Originally Posted by
Sonoman
Any ideas on why small flies are the ticket? When I fished the Russian River a lot in the 80's and 90's for shad we all used the Stren and EdgeBrite flies tied on size 6 chrome 3906 hooks...sometimes even size 4. On the AR small bugs are the ticket...10s and 12s on short shank hooks. Were we doing it wrong back then? We used to catch dozens in a morning or evening.
As I understand it the fish, which are plankton-eaters in the ocean, don't eat when spawning so they go after the fly to get it out of the way. That suggests larger bugs should do better but I can't argue with the success of smaller flies.
What do you think?