chugbug wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2023 1:01 pm
I would sure enjoy hearing your perspective on hatch matching's place in fly tying and fishing over the last 60.
My take on catching fish...
I believe in the idea that there are three types of feeding fish:
Opportunistic Feeding where they take anything passing buy that looks like food-no hatch matching needed.
Aggressive Feeding that strikes any intruder in the area- possibly to defend the feeding lie or whatever food there might be. No Hatch but streamers might be a great choice. A good way to land a very nice Piscivorous fish. This also brings to mind Bull Trout that slam into that smaller fish that took your fly.
Selective Feeding where the fish are keying in on one particular bug, sex, and/or stage of the life cycle. To complicate this, you can be in a multiple hatch of different insects on the same water. This is where hatch matching can really pay dividends. But also, it is important to note that it is easier to catch fish with the wrong fly fished the right way than to fish the right fly the wrong way. If you can tie to mimic the bug, the life stage, and the behavior of an insect and understand it's place in the fish habitat you can really enjoy some marvelous days on the water. Some days it is catching and others it is just a nice day on the water.
Any place you are fishing is bound to be one of the loveliest places in the area.
