Switching flies

[bioman]

Suppose you're fishing a nice river or stream. You've got your 'go to' fly on and nothing is happening. How long do you fish with that fly, and how do you select your second choice?
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[macfly55]

In my case I would of been using a royal coachman dry to start. I would of done 6 - casts at about 4 or 5 directons. First I would of changed sizes .. 6 - 16 .. 16 - 18 etc..

From past experience in the lakes I fish I would go to a similar size or maybe one smaller bead head hares ear or a bead head pt nymph and try my luck at wet flies with slow retrieves under the water....

MacFly
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[DKSRenegade]

When you are fishing with a proven fly for the water and time of year stay with it. The fish may not be there or something in your delievery may need to be adjusted.
Have you tried using a 2 fly set up?
I always use a larger fly as the first fly for an attractor to get the fishes attention and then tie a small nymph about 18" below the first fly. A lot of rivers are low and slow right now so don't use very much weight with the flies. I like the weight to be about 12" above the first fly.
Be very sure that your fly line isn't pulling the flies by mending your line back upstream and let the flies dead drift.
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[Thudpucker]

[unimpressed]I change frequently.
I dont have a 'Go to' fly. The coachman seems to work well in Canada. Also the Dr. Spratly. But I didn't have much luck with either of them in the lakes of Eastern Washington state.

If you ever get the chance to observe fiish in clear water, you'll see that they take notice of every thing that enters thier water.
They see your fly.
If they dont take it, they got close and it didn't pass through thier "Food or not food" filter.

Dont cast to the same place more than twice in a row.

I also change from one type of fly, radically to another type of fly.
IE: Small mosquito to a big wooley worm. Bright to dim. Lotsa hackle to a skinny little thing with no hackle.

When in doubt, use Dark Green or Brown.

Big in Dark water, small in clear water.
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