Creating your own patterns...

[Troutastic]

... and them being totally successful! I must admit, it is an awesome feeling to experiment with what you think will be a real winner and finally finding that to be the case... I've had this epiphany as of late for a pattern I've designed myself. Sure I've taken elements from "existing patterns" and developed them to my own, and I really don't care if it is or isn't too close to another; the bottom line is I caught 11 fish the other day on something I made of my own and I'll continue to make it and kill it on the local river with it! I had a fish move 3 feet to slam my fly, so I'm deeming it a winner and I'll continue to make/use it!

[one2fish]

I like it and I haven't even seen what your talking about. ;DCould you post photos and a recipe.

Mark

[Troutastic]

Haha I don't know if it would do you any good as its a pattern of a freshwater shrimp they stocked in the reservoir sometime time back above the tailwater I fish twice/3x a week. Only a few areas in CO that this fly will work, as there are but a few reservoirs where they put these shrimp in, but I would bet that it will work pretty damn good in the other areas that you can fish it at.

Either way, its really what keeps fly fishing exciting for me, is experimenting and taking bits and pieces from other existing patterns and making them my own, tailoring them to my needs or what I feel will work. Sometimes they work great, other times its back to the drawing board. But for those who tie, I hope that you get that same feeling that I do when you get one that is a real keeper!

[Planettrout]

Troutastic,

So... some of us ... get to wet a line here:




...let us see the the little guy you tied up to imitate the shrimp that come out of the Res. above this location...


PT/TB :P

[Troutastic]

Haha I recognize that spot! Here is my own rendition from February...

I haven't gotten a chance to try out my shrimp there yet, but I most definitely will give it a shot at some point this summer... Have you fished there lately? Aren't the Drakes supposed to start popping through there?

I'll see if I can post a pic of it tonight.

[AaronJasper]

I am going to see how that shrimp works on Thursday morning...

[Planettrout]

Trouttastic,

Here's one fresh from the vise for 'yas:



SLOPE CADDIS

Lemme’ see here…hmmmm…I went with scraggly…

HOOK: Gamakatsu C-16B. #16-#18

THREAD: Gordon Griffiths 14/0 Sheer Tan and White

ABDOMEN: Gordon Griffiths 14/0, Sheer White, ( built with a pronounced “hump” at the bend)

TAG: Holo Tinsel, Gold

OVER ABDOMEN: Stalcup’s Micro Midge Tubing, Tan, Grey, Olive Chart. or Brown

THORAX: SLF Prism, Tan, Lt. Grey, Brown/Olive, Olive, Peacock or Chocolate Brown

OUTRIGGERS: Thin strands of Snowshoe Rabbit’s Foot, Light Dun, Medium Dun or Dark Dun

UNDER WING: Three strands of Krystal Flash, Root beer, UV Tan, Olive, Rust, Pearl or UV Gray

WING: Coastal Deer Hair, Tan, Natural or Darker Mottled Shades, tied “bullet “style

This Caddis Cripple/Emerger was meant to be messy. I wanted the abdomen to hang lower in the water. The abdomen is a proven design off John Barr’s Graphic Caddis. The Snowshoe Rabbit outriggers are for additional support and motion. I went with the full length of the fibers rather than clipping them. The KF under wing is for sparkle I really like SLF Prism for it’s translucent quality and sparkle…

More info here:

http://planettrout.wordpress.com/201.../slope-caddis/

Hey Aaron...he knows what he's talking about. That particular shrimp was dumped into that Res. to create a biomass for Kokanee Salmon. It is indigenous to certain glacial lakes up in Canada...the Trout that hang out in the upper reaches of that tailwater grow to fantastic proportions...I learned how to FF there from Georges Odier and Chuck Fothergill back in '75...those guys, now passed on, were unbelieveable gentlemen and FF...

PT/TB

[AaronJasper]

Are those shrimp more active at night?

[Troutastic]

I've been told that they're sensitive to light, so you might have more luck fishing them at night/dusk/dawn. But at the same time, all the ones coming through the dam die during the process and its basically just the exoskeleton that the fish feed on, so to be honest I think it doesn't matter. Also they are so rich in protein that the fish feed on as many as they can, so they rarely make it past the first 1/4 mile of the tailwater and get gobbled up. I also have more success with them during the higher water, which makes sense because more are getting washed through the dam.

I think the fish feed on them all year, so the "hatch" is always on .

[SherpaB]

not exactly a secret location...why all the secrecy..