Pink Near Deers and Pink eggs, wacked them today. My group and a pair of past clients had the river to ourselves. Fish were biting on the first cast. Clients jumped a bunch and caught a bunch. Every pocket we fished, produced a trout. Lots of huge 25-30 inch browns roaming around. Near Deers and eggs ruled the day. Water stained. Pink was king.





Everyday we hook into 2-3 fish over 25 inches. Very illusive and hard to spot. Big fish yes, but they blend in perfect with the surrounding.

Had a great time!! Thanks again Carey! Hope to do it again!! Here is the link to a short video from that weekend!

[url=Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQzQ8reXQjk][url=Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQzQ8reXQjk][url=Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQzQ8reXQjk]Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQzQ8reXQjk[/url][/url][/url]

Wish I had better video of the bigger ones!!

Can someone help ID the hatch? I don't know if I have enough information, but I'll give y'all what I have.
OK. So, the 24th, Christmas Eve, I'm there at Beaver's Bend at, I think, the Cold Hole, the diversion dealy for Lost Creek, anyhow. It's about noon. There's 3 of us fly-fishers there, and a hatch going on. Trout rising all over the hole. Well, none of us can seem to match the hatch. Each of us is getting bit occasionally, but obviously we haven't found the right fly, or we'd be getting bit all the time right then. I've been using soft hackles and emergers as most of the trout are not quite breaking the surface, or just a little. I've used midge emergers, a GLF sparkle emerger, a BWO emerger, Jeff Guerin's "smidge". Couple other things, I forget. They all work a little as they often will when there's no hatch.

This is what I observed. The bugs leaving the surface were really zooming and scattered so I couldn't get a clear look. They were very blond, not quite white, but light tan. They were kind of wispy, more like mayflies or mosquito-types than fluffy like caddises, but I don't know. They COULD have been caddises. Maybe. They looked to be about size 18. I tried a size 16 light cahill dry, but it looked a little big and the fish weren't interested.

Then I saw something I had never been able to see. I think I saw an emerger rise to the surface. It was very light tan and moving purposefully as though propelling itself to the surface, rather than drifting. It looked like about 1/2 inch long, segmented, without a clear head, like some caddis larvae flies I've seen in pictures. Then it got intercepted by a trout and that was that. So I don't know if I really saw it completely clearly. It was neat to see, though.

I don't know if the other fellows ever "solved" the mystery of what the hatch was. I had to leave to go build a playset for the grandkids Christmas.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Anyway, besides those several scattered 11-12" trout at Cold Hole I caught a very nice 18 incher in Spillway Creek in a deep pocket on a rainbow warrior. Egg patterns didn't do me any good that morning, nor did any of the midge larvae droppers to the eggs that usually work for me.

Is anyone catching anything in Spillway if they walk up it quite a ways, like 3 or 4 log weirs from the nature trail parking area? I didn't. There were fish all over the Cold Hole, and, I imagine, throughout the red zone. That was just a tough hatch for me and the others.

JB - if it was cloudy, they were BWO's. They are an 18 or a 20. The wings are grayish, bodies are tan to olive. Adams Irresistable, Parachute Adams, and Ethawings have worked for me. They have been hatching between 11am and 1 pm on these cool days - when the sun is overhead (out or not). Spillway has black caddis and BWO's. The fish are hacking the emergers and only surface when the prey gets a head start. Fun to watch....

Throw a #22 grey rs2. 90% are the smaller fish rising. The big girls are hugging the bottom. When the BWO's or black caddis are hatching, I match the hatch spot on, and drag a pink egg or pink near deer. Or do what Jeff said.

Thanks, fellers. They were smaller trout rising, and I caught the bigger fish deep. Eggs weren't working for me for some reason, I donno. I'm fixing to tie up some BWO emergers and some parachute Adams for my next trip. Carey do you sell any Near Deer in the shop at the park or the shop just outside the park?

I tie them at home. Eggs/ rs2's/ Near Deers/ red and black midges/ woolly buggers/ -really don't throw anything other than eggs and Near Deers anymore. Unless, the clients intention is to be a purist when he or she grows up, then we fish with midges and Adams. 99% of my cliental, just wants to catch fish and learn the basics. I try to teach catch fish first, learn to cast later.

U need eggs half the size of a real salmon egg. The bigger ones don't work well. Hence, mico-eggs. If ur not on the bottom, bouncing along the pebbles and rocks, or your indicator is not drifting exactly with the bubbles- you are trying to fish/ not fishing.

If your not mending as soon as it lands, the current is going to bend out your line and drag it. When u have your indicator going faster than the bubbles, you force the egg up off the bottom and up in the upper water column. Cast/ Mend / Rod Tip Down -pointing at line or high stick/ Set Hook/ Land Fish ------ I have caught more fish on the egg this year than any other year. They love them. But main thing is, it has to be on the bottom. Couple trips ago, Jeff finally did what I was telling him after 6 hours, as I did here, and when he did, he lands 20 within 1 hour. These r stocked fish. Not wild fish.

Typically, hatchery fish will eat as soon as the same day and seems to be about 2-3 hours after stocked, all the fish will eat. Easiest time for the handicapped peeps. However, for the next week to three weeks, they are still, by trout standards, considered "hatchery fish" and will very readily take power baits, as it is very similar to the food they grew up on in the hatchery. The Brown and Black Near Deer is a favorite due to trout pellets and is the same color as a creek chub. Thats why they get yanked out so fast there. 2 net fulls in each major stocking point, doesnt equal a healthy river in my eyes. 50 fish in pool as big as ur bath tub? When is the last time u saw a hatch big enough to sustain 50 fish in a small pocket in Lost Creek? I dont think I have really ever seen a hatch in there. Prob because the water is not oxygenated enough to sustain the little flies. As this becomes less and less available, natural instinct kicks in and they will begin to eat aquatic life (bugs, worms, etc). That's if they can elude pink power bait. They r curious and now starving. They r not being fed everyday by thier hatchery, so they have to learn to be a trout. In turn, they will try and eat anything basically.

These trout they stock, the species, if untouched and left alone, get to 20 lbs and over. Is what I read somewhere. They r are a schooling species as well. So they don't lay up as often as the other species and like to roam around. It appears that a very few stockers even survive very long, I'm there 4-7 times a week in winter time. I can't name a fish for longer than 2 months till it just vanishes; never to be seen again. If they remain in �trout water� ( which like said before in the deeper pools downstream of the fly shop, powerhouse, and zone 2 w/ deeper water than 20 ft in some places) they become �holdovers� and live by drift feeding and/or aggressive pursuit feeding of larger prey items. Pursuit feeders, btw, have the opportunity to outgrow strict drift feeders. Hatchery trout, raised in crowded raceways, and fed tossed pelleted food, develop aggressive feeding behavior, and those that are the best at it, grow fastest. And that�s just what a hatchery manager wants, to meet stocking size range requirements. Some drop-outs may find pockets of cool water down the watershed, where there is often larger habitat and more food, and such fish can grow LARGE. Some wild fish find their way to these places too, either by having the penchant to migrate, swept from flooding, or possibly as descendants of successful holdovers.

Moral of the story: Don't over think it. But if you do want to over think it, I used to be a purist. So this is what I used to throw at them pre Near Deer days.

Beavers Bend Fly�s
MAIN FLIES:
Eggs
Near Deers
Bead Head Pheasant Tails (Size: 14-18)
Hares Ear (Size: 14-18)
Orange Soft Hackles (Size: 16-18)
Red Hackles (Size: 16-18)
Bead Headed Wollybuggers (Colors: Olive, White, Black, Rust) (Size: 10-20, I like Big WB�S)
Black Midges (Size: 12-22)
Red Midges (Size: 12-22)
Blue Winged Olive (Size:16-22)
Sulpher (Size: )
Cahill (Size: 18-22)
San Juan Worm
Rs2 #22 grey

January:

Hatches: Baetis, Blue Winged Olive, Light Cahill, Midge
Flies to use: Pheasant tails, Red Fox Squirrel, San Juan worm, Egg Patterns, Griffiths Gnat, Adult Caddis, Emergers


February:

Hatches: Mayflies, Midges, March Brown

Flies to use: March Browns, Bead Headed Black and Red Midges (size 12-14), San Juan worms, egg patterns, Griffiths gnat, CDC, Emerger Patterns, Soft hackle

March:

Hatches: Blue winged Olive, Midges

Wet Flies to use:
Soft Hackle, Copper Johns, Pheasant Tails, Egg patterns, Red Fox squirrels, crane fly

Dry Flies to use: Griffiths Gnats, Hares Ears, March Brown (mayfly), Blue Winged Olive (mayfly)

Flies to use: Elk Hair Caddis, Parachute Adams, Thread Midges, and Caddis Pupae Flies, Soft Hackles, Midges, Hares ears, Pheasant tails, Prince nymphs


April:

Hatchs: Flying Ants, Caddis, Mayflies, Crane flies, Midges

Flies to use: Red Soft Hackle, Elk Hair Caddis, Midges, Ants,

May:

Hatches: Baetis, Beetles ,Blue Winged Olive, Brown Caddis, March Brown ,Tan Caddis

Wet flies (nymphs) to use: Cream Colored Soft Hackles, Nymphs, Adam Parachutes 12-16, Hare's ear Nymphs, Elk hair caddis

Dry flies to use: CDC Caddis and CDC Mayfly Emergers, EHC, Adam Parachutes


June:
Hatches: Mayfly, PMD's, Sulphurs
Flies to use: Grasshoppers, Ants, Midges, Mayflies, Caddis

July:
Hatches: Mayflies, Midges
Flies to use: Copper Johns, Griffiths Gnats, EHC, Ants, Griffiths Gnats, Soft Hackles, Hoppers, Soft Hackles

August:

Hatches: Midge, Hexagenia, Caddis, Mayflies, Mosquitoes
Dry Flies: Caddis and Mayflies (including dry, emergers, and cripples)
Flies to use: Soft Hackles, Midges, Pheasant Tails, Copper Johns, Small Mayfly Imitations, Caddis Pupae, Emergers



September:

Hatches: PMD/s, BWO's Yellow Sally, Grass Hoppers and Katy-Dids, Hexagenia Mayflies

Wet flies (nymphs) to use: Green Bead Head Caddis Nymph imitations in about size 14-16, Egg patterns, San Juan Worm, Various Soft Hackles, Light Cahill, Grasshopper, Ant, Hex Nymph

Dry flies to use: Stimulators on a size 10 hook, Elk hair Caddis, Hex

October:

Hatches: Caddis, Grey Mayflies, Blue Quills Blue Winged Olives Midges, Sulfurs
Flies to use: Miracle Midge, Zebra Midge, Egg Patterns, San Juan Worm

November:

Hatches: Small Tan Caddis, Small Black Caddis, Midges
Flies to use: Thread Midges, Caddis Emergers, spiders, Copper John, Egg Patterns, San Juan Worms
December:
Hatches: Black Caddis, Blue Winged Olives (mayfly) and Midges.
Flies to use: Emergers, Caddis, Mayfly, Midges, Egg patterns
Dry flies to use: Griffiths Gnat, Blue Winged Olive, Black Caddis

December: same as above.

Carey you're a treasure trove. Thanks as always for sharing. Now I know why eggs weren't working for me. I was using Y2k's. (They're gigantic.) Really I use them as attractors and trail with a midge larva. It's always the midge that gets bit. I'm going to tie up some micro-eggs. I'm starting to understand the importance of mending also. Also fish downstream some.
Later, jonbo.

When y'all trail eggs or other things behind the deers, how do you tie the deers on? We just tied them even with the line (they do not dip down) with the eggs around 12" behind. We were using #4 split shot a couple of inches above the egg to keep it from floating up.

Carey, is there anyway you could post a pic the way you tie on your setup?

Again:

I don't use tapered leader or tippits at Broken Bow anymore. Don't wear a vest or a back pack either. No reason for all the trinkets at this river.

Berkley Vanish 110 yards is $6
Floro fly fishing tippit is 10-20 for 30 meters.

Vanish - .007
Fly tippit floro- .006

Very small difference in size between the two when fishing for stockers. Obviously it doesn't matter if you use either one. Just cheaper to use flat out Fluorocarbon.

All I use is Berkley Vanish 4 lb for non busy days.

2 lb for busy days when the park is packed or the barometric air pressure is out of wack.

For more on how the air pressure affects fish (IMO) click the blue words
Air pressure (click here)

I tie the Vanish ( 7 ft strip ) directly to my floating fly line. Then, tie on the fly of your choice. Slap an indicator at 3.5 foot average for the river. Drift it, twitch it, swing it. ( near deer )

On the egg, cast/mend/ drift it without moving the indicator. It has to go with the bubbles.

I tie on the ND. Then, I tie on 2.5 ft of more vanish and tie it on the ND's hook eye closest to the barb. Then tie on egg.

Wow Carey! You are one of the most generous guides with information and details that I've ever seen.

I found a 200' spool of Cabellas brand 4# floro so I bought that yesterday per your advise [is way cheaper than floro tippet]. I did go ahead and buy my son and I some Cortland braided loops and a couple of floro loop leaders so we would not have to worry about knots for awhile, well hope so anyway. Thank you for explaing the length and how you tie to the deer. I was not trailing near that long and was not sure on using one knot or tying to the hook.

how small are those eggs you use Tarponfly?-p-

Hey y'all, I tied some "micro" eggs in hot pink. I bought some pink sparkly dubbing, antron maybe, from the outfitter in Hot Springs. I slipped a tungsten bead onto a size 18 scud hook. I wrapped a bed of thread behind it to the bend. I dropped a drop of head cement onto that thread bed to make everything more secure. Then I just dubbed like a big giant thorax behind the tungsten bead in the pink antron. My thread was red so it didn't stand out at all from the pink. After my thorax/egg was built I criss-crossed it once or twice with the thread to help secure the whole thing and whip finished between the egg and the bead. It's sparkly pink, fairly round, and you can't see the thread, just the pink.

Does that sound like it will work? I'm fixin' to try it on Tuesday if I can. I hope it does as it's simple as can be to tie.

Free advice is not always good advice, it's simply free.