My local water (Weber River, Utah) is technically a tail water, and through trial and error I found that my flies kept getting smaller, and that I also was catching more fish.
The best way to fish the weber is to dead drift nymphs through the many large, deep holes formed by irrigation weirs or rocks obstructing the flow. Often two or more fishermen will be fishing in the same hole. On many occasions I have been fishing in one of the holes and been joined by a stranger who fishes the other side. Typically we will both be catching fish, but sometimes the other fishermen is being skunked. I usually find an excuse to move over and see what fly he is using. Invariably it will be a size 12 Prince Nymph, Hare's Ear or Pheasant Tail (these are flies always mentioned when talking about "what works" in this river).
I'll tie on a size 18 or 20 bead head pheasant tail (tied very simply, without wing case or legs) and sure enough, the stranger will start catching fish.
But I could take that same small fly to the Henry's Fork above Ashton and catch zip, then tie on the size 12 Prince Nymph and start catching fish! Of course there is nothing stopping me from attaching that size 18 BHPT on as a dropper, just in case. And I do. In fact I almost always fish a small fly as a dropper on a bigger fly, figuring the bigger fly will attract attention to the smaller. It seems to work for me.
The bottom line is you just need to find out the fly, size, and presentation fish want for the particular location where you are fishing.
On Friday, November 14, 2003, at 10:44 PM, Steve Brettell wrote:
I'm kinda new at this, and I've never fished a fly this small. The surprise was that it worked at all.
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Steve,
In Maryland
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