just before dark. Very cool!

BTW: The Powerbait of choice was rainbow, and neon green. This was announced by a drunk baitfisherman that drove everyone crazy. Grin!!! It is sure fun catching fish on dries when bait won't work. (Probably a mean streak in me.)

Also.......We tried to make the climb to Deer Lake, starting at Packer Lake, and my wife finally gave up and we headed back. I was told there were some nice fish there, and I guess you can get closer with a 4X4 up on the Crest Trail. Way too hot to be making that climb anyway.

Cheers,
Lee

[FRSam]

I'm dying to see that tree Lee...it sounded like it was in my backyard. Sardine is just up the hill from where I live. Your description of the bait fisherman reminds me of stop at Mac umber Reservoir where I put in with a pram one morning and I passed a couple of bait-fisherman rowing their way in. They said there's nothing going on underneath all the fish are on the "uprights" up top.

And sure enough there was a great Callibaetis hatch coming off. I had a field day and I still smile just thinking about it. They were a couple of real nice guys and their description of these mayflies as uprights was pretty darn accurate.

The Lakes Basin area is indeed a pretty area...I haven't been up to Deer Lake but it's definitely on my list. My understanding is the view of the Sierra Buttes from Deer Lake make the hike in worth the entire trip.

Pete

[Lee Haskin]

Here is a picture of the tree, hit with the lightening strike!

Also, a couple of pictures on the trail to Deer Lake.

[FRSam]

Boy that's nasty Lee...I've seen strikes like that before. We had one just outside our cabin years ago and to this day I can still remember the boom. I'm glad no one was hurt but I'll bet it got the heart pumping a bit faster.

Pete