Which is the best fly?

[otter]

If mimicing a hatch works for you then good luck but you will need that luck should you ever wish to "prove" it with results- especially when the caenis are hatching.

That is a very good point. In your opinion why is it so difficult to catch many trout when Caenis are hatching ?

[Traditionalist]

The ironic thing is Mike I don't disagree with most you have went on to say. I only originally got on my high horse because you presented it as "the word".

No I did not, that was how you perceived it and it apparently pissed you off.  I have no control over your perceptions, interpretations,  or expectations.  You should just read what people write and not base your reactions to it on what you think they might have meant or their possible motivations for writing it at all.

Also, if something is correct it is correct regardless of who writes it. You may not agree with it, but that is another matter entirely.

Anyway,  I think I have more or less covered my general views on these matters, and I don' t see much point in continuing this discussion. 

Have a nice day!

[Fishtales]

I can't prove this but I can give an answer.

The Caenis hatches on one of my local lochs used to be enormous. On a warm summer night and a flat calm there were literally hundreds of fish on the surface with only their noses, dorsal or tail fin showing. Admittedly they were all stocked rainbows but they were near impossible to catch and a lot of frustrated fly anglers I came up with a few patterns to try and get consistent returns without much success until I tyed this.



Fished in the middle of my usual setup but with the dry on the tail and the whole cast, except the droppers, covered in Muclin to float, I started to catch fish consistently. I passed the tying and flies on to others and it also emigrated to the big loch, of some 500 acres, and became the go to fly there too. I have since used it on other lochs during a Caenis hatch and have managed to catch more than my fair share of fish.

As I see it the fly is in the right place and looks the right shape so it is successful but a fly looking the same but a different colour would probably do just as well

[otter]

Following on from bushy palmers post.

I find I fish more with my eyes and 'instict' than with analytical thought. I fish with the same three flies, but I wont go over that again. When fishing my eyes are never still. They scan and take in as much information as I can. Eventually I become accustomed to the wind, wave and surface patterns around me and the slightest difference initiates a response in my brain that draws my attention to that spot. The difference can be quite subtle. I don't know how many times I have perceived a darkened spot in my peripheral vision, which, when covered, turns out to have been a fish. When I turn to look at the spot square on it doesn't look any different from the rest of the dark spots, if I see it in my peripheral vision it immediately gets a response. I also see subtle differences in the waves. We have all seen the small ripple effect in the trough caused by the crest breaking, a hundred times that is what it is but there is a very slight difference to it if it is a fish moving just under the surface. I can't tell you what it looks like I just know it is there and a fish is the usual outcome when I cover it. I don't know how many times I have talked to people fishing the same loch and have them say they haven't seen a fish move yet I have been seeing fish all over the place.

Improving your observation skills and allowing you instinctive brain to take over is just as important as casting ability, or fly choice.

I cant prove what you say    but I am convinced that some have a natural ability to tune into things better than others.  I have, i believe but a little natural ability in this area and occasionally can tune in as such. I have written about this before. I do not know what it is like for others but on the occasions that it has happened for me , I could hear a flea fart, see a flea take a pee and time seemed to slow down that what for me seemed like ten minutes was actually well over an hour. This is quite a common thing when you get absorbed in something, be it reading a book or whatever. Thing is, for some it seems to be a state of mind that comes naturally and regularly, others only occasionally. As you say, in this state of mind, everything is instinctive.

[Wildfisher]

why is it so difficult to catch many trout when Caenis are hatching ?

sheer weight of numbers and small size?

Here is one of my sons on Loch Watten during a caenis hatch 

[attaching=1]

[Malcolm]

BP,

That post of yours (#41) is absolutely bang on the money, very clever and perceptive.. I read it twice to make sure I had picked up what you were saying. 

Our perceptions modified by experiences we have certainly seem to be the driving force behind how we fish and what we percieve as being right. I know very few genuinely very good river fishermen and the surprising thing is that I know that the fly for them is much less important than stealth and drag. My experience is that drag is the biggest turn-off of fish. With the "wrong" pattern we may still be successful unless the trout are on that aggravating and picky mode of feeding which thankfully doesn't happen all the time.   

[bushy palmer]

I get really thick caenis hatches on my local reservoir. To this day I have never found a method that will work night in night out so will try these this year if I make it up Sandy.
Some nights I've found success using a massive size eight bushy thing to get them out of their apparent hypnosis, others times i've tied every tiny thing in the box.
Davefromtheattic sometimes gets them on a static greenwells

[Traditionalist]

The main reason in rivers is the sheer volume of flies extant. Even if you have a more or less perfect imitation it wont do you much good because the fish just tend to hoover them up. The more fish there are the better your chances, but you are relying on a fish hoovering up your artificial.  Trout don't inspect individual caenis, they just swallow them.  Caenis dont do much they just lie there so any movement you might impart is as likely to scare a fish off as anything else.

In such cases I usually fish a dogsbody or similar, based not least on the assumption that the fish might like a change. It works quite often.  Sometimes a griffiths gnat will work, especially when clumps of dead flies are floating around eddies, quiet bays etc.

It is one of those things where more or less any approach may well be as good as another. There are a few things you can not find a specific consistent solution for. Just how it is.

Sandy's method is probably as good as you can get on still waters, but it will probably be less successful on wild waters simply because there are fewer fish. The fewer fish there are the less chance they will take a tiny artificial, and the more chance that they will ignore or reject something that is not quite right to them. If that fly does ANYTHING wrong then it is likely to be ignored or rejected while the fish slurp up mouthfuls of naturals.

[otter]

BP,
I know very few genuinely very good river fishermen and the surprising thing is that I know that the fly for them is much less important than stealth and drag. My experience is that drag is the biggest turn-off of fish. With the "wrong" pattern we may still be successful unless the trout are on that aggravating and picky mode of feeding which thankfully doesn't happen all the time.   

Malcolm , I know a few and the thing is they put them all on an equal footing and constantly try to evolve their skills on everthing over which they have control and that includes their fly choices. No doubt it can reach the point of splitting hairs but it was that attitude that got them good in the first place and most cannot stop the wagon.

[Wildfisher]

During that caenis hatch I aught a few on this

[attachimg=1]

Hugo Ross was out that same evening. He caught a few on a muddler.

Attempting to match the hatch under these circumstances is futile. Even if you have  a 100% perfect imitation and make it behave exactly like a natural, the chances of a fish selecting it from the millions of others are remote.

This is why caenis are there in such numbers in the first place. Safely in numbers is a very common survival strategy in nature. Millions are uneaten and  go on to breed.