Fly Lines

Periodically it seems that I have to be reminded just how small an insect trout can become focused on. When the hatching insects are really teeny-tiny, it seems that there isn't enough food value for a big hungry trout to become selective.

Yet when there are enough insects emerging - when the pickings become just too easy to resist, trout will focus on the tiniest of all insects, the midges.

Not long ago I ran on to one of these hatches down on the Deschutes. I was guiding a series of trips throu

gh the same water in the Warm Springs to Trout Creek area. Toward evening on the first day we pulled into a very nice riffle area. Even before we were out of the boat I spotted fish porpoising out in the choppy water.

I couldn't see any insects, so I took a guess at what the hatch might be and tied on a small nondescript bead head serendipity nymph pattern. It's a fly I like to use in this sort of situation because it doesn't really imitate anything in particular, but it imitates lots of smaller insects in general including caddis, small mayflies and midges.

When I can't see bugs on the water it usually means the fish are eating something small sub-surface. My pick of a generalized tiny nymph pattern was a good guess; my guests started catching fish fairly quickly.

Still, I wasn't completely satisfied; I seldom am when I'm fishing blind and guessing about the hatch. I took a stomach sample from one of the fish we caught to see what he had been eating. (Samples of this sort can be taken from live

fish that are intended for release by using a turkey baster like tool available in most fly shops. These tools should be used sparingly and with great care to avoid harming the fish.)

My test results yielded a handful of the tiniest midge pupa imaginable. They looked like a scattering of pepper in my hand.

Even though I was now sure we weren't matching the hatch correctly, I was still hesitant to switch flies. In order to do it right I would have to use a #24 midge pattern. Minuscule hooks like that don't seem right for those hard-running Deschutes fish. I felt we were catching enough fish - everyone was satisfied. I stayed with what we were doing even though my small bead head pattern was significantly larger than the actual insects.

The second night was not quite so easy. The fish were more active than ever before. This time the bead head fly, while still marginally successful, had lost a lot of its impact.

It was clear we didn't have the fly selection quite right. We could see fish slashing at the insects in the shallow water above us, but only a small percentage of them were being fooled by our imitation. I took another sample; it was the same midge hatch.

Despite my reservations we where going to have to use smaller flies. Reluctantly I trudged back to the boat to get my box of extra small midge patterns.

As soon as we dropped down in size, matching the hatch properly, our fish-hooking percentage went right through the roof. Instead of randomly hooking one here or there, we could now pick out an individual fish's location, place a fly over him and hook him every time. The fish were fooled completely.

Rather than having trouble with the tiny hooks we were actually getting cleaner hook sets and fewer missed strikes. Because the hook sets where good we didn't lose fish during the fight.

Once again I had proved to myself that being nervous about using extra-small flies can be a serious mistake.

Those tiny imitations, ones that are so small you can barely thread the hook eye, are more effective than you could ever imagine when the situation is right.