Dog Day Fly Fishing

     Here are some helpful suggestions to fishing through the dog day's of late July and into August.Some of you may already know and some of you may not.If practicing C&R please be mindful of the water temps I will not fish once the water hits above 67 degrees.

    When the water warms up like this my tactics change due to the fact the trouts patterns change as well. When the water is cooler the fish are more active in the calm flat traditional dry fly water and spred out pretty much all over the stream but as the season wears on and the temps rise this all changes. The trout move to faster broken water where there is more oxygen and the broken water provides cover for them.Not only this but the hatches start to wane so what better place to be where the food is brought to the trout by the fast moving water in the form of nymphs and drown insects. The trout will choose a good lane and hang out there to ambush anything that comes their way. In the evening the trout will stay much in the same place as about the only hatch going on will be caddis at least in my area and they return to the riffle to drop their eggs so what better place to be than fishing here.

    Now that we have determined where the fish are, how are we going to fish for them. If you are looking to dry fly fish and there are no risers pick a likely looking piece of water approach it with care.I like to use a size 12or14 caddis pattern or adams parshute to do this because they float very well. Start fishing it from the edge nearest you placing each subsequent cast a little closer to the center. Fish in this manner until you have cast over every likely holding spot in the section of water you are fishing.Most takes occur on either side of the fast water and behind or ahead of large submerged rocks or at a sharp drop off. These are the soft spots in the fast water that trout like to lay and wait.If you like to shoot for risers then late evening and early morning are your best bet.

    When nymphing you will be looking for the same water as described above and fish it much the same way you would with a dry fly only subsurface. Be sure to fish the drop off especialy the trout tend to hold in the dark edge or deep side of the drop off just out of sight watching for any morsels going over their head. Fish the riffles carefully starting always closest to you and then working your way across the stream.

   Give it a try on your next outing you'll be surprised at what you find in the riffles shallow and deep.

Fly Fishing Tattos

      While I admit I am not a big fan of needles ..... I have been contemplating a tattoo or two of a favorite fly that I tye. I went through my collection of fly photos and picked out a few that I would like to see drawn up. After picking the ones that looked good I went over to see my friend Chatz Kresge. He runs Freehanman tattoo shop near me and is a great artist. 
      I arrived at the shop pictures in hand and showed them to Chatz he said no problem and off to the drawing table he went.While waiting for him I took a look at all the pictures of other great work he has done. This instilled more of a desire to have a tattoo done by him.After about a half hour he emerged with a draft of my new tattoo. He captured the flow of the hackle and more importantly the point and bend of the Alec Jackson hook it was tied on. I told him I loved it .. So the next question was when will I be getting it done ? The answer was now as there is no time like the present.
      So off to the chair I went ... Chatz prepped the area where the tattoo was going and began to go to work. After about 45 minutes or so he was done and I have to say I was amazed at how it came out.I could put the actual fly next to it and you would be hard put to pick out the real one. Barring the fact that one of them was inked into my arm. What an awesome job he did and I must say it didn't hurt all that bad either.
     If you are contemplating getting a tattoo Chatz would be your man he is a fantastic artist and goes out of his way to make you feel comfortable while getting your new piece of art. You can visit his website at http://www.freehanman.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1 ... You won't be disappointed !


    Here is a picture of the actual fly that Chatz did for me so you can compare..

    Now to decide on the next one .......