Heading back to the Rapid....

The Fourth of July should be good this year, heading back up to Camp Ijis to chase brookies, spend some time with some great friends and possibly concoct some new flies. Alders should be going like crazy by then, hopefully I can take part in the hatch. Cant wait...

Hey Rich, what kinds of streamers would you suggest for the Rapid and the Androscoggin? I'm trying to get up there at the end of June.

I've only been to the Rapid once, and had luck with a picket pin, huge dark olive zonkers, and unweighted muddlers (actually quite small in a size #8-10). I'm sure there are more productive streamers.

Last time I fished the Androscoggin was a few years back, and it was great, although water conditions were high. I'm looking forward to going back.

Dave,
Those muddlers are probably being taken for stones, as you know the Rapid is littered with giant goldens and its a no brainer to have some imitations in your box. The standard staple streamer on those rivers is a black ghost, but I have had luck on a variety of other streamers. My olive and black sculpin has been my top producer in the past 2 seasons up there for me, as well as white and natural zonkers. Decievers in olive and white combos work good too, double bunnies and such as well. I would have some caddis type nymphs too, rockworms, pupas in a variety of sizes from an 18-12 in olives and tans. My feeling on streamers for brookies is something imitating some sort of baitfish, eyes are a great trigger and a little bit of red incorporated into the fly goes along way. If we meet up before you go I will shoot you a couple of my sculpins, they work really well there.

Thanks Rich, that would be great to have some of your sculpins, and other slayers as well.

I'm really interesting and anxious in becoming better at fishing streamers. I'm sure the techniques for fishing something like a Black Ghost are different than fishing a large headed streamer that moves a lot of water like a sculpin, zoo cougar or the like. I've usually had most of my luck with Muddlers and sculpins on the swing, and then stripped back upstream. With thinner streamers like Ghosts, Mickey Fins and such, I've had most of my luck stripping from an upstream and accross presentation. What would you suggest for larger streamer presentations under those water level/topological conditions of the Rapid?

No retrieve or presentation is a bad presentation, you try them all till you find the one that works for that particular time. In a perfect world, casting the streamer upstream and retrieving it so that it is heading downstream is a very good start. For one it looks like something trying to flee and the fish more often than not will jump on it. But like I said there isnt a right or wrong way, just tailor your fishing to the situation.

Got it, thanks. I've never actually heard it said like that, but brilliantly put: "no retrieve or presentation is a bad presentation". Words to live by.

Rich, one more thing and then I'll leave you alone:

In Landon Mayer's new DVD, there's a particular chapter that deals with the "vision/zoning" of a trout's capabilities in coordination with different depths. He refers to it as the "dotted line approach". In shallower water, the scope of vision becomes less due to the diminished value of the vertical level, while in deeper water, the trout's lateral vision is enhanced because of the vertical depth (on top of the trout).

Because of this, can I assume that in shallower water, I should be thinking of a presentation that's more parallel with the trout's position? That is, does the streamer have to be presented in a narrower channel so that the trout's movement is less than if it were in deeper water?

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