FWIW, Steve Raymond comments on this tendency of cutt's to short
strike skated flies in his book, "The Estuary Fly Fisher". I don't believe
he had a solution to it, other than varying the retrieve (faster, slower,
pause, skip... etc.). As I recall, he felt skated flies were better suited to
searching than catching and specifically that he was frequently able to
rise (but not necessarily hook) fish to a skated pattern in water he had
previously fished without a bump using more conventional, sub-surface
flies. Of course, Steve was using primarily humpies and other high-
floating hair flies and not Mr. Miyawaki's inimitable Popper.
-Wes
Date forwarded: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 16:17:07 -0700
From: "Preston Singletary" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Washington Fly fishers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: cutthroat and the popper
Date sent: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 16:16:19 -0700
Forwarded by: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Leland,
> Help! John Thompson and I went to Kopachuck this morning and fished the
> incoming tide. I fished your popper and rose 18 (count 'em EIGHTEEN)
> cutthroat. Only problem: I didn't hook a single one! Man, I tried
> striking faster, striking slower, not striking at all. WHAT AM I DOING
> WRONG! I was almost to the point of tearing my hair (and I don't have
> enough to be able to afford to do that). The point of my stinger hook is
> only about an inch-and-a-quarter behind the rear of the popper so I find it
> hard to believe that one wouldn't have hooked himself purely by accident.
> Is there some trick to this you're not telling us about? signed : Puzzled
> at Kopachuck!
>
>
Wes Neuenschwander
Seattle, WA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
