Fly Selection...

[Duck-butt Chucker]

What's up Aaron..WB Croton Outlet has had little surface activity for the last two weeks since the sulfers and potomantus have stopped coming off so as a result the last two nights I've decided to fish the mouth of the Croton Falls reservior and to my surprise there's been a good 6-7 risers coming up collectively (about one every minute or two) in the first 200 feet from where the river empties into the reservior as it still runs ice cold...I see no bugs on the water, but again they have been rising splashy to something..i've managed to pick off three 9-10 in wild browns so far on a 16 Goddard caddis. Anyway though I wanted to ask first off in this situation what do you think these fish are taking (if it helps bottom is small stones for first 150 feet then switches to mud for the last 50 feet until it turns piss warm and all surface activity ceases) and secondly have you ever fished any reserviors in the croton watershed system with a fly rod and when fishing reserviors in general what type of fly selection do you use for your dries and streamers? Thanks man

-Mike

[AaronJasper]

Believe it or not a white marabou jig works great when fished under an indicator for the browns when they are shallow. I did well a few springs ago when I was going there.

I bet they are taking caddis as you have guessed. Don't rule out midges. They hatch in great numbers in all of those lakes and can be quite large. I have seen them as large as a size 12 in those lakes. Try a CDC caddis in black or grey. Google Shipmans Buzzer. Davy showed me this fly and it works great for midge eating trout in lakes.

[Davyfly]

Fish chironomids in sizes from 10 to 14, in colors, Black, Claret, olive and Tan, with a long leader set up, at least 14ft. the bulk of food source that trout eat in lakes will be chironomids.
Would back myself here also fishing traditional style wet flies both with a dry and intermediate line, or combinations both of chironomids and wet fly rigs in two or 3 fly set ups.

You could also add flies in the order of GRHE, and patterns that incorporate peacock herl bodies such as Diawl Bach, which can be killers.

All the above are good for surface feeders and fish at depth given you use the right fly line and leader length.

Any surface activity to dries then fish a combination of two flies spaced 4 ft apart, one should be a black fly such as a ant, the other could be a EHC or any other caddis type dry.

DW