Northwest Fishing Reports

I've used that exact method with success. Humpies, Elk Hair Caddis, X-Caddis & the Royal Coachman all work well as small streamers.

Many times this will mimic an emerging fly. If using an elk hair caddis you can simulate a skittering caddis that leaves a small wake behind it. When the fish sees the wake, it will many times strike because it knows that the fly can escape the water surface quickly. This is a fun and very effective technique to use because the strikes are often sudden and hard.

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I've experienced the same thing, but usually with a small soft hackle nymph at the end of a swing. I would intentionally raise the rod tip and allow that pattern to skate about on the surface for several seconds. Like Marc mentioned, the take can be fast and brutal. Other times I'd strip it in against the current, where it was in the top film, and have fish crash it. I suffered some snap-offs doing this!

I used to hike in to some mountain lakes in MT. These lakes had cutts and brookies. For whatever reason, these fish loved a soaked elk hair caddis retrieved with a fast, erratic strip, just 1-2" below the surface. Regular nymph patterns wouldn't get near the action, even if fished in the same manner.

Sometimes the "drag free drift" thing is not the only hot technique!

Thank you so much, guys! I'm really glad to see these reponses, it's comforting to know people are doing it too. Yes, I've tried all these methods, skating above the water, a little wake, or erratic actions right under the surface, and IMHO, they are more effective than dead drift, especially in an area where no apparant fish risings. But funny thing is, if my memory serves me right, all books I read emphasize the importance of dead drift above the water but never mention any of these. (Again, don't shoot me if my memory failed me.)

An old Chinese saying: ??????? -- If you rely on everything that books told you, you might as well not read them at all. :-)

Thanks again.

Dead drift or skittering, it all depends on what the fish are keying into. This last fall when fishing the South Fork of the Boise River, the fish were taking both dead drift and skittering. I watched the action closely and tried for the life of me to imitate the skittering action but couldn't quite get it down to fool them. I had the correct fly pattern, but the action between my technique and the natural was just enough that they knew the difference.....frustrating!

another instance when I find skittering useful is when the water surface is full of floating seeds. In the past few weeks, there are lots of this kind of plant seeds in the air, I don't know what are they, but they look like little cotton balls, white in color, flying around everywhere in the air. And thus the water surface is all of them. When the fly rests on the water, I doubt if fish can tell the difference. So i twitch the rod tip a little to creat some ripples, and that Works!

More often than not, the fish prefer the drag-free drift. However, I remember a fly fishing article I had read several years ago. The author talked about success he often had by thinking outside of the box. He recounted many instances where the fish just wouldn't take a pattern dead drifted in the accepted manner. Some days they wanted it skated, other days they wanted is dragged parallel to the current. One particular, funny instance was a frustrating day when he could not figure the fish out. He was on one of his local rivers that he had fished numerous times and knew well. This river had large boulders and steep cliffs running into large deep holes. He then overshot a cast, and had his nymph hit a boulder and drop straight into the water. Immediately a trout shot straight off the bottom, taking his fly! He figured it was a fluke, but he tried it again and BAM.....another fish! For the rest of the day, and on many others after that, he caught fish by utilizing his "slap" technique as he called it. In fact, his article was named "Drag, Slap...." and something else I can't recall! It may have been "skate".

Trout can be funny critters! My mentor used to ride my backside about my dragging of dry flies. "You're dragging, you're dragging", he would say sarcastically, as he was on the sticks of his drift boat and I was casting from the front. Suddenly a large rainbow would come up and hit it. He could never accept it, and at times got PO'd!

raffensg64 wrote:More often than not, the fish prefer the drag-free drift. However, I remember a fly fishing article I had read several years ago. The author talked about success he often had by thinking outside of the box. He recounted many instances where the fish just wouldn't take a pattern dead drifted in the accepted manner. Some days they wanted it skated, other days they wanted is dragged parallel to the current. One particular, funny instance was a frustrating day when he could not figure the fish out. He was on one of his local rivers that he had fished numerous times and knew well. This river had large boulders and steep cliffs running into large deep holes. He then overshot a cast, and had his nymph hit a boulder and drop straight into the water. Immediately a trout shot straight off the bottom, taking his fly! He figured it was a fluke, but he tried it again and BAM.....another fish! For the rest of the day, and on many others after that, he caught fish by utilizing his "slap" technique as he called it. In fact, his article was named "Drag, Slap...." and something else I can't recall! It may have been "skate".

That's really a funny and inspiring story, gives people a whole new look of what's the "right" way of fishing. I guess we all need to think outside of the box from time to time, but before then, get the basics straight first!

Trout can be funny critters! My mentor used to ride my backside about my dragging of dry flies. "You're dragging, you're dragging", he would say sarcastically, as he was on the sticks of his drift boat and I was casting from the front. Suddenly a large rainbow would come up and hit it. He could never accept it, and at times got PO'd!

This reminds me of a book I read. The author said traditionally fly-fishermen prefer to cast upstream, but the author said it's also ok to cast downstream if it's called for. He said once he went to England fishing, an old British fisherman, who insisted on upstream casting, said and I quote: "There is simply no other way."

Real late on a reply to this thread but figured I'd chime in a little. Caddis I believe do dive under the water as adults if I recall. I think it was females to lay eggs but it has been a loooong time LOL. I've caught fish on caddis dries doing what you are mentioning (well, a long time ago anyway). If it were females, they'd ahve a higher calorie content too so possibly get bigger fish and more aggressive takes. I used to catch some nice cutts on the Green doing just that with a burnt orange elk hair caddis, think maybe early Sept timeframe and upper river.

And the cotton stuff is probably cottonwood (tree) seeds.