NEW FEATURE VIDEO: “PEAK OF SUMMER GLIDES – BIG, WARY BROWNS ON SMALL FLIES”
This folder has been sitting on our hard drives for some time. It has some exceptional moments and fish.
Two videos ago we had a look at a freestone water of rock shelves, boulders, pockets and… hoppers. Peak of summer low river flows and a mix of prospecting and sighting a few good trout with good-sized foam and rubber flies. FUN!
Let’s now turn right into that dark alley that most fly fishers don’t want to go down. Peak of summer. LOW river flows. SLOW water. FLAT water. WARY, SPOOKY trout that have been caught & released, pressured for months on end.
But Dave, I just want to go out and catch fish, cast hoppers and just catch something. Yeah, well, sorry. It’s time to look at doing things methodically and have a good go at those trout that spook on a misplaced cast or a cast delivered with a little too much sauce on the “splat factor”. Those unforgiving fish. Those fish that even when you’ve done everything else properly right down to #20 dries on 6x, they’re still barely nosing the fly.
This is THAT.
But the video doesn’t start out on that tough water. We begin this video with essentially hilite reel fishing set to music. At first blush this is full screen Instagram reel territory. Now, the reason for the shares. It shares how fun faster water runs earlier in the pmd mayfly hatch can be, when flows are higher, trout happy and eager, and when you can get away with a LOT of extras in line management and heavier tippet.