Did a little hiking with the float tube to get to one of my favorite spots. It was worth the effort. I even picked up a few fish on a yellow sally dry at the end of the day. Both fish on the dries slammed the yellow sally even though I haven't seen one for a few weeks. The fish in pic 4 was caught on a S and M nymph tied by Emerger Cliff. Thanks for the fly!!
Nice fish Otter! Did you fish it last night or on Saturday eve? I made the same hike last Thursday and didn't catch a thing. The flows dropped significantly while I was fishing. A little over 100 cfs in a matter of a few hours. Not sure if that's why I was skunked but I'm gonna roll with it . I did have one nice take with what felt like a heavy fish. Whatever it was it was hungry for the JT Spent Midge that was at the end of my tippet.
Nice ones Otter, You defenitly did better then me. I fished yesterday evening and didnt get anything. Only hit I had was when a fish nailed my indicator. I floated the spot we did with cliff a few weeks ago.
Otter, Thanks for the report. And, as always, nice pics. I seriously need to find time to get out there. I have a few projects that are taking quite a bit of time right now, though. Maybe in a few weeks.
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"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
See Hogans flies in the fly tying section of this board. The fly from Emerger was a bit different though. It has dark brown thread, brown dubbing and copper wire. Very close to a micro mayfly. I know this fly works as I watched Cliff land like four fish in about 10 minutes in his favorite spot on the Yuba.
One thing I have found out when tying micro mayflies is that Lagurtan wire works very well for small flies down to size 20. It is a x-fine wire from France that is varnished. I found it at Fish First in Albany. Hogan has a web site, I haven't seen it, but it may be worthwhile to check out. Most of the fish yesterday were caught on flies size 18 or larger. Red brassie emerger worked best
SteveOjai's site (http://stevenojai.tripod.com/smnymph.htm) has some pretty good directions and material list for the S & M. I hesitate to send you there though because his pics show a bulkier version of the fly (big head and thorax) similar to how Mercer's Micro Mayfly looks. Regardlessly, his instructions for tying are helpful and worth looking over. It's important to keep the fly's profile as thin and streamlined as possible. When tying I would refer to this picture to work from:
I tie it in olive, as seen above, and dark brown with a march brown dubbed thorax.
Here is what Hogan has to say about his nymph:
Hogans S&M Nymph
I came up with this fly because I needed a slim profile mayfly to imitate baetis and other mayflies that I encountered while fishing my local tail waters. Most commercially tied mayfly nymphs are too fat to accurately imitate the natural. They are over dressed most commonly in the thorax.
The critical success factors for the S & M Nymph is its thin abdomen and its two-tone thorax. The natural mayfly is trim! Furthermore, the wing case on the natural is a different color than the thorax, usually a little darker. Most small mayflies are darker on top than they are underneath and I designed the wing case of this fly to imitate that.
I fish this fly under an indicator or as a dropper off of a dry fly. I find fishing it in the riffles and flats prior to a hatch to be very effective. Because the fly is tied very thin this mayfly imitation will work in both spring creek and freestone situations.
Thanks for the information. I don't know how many times I've cruised through SteveOjai's site -- and yet not remembered seeing the S & M nymph...??? Quite a difference in profile.
I'm also going to check my local shop for some Lagurtan wire that Otter recommended. Sounds like another specialized goody that needs to be added to my tying table.
Both of you, thanks again for providing more options to help fill up my box!
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There's no greater fan of fly fishing than the worm...
. I did have one nice take with what felt like a heavy fish. Whatever it was it was hungry for the JT Spent Midge that was at the end of my tippet.
