Clinch Report Sunday Aug 17, 2008

[patillac]

Thanks, Downsize one or two, I will. I kept going spur of the moment type of thing, somewhat unprepared. Size 18 Black midges and BHPT's in 16 and 18. Don't kid yourself, I believe this is a case of the fisher not the fished (or something like that).

[tennswede]

well, you are on the right track there, Take that size 16 BH pheasant tail attach a size 20 BH black midge and you should be getting some takes. I caught fish both downstream wet fly style and upstream dead drift.

[waterwolf]

A different perspective on the clinch and technique.

Forget droppers if you want to consistently catch quality fish in the Clinch. The water is far too clear and the fish tend to shy away from christmas tree rigs in my experience.

Right now, take a midge pupa, whatever one you like in size 18 drop it below a small piece of yarn and go to work. Dries with droppers are fine, but why bother? I am wired a little different but I see no point in the dry dropper stuff, it does not ride right, and is not nearly as effective as the yarn/nymph approach.

A small #18 BHPT will also work, especially with the fog still on the water or in deeper slicks.

Scuds work, but sporadically, sowbugs work with the same efficiency.

One thing that does work at odd times right now is a #18 TMC 2457 wrapped with Chart. Spanflex over Olive thread with a black bead. It is simple but perfectly imitates the tiny black caddis which are hatching now.

With the absence of sulfur nymphs in the system now the fish are concentrating on blackfly larvae, midge pupa, and an occasional scud/sowbug or caddis larvae.

The rest of the flies in the bins or your boxes save them for another time. I fished Saturday morning for a couple of hours and had great success on what I mentioned above. No monsters, but one 18" bow and half a dozen in the 14"-15" range, combined with loads of other dinks and nasty stockers comprised of brookies and rat browns.

The river is fishing really well right now for overall numbers of fish, with enough line rippers to keep you on your toes.

[monktrout]

Waterwolf, How are you attatching your yarn indicator to the leader? I can't get that right. In say 3 feet of water, how far are you below the yarn? Any other tips would be appreciated by me and others. Thanks, Monk

[JimmyC]

Just to add to waterwolf's list, crane midges are deadly on the Clinch. I come from the Tom Rosenbauer school of fishing, so yarn indicator does not bother me, and on the Clinch it seems far more effective. I usually drop it 2 1/2 feet, more on slower days.

[psnapp]

Waterwolf,

I haven't tried these patterns on the Clinch and am curious to find out if you have: cranefly larva and Cracklebacks. A have a friend who claims he does well with cranefly larva in sizes as big as #10. Just wondering if you've tried them and if so, just how effective are they?

Phil

[jzimmerman]

I would normally agree with the whole don't bother with a dry dropper thing on the Clinch River, but last Saturday I caught around 30% of my fish on the dry and the others on a midge. I fished an emerging midge pattern as my dry and it seemed to be the ticket for the day. Oh and I caught somewhere b/t 25 and 30 so you can do the math.

[tennswede]

Waterwolf!

I don't know how we got in on the subject of dropper dry. I don't ever use a dropper dry and I wasn't on Sunday. I'm using a point fly which is either a traditional soft hackle or wet, or a bh nymph. I then tie on a smaller midge on to the bend of the hook. I.e. two subsurface patterns and I don't ever use an indicator of any kind.

Thanks,

[waterwolf]

Originally Posted by monktrout

Waterwolf, How are you attatching your yarn indicator to the leader? I can't get that right. In say 3 feet of water, how far are you below the yarn? Any other tips would be appreciated by me and others. Thanks, Monk

The best way to describe it in writing would be to tie an over hand knot in the area of your leader where you want the yarn. Usually 24"-30" for the clinch, do not cinch down the know and take the fly end of the knot and back it slightly back out so it forms a loop. Slide the yarn through that loop and you are ready to roll.

[waterwolf]

Originally Posted by psnapp

Waterwolf,

I haven't tried these patterns on the Clinch and am curious to find out if you have: cranefly larva and Cracklebacks. A have a friend who claims he does well with cranefly larva in sizes as big as #10. Just wondering if you've tried them and if so, just how effective are they?

Phil

There are very very very few cranefly larvae in the clinch so imitating one is not happening. Many of the new stockers and small fish will eat dang near anything from time to time. I am not a big fan of the crackleback, don't really see the point in fishing something which doesn't look like something I might find in a fishes stomach.

I fish small dark colored flies as 99.9999% of the diet in the clinch is small and dark brown or dark olive. Look at the color of the river bottom and it says all that needs to be said about fly color IMO.