great day fishing spiders

Moderators: William Anderson, letumgo

User avatar
taylor16
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:11 pm
Location: NE Iowa

great day fishing spiders

Post by taylor16 » Thu May 09, 2013 6:28 pm

Fished some partridge and green spiders today in some select riffles and pools and really experienced some aggressive takes. I had to cast to the far side of a riffle adjacent to an elevated bank where I saw some trout rising. It was an overcast day and I was having some trouble seeing the junction of my fly line and leader but a few of the takes I had made any visual input unnecessary. I nearly dropped my rod on the largest today, a nice 16-17" Iowa brown. It was also the first time I had a trout literally rip line off my reel. Anyways, just wanted to share - I'm becoming more and more fascinated with these simple soft hackles!
User avatar
hankaye
Posts: 6582
Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:59 pm
Location: Arrey, N.M. aka 32°52'37.63"N, 107°18'54.18"W

Re: great day fishing spiders

Post by hankaye » Thu May 09, 2013 6:33 pm

taylor16, Howdy;
taylor16 wrote: I nearly dropped my rod on the largest today, a nice 16-17" Iowa brown. It was also the first time I had a trout literally rip line off my reel. Anyways, just wanted to share - I'm becoming more and more fascinated with these simple soft hackles!
Neat ... huh ? ;) , :D

hank
Striving for a less complicated life since 1949...
"Every day I beat my own previous record for number
of consecutive days I've stayed alive." George Carlin
User avatar
Ron Eagle Elk
Posts: 2746
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:33 am
Location: Carmel, Maine

Re: great day fishing spiders

Post by Ron Eagle Elk » Thu May 09, 2013 7:11 pm

Okay, Friends and Neighbors, he's hooked now.

Taylor16, Aren't those sweet wee wets something? The takes are usually very aggressive, possibly because the trout think the bug is gonna get away. Maybe that explains why I have 72 dry flies and 350 spiders and flymphs.
"A man may smile and bid you hale yet curse you to the devil, but when a good dog wags his tail he is always on the level"
User avatar
Old Hat
Posts: 4204
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:24 am
Location: Where Deet is a Cologne
Contact:

Re: great day fishing spiders

Post by Old Hat » Thu May 09, 2013 11:04 pm

Great to hear Taylor. The great thing about these type of patterns is you can really fish them in a multitude of ways and conditions. Many other types of flies are somewhat limited.

The hard takes on soft hackles come with the territory. Enjoy.

Thanks for sharing.
I hate it when I think I'm buying organic vegetables, and when I get home I discover they are just regular donuts.
http://www.oldhatflytying.com
DUBBN

Re: great day fishing spiders

Post by DUBBN » Fri May 10, 2013 5:15 am

It was those aggressive strikes that really got me hooked on Spiders. How deep in the water column were your patterns when the strikes occurred?
User avatar
taylor16
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:11 pm
Location: NE Iowa

Re: great day fishing spiders

Post by taylor16 » Fri May 10, 2013 12:43 pm

The stream was interesting -- about half a mile of nice scattered riffles with deep 4+ foot pools. I didn't have any luck with spiders or flymphs (even the tungsten weighted ones, bead behind the hackle) in the deeper pools but did very well when I changed to simple weighted nymphs. The pools varied in speed of flow. In general, do you all find that soft hackles work "best" in shallower water and what do you do to fish deeper pools besides tailing a nymph as a dropper where they might see it better...
User avatar
Ron Eagle Elk
Posts: 2746
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:33 am
Location: Carmel, Maine

Re: great day fishing spiders

Post by Ron Eagle Elk » Fri May 10, 2013 3:35 pm

Taylor,

I guess I'm just lucky. Most of the trout I fish to are either Coastal Cutthroat or West Slope Cutthroat, both are famous for looking up. They will come out of a deep, deep, dark hole to smash a dry fly, or, even better, a spider or flymph tied on a light wire hook.

If I really need to get a fly down deep, I switch spools and use either a sink tip line or a full sinking line. Using those lines I shorten the leader a bit.
"A man may smile and bid you hale yet curse you to the devil, but when a good dog wags his tail he is always on the level"
Mataura mayfly
Posts: 3648
Joined: Thu Oct 27, 2011 6:28 am
Location: Southland, South Island, New Zealand.

Re: great day fishing spiders

Post by Mataura mayfly » Sat May 11, 2013 12:15 am

Good to see your out there having some fun with the spider patterns and discovering where they suit and what methods suited you best at the time, but buddy- you have to take the camera along with you, we would all love to see the photographic evidence of your success. ;)
"Listen to the sound of the river and you will get a trout".... Irish proverb.
User avatar
Boris
Posts: 412
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:09 am
Location: Between denial & paranoia in Sydney
Contact:

Re: great day fishing spiders

Post by Boris » Sat May 11, 2013 4:46 am

what do they say Jeff...... "no photo no fish" :D

Taylor, fish in shallow riffles are feeding and they usually mean business. They leave the security of deeper water to take advantage of feeding where the aquatic life is most abundant.
User avatar
redietz
Posts: 1726
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:21 pm
Location: Central Maryland

Re: great day fishing spiders

Post by redietz » Sat May 11, 2013 10:17 am

Boris wrote:what do they say Jeff...... "no photo no fish" :D
If you enjoy taking pictures, it's great to post them, but ... I'm seeing that "no photo no fish" quote show up in forum after forum, and it's starting to bother me a bit. I personally hate taking fish photos for a number of reasons:

1) I fit some definitions of being legally blind, so I'll never be any good at it.
2) I came to fish; taking photos detracts from the moment.
3) I feel badly about holding a fish out of the water long enough to get its picture.*
4) I've somehow managed to fish for over half a century without taking photos of my catch, don't feel like changing to satisfy onlookers.

* Not everybody has the same problem -- reason 1 means that I will be holding a fish out of water longer than other people.

Again, if you enjoy it, great. But please don't make someone feel an inferior angler because they don't post photos.
Bob
Post Reply