What is your decision process?

[Mike Wisniewski]

Was thinking about my decision processes.  Would love some feedback
1 How will I present the nymph?
If fast water, short line nymping
If med fast, short line or drydropper
If slow, long line or drydropper

2 How will I get my fly down?
If drydropper, how long tippet
If short or long nymphing what wt. fly
anchor flies size 8 1.0 or .7 grams// size 10 .5 grams/ size 12 .4 grams
anchor/dropper size 14 .3 grams//dropper sizes 16-20

3 Which fly?   8 patterns in which I have confidence  V and Walt's Worm, Burk's Sherbet Roller, Gr Weenie, Frenchie, Stud, Red Devil, Red Brassie

4  Zero in on type of water in fish are holding/feeding

Million $     Am not a hatch guy.  How do folks pick which fly? Does it matter?

Shoutout to Loren Williams.  If you want to raise your game,spend a day training with him.

Thanks Mike

[Loren Williams]

Ok, I need to know what a Burk's Sherbert Roller is!!!!!!!!

1.  I will probably lean to d/d for short deep medium speed pockets as well as frog water; straight nymph for fast water, riffles, runs.  For deep slow long stuff, riffles I like to use long casts and float the curly.  But, I will attack the same water with an array of presentations if need be.

2. That all depends on a myriad of factor (local regulations, wind, water depth and speed...)

3.  Confidence and practice

4.  It can all bee good at times-I try not to get tunnel vision

No comment on the last part-but thanks.

[Dejon Hamann]

Mike,

This is definitely an interesting topic.  Refining your "decision making process" I think is one of those upper level steps that turns awesome anglers into medal winning anglers.  The one thing I've learned over the last 5 years is there are no constants though.  2 gold medal winning anglers can have completely different styles and approaches to the same set of variables.

One way I like to approach each section of stream as if it's a puzzle.  I think I've heard Loren say fishing is all about "problem solving".  Being versatile and giving the fish what they want is the solution. Yesterday was a great case in point.  I started fishing one of our local spring creeks and the first 30 feet was a nice fast set of riffle water that looked perfect for Medium distance euro nymphing.  But then the 40ft section above that was a wide medium deep slow featureless glide and they were ignoring the Euro Method. I think the ever so slight pull of the Euro Method was turning them off so I switched to a "vertical dead drift" with a big indie fly and immediately started hooking up.  Another 40ft upriver and it had the same feature set but a third the depth so I chopped off 2feet of my dropper setup.  I was actually getting strikes but they weren't registering because my dropper was too long.  Up above that there was a deep pocket and the dry/dropper just wasn't finding depth so I chopped it off and went to a long deep euro setup.  Right above that there was a another deep long featureless glide, but this time a modest black stonefly hatch was coming off, so I cut off the nymphs and replaced them with a little stimmie and a big caddis I had in my box.  Back into fish.  At that point I turned around and swung streamers and wets down through the whole section just to see if any fish would react to that presentation. I also skittered teams of dries at certain points.

On the ride home I took stock of everything and thought of ways to improve.  The fish in that river definitely react consistently better to a vertical approach dry dropper setup.  Getting into the top water action was fun, but I wondered how many more fish I may have caught if I hung an appropriate nymph/emerger off one of the dries.  I resolved to go straight for dry/dropper next time I hit that section of river and work on changing flies and depth more than delivery methods to see what kind of success I might have. 

But I digress

[Tim Barrett]

Hey Guy's
   Looks like cabellas has a pic of the Burk's roller-sherbet color.
Looks like a Czech nymph or a BH scud.

[Mike Wisniewski]

Here is the link to the bottom roller that Andy Burk ties.
http://www.cabelas.com/p-0030356320458a.shtml
I tie it in sizes 8 to 12.

I use SLF softshell dubbing for the body and Ar Syn Peacock Hare's ear for the thorax.  Color the clear magic shrimp with a orange marker then a brown marker.
In the size 8, I use a 5/32 gold tungsten bead and .20 lead wraps.  It weighs .70 grams.   I step down in weight to the sizes 10 and 12.   B/c of slim profile, it sinks like a rock.  Knew rainbows loved but wild browns have loved it this year.

If I had the guts, I would only fish 2 or 3 flies in different sizes for a whole season as an experiment.  I actually suspect that depth and presentation are more important than fly choice as long as the fly sort of looks buggy, is attention grabbing, and something a little bit different.   Actually this sounds like my first girlfriend    


I acknowledge there are plenty ways to fish.   My way just works for me in my effort to simplify and to develop a process of solving those stream puzzles.

[Dejon Hamann]

Thanx!  That Burk pattern reminds me I need to add a couple dozen Czech style nymphs to my "walking around" box.  The spring creek browns I pumped yesterday were jam packed with orange tinted scuds and I didn't really have something in that genre.

[Todd Oishi]

...If I had the guts, I would only fish 2 or 3 flies in different sizes for a whole season as an experiment.  I actually suspect that depth and presentation are more important than fly choice as long as the fly sort of looks buggy, is attention grabbing, and something a little bit different...

...My way just works for me in my effort to simplify and to develop a process of solving those stream puzzles.

Well said Mike! Your comments on the importance of depth and presentation, as well as confidence are spot-on!

Like most of you... I have developed/modified/bastardized several highly-effective lake and river patterns that I fish religiously throughout the season and during actual competitions. These patterns have all of the essential qualities and characteristics to make them great "fish catchers", which in-turn allows me to focus more on the task of locating and targeting the fish - rather than wasting valuable time searching for answers within my fly boxes...

[Chris Smorul]

If I had the guts, I would only fish 2 or 3 flies in different sizes for a whole season as an experiment.

I did that last season, fishing a caddis larva dropper in sizes 12 and 14.  I never had the need to change it up, that fly took fish all season and in many different types of water.  The only creek I didn't have any takers was Falling Spring Creek, but I was way out of my league there.

[Nick Naclerio]

My decision process is probally different from most but here it is.

First thing I do is consider the river I'll be fishing. Is it a freestone or a limestone? This helps pick what flies I will be using?

Second is what time of year is it? Every season has different food available to the fish and I should represent that.

Next is what is the flow going to be like? This is more than just a number. Is the water rising or falling? Rising usually mean off color and streamers can be the ticket. Falling usually means the water is clearer and methods I might normally fish will work. I also count on things like in the late summer/fall the water will be low and a dry or dry dry/dropper rig could be better than a Euro rig.

Next is the weather. Once again more than just a number. Is the weather warmer or cooler than its been? In the winter warmer weather can really turn the fish on, in the summer its the opposite. I also always look at the wind. Euro nymphing in a stiff breeze is just plain no fun.

Those things can all be checked from home, once I get to the river I get a whole different set of choices to make.

Whats the section of river I'll be fishing look like? Is there pocket water, swift runs, big pools? All these go into how I should rig up.

Next I look for insect activity. Even in the winter if theres a hatch the fish will move up into the riffles. If there is a hatch, whats hatching? It never hurts to use flies that are the same size/shape and color as the naturals.

Next is, is the rig I'm using working? If a good amount of time goes by and it doesn't work its probally time for a change. Maybe I thought the fish were going to be in the riffles and they are not. So I might take off my Euro rig and tie on a dry dropper rig or an indie setup.

Last and more important to me than all the other things is how do I want to catch fish that day. Some days I just want to fish dries, sometimes swing streamers and if I want a big number of fish in a day and the river suits it I'll Euro nymph.

[Loren Williams]

I like the way you think man!  There is a time and a place for catching as many fish as you can-personally I can only think of one.

For my money, my time on the water is special so I try to fish with learning in the forefront.  I enjoy new techniques, the challenge of a difficult lie or a tough cast, playing with ideas, or fishing behind others.

I don't keep score really well and usually my goals are other than catching an insane number of fish so that I look good.

Last and more important to me than all the other things is how do I want to catch fish that day.

[Pete Erickson]

Awesome list of considerations guys!

to add, I would have to put one "all important" thing at the top of my list...  LOCAL KNOWLEDGE!

I always start there, unless this river is on a different planet, there will always be some local knowledge of some kind.  I firmly believe that only our over sized ego's get in the way of us gleaning valuable information from local knowledge---whether it be a 6 year-old kid who caught a fish on a worm and bobber rig, or a 30 year veteran guide from that river...

**Local knowledge is always the first piece of the puzzle for me...

cheers
Pete

[Mike Wisniewski]

Thanks for all the info.

Chris, you really fished only 2 flies last year.   Are you going to do this this year?  Can you share this pattern?   When i think about it, I used only 3 patterns on the Bushkill- Walt's worm, frenchie, and red devil.

Mike

[Nick Naclerio]

Mike add a tan and white woven nymph with a gold beadhead in size 10 for the Bushkill. Works very well.

[Marc Payne]

Most of the time I let the water dictate how I present a nymph.  Small streams are almost exclusively high stick or Czech because of casting room, pocket water, etc., but on tailwaters it depends on the conditions.   The first thing I do is high stick the water right at the bank.  Most guys just go tromping into the water without giving it a thought, but you'd be surprised at how many times you may have a productive hookup before your boots get wet.  Highsticking an undercut back can yield some nice fish.  Then I fish the bubble line if one is readily accessable, then the riffles.  In my part of the country slow or still water usually holds only cruisers and the majority of the fish are concentrated in the aforementioned spots.

As for flies, I use split back sulphur nymphs, church flies, redruMs, and the ever present PT.  One particular river I fish has a lot of caddis so I will focus on imitating them.  For me it boils down to knowedge of the rivers hydrology and using what I have confidence in.  I have one fly that I tie with an emerger tailing off behind it that is just a killer...at certain times.

I fish bamboo most of the time which protects very light tippet so I go with the smallest fluro I can get away with and give it a whirl.  Bottom line, you just can't beat the skill you will glean from just getting out there and trying a few things till you find something that works.  After that it is all just refinement.

~marc~


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