A couple of weeks ago while fishing a small local creek for brookies, I caught my biggest fish in a very unconventional way. I tucked myself back amongst the alders about halfway up a short run, on the left side in the edge of the stream. water was about thigh high and deeped up the run, shallowed down the run. I cast my dry spec-key fly ( my own pattern) up stream and mend to insure the best drag free drifts that I could muster. After a hour or so I brought in a couple of little guys 6 or 7 inches, and it just didn't seem like the big guys wanted to play. I was about to move on when it occured to me, "I should try laying my backcast down stream near the end of the run." The water here was shallower, but what did I have to lose? I stretched the line out over the water on my backcast and let it drift then drag. As soon as the line came tight to drag (which now may imitate a skating fly), an 11" speckled beauty lunged out of water and slamed my fly. Made my day, and I did it my way.
I often break the rules (e.g. every cast a perfect dead drift) and fish dry's in all sorts of ways, and when the dead drift doesn't work so well something else often does. Don't get me wrong, I do catch the large percentage of my fish dead drifting, but other techniques can be very rewarding. -yaffle
I often break the rules (e.g. every cast a perfect dead drift) and fish dry's in all sorts of ways, and when the dead drift doesn't work so well something else often does. Don't get me wrong, I do catch the large percentage of my fish dead drifting, but other techniques can be very rewarding. -yaffle