Refusals

[Cowlitz Bottomfeeder]

There were four of us fishing a sparse Callabaetis hatch. Some of the fish would rise confidently and eat the fly. But for every hookup there were 3-4 refusals. Sometimes the fish would come up slowly and inspect the fly before moving on. Other times there would be a splashy rise but no hookup. We were all using long leaders with long sections of 5x tippet. Changing patterns between a cripple, parachute, or traditional Adams did not seem to make a difference. I think we were all using 14’s. I don’t think anyone tried a smaller size. Winds were calm to 10mph. Sunny to partly cloudy. Given the wave action, I don’t think anyone tried twitching the fly. Any insights into reducing the number of refusals?

 

[Chucker]

At the risk of being facetious, fish somewhere where there is less fishing pressure. It sounds like you are doing everything right, but pressured fish will be nervous and will refuse flies.

The only thing you didn’t mention was whether you were degreasing your leader. Everyone in the UK does it, nobody does here. It seems to make a difference sometimes. Google “fuller’s earth” and fly fishing if you don’t know what I am on about.

 

[Tom Butler]

Sizing down was a good thought. I'd have probably gone to a winged wet, like a HE, cahill or hendrickson, or there's something in the box, depending on the natural colors and size.

 

[Dave Westburg]

If I were getting dry fly refusals I might put on a callibaetis nymph (e.g. pheasant tail or small olive soft hackle) and fish it on a floating line and long leader. You'll still be able to see the takes or swirls and sometimes I think when the fly is just under water the fishing is easier.

 

[Cowlitz Bottomfeeder]

At the risk of being facetious, fish somewhere where there is less fishing pressure. It sounds like you are doing everything right, but pressured fish will be nervous and will refuse flies.

The only thing you didn’t mention was whether you were degreasing your leader. Everyone in the UK does it, nobody does here. It seems to make a difference sometimes. Google “fuller’s earth” and fly fishing if you don’t know what I am on about.

That’s an interesting idea. You’re right, nobody does it here. We’re all dressing the dry fly leader to get it to float. When a clear lake surface is flat, you can see the reflection of the leader on the lake bottom. But we had a serious ripple on the surface. So I thought the issue might be how the fly was floating. I’m testing that theory by soaking the flies in fly agra.

Is there a place on Earth where there are more fish than people? It’s a catch and release lake and they’ve all been stuck more times than Grandma’s pincushion.

 

[Cowlitz Bottomfeeder]

If I were getting dry fly refusals I might put on a callibaetis nymph (e.g. pheasant tail or small olive soft hackle) and fish it on a floating line and long leader. You'll still be able to see the takes or swirls and sometimes I think when the fly is just under water the fishing is easier.

I’ve fished the Rickards Callabaetis Nymph successfully during a heavy hatch and a soft hackle in the past. Currently, we’ve had too much fun catching them on dries to try nymphs.

 

[RCF]

I was fishing a well known Blue Ribbon creek east of Missoula. I was seeing a lot of refusals. Fish slowly swimming up, inspect the dry fly and then slowly swim back into the depths. I went one size fly smaller (same fly) and had no refusals. Caught a number of trout after that - a couple I am sure had earlier refused my offering. Sometimes downsizing is the answer...

 

[Smalma]

Some good suggestions on how to cope with those picky fish.

During the 1960s through the 1980s I did a lot of high lake fishing and quickly noticed that a floating leader on the lake surface refracted the light and really stood out and seemed to put the fish off. I have not treated the leader tippet to float since, in fact often if needed will rub the leader with some mud to encourage the leader to sink.

Have also had great success fishing unweighted soft hackles in those situations at times.

On tough waters (heavily fished) a size change and be effective. Surprisingly fishing larger that the natural on the water can be at times be effective - the greed factor?

Finally, my high lake mentor in such situation would fish an appropriate fly tied in black - no questioning his success!

It is the solving these kinds of "fishing puzzles" is part of the fly fishing game that most of us enjoy this sport.

Curt

 

[Cowlitz Bottomfeeder]

Some good suggestions on how to cope with those picky fish.

During the 1960s through the 1980s I did a lot of high lake fishing and quickly noticed that a floating leader on the lake surface refracted the light and really stood out and seemed to put the fish off. I have not treated the leader tippet to float since, in fact often if needed will rub the leader with some mud to encourage the leader to sink.

Have also had great success fishing unweighted soft hackles in those situations at times.

On tough waters (heavily fished) a size change and be effective. Surprisingly fishing larger that the natural on the water can be at times be effective - the greed factor?

Finally, my high lake mentor in such situation would fish an appropriate fly tied in black - no questioning his success!

It is the solving these kinds of "fishing puzzles" is part of the fly fishing game that most of us enjoy this sport.

Curt

I was able to test a few of the suggestions today. The hatch was short and sparse. I fished the soft hackle quite a bit but only got one Rainbow with it- an aggressive fish that came from 5 feet away and left a bulge on the surface. It took the line out to the backing knot. Best fish of the day. I caught 4 Rainbows on a #14 Parachute Adams. I treated the fly with fly agra and did not treat the leader. Maybe I had one refusal maybe not. I saw 3 of the fish come up from the darker water and slowly and deliberately eat the fly.

Soft hackle

 

[Tim Cottage]

Small black emerger has long been my go to for refusing fish. Small as in #18. Some fish just can't be convinced but small and dark works most of the time. I'll go down to 6x leader if I have to but I prefer 5x.