A Desperate Fly Fisherman’s Cry for Help

[MGHunter66]

Hopefully Bucksnbows will chime in here. Best advice I can give is stick with nymphs and try attractor style nymphs like rainbow warriors, etc. At the same time get them deep, if you don’t snag bottom at all you’re not using enough weight. Good luck and stay at it.

[OMC]

Everyone has given you solid advise. Stick to smaller nymphs, hares ear, pheasant tails with bead heads and without. Make sure you are dredging the bottom at this time of the year. Always let the drift swing at the end. You can try some flashback nymphs and even glo bugs for the Stockies. Rainbows love eggs!! 

[Scotty155]

Id strongly recommend trying your luck south of KLG.  Once you hone your skill there then id return to KLG. Fly fishing the gorge in my opinion,  is much harder than most other sections of the south branch. Certain sections south of the KLG trout are very easy to catch on the fly. 

[Big one]

Joining your local Trout Unlimited chapter may help.  They all have chapter outings and informal trips.  Many will help you.  Once things get back to normal, ask some experienced fly fisherman in the Ken Lockwood Gorge for advice...concentrate on one or two changes at a time.

 

Also the guys at Shannon’s should be able to give some advice.

[nmc02]

You seem to have good equipment. I like 3 nymphs in NJ....Bead head pheasant tail, hares ear, & bead head copper john. Your indicator should be twice the depth from fly to indicator (i.e...fishing in 2 ft of water, the indicator should be 4 ft from fly. Rod tip should follow the drift, repeat...

Edited March 26, 2020 by nmc02

[Kype]

fly fishing nj is pretty easy(not trying to be an ass either) anywhere near califon has tons of trout. try drifting your basic nymphs. PTs, hares ear, princes. then try drifting and stripping streamers like wooley buggers. i have also done well with black wooley buggers with a little flashabou or crystal flash in the tail.

make sure your getting "down to the fish" if the trout are not looking up and your flies are above them your not even getting a chance at hooking one. sometimes you need to fish low and slow. if trout are rising they are eating dries. if they are splashing the surface they are chasing emergers towards the surface.

if  all else fails, toss worms or eggs where permitted. 

[JJFish]

I would suggest keeping it as simple as possible.  Use the wooly bugger, nymphs, streamer or wet flies.   Fish straight down stream.  Find a decent rocky run with at least 2-3 feet of depth and fish straight down into it.  Use a bit of weight,  make a short cast or just feed the line straight down stream. Feed slack so the fly will sink to the bottom, then tighten your hold on the line so the fly will lift from the bottom.   Let it rise all the way to the top.  You can even vary the speed of the lift by allowing the line to slip through your hand but gradually increasing finger pressure on the line to cause a slower lift.  The amount of weight and speed of the water are the variables that you can experiment with.  This will work!  Don't worry about the tippet size or what fly, it only puts doubt into your mind.  Anything reasonable will be fine.

[toxo]

Hang in there! Stocked Trout will eat insects after they have been in the water for awhile.

[gillripper]

I used a small flashback pheasant tail nymph on the musky last year and had a really good day.  Go small with your nymphs.   You could try a small caddis (simple green wire around the shank with peacock hurl up near the eye as a dropper.  Try later in the spring like in June.  By then a lot of remaining trout have acclimated to eating aquatic insects in the rivers.

[LPJR]

Welcome to the site madisonroberts! 

I am sure you will enjoy everything this site has to offer, lots of great people here. 

Our local expert and site moderator @Bucksnbows, is matching the hatch as we speak! He just sent us a text that he had trout rising in front of him and he had "work to do!" I am sure Brian will provide some valuable tips when he sees this post, as many members will and have done for you already. 

I see a landed Rainbow in the near future for you. 

Edited March 27, 2020 by LPJR

[Syy]

#1 thing is presentation, which is probably your biggest issue. If you're throwing a streamer first and then progressing to a nymph setup you have already turned the fish off from the splash of the streamer. When fishing a suspension rig your weighting is critical too light and your nymphs are downstream of your suspension device which is no bueno. Too heavy and your flies aren't presenting correctly.  Without knowing how big the river is or how far you've been casting on average the biggest mistake I see people make and one I am definitely guilty of is trying to cast too far. Fish as close as possible to get the best drift possible.  I saw someone mention fly size and that does matter, but I would also say don't fish generic patterns or the patterns everyone else is using. Fish get smart quick and sometimes all it takes is something different. I have caught plenty of fish with a size 10 nymph when everyone else is throwing a size 24 Midge and no catching a thing.  Based solely on your post it sounds like you're fishing the greatest hits out there and the fish have seen those a thousand times. So if you're not the first person at the hole presenting the fly correctly it can be tough sledding. Again purely based on your post, it sounds like you could use more knowledge about when to fish certain tactics. That is why I would recommend, like someone else go to your local fly shop ask questions, support them with some $$$ in return. A lot of shops provide clinics which are generally modestly priced and if you can afford it pay for a guide to give you on stream instruction. Fly-fishing is a sport in that sense, while you can go it a lone and eventually get it, it will be much faster if you have someone telling you your drift sucks and this is how it should look. It doesn't have to be a guide, join the local fly club and find a mentor. Also watch others fish. Of they catch a fish ask them for info in a nonimposing  manner. Most people will be glad to give you a few pointers. But best of all you know there are fish where that person caught a fish. One last comment about fly size, the profile and dimensions of the fly matter so if your tying your own be aware of that and of you're buying flies online stop and get some from the local fly shop that they recommend. 

[230jhp]

Caddis have been hatching for the last two weeks on the Pequanock River.  Today they were all over the place by my place. Unfortunately  they don't stock here. I should have gone by a stocked area to see if there are any fish rising.

[230jhp]

Newly stocked rainbows will go after olive wooley buggers; pink or orange San Juan worms. They also like sucker spawn and other egg patterns

[Zipper]

On 3/26/2020 at 1:17 PM, kcohunter said:

Try corn

Same as deer hunting? Welcome aboard Madison! 

[Fish]

Lose the thingamabobber. Learn the water. When you find success being the bobber back if you like. Also read about bugs and their behavior. When tp fish nymphs emergers and dries. Learning insect behavior will tell you what you need to do. I feel for you. I caught my first trout on the fly by dumb luck. I was admiring the day and looking at the trees and my reel started clicking. I was like, what the hell is that..oh crap it's a fish..a small wild brown on the Musky. Good luck.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Fish
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