Killer Bug in Colorado II

[Iasgair]

Today was a different story.

The water in town is very low & the fish were in deep holes. What seemed not right is the holes held one fish. I'd fish these holes for half an hour, & when I thought about leaving for another, a fish would finally get on the hook. I had to use more weight than I would normally use just to get the Killer Bug down to the bottom.

I had fished these holes before when the water was higher & faster & was able to pull out more than one fish. But you would think with the shallow water right now they would be stacked in these deeper holes. Nope.

I fished four spots in town & pulled a fish out of each hole. So the Killer Bug did its job, so no complaints. I ended with three whitefish & one brown. It was time to move on.

It was getting hot in the valley, 95 deg., so I figured I'd head back up river to where it was cooler & the water a bit deeper. I started with the same rig that I fished with yesterday which was a Killer Bug on the point six inches above my split shot and a nymph or wet fly twenty inches above the K.Bug.
It was game on. The fish up here just wont let a meal pass by if they can help it. They were smashing the K.Bug.
One thing I have learned is, even though you up your chances catching fish with two or three flies, I have noticed the past few years that in fast water the fish take the first fly most often. I have fished duo rigs all day & every fish I caught was on the lead fly. So why use more than one fly? In slower moving water I can see it makes sense to use more than one fly, but in the fast free stone waters with all the twisted seams & pockets behind the many boulders in close proximity of each other, using one fly is all you need.

As normal, when the whitefish got below me most would break off the hook if I didn't keep my rod tip down and turn them towards the bank. But getting to the bank while fighting a 20 inch whitefish in this area of the river is quite difficult. You can't run in the water or even hurry at all. The rocks are diverse in sizes, & some roll or slide out from under you, so trying to rush yourself will get you hurt. The best thing you can do is stay where you are, turn down stream and keep your rod tip down and bring them to you. But after losing so many fish I tried a different technique that I think seemed to work in my advantage. I was fishing with 4X tippet, & normally that's all you need. But I switched to a 3X. I thought it would be too much at first, but with the added strength of the tippet I layed in harder with my hook sets and felt more comfortable applying more pressure when fighting a fish that got below me. Whether or not it actually helped, I lost way less fish switching to 3X tippet.

The bad news is, the smoke from the wild fire came in with the wind & it started to irritate my eyes. The ash was falling lightly here & there so I thought it best to head back to town. When I got back my wife said another fire broke out on Highway 14 at Cameron Pass & the road was now closed. That is the highway that travels the Poudre River that I fish often. If any more fires break out we may be stuck here for a few more days. It seems all the roads home are on fire. I may have to head north into Wyoming & then come back down into Colorado.

[Dave Burr]

An interesting day on many counts. Glad the Killer worked for you.

[Moley]

The Killer Bug is one Nymph that can be relied on to catch trout and grayling in any river in almost any conditions. Perhaps a roaring flood is asking too much. However, this bug is often the only fly used through an entire day.

Fatty has tried most so called never fail nymphs in a long fishing life and always comes back to just two: the Killer Bug and the Sawyer Nymph, both designed by Frank Sawyer. They really are the utility flies and can be used with confidence anywhere there are trout. Even Salmon take them!

As ever,.,.

Moley

[Ian]

A great read iasgair and plenty of fish. I guess your rivers are like our in Scotland and fish well with more water.
Great to hear the killers working well for you,and like moley says,the sawyers nymph is as good.
Thanks for the report.

Ian