Brant Oswald [23:20] is a veteran guide, teacher, and fly shop operator with over 40 years in the business. He’s one of the best spring creek anglers I know and guides on them almost every day, so I asked him to come up with some tips on better spring creek techniques. Even if you never fish spring creeks, his tips really apply to any slow or low water situations so these tips will be valuable to any trout angler.
-Tom Rosenbauer
In the Fly Box this week, we have the usual great tips and questions, including:
- I have an old, heavy bamboo rod. I can’t reel heavy enough to balance it. Is the balance between a rod and reel weight really that important?
- I am frustrated with fish eating my strike indicator. Should I tie a big egg pattern to act as a strike indicator?
- A suggestion for making a great cat toy out of old flies (with the hook cut off!) and a question about the use of cat hair in tying flies.
- What is the proper way to prevent drag? Should I mend my entire line or just the leader?
- A tip from a listener on how to keep fly line from wrapping around your rod tip.
- A tip from a listener on the best way to hang up your waders for the season.
- Why do waders often fail at the junction between the bootie and the upper?
- I just bought a drift boat and want to learn how to row. Should I hire a guide to take lessons on rowing?
- How do trout behave when the water gets higher and dirtier?
Brant’s last tip #14 was quite interesting regarding watching the trout for indications of the take, like sudden stopping near the fly, flaring the pectoral fins, etc. rather than relying on the indicator moving. Last week, although I did get a few trout, I had a few times where I saw the trout dart right up to under the indicator and stop. I waited for the indicator to move, which never happened, and I missed them all. I also recall hooking a few without the indicator moving. So, in the future, I guess I’ll try to be more observant for trout movement in the vicinity of my fly. Hopefully, that will increase my number of hookups.
Thanks for the tip!
PeterG – Batavia, IL
This was fantastic. One of your best yet Tom. Very interesting to hear Brant say that trout on Spring Creek no longer or rarely eat PMD duns. That mirrors my observations on the Upper Delaware system. It’s not never, but
the vast majority of surface eats are emergers or nymphs in or under the film. This change in behavior is clearly a conditioned response to fishing pressure from dry fly anglers. And the morale of the story, is to pay close attention during a hatch, and never assume that trout are eating duns until you see them being eaten.
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