Tandem flies for some June trout fishing
Northern Indiana County’s Little Mahoning Creek was running clear but still had a decent flow, thanks to the rash of thunderstorms that moved through the area the prior weekend. The late afternoon drive — a portion of which parallels the creek — didn’t reveal any other anglers taking advantage of the pleasantly cool weather or the boost of water. It’s June, and for many trout season is now over.
The ritual of rigging up was an unhurried one. Daylight lasts long this time of year, and I was certain my energy level, following a day of work, would fade before the daylight.
Uncertain what might be a productive pattern, I tied on a Walt’s Worm, a simple yet effective nymph pattern that suggests a number of mayfly species, and equally important, for me at least, is easy to tie.
And it was effective when I last visited the stream three weeks ago.
The first 15 minutes where uneventful in terms of hooked fish. But an occasional rise throughout the run, which stretched for 50 yards or so, indicated plenty of fish. That, combined with the presence of a few sulphur mayflies and caddis, suggested it might be the perfect situation for a tandem fly set up that incorporated both a dry fly and a subsurface one.
Clipping the Walt’s Worm free of the 4X tippet I tied on a light colored Stimulator dry fly.
The Stimulator is an attractor pattern.
It’s not intended to mimic any particular bug, but instead looks similar in profile to many caddis flies and stoneflies. More importantly, though, it floats well and is easy to see.
Perfect for this situation, where it would also double as a strike indicator for the fly below.
To the bend of the size 12 Stimulator I tied foot and a half or so length of 5X tippet by way of an improved clinch knot. On the end of the dropper went a size 14 green caddis emerger, one tied on a scud hook with a body of appropriately colored ice dubbing and a turn of partridge hackle. The emerger also had a small 3mm bead head and a few wraps of .010 inch lead wire underneath the dubbing to help the fly sink.
I positioned myself downstream of the plume of water that feeds the upper end of the pool and, after dressing the dry fly with floatant, made a cast up into the faster current. During the second drift the Stimulator took a dive and I was fast to a spirited brown that took the emerger suspended below.
For the next couple of hours the action from the brown and brook trout was steady.
Most of the fish took the emerger, but several went for the dry fly, including the biggest of the day, a fat 17 incher that tore up and down creek, putting a momentary halt to the action until things settled down.
Jonathon Barnes — who guides on the chalk streams of England — calls the tandem of dry fly/wet fly “the deadly duo.” Barnes’ version uses a dry fly he calls the “lifejacket caddis” and a wet dubbed “black magic nymph.” As the name implies, the lifejacket caddis is made to float high and be visible; the nymph, a dark one that duplicates the mayflies present in those streams.
Under the conditions commonly faced with during late spring and early summer — warming water that’s typically quite clear — fishing two zones makes perfect sense. Stocked fish have been in the streams long enough to learn to make use of the natural food found there. Bugs are present on both the surface (adults) and suspended in the water column (emerging mayflies and caddis).
And the combination of plenty of leftover trout with few anglers targeting them is a sweet one.
Jeff Knapp is a fishing columnist for the Butler Eagle.
