Tom, In my other house I had a 150 gallon aquarium, in which I used to test flies and their actions by holding them in front of the pump nozzle, swimming them through the tank, or bouncing them on the bottom. I'll make a long story and a lot of tests short- what we think is happening is seldom what is really happening.
That SJW looked like food to the trout. I could have been the movement, light, the shape- whatever. Figuring out what is what makes it so much fun and a real challenge. Like Paul said, it's time to hang up the gear and do something different when that aspect no longer appeals to us. DonO ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Davenport" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 10:00 PM Subject: Re: [VFB] Patterns and Presentation > This will probably get buried with all of the other posts on this > subject, but how about the presentation the fly itself makes? Up until > this year I was certain that the San Juan Worm tied with a piece of > Ultra Chenille lashed to a hook with both tips burned to a taper was > the only one to use. i had seen versions of the San Juan made by > wrapping a Mustad "All Around" style hook (this is a hook that has a > large hump in its bend and then the barbed part bends abruptly and > points straight toward the eye of the hook) with vinyl, but figured > something that stiff would never work. It just seemed to be common > sense that that the chenille would wave in the water and look "wormy". > > Well, during the summer I went fishing with a friend who had a "hot new > fly" for the Weber River. It was the wrapped hook version of the San > Juan wrapped with a fluorescent pink-orange kite string. I put on my > chenille version and thought "I'll show this guy" and he out fished me > ten to one. The Browns were simply slamming his fly! Finally I > swallowed my pride and asked him for one and immediately started > catching fish. Since then I have tied some of my own and the are > amazingly productive especially in off color water. > > So here is my theory. Even though the hook itself is stiff I bet the > shape causes it to twist and wobble in the water creating an illusion > of motion... in other words, the fly itself is making a presentation > similar to a lure. > > What do you think? > > Tom > > On Nov 1, 2004, at 9:13 PM, mark romero wrote: > > > Tony, VERY interesting..........and Congrats on the new great grand > > daughter. That's a blessing for sure. What'a ya think? Bamboo first? > > lol, mark....... > > > >> From: Tony Spezio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> Subject: [VFB] Patterns and Presentation > >> Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 19:34:23 -0600 > >> > >> I kind of been following this tread so I will post about yesterday. I > >> have not been on the water for over two months due to reasons I will > >> not > >> discuss on the list. It has been raining for several days. I have been > >> trying to get caught up on tying flies. Yesterday morning the dam was > >> shut down and the water was as low as it will get, great for wading > >> but > >> I was forced to fish from my boat. I was tying and just could not > >> resist > >> it anymore so I geared up and hit the river. > >> I motored up to Tucker Shoals and dropped anchor. When I got up there > >> there was one fly fisher wading at Tucker. > >> I tied on a brown soft hackle cast for about 1/2 hour had a bump . > >> Changed flies several times and nothing. I noticed the wading > >> fisherman > >> catching trout an about every third cast. It was raining real hard. > >> The > >> harder it rained the more hookups he had. I only had another bump on a > >> brown Sowbug. As he got closer I asked what he was using, guess what, > >> A > >> brown sowbug like I had on the tippet. He caught trout right in front > >> of > >> the boat while we were talking, caught trout behind the boat too. In > >> desperation, I tied on a broken down Chili Pepper, on the first cast I > >> hooked up, big brown, They are heading up river to the reds at the > >> dam. > >> I never got it close to the boat before I lost it. I am now getting a > >> bit wet so I started drifting back home. A couple of casts later I > >> hooked into another large trout. Could see the flashing in the water > >> so > >> I guess it was a Bow. That fish broke me off. I got to thinking about > >> the guy at Tucker. He was using a strike Indicator (Bobber ) as I know > >> it. Our presentations were the same an far as I could see. When he was > >> by the boat we were drifting the same fly almost side by side. > >> Was the indicator the answer, holding the fly at a given depth, did it > >> give the fly a certain movement that I did not have, Did I twitch the > >> fly and scare off the fish. Don't know, Maybe I was away from the > >> water > >> too long. > >> My grand daughter just got here with our new 6 week old Great grandson > >> we haven't seen yet. > >> Got to go. > >> Tony > >> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. > >> Experience the convenience of buying online with [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> http://shopnow.netscape.com/ > >> > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > Get ready for school! Find articles, homework help and more in the > > Back to School Guide! > > http://special.msn.com/network/04backtoschool.armx > > > > > > > Tom Davenport > > Home Page: http://homepage.mac.com/tsmd > Webshots Albums: http://community.webshots.com/user/tsmdav > >
