Sunny Runner Notes

KEEP IT DOWN

Always Avoid DFM

enjoy the brightness

WALLPAPER:  HEAVY HOOK STREAMER

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.. Just a quick note as fishers bask in the salubrious sunshine of this gentile week. Even the rains are warm.
.. Many fishers, (and most counter help,) suffer from a syndrome that inhibits very successful catching of the annual run of spawners out of Hebgen Reservoir and into the Madison River and its truncated tributaries.

16 & 18

.. The syndrome is referred to by the neighbors as "DRY FLY MENTALITY."
.. This DFM is a grand and successful mental exercise for the fish of Slough Creek or late season Firehole River fish or in the midst of apparent surface activity.
.. The syndrome begets a group of habits that can be successful for some fishing situations. It produces a series of behaviors that, similar to muscle memory, are automatic and unthinking.

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.. These behaviors include the automatic selection of terminal tackle and rigging: LONG LEADERS, LIGHT TIPPETS, DAINTY FLIES, INDICATORS OR BOBBERS, etc.
.. These selections and the behaviors that engender them become more than second nature. They are the "correct" way and are employed mostly without thinking.
.. Habit, peer pressure, and tradition reinforce this DFM syndrome. These factors, interestingly, mitigate against catching in many situations and reinforce a stringent conformity toward disappointment. But, make good stories of long unproductive hours on the river in the face of 'difficult' fish.
.. We humbly suggest that situational fishing is a more successful approach to catching. Unless it's just fishing that you are after.

AN APPROPRIATE SELECTION

.. For the Autumn run of fish from Hebgen Reservoir you should fish to the situation and conditions.
.. This does not mean radical changes. Rather it requires that appropriate gear selections must be made.
.. Neither a two handed twelve foot cannon nor a seven foot four weight are needed. Your regular seven or eight weight will do just fine. The reel matched to the rod is fine. A sink tip line might be useful.
.. Leaders need to be shorter and much stronger than dictated by the DFM. Leaders can, (perhaps even should,) be cut back and fished without a tippet. One less knot is a good thing.
.. Many neighbors use a bowline on a bight for hook attachment. It is simple, quick, strong, and allows the hook and fly added movement.

WHAT'S YOUR COMPENSATION ?

.. Getting down to the fish especially in bright conditions is mandatory. It is important that the fly, not just the weight, gets into the 'strike zone.'
.. Compensation for depth or current with weight can help. Long years of drifting a real live worm can aid your technique in this situation.

.. Hook manufacturers, commercial fly tiers, and counter help usually promote flies with very light hooks, (it's what they sell.) We doubt that this is a conspiracy. It's probably just the byproduct of mass marketing to the DFM syndrome folks.

GO ON,  TIE A FEW

.. Heavy very heavy  hooks put weight where it counts. Of course this demands that a modicum of fly tying be undertaken by the deep water fisher.
.. These are hooks that are seldom found in destination fly shops - unless the shop is on the coast or on very big (non-trout,) water.
.. A better compensation than heavy weight on the leader is a sharp, heavy hook. Despite "acid sharpening" there is always a need to sharpen your hooks: and, not just once. If you are fishing to big, top predator fish, in shallow and bright water your hook will have point-dulling-encounters. These fish are in an environment that does not favor their deep reservoir behavior.
.. Hit them in the nose, cover all the dark water, fish to the likely and unlikely spots. Think like a reclusive predator in a foreign environment AND, have the appropriate terminal tackle to avoid just fishing.
.. It's early. The sun is low in the morning. The fish move during low light or no light. Our second cup is cold and we're out the door.

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WALLPAPER:   IN AMONG THEM